Looking to get people's thoughts on something regarding adding books to Pagebound. The directions are: "We only accept book entries. We do not accept box sets, fanfiction, bonus chapters, webtoons, scripts, single short stories/essays, magazines, etc. These entries will be deleted by the Librarians."

Regarding magazines - I'm interpreting this to mean magazines like Vogue, Time, Real Simple, etc. However, I subscribe to a lot of fiction magazines like Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Deadlands, Elastic, etc. In my view, these should be okay to add because they are essentially short story collections, but am curious to know what other people think?

There may be better words for these characters, but I'm thinking of side characters like:

• Caz in The Spellshop
• Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle
• Jiji in Kiki's Delivery Service
• Moggett in Sabriel

Or even pets like Old Dan and Little Ann in Where the Red Fern Grows.

Characters that are pets or something like familiars that you grow to like or become attached to over the course of a book. Who are some of your favorites? I enjoyed all of the above and they're the ones that came to mind when I was thinking about this (I finished The Spellshop not long ago, so Caz was an easy one).

I’ve been a bit of a crow over the last year. Collecting $2 books at the thrift store. Buying from local authors to support them. Catching quest books in Little Free Libraries 😍. I know it’s time to start putting books back into the cycle for others. Can I have some coaching from you all?

I’m thinking of keeping a maximum rule of 50 physical books. (I have around 80 right now and a super good library system to get any books in the future).

My brain just keeps getting caught up on which books I think I’ll re-read. I finished Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline. Some parts I didn’t enjoy and some were awesome. I’m having a “what if” I enjoy it even more the second time? What if I send it back out to the free little libraries and I forget I would want to re-read it someday.

Same with Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang it was so wild I want to reread it and yet because I know the whole plot already I might not. I’m just so dang proud of that first time Canadian author 😇

What books do you keep to re-read or just because you’re still being a big fan of them. How are you being ruthless yet considerate to yourself!?

edit: okay okay I just found this nifty tap counter on google and can confirm I have slightly more than 80 and by slightly I mean 125 total physical books! Eep!

Final edit: I have 8 books ready to go today to little free libraries & friends. I have a maybe shelf that are either to be re-read or head into the give away shelf. I have also made a shelf of books that are Pagebound quest books that I can pass along once done! Yayyy!! Thank you everyone

I normally never use bookmarks but I am rn so it got me wondering, what are you using as a bookmark right now? scrap paper, library receipt, gum wrapper, actual bookmark?

Currently I’m using a fortune from a Panda Express fortune cookie: Be gentle with yourself, you’re doing the best you can. 🫶🏼🫶🏼so cute. If I remember correctly I got it in the Denver Airport 2 years ago.

cheers, PB 5ever!

I've come to realise that there are a few books which have a cult-like following where these books are arguably polarizing but the side that loves the book is so enamoured with it that they simply do not engage in any comment made in fair criticism and you end up seeing -20 downvotes on posts that were making a fair assessment.

I was wondering if you have seen such books here too and why, in your opinion, they cause such reaction?

So I was listening to the Vampire knitting club the other day and then my pre-sleep thought was, does a vampire's hair grow once they are turned? Like what is they have a really bad haircut at the time? Can they only go shorter to fix it?

I got the idea from Mancarryingthing's youtube video called "I "love" the way we talk about books". It a 1 minute skit depicting two people talking about books and one of them always finds reasons why the other's reading is "not valid reading". In the end it is revealed that the "insufferable reader" archetype hasn't read a book in a very long time and is just regurgitating stuff he sees online. If you don't get the jist, just watch the video, it is really short and gets the point across way better.

So it got me thinking about how my reading habits wouldn't clarify as "valid reading" in the eye of a person like this. So far I got:

• While I like reading classics it isn't my main genre, so i would probably get called "performative" for even picking them up.
• Some classics I read were written by people who would get deemed "problematic" by modern standards (for being racist, sexist etc..). So for reading them I would also be probably called "problematic" despite not agreeing with any of their views and not supporting them financially either (cuz ykow they are dead).
• I started reading manga this year so that (depending on the type of insufferable reader) would get me called a "larper", since I have only gotten to the more popular titles or a "cheater" as I also add mangas to my reading challanges.
• Since my main genre is fantasy and sci fi and I like to read for fun some would also assume that I am too stupid to read "real literature".

Of course this is all good natured fun, remember to not take anything seriously that people like this say, as you can never do something that pleases everyone. Also don't go on booktwitter, its not worth it.

I've come across a lot of post that are just a quote and an image, like a meme or something and sometimes a sentence expressing the OP feelings and I really love that kind of posts. I think they're my favorite! 😂 I'm curious to know, what is your favorite kind of posts here on the Pagebound forums?

I've been thinking, it's pretty clear different months are for different genres/specific plot elements, aren't they? This is what I associate the different months with, curious to know whether we match or you have different associations. To be honest, I don't follow this to a t, actually, I stray away from it a lot, but if someone asked me to give them associations off the top of my head, this is what I would come up with.

January: Thrillers, especially ya thrillers, I don't have an explanation but the fact that When we were monsters by Jennifer Niven is set in January and that is the first thriller I ever read.

February: Books that make you cry. Angst season. Maybe with a bit of found family for comfort. Or classics. The two things actually don't have to cancel each other out. If you can recommend me a classic with sibling angst for February 2027 I will be very very grateful.

March: Something with a side of romance. Also, possibly comedic books. Especially comedic fantasy/romantacy.

April: Post-apocalyptic setting.

May: Coming of age stories. Also, does light academia exist as a novel setting as well as dark academia? Because in that case I feel it would fit May very well and I'd be definitely down to read something like that.

June: Obviously, books with LGBT+ characters. Any genre.

July/August: Can't decide which one is for high fantasy and which one is for summerween. On one end, July is a bit creepy, on the other August is closer to Halloween, so it feels more in tone with it.

September: Dark academia, back to school is hard enough, let's at least romanticise it a bit.

October: Horror, no explanations needed.

November: Short philosophy/philosophical books.

December: Anything Christmas themed obviously, romance, horror, fantasy. Doesn't matter. The Christmas theme is the constant.

Question for the people here, has life been the same as you initially planned it to be? Did life deviate from the major plans you initially had about it? Your dream career for which you worked really hard, dreamt really hard, are you still pursuing it or something else entirely? The vacation you always wanted to go to? Your dream partner, your dream house; anything that has been entirely different than you initially wanted it, good or bad. Please share it. Here is mine. I have always wanted to be a doctor, for years and years I have dreamt about it. There was no doubt that I would definitely become a doctor. But amidst entrance exams, competition, the dream seems to be blurring now, I might not become a doctor. That's heart breaking and sad and hard to cope with, but life throws at you what you didn't expect. Everyone goes through it, it will be okay.

Happy summer! Yesterday the library I work at officially began our summer reading program! We have a bunch of awesome programs for kids and two sets of bingo cards for adults!

I'm always curious about what other libraries are doing for their summer reading programs, so if you work at a library or are just an avid library user, let me know what exciting things your library is doing this summer!

hi all!! i was just making a forum post for the book Hunger by Roxane Gay, and i was struggling with if i should mark it as a spoiler or not. since there is not a set “plot” or anything, i was tempted to mark it as not a spoiler, but i didn’t want to ruin the book for anyone who may have seen it. does anyone have some insight on what counts as a spoiler? for example, in the post i made (i marked it as spoiler just in case) i discussed a specific part of the author’s life, a specific moment that she had and how it related to the rest of the book. to me, it didn’t seem like a spoiler since it really just related to everything she had already stated, but i would love to know what everyone else thinks!! sorry if this seems like a silly question or anything 😅

I’ve been wondering if picture books are too juvenile to count them as actual reading—I’m just messing around!

@ramiva has already made a post on it so I’m not gonna rehash what’s been said there about the whole “do x count?” post phenomena.

I wanna talk about the posts that are in similar vein to the aformentioned. People asking what their next reads should be.

Personally, when I’m stuck in a dilemma on what to read, I take time to narrow down what I’m currently in the mood for/what should be my priority right now. You’ve already narrowed five down, why not narrow it down to one?

People’s tastes are so subjective, and I feel like those posts are kinda inconsequential. Read what you like. Don’t like it? Pause and pick up the next book. That’s what I’ve always done.

I once commented on a post about AI use in book space. I mentioned self-disempowerment (I hope I’m remembering it correctly) in relation to it. It means what it says: people not trusting their own minds once they’ve handed it over to AI. Someone under that comment responded that it’s more or less the same with people coming here asking other people to pick their next reads.

There are definitely people who rely on AI to even pick their clothes, let alone books. PB discourages AI use and algorithms. So I feel people are trying other ways to seek advice/validation in other ways. By asking people to pick their next read or asking if x counts as reading.

I think it is a little alarming that people are unable to make such simple decisions as these, and it’s not me being cynical (I think?). I’ve seen more than two or three posts like this.

While I’m at it, I also wanna talk about the whole mood reading thing. Aren’t we all technically mood readers? Don’t we all pick what we want to read at any given moment as readers? I understand using in academic sense, like if you’re prioritizing studies all the time you can call yourself a mood reader if you don’t enjoy those. But to a person who reads a lot, that just means being a reader lol

Am I wrong? Do I sound very cynical and making a big deal out of a non-issue? I feel it is necessary to address small things like in a landscape where AI dominates (I’ve seen it in multiple trailers for new shows and magazine covers, people using it to draft texts and complete their school assignment. So I hope you understand my frustration).

Very ADHD of me to start two discussions at once, but I didn’t wanna make another post immediately after. I hope the baity title doesn’t backfire.

I know, I know, another book recommendation post.

But Boundlings are my favourite type of people and I’m in desperate need.

My absolute bestest friend in the entire world is getting married, his pre-wedding celebration will just be the two of us up a mountain chillaxing and I’m tasked with the itinerary.

Part of the celebration will be chilling by the fire with books and snacks at night but I want to surprise him with some books he might like.

So here’s what I know.

Has recently enjoyed Fourth Wing. Is currently making his way through ACOTAR. He loves a good magic system. Like most millennials, loved the series that shan’t be named as a kid. Also, loved the Mercy Thompson series. And I have a vague memory of Twilight but I’m less certain of that.

I feel like it would be super cool to find anything like these but with a gay couple as we’ve always predominately read books with straight relationships when we used to read together as teens 20 years ago 🥰

Please. Thank you. You’ll have my undying gratitude.

Hell any other ideas for chill and bookish things you can do up a mountain will also be appreciated.

I love book tracking apps, and have so many for different features I love in each but sometimes I feel like that has made reading less fun for me. Like the reading streaks/challenges, how many pages you read in a day etc. I feel like I've started thinking of it as a chore, like oh I have to read to maintain my streak, and sometimes I just close the book when I'm done for my set pages per day. But on the other hand I absolutely love tracking my reading and having all those stats is fun for me, it's just that has all this constant tracking made me read less and made it less fun for me? Would love to hear opinions on this if you've ever thought like that!

Does anyone have any tips for reading faster? I’m a slow reader but I want to start reading faster so I can read more books overall. Since coming onto this app, the amount of books I’ve read has definitely increased but my pace of reading hasn’t. I feel like I’m not reading quick enough especially when I see others who have already read 100+ or even 50+ books already! It’s so impressive and so I’ve been wondering, if you consider yourself a fast reader, how do you do it? Good time management? Skimming? Skipping pages? And how does your way of reading quickly affect your understanding of the book? Please let me know of any helpful tips!