What's your favorite thing to see on your PB Main Feed?? Lists, forum posts, PB club posts, reviews, etc.? And why? I think mine is probably reviews! Even if I didn't read the book I always read it in case I feel interested in enough to check out the book.

Just coming on after a frustrating conversation with coworkers about them using AI as they are a graphic designer which makes NO SENSE TO ME.

So, I just wanted to rant and say what happened to the human experience? What happened to creativity and making things with your hands and being PROUD of it? Can we really be proud of something a computer made? Even if it looks awful you did that!! That's so much better than writing a prompt.

I truly believe people are still searching for connections with humans. And as a librarian I love when people come up to the desk for personal recommendations rather than use AI. I assume we all would trust a librarian/bookseller for recs rather than AI. AND it's a conversation starter! You can't get that with a computer.

That brings me to my question for everyone! What is an anti-AI or analog hobby you do and love? Show me! Bonus points if it's bad! but you made it with your hands and that's the important part! be proud!

At what point does an author's right to revise their own work conflict with a reader's right to the book they actually purchased?

Do you think authors should be able to make substantial, retroactive changes to a published book--including removing or rewriting entire scenes--without releasing or clearly marketing the revision as a new edition? And should those changes be pushed to copies readers have already purchased?

I'm asking because I've seen this come up with a popular romantasy series where the author is retroactively removing all of the sex scenes and changing them to fade-to-black. It's sparked a lot of discussion about authors' rights, readers' rights, ownership, and whether a published book is ever really "finished."

I'm deliberately not asking about this specific author or situation, which is why I'm posting this in Club. I'm more interested in the broader question: Where do you draw the line? Are authors free to change anything they want after publication because it's their work, or does a reader have some reasonable expectation that the version they purchased will remain the version they purchased?

And if you think authors should be able to make these kinds of changes, what would you consider significant enough to warrant labeling or selling the revision as a separate edition?

Do you update your goal or just crush it and adjust next year? I have the feeling of wanting to adjust it but at the same time I’d be upset if I don’t hit my new goal 😂

what’s a book you almost gave up on that won you over in the end?

or, asked differently,

a book you liked much more in retrospect than while you were actually reading it?

or

a book where the ending changed your opinion of everything that came before?

this just happened to me with Switzy by Emma Cline and it continues to grow on me the more i reflect on it…which i kind of love

do you take notes? do you read slower? do you bust out highlighters and tabs?

when i was young and we’d get pulled out of class to assess our reading, i was well aware of the timer in my teacher’s hand. i could read quickly and fluently, but when it came to the post-reading quiz, i realized i didn’t retain much of anything.

fast forward to current day me, predisposed to the quick dopamine-laden yet numbing nature of social media—i’ve read 30+ books this year, and i doubt my abilities to describe to you what each was about. i can’t really do it with my most recent reads either. (i have suffered from great memory loss, undiagnosed, but i suspect from depression, but i still think i can afford to slow down and soak in the words on a page).

i also think i’m too hard on myself with reading (and anything i do lol) so i involuntarily add pressure to the hobby, and then i get frustrated with myself.

please help 🥲