out of all these, I’ve only read Babel, Curious Tides, and Legendborn. I still think I’m a newbie to this genre, and usually like at least a little romance (or romantic undertones) in books (not a hard and fast requirement though). Which would you recommend?

Does anyone have recommendations or your favorite playlist or video to have on in the background when you read? I tend to need background noise or music to read so I usually try to Lo-Fi music videos or I also like the asmr cafe videos. I'm just curious if anyone has a go-to playlist on Spotify or Youtube to use. It doesn't have to be without lyrics. I tend to like more upbeat tunes over classical music.

What language or languages do you read in? Do you read in your native language or another one? If you read in another language then your native one, why? I read in English, but my main language is French. I have read books in French and in German, although not by choice. And the reason being I associate both those languages with school and learning, and when I read I just want to distance myself from all the studying I had to do for books I didn't want to read, so I stuck with English! Also books in English are cheaper at the bookstore 💀

a drought is also a slump by extension, but in a drought, you do read but none of the books bring you any joy, they do not change your world for the better, you get bored halfway through and you end up DNFing or hating the book. a drought makes you forget what it was like to love reading new books. a drought could last weeks on end, months too. in short, help me. PS. I made reading drought up so.

Does anyone have a book length preference? I tend to pick up books that are 300 pages and above because I know that it’s more likely to have more world-building and character development. But 300 is my husbands limit because he can’t follow along for that long Does anyone else have these kinds of preferences??

reread of a comfort book ! I stillll need to read the king of scars duology, if you’ve read it lmk how it was

Nearing the halfway mark and struggling to stay engaged. I want to love this, but it’s slow going.

Was thinking to myself how I have this ridiculous habit of intentionally speeding through book blurbs trying not to learn too much, leaving a book on my TBR for ages, starting to read it going off the memory of the blurb, and then being completely thrown by what the book is actually about because I realize I didn't actually know. Case in point: started the castle knoll files series today, DEAD CERTAIN the MC was an old male detective. It is about a 25 year old girl and her kooky aunt. This is abundantly clear in the blurb and I have no idea how I misremembered that badly. I spent the first 20 pages going "oh? Oh?? Oh!" So anyway, that got me thinking, do any of y'all have reading quirks like this that are ultimately harmless but kind of weird? A beige flag, if you will?

How did you get into reading? Was it something you've always done? Or did you pick up a book randomly and never looked back? What has changed since then? I started getting into reading around July 2023. I used to hate it because it reminded me of school and assignments. Then I discovered the world of romance books and I've been reading constantly since. It's also made me a quicker and better reader. Although since starting university, I've been correlating everything from my lessons into the books, so it makes my brain work overtime when I read a dark romance book 💀

I thought it would be kind of fun to see where in the world people are, and then folks can make friends with people from the same countries/ares (if they way, not pressure obviously). I'll go first. I'm Canadian, and more specifically I am in British Columbia (Vancouver Island if you want to get fancy. Try to find your country and join that thread! Everyone else?

What’re those books/series which you love to read over and over? I’ve been re-reading A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and have loved every second of it! Others I love include: -The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - The Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater - The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb - Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen Let me know so I can add more to my TBR 😎

Do you have any book/reading takes that you think is controversial or unpopular? If so, what is it?

This book is both gut-wrenching and beautiful. You will fall in love with the women in this story and you will mourn their lives and the tragedy that flows through them.