I was thinking about The Golden Compass earlier because I'm going to be buddy reading that series later this year (rereading in my case because we actually read it in English class in 7th grade) and about the concept of daemons in that series, which is, to summarize briefly, an animal representation of your soul that lives in the physical world with you who you can talk to and interact with. Honestly, the dream. In the book, your daemon essentially settles into one animal form based on who you are for the rest of your life when you hit puberty.

And because I love animals and always love reasons for more animal talk - what would your daemon/animal form/however you want to conceptualize it be based on your personality and why? Post a picture if you want!

(To post a picture, use  without the spaces.)

I've noticed in two books now that, at the end, there's a little paragraph about the typeface. this is something I've never really seen before and I think it's really cool!

the first book I saw it in, personally, was Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan which came out last year. then I saw it in Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir which came out in 2021, so I guess it's not too recent a phenomena.

when did this trend (for lack of a better word) start? and does anyone know why it started?

I hope y'all are doing well (and happy first day of Pride)! Here is the long awaited 'buddy finder' for the summer of 2026.

How it works -> You post a comment with the book and give any info that you feel is relevant for a potential buddy to know. Ex: Polterbook comments "Looking to read Earthlings by Sayaka Murata either late July or early August. I'm hoping to finish this book within a 7 to 10 day period." -> Post each book in a separate comment if you're wanting to read more than one of the books so that potential buddies can see/find it easier.

Rules -> Please make sure it's a book already in the quest. The point is to try to knock out some of your TBR books while also getting closer to a badge. -> Be kind to each other (OBVIOUSLY) -> The idea is that the readalong happens during the summer season so try to plan the readalong with that in mind.

I'm going to temporarily pin this post so that it's easy to find. Summer 2026 runs from June 1st, 2026 to August 31, 2026. Get your summer spooky reading on!

NOW WHY would they name the house Casa Calavera?! 💀