What books/movies have you seen that were anxiety-inducing?? For me, it was Jaws. Watching the movie, I just could not. I had this tight ball of anxiety like a dead weight on my chest. I’ve been to the ocean twice, and never went more than a few feet in, but I just could not.

Drop your answers in the comments!

Hihi!! I was wondering, what are your guys' thoughts on buddy reading? Have you tried it before? Did you enjoy it?

It's something I've been interested in, but I feel like the moments where I both have time to read and have the capacity to read are so random I don't want to put a friend through that haha.

I do really enjoy reading a friend's recommendation so I can discuss it with them after, I'm currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl after a trusted friend recommended it, and I love pestering her with rhetorical questions about the mysteries of the book.

my current reads have pretty quiet (in fact, silent) forums, so I'm reminiscing about other forums I've been in and enjoyed!

I actually found quite a few friends from the forums for The Idiot (Dostoevsky) and Vilette (Brontë) 💕 love bonding over pain and absolutely devastating books

it's also interesting how a popular forum will go through ups and downs in activity! not too long ago, I though Pride and Prejudice was bustling, but it's quieted down.

I'm curious, which forums do you remember being fun? 👀

I’m going to try and stop myself from ranting about this for too long but my god! When people find out I read a lot and enjoy reading, the response I usually get is “oh I haven’t read ten books in my whole life how do you do over a hundred a year?” Or “I haven’t picked up a book up since I was a kid” and I just think???? What? How can you take pride in aiding the statistics that suggest that we, as as a collective, are not as well-read as generations before? I get people live busy lives, but to take pride in just not picking up a book since you were a kid is a horrifying thought to me.

Edit - my GOD y’all came with such good arguments for and against this and all the discussions are so considerate and polite so thank you all for creating a safe place for people to share their opinions on this 🩷

Anyway, rant over 😭