Hey! Looking for help to organise what my next read is going to be from my physical and e-reader TBR list!

For my mindset I just finished The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and Chain-Gang All-Stars this month and had to DNF You've Reached Sam. I'm travelling to South America soon to visit family and I'll be taking one book in Spanish with me - El Bicho que se Bajó del Tren (Benjamín Ortiz Brennan). Since my Spanish is still a bit rusty, I'd like to read something in parallel so I don't fall into a book slump.

If anyone can present a potential reading order or which one to start with that would be fantastic! Personally, my TBR list is a banger and I'm intimated where to start lmaoo!

Here is my TBR list including what I've borrowed on Libby. They'll be listed in categories, not necessarily from oldest to newest addition (I lost track when I got which book 🙈). Feel free, should I start with most hyped, most underrated, biggest book, smallest book, easy or challenging book? I can't afford any other book recs, I have to tackle my TBR so I justify myself to get more books.

Libby Something to be Proud Of - Anna Zoe Quirke (audiobook, approx. 9 hours, due in 2 weeks)

European Classics The Iliad - Homer (translation Emily Wilson) The Cypria - (trans. D. M. Smith) it takes place before the Iliad, e-book The Telegony - (trans. D. M. Smith) it takes place after the Odyssey, e-book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson Frankenstein - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The Trial - Franz Kafka, in the original language (my second fluent language)

Modern Classics Panchinko - Min Jin Lee Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin

Feminism The Yellow Wall-Paper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Project Gutenberg Women, Race & Class - Angela Y. Davies

Historical fiction The Lotus Shoes - Jane Yang, e-book Farewell My Concubine - Lillian Lee, e-book

Fairy Tales Korean Tales: A Collection of Classic Korean Folk Tales - Horace Allen Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales - Angela Carter, oldest so far I think

LGBTQ+ Fantasy Gwen & Art Are Not in Love - Lex Crouchner, borrowed from a friend Thousand Autumns Vol. 2 - Meng Xi Shi Banana Fish Vol. 1 - Akimi Yoshida The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez She Who Became The Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan Ballad of Sword and Wine Vol. 2 - Tang Jiu Qing Gideon the Ninth - Tamysin Muir

High/hard-core fantasy/sci-fi Lord of Mysteries Vol. 1 - Ai Qianahui de Wuzei The Grace of Kings - Ken Liu The Fall of Númenor - J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien The Dragon Republic - R. F. Kuang The Burning God - R. F. Kuang (read the first book years ago and really enjoyed, but might need to reread to get to the sequels) Heavenly Tyrant - Xiran Jay Zhao (read it a couple of years ago, also enjoyed it but not as much as Poppy War, also need to reread it) The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

As many of us are, I'm gradually planning for and chipping away at my HRCYED and I am at an impasse that I need an assist on!

For the birthday challenge, I was born in a Year of the Horse. Here's the thing- I fuckin hate horses. They freak me out IRL, I've never understood the hype even as a child, they're too big and they're legit scary and people are too chill about them. I'm not a mean hater and they do have my respect- but from a distance because I don't fuck with them. So what book am I to read? I know if I leave it to figure out later, I'm going to put it off until the end and have to hate read a cowboy romance because I can't think of anything else.

I’m new to Pagebound, and it’s a really great app! I keep seeing people on here with really cool badges, and I think I only have one. 😭 So how do I get more? Am I just supposed to complete quests, or is there more to it? Like, am I supposed to join readalongs or do other things? Help a fellow Pagebound user out. 🙏🙏

Quick semi announcement that the new app version was released on Android! This includes Midnight mode (ie dark mode) and a bunch of other quality of life improvements.

Hopefully we can get Apple out ASAP but we've been waiting over a week on their review, it's been a bit of a battle! But we didn't want to keep Android waiting while Apple is stuck.

Okay this is so dumb but I'm constantly amazed by how many of my mutuals here get really excited by new quests and are motivated to read books they otherwise wouldn't probably look at primarily because Badge Shiny. Badge Shiny doesn't honestly hook me at all? And I get it's core to pagebound, and I'm not judging at all, it's fun to see everyone get excited even tho I find it baffling. I'm absolutely intrigued by the whole phenomenon. So I thought I'd make a post with a simple purpose.

Up-vote this post if you are motivated to read things you might not otherwise read because Badge Shiny. Down-vote this post if you are not motivated to read things you might not otherwise read because Badge Shiny (you may still read things you would have read anyway sooner because hey, you'll also get a badge, so why not, but acquiring the badge is not your main reason for doing the thing).

Explain or talk more about your views in the comments, should the spirit move you to do so.

Hi everyone, we're considering making quite a big change to Pagebound and want to get the community's opinion - please leave your feedback here!

We have debated for a long while the merits of upvotes/downvotes vs a pure "like" system. We deeply believe in community moderation and community curation, and felt that an upvote/downvote system would provide the tooling for such community moderation.

In practice, we've also seen a lot of downsides with this system. While there's no guidance for how to use downvotes, many people use it as a "disagree" button which can make people with unpopular opinions feel unwelcome to share their opinion (for example, if you share that you dislike a beloved character, you may receive downvotes).

Moving to a "likes" only system would hopefully foster an environment where opinions are discussed rather than silently judged, and people are less anxious to engage in the forums.

In the past there have been some very strong opinions both for and against downvotes - let us know what you think below

Hello! New here and not sure how this works BUT my fiancé is very lovingly taking me on a bookshop crawl for my birthday on Monday. I already have a list of books I wanna look out for, but I wanted to post and ask the knowledgeable people on this app if they have any recommendations or books I should definitely look out for! Tell me your favourites, what you're currently reading, who your favourite authors are. Go crazy! If you want more specifics: I tend to read YA sci-fi/fantasy/post-apoc/dystopia and I love books with queer characters, but I'm trying to branch out so anything with sci-fi/fantasy/dystopia/paranormal elements or generally interesting concepts would also be cool! Hence the generic post 😂 Hope you're all having a wonderful week! ☺️

I need to know if anyone else has any like basically irrational pet peeves when it comes to books. Yesterday I read the first couple pages of The Empress of Salt and Fortune (one of the readalong books) and I immediately put it down because there’s a talking horse on the first page. I absolutely cannot stand talking animals in books unless it makes sense in the universe, but I was just so unprepared for that I couldn’t go on lol 🥲. I’m sure it’s a good book I just can’t. I was wondering if anyone else has any pet peeves like that, or if I’m just insane lol.

There has been some excellent posts recently about ratings and reviews. My questions for you:

1. If you could completely change the rating system on PB - what would you change it to? A quick Google search came up with some possibilities:

• binary (thumbs up/thumbs down)
• emoticons
• hearts -????

2. Reviews on PB let you rank in a few categories - enjoyment, quality, plot, audiobook (pretty sure there's another I missed). Are there any categories that you would add (either on the 1-5 rating or some other system)? E.g. I'm sure that there's folks on here who would like to see a spice rating.

For me:

1. I like the binary system (I liked it/I didn't like it) - saves me from figuring out an actual stat rating.

2. A fun scale. E.g. Type 1, 2 & 3 fun (stolen from endurance sports lol). Type 1 is it's enjoyable during and after. Type 2 is not enjoyable during but enjoyable after. Type 3 is - not enjoyable during AND not enjoyable after but hey - you've got something to talk about. So of my recent reads - Paladin's Grace is totally Type 1. A Memory Called Empire - Type 2 (kind of a lie because I absolutely did enjoy reading but it takes a while to get into it).

How many of you read all the way through the end credits?

I used to do it occasionally before, as a way to make a book I loved last longer.

Then a couple of years ago I listened to I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel. She talks about how reading the acknowledgements gives you deeper insight into the author. It made so much sense.

So now I always make it a point to read through the acknowledgements. It truly does give an interesting perspective into the author’s mind.

Ok, how are we all pronouncing "Chade", cause I'm really unsure?! 😂

I need to know if it also was an extremely slow read for other people 😔 I feel a little embarrassed

I had a conversations with friends a while ago that have been lingering in my mind.

Our book club had recently read both The Everlasting and Shield of Sparrows, and we were comparing them. I struggled to understand why the club rated Shield of Sparrows more highly. To me, The Everlasting felt beautifully written, carefully constructed, and emotionally rich. Shield of Sparrows was enjoyable enough, but I found it more predictable and familiar in its tropes, with prose that did not stand out to me as much.

My friend acknowledged that she also thought The Everlasting was the more technically accomplished book, but she compared it to visiting an art gallery, while Shield of Sparrows was like watching a television show. Even if the gallery offers a more artistically impressive experience, she would usually rather relax and binge the show.

I think that comparison helped me understand her perspective, but I am still trying to fully wrap my mind around it. I tend to evaluate books based on their characterization, prose, themes, emotional development, pacing, and overall construction. Other readers seem more comfortable separating technical quality from personal enjoyment, or simply valuing enjoyment much more heavily.

I have another friend who dislikes when I critique certain romantasy books too seriously because, in her words, “They’re just KU books. You can’t judge them like literary books.” That leaves me wondering whether I sometimes approach books with expectations they were never trying to meet. Is it unfair to expect every book to offer more than a pleasant, undemanding reading experience? Or is it reasonable to judge every book on elements like character development, internal logic, and emotional depth, regardless of genre or publishing platform?

Ratings are another area where I seem to think differently from some of my friends. After reading Metal Slinger, I gave it two stars (the lowest rating I have given a book this year) while a friend gave it four. She explained that she usually rates books very highly because she wants to support authors, so four stars actually represented significant disappointment within her personal system.

I understand the kindness behind that approach, especially when reviewing independent authors. At the same time, it makes ratings difficult to interpret when people use them for completely different purposes. Some readers are measuring enjoyment, some are assessing craft, some are reviewing within the expectations of a specific genre, and others are partly thinking about how the rating might affect the author.

I do not think any of these approaches are necessarily wrong. I am mostly trying to understand them better, and to understand why I am often the person in my book club who is bothered by elements that other readers either do not notice or do not consider important.

Sometimes I think I might be a happier reader if I could more easily enjoy a book for the experience it offers instead of constantly analyzing how well every element works. At the same time, thoughtful critique is a major part of how I engage with stories, and I am not sure I can, or should, completely turn that off.

How do you personally balance enjoyment, technical quality, genre expectations, and support for the author when rating a book? Do you hold every book to similar standards, or do your expectations change depending on what kind of experience the book is trying to provide?

Hello! I'm trying to help a friend find something new to read. She is a big fantasy nerd but she's not at all interested in romantasy (a little romantic side plot is fine) and she finds it hard to know what books could be of interest.

Her absolute favorite books are the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Deptford Mice. She's been listening to these books over and over bc she can't get into any new books. I think she'd appreciate something that's easy to get into, maybe not very lore-heavy from the start (aka probably not the right one for her if it's 500 pages of world building before you can connect with the characters).

Got any recommendations?🥰

EDIT: redwall is the mice books she likes, not Deptford💀