I’ve been wondering if picture books are too juvenile to count them as actual reading—I’m just messing around!

@ramiva has already made a post on it so I’m not gonna rehash what’s been said there about the whole “do x count?” post phenomena.

I wanna talk about the posts that are in similar vein to the aformentioned. People asking what their next reads should be.

Personally, when I’m stuck in a dilemma on what to read, I take time to narrow down what I’m currently in the mood for/what should be my priority right now. You’ve already narrowed five down, why not narrow it down to one?

People’s tastes are so subjective, and I feel like those posts are kinda inconsequential. Read what you like. Don’t like it? Pause and pick up the next book. That’s what I’ve always done.

I once commented on a post about AI use in book space. I mentioned self-disempowerment (I hope I’m remembering it correctly) in relation to it. It means what it says: people not trusting their own minds once they’ve handed it over to AI. Someone under that comment responded that it’s more or less the same with people coming here asking other people to pick their next reads.

There are definitely people who rely on AI to even pick their clothes, let alone books. PB discourages AI use and algorithms. So I feel people are trying other ways to seek advice/validation in other ways. By asking people to pick their next read or asking if x counts as reading.

I think it is a little alarming that people are unable to make such simple decisions as these, and it’s not me being cynical (I think?). I’ve seen more than two or three posts like this.

While I’m at it, I also wanna talk about the whole mood reading thing. Aren’t we all technically mood readers? Don’t we all pick what we want to read at any given moment as readers? I understand using in academic sense, like if you’re prioritizing studies all the time you can call yourself a mood reader if you don’t enjoy those. But to a person who reads a lot, that just means being a reader lol

Am I wrong? Do I sound very cynical and making a big deal out of a non-issue? I feel it is necessary to address small things like in a landscape where AI dominates (I’ve seen it in multiple trailers for new shows and magazine covers, people using it to draft texts and complete their school assignment. So I hope you understand my frustration).

Very ADHD of me to start two discussions at once, but I didn’t wanna make another post immediately after. I hope the baity title doesn’t backfire.

i’ll go first: “My NEW HOUSE in JAPAN is HAUNTED by a SAMURAI?!?! (SCARY) (DONT WATCH AT 3AM)”

Jane says that John Reed "sometimes reviled [his mother] for her dark skin, similar to his own". Did Charlotte Brontë write Mrs Reed as a person of colour (like Emily did with Heathcliff) or is it a case of a white person who tans easily / has naturally tan skin and is therefore deemed "dark skin"?