What's the one book you are enthusiastic about, but you never found anyone else who read it, even though you'd love to nerd out about it?

i know it’s early days and i’m only 11% in, but i’m already really enjoying this??? 🙂‍↕️ the descriptions are so vivid without dragging, and the writing has that warm, easy rhythm. characters pop right away, even the side ones. big cozy vibes without feeling slow. loving the sensory detail and the “start over” energy. excited to see where it goes from here. ☕️

"When he'd been a boy Martín had feared the monster that dwelled under his bed...Martín had the nagging suspicion that as a child his cousin had feared nothing, and that she feared nothing now."

This is a really interesting thing to hear from an antagonist. Also slay Casiopea.

I find myself guilty of using the sometimes annoying phrase, “The book is so much better”. What are some of your favorite book to movie adaptations of all time? Any that you feel were even better than the book or just as good? Any movies weren’t as good as the book, but still really good? Any that you were looking forward to but extremely disappointed with? One that comes to mind for me is “The Giver”. It was one of my favorite books growing up, and the movie was so disappointing.

“You did not rescue me,” Casiopea replied. “I opened that chest. Besides, I wasn’t a princess in a tower. I knew I’d get away one way or another, and I was not waiting for a god to liberate me. That would have been both silly and unlikely.”

What. A. Spitfire 😻

For all the readers who like a bit of background noise while they read, do you have any recommendations for AI-Free YouTube channels?

I like to put on something with soft music or white noise to help me focus but it feels like it's getting harder to find non-AI content 😮‍💨

I found this channel called Cocorrina. She has a lot of videos that are perfect for autumn/spooky season and she makes all the art for her videos by hand 💖

If you have a favorite non-AI channel or even just a non-AI video that you keep going back to, please share ✨

I almost replied to a post in a book forum that I'd rated a certain cozy fantasy book 10/10 on the 'Mom scale' before I realized no one would really understand what I meant. This is merely when I think whether my mother will like it. However, I do sort of fill out an imaginary quadrant graph on various axes like--

• Does it have a happy ending?
• Does it have positive relationships, perhaps an "it takes a village" type of storyline, or supportive side characters?
• Are there cute animals?

If it has those things, she'll probably like it. I must proceed with caution, however, if:

• It starts somewhere a bit dark and dreary
• There's graphic violence
• Depressing real-world topics are discussed with intensity, especially if they're not overcome
• An animal dies

Taking these points into consideration, I've found books I knew my mother would love, sometimes even when I merely 'liked' them. It gave me a lot of joy how much she loved them, and it gave us a point to connect even if she thinks I mostly read grim, depressing stuff.

Does anyone else have a personal system like this for rating or categorizing books, separate of your own enjoyment of them?

You can post your own bookish hot take down below. Please remember to be kind and respectful while doing so 👏🏻

My bookish hot take: Is it just me or is almost every fantasy novel har deadly trials/competitions… ballroom scene in the middle of it…?

Is it too soon to hate Martín?

Has anyone else looked at the reviews of a book you didn't quite enjoy to see that the only high ratings were from people who got ARCs?

Like, everyone else (who read the book after release day) has an average 3 star or lower rating on it, but the ARC readers have it at 4.5 - 5 stars? Does anyone else think that's weird or is it just me?

I'm all for rating books objectively, and I know that different people have different tastes, but I do find it odd when I'm reading through reviews and the only people rating a book well are those with "Thanks to Netgalley for the e-ARC/ARC" tagged on the bottom.

I almost feel like ARC readers should have to disclose it's an ARC review early in the review - like people do with sponsored content.

PS: This came from me reading the reviews of some of the books I finished this year to see what other people were thinking.