What are your thoughts on people cutting a book slack for bad craft, storytelling, writing, etc. just because a book is YA.

I often see it in reviews (i.e. “The book is YA so I can forgive it for the choppy sentences, but…”) and it lowkey bothers me. To be transparent, I’m not the intended audience for YA (my frontal lobe is actually almost fully developed ☝️😌), but I feel like we shouldn’t forgive/accept issues in a book JUST because it’s for a younger audience?? Like, 12 to 18 year olds deserve good writing too?

I’m not saying that criticism or forgiveness about certain things because of the age range isn’t valid. Sometimes you want something to go deeper or darker but you forgive that the book doesn’t do those things because it’s YA. But when it comes to actual craft/writing and general storytelling, I feel that YA audiences should get quality books.

But maybe I just don’t understand something or am not aware of something? Idk 😅

I have noticed many questions in the forums about page and book goals. Today, I even saw a question about the possibility of Pagebound interfering with said goals (question was by Candle_thrill).

I got me thinking about what Pagebound has done to my reading. I am smashing my goal this year. This is not insignificant. My goal is huge compared to most people. I think the last time I checked, I was something like 33 books ahead of my goals pace. For someone who reads as much as I do already, it is a little astounding.

I have attributed this to a Pagebound Bump. Since I joined Pagebound my reading has skyrocketed. The mere act of writing about reading. Talking about reading. Has led to more reading. It has kept my brain super engaged and active when it comes to books. For the first time in years, I have actually been keeping on top of my ARCs because I want to get the review published and have comments in the forum. I hated Goodreads and almost never posted written reviews. Now I am using Pagebound's Plan page to ensure my ARCs are read on time.

Pagebound, in general, has led to a significant increase in my reading. It made me wonder if there was anyone else out there like me? I would be interested to hear from you whether Pagebound has led to more reading on your part. Has it impacted your enjoyment of reading? This is one area in which I can give Pagebound no credit. I have always loved reading. I will say that I have read a few books I would never have read without Pagebound, though.

Since I have been keeping data on my reading habits since 2001, I can actually see the numbers and know this year has been insane. How about you?

Today I finished my Baby Yoda amigurumi, and I just sat there thinking, “Wow… I’m really proud of myself.”

Eight months ago, I didn’t even know how to hold a crochet hook. I didn’t know how to make a magic ring. Seven months ago, I was disappointed because the things I made looked nothing like the photos. Six months ago, I was frustrated because I didn’t know how to sew things together properly. It’s funny because my father always told me to learn how to sew because one day I would need it, and I used to laugh.

I know this isn’t the bookish content you usually expect from me, but stay with me for a second.

When I was younger, I only read books in my native language, Greek. There weren’t many options, so eventually I switched to reading in English. At first, it was a disaster. The first book was so difficult. There were so many words I didn’t know, and sometimes things didn’t even make sense to me. But I kept going because I was too stubborn to quit.

And now? Maybe my English still isn’t perfect, and maybe there are still words I don’t know, but I genuinely love reading in English. I enjoy it so much.

So I guess the point of this post is: it doesn’t matter how frustrated you feel right now or how disappointed you are with your progress. Keep going.

One day, you’ll stop for a moment, look at something you created with your own hands, or realize how far you’ve come, and you’ll think, “Wow. I actually did that.”

And to be honest, you should already be proud of yourself now because you’re trying. That matters more than you think.

So keep practicing. Keep going. One day, you’ll look back and realize you made it.

I am talking a moment related to books that sent you to another dimension. Could be a good scene, a realization, anything.

I probably had mine a few minutes ago. I was doomscrolling Instagram (as one does when they need to rot their brain) and came across a video talking about Björn Anderson. It is a really sad story of how ones beauty can become a curse, I really recommend falling down that rabbit hole. Now the video mentioned the movie that drove him to fame "Death in Venice". I was like "wait that title seems familiar" and quickly scrolled trough my tbr and there it was, the book by Thomas Mann. I read the blurb and it looked very promising, it seems like a Lolita-esque story, to be honest, which really intrigued me. So yeah, thanks to radnom guy in instagram reels who pointed me to my next read.

One thing I am not fond of in the Murderbot series is how easy it is for Murderbot to hack and make machines do what it wants. It feels a little like a cheat code. Like Wells has somewhere to get with the story and the story can't be long so .....magic.....It's probably just a me thing.

So I was thinking about how some apps make us spend more time that we were planning on spending. Don't get me wrong, Pagebound is AWESOME (i am loving it here), it really encourages debates, book forums, recommendations and high quality content!!! So I really don't think Doomscrolling is a thing in this app. Still, I do think some people can end up their day feeling like "oh wow, I wanted to read more but i have ended up checking this site every hour instead of actually reading". Of course this is not the apps "fault", is just a pattern, a habit of that user. How do you feel about all of this? (And sorry for the typos hahaha).

Hello!

I really like the remix of a song called everything is romantic by charlie xcx. Its a song about falling in love again and again.

And everytime i hear that song I think of how much I love reading and how every good book makes me love reading even more. I am so happy that this community exists, a place dedicated to that love. Filled with so many nice people willing to discuss books. My favorite part of reading is the amount of creativity there is in the worlds that are being created.

Im really curious to know what you love the most about reading?

What do you do when you hit your reading goal before even half the year is over? Do you see this as an issue? Do you try to plan for a goal that is attainable but challenging enough that it’ll take most of the year to reach? Or do you just pick a goal that seems right and not worry about when you’ll hit it? Do you adjust your goal mid-year if you hit it early?

I tend to go through intense phases where I read a lot (as in, my last phase was about 7 months and I read 275 books) but when I’m not in a phase like that, I’ll read maybe 1-2 books a month. It’s difficult to predict at the beginning of the year whether I’ll read 30 books or 300 books. I want my goal to be challenging but not unattainable if I’m not in a reading phase.

So I’m curious about other people’s approach.

Hi Boundlings🪄

So far all of my friends here have different book taste than mine... (It's because I read too little and very surface level books) Do how do you guys find friends here? That has similar taste to yours?? 😫