They never learn by Layne Fargo was EXCELLENT, and I would say fits the criteria. Published in 2023

obsessed with this book's opening notice:

"Bernardine Evaristo calls Girl, Woman, Other a fusion fiction, and the novel is formally innovative, with unconventional treatment of line breaks, capitalization, and punctuation. The eBook edition is correctly formatted as per the author's intentions."

Love needing to inform people it's not a mistake 😍

Social media is truly a cesspool. A lot of its worst outcomes were baked into the foundation. When platforms are built to maximize engagement and watch time at any cost, the algorithm doesn’t care if it’s feeding you cute dog videos or a pipeline into misogyny and extremism. It just cares that you stay. And outrage, fear, and radical content keep people watching longer than nuance ever will. That’s why we end up with clickbait/ragebait.

And we also end up with systems that can reward the most infuriating voices while claiming oh it’s just free speech. People get pulled down rabbit holes because the algorithm keeps handing them more extreme versions of whatever held their attention last (hi, it’s me, going into deep dives about the craziest stuff at 3am). Not every rabbit hole is true or beneficial either. But especially women and marginalized people get buried in harassment because abuse drives engagement too. This is what happens when growth and profit are the only real metrics 😭 all the other stuff like SAFETY are put on the back burner.

By the time the public starts being like heyy this ain’t right??? these platforms are too big and too profitable to meaningfully change. So we get stupid cosmetic fixes. Or new policies. Maybe some PR statements. A moderation tweak here, a safety feature there. Most of these companies pretend to do something until the publics attention moves on to something else. Meanwhile the people targeted by abuse are told to block, mute, and log off like that’s a solution. I’m sick of the victim blaming.

If you build algorithms optimized for attention at any costs, you get cruelty, extremism, and misinformation along with all the cute gardening or cat videos. It’s just all these in maximum capacity. I hate it here 😭

A story within a story of the endless cycle of violence and destruction of patriarchy portrayed as a fairy tale ghost story with pristine and engaging prose.

This is probably old news, but I came across an Italian artist named Piranesi in an architecture class and found out he actually served as some inspiration to Susanna Clarke!

Piranesi was famous for a series of engravings called ‘carceri d'invenzione’, or “imagined prisons” which feels so apt and fascinating and really adds to the atmosphere of the book for me. 🖤

Our next Special Event will celebrate Japanese literature, culture and its influence on the world. Like the sakura (cherry blossom) trees Japan gifts other nations to promote cross-cultural exchange, we hope reading these books together will connect the global Pagebound community. We've intentionally selected a broad range of genres and authors to spotlight, so everyone can find a book they're interested in. This event will run from March 15 to April 15.

Check out the Special Events page (in the More tab on the app, or click the pink banner on the Discuss page on web).

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura: a translated Japanese magical realism novel about a mysterious bookshop that appears during cherry blossom season (vibes: cozy, poignant)

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki: a metafictional novel about belonging & home, identity & immigration. Ozeki is the first practicing Zen Buddhist priest to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize (vibes: literary, meditative) - check triggers

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji: a 1987 translated Japanese murder mystery novel (vibes: a classic "whodunit")

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki: a memoir from Japan's most celebrated geisha in Kyoto's Gion district during the 1960s & 70s (the UK title is Geisha of Gion). Iwasaki was one of the geisha's interviewed by Arthur Golden for his book Memoirs of a Geisha that fictionalized her story. It included many inaccuracies, and here, Iwasaki sets the record straight.

What's a Special Event? Each quarter, we run a short 1 month readalong showcasing diverse voices in literature. Read one of the selections and comment or post in the forum during the Readalong to earn a special badge. Unlike Seasonal Readalongs, you do not earn a special badge for reading all the selections.

Excited to see the discussions for this event!

Happy Reading, Jennifer & Lucy