If you could wave a magical wand right now and get any unpublished book into your hands right this second what would it be? This could be a planned but as-of-yet unpublished book or one that you wish an author might write! This is obviously not intended to pressure any authors since it is a magical hypothetical.

I'd like Naomi Novik to write an epic fantasy similar to Spinning Silver but loosely based on soviet Russia and centring feminist actors. (if I had a creative writing bone in my body that's the book I would write)

I have a dilemma: I’ve started reading more space opera books and I’m really enjoying them and thus want to read more epic fantasy. The problem is I despise the enemies to lovers trope. I truly cannot stand it to the point that even books that use the trope very well, i.e Gideon the Ninth, can turn me off for a long time (I ended up loving that book but only after the first 130 pages in which Gideon and Harrow really hated each other). It seems that all of the popular fantasy books ada good amount of popular space opera use this trope and I have no clue where to turn, send help!!

Context: I work at a climbing gym as a routesetter, so I and my coworkers put the holds on the walls that people climb. My gym recently adopted the use of this one app where we upload our routes and boulders that we set so people can log their sends in the gym and rate the climbs. A week ago, my coworkers and I were lamenting the app because one customer consistently rates everything 3 stars, and it’s bringing our gym’s rating down. Like, to the point of the higher-ups scratching their heads at it.

It got us on the topic of ratings about books. My boss said 3 stars isn’t a bad rating, it’s average, although most people likely wouldn’t think the same way when looking for a route to climb in the gym. I said when I rate book, 3 stars is generally a decent rating. It may not be a book that I loved or that I would say was for me, but I would still likely recommend a 3-star book to a friend. Another coworker agreed with that sentiment.

This whole conversation got me thinking: at what point do you start to consider a book “bad”? As in, when would you stop recommending a book to someone? Everyone has different metrics they use, and I’m curious to know everyone’s thoughts. For me, I start thinking a book is bad around 2-2.5 stars.

Anybody get earworms from audiobooks? I've had a few so far and its such a funny experience. I noticed that its usually caused by the frequent use of unusual words/names, a strange accent or an especially long runtime. Do you guys get it? I feel like my brain is a haunted house possessed by numerous stories and Slayyyter playing in the background 😂

I am participating in the reading challenge set up by the Reading Glasses podcast, and one of the prompts this year is "Give an author a second chance". The idea is to not immediately write an author off if you did not like one of their books, but to try a different book by them, and maybe discover you like that author after all! So I was wondering: have any of you done this successfully :)? Which author did you try this for, and what were the books that made you think you didn't like the author vs. the ones that made you change your mind?

I am still looking for a book to complete this challenge myself. I am thinking I might be willing to give Sally Rooney another try. I didn't particularly like Normal People, the characters didn't grab me and I do not like the miscommunication trope. Did any of you dislike Normal People but love one of her other books?

Anyone else annoyed by descriptions not really describing anything? I really want to know what a book is about and then get descriptions leaving me only with question marks. As in, what is the basic plot about other than "XY goes on an adventure?"

I've gone to no longer adding these books to my TBR, for now anyway, as I am tired of googling the plot to see if I want to read it.