So some of y'all probably get my reading updates and don't mind me y'all. I'm in a reading slump so I'm starting a book, not really vibing with it, and I'm putting it back into my TBR. I'll be doing this until I find a book I like. So you're gonna be getting a lot of notifications saying

Bluehairedboy started reading...

Bluehairedboy added to TBR

I'm just going through it. To search for hours through open library and other libraries to find the ebook only to not vibe with it. Don't mind me y'all I'm just gonna cry I-

Hello guys. I feel like I need to have this discussion because a lot of people don't know what cultural appropriation is. Adopting something after mocking the culture the thing comes from or mocking the originators for doing it or renaming it to suit your needs without crediting its origins is cultural appropriation! If you, however, as non poc wear a bindi— call it a bindi— and appreciate what it represents; it's not cultural appropriation! I've seen a lot of people from various cultures absolutely love when white people try something from their culture. PROVIDED you give the credit where it belongs! In real life, you can minimise cultural appropriation by buying things from the original creators 🫶

That being said, I would like to put some of this in for budding authors here. If you decide to use any of these in your books, please do some research for its origins! I can only speak of south asian origin of course. So guys, please start a thread of what's been culturally appropriated from your culture and how would you like people to address that?

So here you go!

Checks - Originated from Madras fishermen! During colonisation, these were exported and made a exclusive to mobility of the British! Because the quality was so good!

Bandana - originated as Bandhani, which mean to to Tie! worn by people in the northern parts of India. Especially Kashmir and you might see it on Romani people as well!

Boho Jewellery - THESE ARE JHUMKAS AND HAARS. I kid you not, I used to die searching for JHUMKAS in london until someone told me to type boho jewellery. Oxidised jewellery and big ass jewelleriew have been worn india for centuries. Visit any temple and you'll see it. So Jhumkas are south asian in origin. Hope that helps!

Kohlapuri Chappals- the sandals with the band around your big toes originated from Kohlapur and is the lifeblood of Dalits and was worn ORIGINALLY by Dalits.

Maang Tikas- these are the things that you see in coachella where you wear jewellery in the middle part of your hair. Love to see it, but please. give credit to the people it originated from!

Bindi - it's been boiled down to a fashion accessory but Bindis often symbolised the third eye and Shakti or the Goddess Durga and her various forms. Women in India wear it not just because it looks fashionable but it's been culturally passed down to us from our foremothers

"Scandinavian Scarf* - This one pisses me the hell off. It's a DUPATTA. Y'al look hella pretty with it but it's a dupatta. It's a long cloth draped over your neck and shoulder. It's different from a scarf because you don't use the same material, print and stitching for scarf and you don't drape it like a scarf.

Okay that's it for today! Again, I love seeing people of different cultures wear these things. But again, buy from the original creators, and use appropriate words and enjoy looking slay as hell! Please share your cultural thing appropriated below and what people should call them and how they should acknowledge them instead.

There's so much to do in today's world, and plenty of distractions that keep us away from our beloved books. How do you make peace with yourself and your environment long enough to read? Do you have a routine, or a ritual, to settle in with a book? I'm pretty bad at dedicating my free time to reading when there's so much else I could be doing, even if I really want to read.

Hey, beautiful people 💫 After that post I made in the forum I felt so surprised to see so many people relate to my situation, and it was overwhelming (in the best way) to feel everyone's support and understanding. So I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to give me a little uplifting, it really made a difference.

This made me think that we really are a community of dear anonymous friends, who support each other through the love of books. Which led me to this thought: There are so many beautiful and original usernames... What's the story behind each one? (except for one_crazy_eliott, I think I understand the reason behind Mr. Crazy's username 🤭🤭🤭)

So, if you feel comfortable, share the story behind it. I think it will help bring us closer and keep everyone's anonymity anyway.

I'll start: The OGs know I started PB as fantasy.betareader but decided later to change my username to Pipsy to help me feel more connected here. This is a nickname my sister gave me when I was 3 or 4 years old, and it stuck until today. My whole family calls me by it, my friends, my teachers, my bosses, etc. Even on my passport, my signature says Pipsy. So that's basically my name 😊

So I don't really hate the romance genre,I never really got into it in any form after my middle school phase in which I just watched like so many high school romance anime's and drama's that I got really bored and annoyed by it(didn't really read any books though).So I never picked up anything after it ,no shows ,no books or mangas. But I feel like I am missing out tbh ,I also wanna read some good romance stories.Nothing too cheesy like those high school dramas though Help me out ,Romance girlies.Something that would be easy to digest for someone who got tired of the genre being repetitive. Thank youuu 💖💖

When you read a word that you've NEVER heard out loud and when you hear someone say it, it turns out that it doesn't sound how you thought it was gonna sound AT ALL.

Do NOT ask me how I thought "Choir" and "Mischievous" were pronounced

Calling all data nerds... I went to the book page for Mate by Ali Hazelwood today and was shocked by the amount of forum posts (350!) for a book that just came out. I was curious which books had the most forum posts and did a little digging. For curious minds...

The most popular forum on Pagebound is The Spellshop (who knew that would be our most successful readalong book!)

The most popular non-readalong book forum, and second most popular overall, is Katabasis (about 650 posts!)

Many of the other popular forums were readalong books, but here's the most popular non-readalongs:

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, VE Schwab
• Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins
• Alchemised, SenLinYu
• Mate, Ali Hazelwood
• The Knight and the Moth, Rachel Gillig
• Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

thanks for nerding out w me 🤓

Hello everyone 🧚

I was wondering if you are able to read or switch between novels that you are reading? I find it so difficult to read more than one novel cause for me it feels like I’m cheating on the one I am suppose to read?! I feel like it’s a commitment to stick to one novel even though I have multiple tbrs that I want to start immediately and I feel the novel that I am currently reading is not it but I feel somewhat guilty doing that 🥹.

What are your thoughts on this topic? 🧚