I believe @bbyoozi has made a similar post in the past here, and I found myself thinking of the post today. It was such a great way to get diverse book suggestions and also know about everyone. Since we have a lot of new members joining us , I thought it would be a fun way to see how diverse this community has gotten as it grows. So, What book/literary genre/sub-genre do you think best describes your country? You can provide as many diverse examples as you like. I will go first, the literature from my country varies by region quite vastly and by languages. However one over-arching theme that is widely written about and unifies it all is partition related literature and writing on colonialism.

Hey folks! In trying to make my BHM reading list (I try to read diversely year round, but always enjoy a theme) I made the upsetting discovery of the lack of black authors on my shelf): most of what I have I have read already, and I'd much prefer to expand than reread. So rave me your favourite books by black authors! Bonus points for horror, SciFi, and Fantasy!

Current List: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler We are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles I'll Make a Spectacle of You by Beatrice Winifred Iker Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi

Hey guys, I was wondering if you know of any great books that have the same feel as the Knives Out movies or like Murder on the Orient Express - so a fast-paced Whodunnit mystery with a bit of humor and possibly some foreshadowing. I‘d like it if there was a female lead since I feel like the detectices oftentimes are male, however if you know of something fun with a guy as the lead, that‘s fine as well. Thanks so much!

My random question for today... What was the first "classic" you read? Was it an assigned text? Did you enjoy it?

Mine was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I was in my early teens and read by choice from a selection of options layed out by my English teacher. I didn't dislike it, I just don't think I was ready for it. My teacher knew I wasn't ready for it and tried to warn me; she understood me. I wasn't an intellectually mature teen, but I did survive English Literature. I really think I need to reread it now, I think I would understand it.

Thank you to everyone who answers my questions. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Hi everyone! My book club uses Discord for our discussions, but because of Discord's announcement that they might be asking users for ID documents, we're looking at alternatives. Has anyone tried a similar platform they enjoyed? Most of the ones we've found seemed to be geared more towards professional organizations (similar to Slack) or are more individual oriented than community based (like Bluesky and Signal).

Have you ever seen a pet name being used in a book and IMMEDIATELY gotten the ick?

The FMC in my book just called her husband sweetheart… he’s over 50. I DONT LIKE IT😭

So I have been doing some deep diving research recently with how I am vetting new to me authors for being ai pen names. These ai authors are becoming especially prevalent and promoted on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. In just the last few days I have found multiple "Publishing" companies that are full of ai generated authors. I have made a shelf on my library of the ones I am sure of (as sure as you can be but I will explain my process more in determination)

This would not necessarily be me saying you shouldn't read these or a blacklist of any kind more of a notification like a trigger warning or informational that these authors are very likely ai. My intent is for it to be a just so you know and can then due your own due diligence and make a educated decision for yourself.

How I have been making my determinations: note none of these alone are deal breakers more like with all these things connected it would lead one to come to a reasonable conclusion that this author is using or is ai generated.

1. Check their Social media. Is it full of ai images. No face of the author or author interaction videos. Does the author respond to comments? Who are they tagging in their covers or character art? Any afflation with online publishing companies. What is their bio on said publishing authors pages. If it seems like it might be an author that wishes to remain faceless and more anonymous (I read and follow many who do) I will message them asking about a book or how they do their cover art and see what if any response I get back. I will specifically ask if they are using ai in their writing with varied reactions.

2. Run their covers and character art they have posted publicly into multiple ai Image detectors. I know these are not 100%. I have tested the ones I use that are highly rated for accuracy using images I know are ai generated and other I know are not to gauge. The ones I use are Hive Moderation, Hugging Face and Winston Ai.

3. Check the authors backlog. Did they publish 47 books in one year. Yes is a real number I recently found on an authors GoodReads list.

4. If the author is associated with a publisher I go check out that publisher. A few blatantly state they are ai and promote ai works. Example, Future Fiction Press. While others are obvious but try really hard not to use the word ai. Example, Scarlet Gryphon publishing. Most of the time I have found that the authors page is just ai and heavily photoshopped pics and generic bios. All a close variation to the other. Also no option to contact or email a person except to apply to be an author.

5. I will say with looking into this more and more I am starting to see certain repetitive things like a bunch of search words just listed in the title. Example, The Vampire Viking's Claim: A Dark BWWM Viking Vampire Time Travel Romance Terrible capitalization and obvious grammar mistakes in the title and synopsis.

I truly would prefer that the were more obvious oversight and labeling for usage of ai in creative arts but I know that we are not there yet. In the future I hope there will be systems in place to require authors to state they used generative ai and in what context to what degree. Until then my list is more geared toward this new influx of actually ai pen names and ai bot authors being promoted on Amazon and such. I am not an authority by any means and I am not telling anyone what to read or not read. Just as having a list for Global Mystery or Historical Romance is there for those that are interested.

I am curious for anyone else's perspective!