Hi everyone! Maybe you already know this, but I thought I'd share anyway. Sooooo, long story short: my dear Kobo Glo, after almost 13 years of honourable service, passed away a couple of weeks ago (RIP 🪦). So I decided to buy a Kobo Clara BW (much better than the Clara Colour in my opinion), and once I got it, I set up the device. There's this function called Instapaper, which is basically a browser extension and mobile app that lets you save online articles in an offline and reading-friendly format (super helpful for students!). Kobo has it integrated into its system, so I decided to sign in for this feature even though my studying days are long gone. Then I had a stroke of genius: I went to AO3 on my phone, opened a fanfic, and saved it to Instapaper. GUYS. I only had to let my Kobo sync via Wi-Fi and... boom! Just like magic, the fanfic was right there on my Kobo, ready to be enjoyed on e-ink paper and ComfortLight ✨ No download and via-cable transfer needed, this is a game changer!

I don't know if I'll like this book, but damn if I didn't love that author's note!!

"As their collective power grew, ours diminished"

"I was unlocking kinks and unpacking traumas, studying how to communicate my wants and needs, redefining my standards for intimacy and partnership"

"Romance gave me a cipher with which I could finally decide my psyche. I was learning to trust myself for the first time. Reading romance made me feel strong, capable, and in control."

It's sad to see how every time that something is delicate, sensible, introspective, and overall apparently more feminine associated is suddenly regarded as minor, not that important, superficial, empty. I don't know if they realized, but not only women are actual people and represent half of the world, but there are a lot more ways to be a person that fits beyond a categorical variable culturally defined. What's more, those categories are not real, they don't belong to a gender or the other one, it's not a battle.

We should have the right to, scratch that, we all deserve the right to grow up in a healthy environment that doesn't encourage only certain norms to have control over the rest of people (read here women and marginalized people). Reading the books we want, whatever the reason, but always respecting, appreciating diversity, establishing consent as the real only norm we should have.

Of course not all romance is deep, and well-written and profound, and of course we don't have to search for a meaning beyond all the time. But reading is political. And hot news, learning to rest and enjoy "silly" things giving actual time and space to our brains to stop living in an over-consuming and fast-paced world full of disasters, corruption, violence..., is political too. Having the ability to get bored, to enjoy fun light romances, or whatever genre you enjoy most is necessary. As it's necessary to read actual messages hidden behind beautiful stories.

Romance books should not be seen as a minor genre. Love and romance, the transformations that those topics elicit have been in literature for all the ffffing history of humankind. Why should we see those genres, the pleasure that give us, the knowledge that they bring us for our bodies, our wishes, our journeys, our minds like a bad thing.

That being said, I realize now that I've overthought too much (redundant, I know) and I should stop although I have more things to say xd. It's just today is my thesis defense and I tried the book looking for a quick distraction but it made me emotional instead 😅 don't mind me. I'll go hide in my bed xd

i kinda hate that all he thinks about is sex basically it’s not charming 😭 i was relieved at the beginning when there was no narrative comments about the PR manager, but just immediately was disappointed when he is completely objectifying maple :( anyone else?

Does it make me a bad person if I care more about the the octopus than I do Cameron…

I’ve done a variety of different styles(?) of buddy reads here, and I was wondering which one people like best. The first one is just everyone starts at the same time and reads at their own pace. Then there’s everyone starts at the same time and reads a certain section by a certain date before continuing on to the next section. The third way I’ve done it is day by day you see how much the other person can/wants to read and read that much. What do people prefer? I’ve also done buddy reads with one person and with a whole kinda-large group, so does your preference change with the size of the buddy read?