ETA--Thanks for all of the comments; I've been preparing for a Board meeting, which I'll be in all day today, but I'll be reading through all of the responses. It is fun to get to know more about each of you in the community here!

I have a hypothesis that people who really like reading--enough to be in a community like this and to read a wide variety of books--were not only encouraged to read growing up but had a fair amount of latitude in what they read.

My mother didn't read very much but my father read all the time and the house was full of books. A little of everything, though mostly SF/F/H. We had everything from the Narnia books to LotR to very adult-oriented horror books. It was all open to me and my parents never policed my reading, so I read a bit of every type of book we had going back to at least 3rd or 4th grade.

I'm curious about the rest of you. Not necessarily a no-boundaries childhood when it came to reading, but whether you felt like books were encouraged and you were mostly given the freedom to explore them on your own.

it's my second Stephen King book and I hate his writing style with a passion... how do yall do it

it's my second Stephen King book and I hate his writing style with a passion... how do yall do it

Inspired by a few videos I’ve seen on BookTok.

I’ll go first with my pick: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant.

This was soooo hyped everywhere I looked. Reddit, Tiktok, Instagram… The plot looked promising and I was told to expect building tension and full-blown horror! Instead I got bad prose, rushed plot, too many characters with boring backstories, and no horror. I’m still bitter tbh and although other reviews say Grant’s other works are better, I’m unsure whether to even try. I just wanted scary mermaids. 🥲

Sooo I watched a movie yesterday, and I realise I cannot stand the "dead wife trope" Or .. the wife dying at all.

So I am here asking for any books that either have the reverse (dead husband trope, preferably without the wife moving on) or BETTER- none of them die, and have to deal with whatever situation- together

How are you all?? I thought about how different people here are just here because of just one particular interest...🪄 Reading and loving books.. 😉Apart from that everyone is different right?? Different ages, careers, interests... Would like to know you all and befriend you🤍

There’s this book I discovered yesterday and it seemed pretty interesting. I had never heard of the author so I looked her up on socials and all of her marketing was AI. Like glaringly obvious AI. I’m talking AI had holding her book for her AI. The character art and graphics are also AI. It’s making me question whether I should read the book or not because it might be AI written or assisted.

My question for you all is: Would you read a book by an author who uses AI in their marketing?

I will be asking random questions over the month because I am a curious human so please bare w me :p

Anw, I really wanna hear some stories where you were reading a book (fiction only) and it made you realise something majorly and helped u. Yk coz people say reading fiction isnt educational or doesnt give u anything imp and I really need some examples to prove them wrong 🙂‍↔️💅 For example, you realised how toxic someone in your life is by relating to a character. Or maybe u were reading a murder mystery and it helped u w something?