you know what? i’m like in between liking AND disliking the pace of this book. it’s actually crazy how ‘slow’ the narrative is, because while it makes me yawn a bit, it’s also reflective of the environment this novel is set in: space!

to those who’ve read this, what do yall think??

Hey y'all so this past week I started a book without realizing until starting that the person is a state representative and I'm a bit uncomfortable because of certain things--specifically with a choice they made recently. But it made me wonder--do you find reading books by politicians (like Obama/Clinton) something you are comfortable with? Do you find it important to get their perspective?

I’m not gonna lie, Caroline is driving me crazy. Maybe it’s just the audiobook narrator but she is soooo not a girl’s girl

Very excited to announce that you can now download the app on Android!! Google Play approved us this afternoon :) we're still waiting on Apple and will make a big release announcement once both platforms are available.

If you're on Android, we'd love if you give us a download and leave a review. In typical non conformist PB fashion I do find it hilarious that we are available on Android before Apple; a karmic win for all our Android baddies.

Can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the app!!

Since September is coming to an end (already?? oof), I wanted to check in with everyone and ask what your reading month has been like? Did you read more than usual or less? Have you started with the Fall readalong?

I read two books less than last month but still my “normal amount” you could say and even managed to read 3 out of the 5 fall readalong books!! and since I read Don’t Let the Forest In last year, I only have one left to go!

template for anyone who’d like to share some september stats:

books in total: favourite: least favourite: most surprising: longest vs shortest: october read to look forward to:

I’ll share my own stats in the comments as well 💗

I'm not exactly asking "how much/do you separate the art from the artist?", although I imagine that factors into this. But I'm genuinely curious for mostly practical reasons, not trying to be judgmental or any more uncomfortable than the topic may already be;

How do you handle marking books you've read in the past as Finished🏁 from writers you now know hold values that are in direct conflict with yours and/or have [allegedly] done horrific amounts of harm? And especially for those of you who have been doing this for an extended period of time; Do you approach that differently from books you logged/marked before you had that information? Do you go back and remove books for these reasons?

Because while I've privately tracked things off and on in the past with pen and paper or tools like Notion, I've only really just started to do so seriously through dedicated sites last year (starting with Letterboxd and Infinite Backlog, and now here on PB! 😊). And honestly, most of the time, it [the first part, at least]* doesn't really come up since I went into all of them focused on logging things going forward and condensing my to-be-read/watched/played lists.

But sometimes I'll convince myself I can add everything from my entire life if I just try hard enough (💀), and I'll start adding things as I remember them, as they come up on my feed, etc. And it becomes an entire struggle. 😐 Particularly when the artist is alive and/or has been so egregious, I never would have interacted with anything they made in the first place if I'd known. On the one hand, I feel disingenuous and dishonest not doing so, because "you marked this thing so why not that thing? you included these things in lists, but you won't even admit you interacted with this other thing? Would you care so much if it wasn't public?" On the other hand, it is public tho, and I worry the inclusion in and of itself is a promotion in a way.

So I do understand that even as dramatic as I am and thoughtful as I try to be, I'm ultimately and inevitably inconsistent! It's just that I still find myself rattled (like, literally reflexively jumping back from the screen and gaslighting myself about who/what it is XD) when I notice that someone has included a certain book in a quest or list, logged/favorited a movie from a certain director, streamed a certain game, whatever. And I find it difficult to reconcile all of this. 😅

How many unfinished series do you guys have?

So far, these are mine:

• The Housemaid (are the rest really worth it? I feel like it should've stayed a standalone 😭)
• One of us is Lying (read the first one)
• the mortal instruments (read the first one and I'm CR city of ashes)
• the hunger games (I have yet to read tbosas)
• Truly Devious (I've read the first 3 books only, I still have to read the other 2, but I think there's another book to be released?)
• powerless (I hope this offends no one, but the only reason I'm finishing the series is so I can hate it properly lmao, I don't know why I torture myself)

I am aiming to finish these this year, but I'm not really sure if I can do it. 😭😭 I didn't include series that still have books to be published though (ex: shatter me the new republic and the grandest game trilogy)

If you read the book, I strongly encourage you to read about the Sixties Scoop (https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop), a rather grim time in Canadian history.

Read the book 3 years ago and was profoundly moved by it. I was just really surprised that a white man took inspo from such an awful event and made it about found family while completely disregarding the really attempt at assimilation and the trauma it left on those kids.

I personally can't separate the art from its artist and although I enjoyed the book, I refrain from recommending it.

How often do you wait after finishing one book to start another? Does it change depending on format and/or genre?