Any advice on how to get into audiobooks/podcasts? I can never seem to concentrate long enough and then I tune back in and have no clue what just happened 🫣

Edit: Wow! Thank you for all the advice it’s been so lovely reading through them all! I hope other people are finding this as helpful as I am! Please free to keep commenting tips and tricks!! ❤️📚

Or with any immortal creature. What is appropriate and what isn’t? In regards to age gaps. 🤣

I think we’ve all read a book where a vampire is hundreds of years old but stopped aging after a certain number. If a character is already like say 75 vampy years old and you meet another creature hundreds of years older, is that okay? 😆 🧐 What if the character comes from a whole vampy family and they try to set them up with other vampires that are old enough to be their grandfather 👴?

Are all vampy age gaps inappropriate? 🤣 🤯

This somewhat philosophical question has been on my mind since almost the early days of Pagebound, and I have so many thoughts on this topic! I saw an Instagram post today from The Booker Prize account asking a similar question, which inspired me to ask this wonderful community for your reflections, just out of curiosity :) and I may make an insta carousel quoting a few usernames if I feel inspired ✨

My scattered musings: -it magnifies the joy of reading so much--I feel validated, challenged, enlightened. I guffaw involuntarily more from reading your posts than from reading the book itself.

-it improves my reading comprehension when others notice details I missed or when I have a question and am looking for a very targeted answer.

-the text is the book but also now the text is all the posts & comments I'm reading on Pagebound. i'm in conversation with the book but also in conversation with all of you and so...

-does it become harder to differentiate my opinion from the collective's? am I being influenced on what I think?

-how does this affect the "originality" of my takeaways (ofc what is even original anymore/ever)?

The update is great and the new added avatars are amazing but I really miss my little green purple haired big black eyed mermaidd

Nothing against the new one I just get attached to everything 🥲

i keep seeing the same friendly handles in quests and threads. let’s do a quick roll call so we can match handles to readers. zero pressure, typos welcome. new folks and lurkers, jump in haha!

here’s me: i’m bookbunny96

1. reading superpower: balancing a paperback on a sleeping baby.
2. favourite genre/trope: cozy mysteries, true crime like thrillers, atmospheric whodunnits, and i’m sloooowly loving cozy fantasy (big thanks to Seema’s quest)
3. chaotic book opinion: audiobooks at 1.5x absolutely count as reading.

template:

1. reading superpower or chaotic habit
2. favourite genre or trope
3. chaotic book opinion or fun fact

your turn. go!!

Thought it could be nice to have a somewhat centralized place for library/librarian questions or comments. (-shoutout KatieV and karigan for this idea)

Library users: do y’all have any questions about libraries, how we operate, behind-the-scenes, tips&tricks, etc? Things you wish you knew sooner?

Library staff: do y’all have anything you wish patrons knew about? Anything to share that could be helpful, or beneficial? Biggest issues and why?

We’ve got a few library professionals here from all over, not just the US, and hopefully some can share answers or details that are close or general to your location, so please share your state/province/country if possible, or comfortable. 📚

I’ll share some good US library funding news that happened yesterday: the House of Representatives Subcommittee voted to continue library funding through the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services). I believe the Senate still has to vote too, but a win is a win.

I figured out last year the secret to reading more for me personally is to start as many books as I want and to not force myself to read anything if I'm not feeling it that day. That means I usually have 5-10 books going at any given time.

Eventually I circle back to finish them off. But with the annual reading challenges I'm always extra motivated to go back and finish anything I've started before the end of the year and it's a fun little boost to my numbers.

i keep seeing the same friendly handles in quests and threads. let’s do a quick roll call so we can match handles to readers. zero pressure, typos welcome. new folks and lurkers, jump in haha!

here’s me: i’m bookbunny96

1. reading superpower: balancing a paperback on a sleeping baby.
2. favourite genre/trope: cozy mysteries, true crime like thrillers, atmospheric whodunnits, and i’m sloooowly loving cozy fantasy (big thanks to Seema’s quest)
3. chaotic book opinion: audiobooks at 1.5x absolutely count as reading.

template:

1. reading superpower or chaotic habit
2. favourite genre or trope
3. chaotic book opinion or fun fact

your turn. go!!

Recently I expressed my panic at still having 71 books to read before finishing my goal for the year and someone mentioned how they thought reading goals were silly. I personally use my reading goal as a motivator to pick up a book and stay off of social media more, but I realized that may not be the case for everybody.

My question is why do you have a reading if you have a reading? Do you have it for motivation, pride, something else? Or do you also think having a yearly reading goal isn't for?