So I recently just finished one book, and it has a follow up. But I also have a bunch of books that I've bought that I haven't read yet. So how do you all decide what your going to read next? Is it on feeling? Or do you base it off of how interested you are in a certain author? Genre? Subject? Ect.

I came on Pagebound to keep up with my new reading goals. But the thing is, i have way too much hobbies and only two hands. It's a real problem, as a person who really doesn't enjoy audio books, how am I supposed to read AND knit at the same time ??? Like I started a very cool and ambitious rabbit balaclava (yay) and I'm knitting all the time cause I really wanna get it finished soon, but it's soooo frustrating for me that i'm not able to read at the same time ! And i'm not talking about gaming, gardening, going out for exhibits ... Surely i'm not the only one ??? What are your hobbies and how do you keep up with everything ?

Storytel is a no-go. Cancelled my subscription not long ago due to their AI usage (ai author + some more) In my eyes, an app that allows such on it is a no.

Anyone have any other suggestions? 🙈

Inspired by a social post about "underrated books" that was just a list of popular or award winning books. What does underrated mean to you?

Is it just books that you haven't seen around much? Or do you take the time to actively search for people discussing that book? Do you only consider what's outside Tiktok underrated?

I find I see a lot of older books called underrated, even if they were very popular (and sometimes still are) at the time. But those books aren't talked about on Tiktok so does that make it underrated then? (To me, it doesn't.) It also annoys me how much algorithms shape our idea of what’s "rated" at all (though I'm VERY glad it's been encouraging more people to read). If a book isn’t fed to us through the algorithms, does it disappear from sight even if it’s well loved off those platforms?

I’m guess I'm curious if underrated needs or has qualifiers? Underrated by who and where? Underrated by mainstream readers, by awards, by sales, by algorithms? I know there's not really a correct answer here but that's why I'm asking for your takes!

Bonus question! What's an underrated book you love? When someone asks me for underrated books I go straight to indie authors (anyone else or is this just me?). A recent one I loved was the Clecanian series by Victoria Aveline!

I hope this wasn't asked before. I tried searching Hope and I didn't see anything related to what I want to ask.

Initially I wanted to ask if there are books you'd recommend with the vibe of the Good Place (I just finished a rewatch), but as I realise this might be too specific, I wonder if you have hopecore books recommendations. (Or hopepunk) Basically what it sounds like, books that give you hope. If the prompt with the Good Place helps in any way, I welcome those recommendations as well. Basically I want books that I can read when I feel down or hopeless and to remember that as long as we live we can try again and again and again and do better. I hope this makes sense. Looking forward to any recommendations!

PS: my first thought about this category would be Lord of the Rings but I've yet to read the books, sadly.