So I feel really new in the reading department. It’s been years since I read a book until January this year. Now, I feel a little lost on what I like and what I don’t so I’ve been trying a little bit of different genre, it seems that I’m enjoying romance the most. Please leve me some recs of your favorite romance books, the ones you couldn’t stop reading and you would definitely reread! Tia 💜

In addition to all the wonderful things so far, I most appreciate how digestible this is. Some epics are far too lofty and I get bogged down in sorting out the world instead of just enjoying the story; not the case here. And I don't mean that in a negative "this is simplistic" way, I mean it in a "this is so engaging and helping me devour it".

can this man talk about anything but how he's so upset because katniss doesn't love him back like they haven't had a conversation about ANYTHING ELSE since probably the first book. GIVE MY GIRL A BREAK AND MAYBE FORM A PROPER CONNECTION WITH HER AND *THEN* SHE MIGHT START TO LIKE YOU??????

Hello y'all! I just wanted to create a post where we could all talk about our favorite local bookstores and gush over them! You can talk about why you love them, give out recommendations, etc. I'll start with saying that I love Powell's and Book with Pictures out here in Portland, OR. I specifically love the Powell's location in Downtown Portland because of how big it is (4 floors!!!) and how the bookstore is organized. I find it very easy to navigate and I always feel like I've done a full workout once I leave. I love Book with Pictures because it's a comic store that caters very specifically to queer, BIPOC, disabled and neurodivergent folks. It's queer and woman-owned and I just feel incredibly safe there as a trans hispanic person. Also, it's BEAUTIFUL inside! I haven't visited yet but I plan on visiting Parallel Worlds, too. It's a fantasy and sci-fi bookstore (and some horror I hear 👀) with used and new books. I'm hoping to visit this year for my birthday.

It's honestly really gross reading about a 15-year-old boy staring at naked women. I am disturbed.

So I recently finished a book and it got me thinking about implicit biases quite a bit. When the protagonist of the books was described a bit later in the books, I flinched a little disappointed because I instinctively didn't like the way the protagonist looked which is to say that she was a larger and curvy woman and then I caught myself because why the fuck was I disappointed? Oh right because larger bodies have never been seen as protagonist material and since when you're a kid you've just been taught to be disappointed in larger bodies. I'm not large. I'm skinny and that allows me to be more privileged compared to other people because of how the society is structured and I still have body issues and I wish I was taught body neutrality at a younger age so I could see bodies as they were and not immediately try to gauge their worth because of how they look. This bias has been ingrained in me (by my own family) and if I didn't know that I was biased, I would have missed out on so many good books. It's not a bad thing to have biases. As a human being, you are bound to have some because of many factors. The question is if you try to move past them. If you actively try to fight them. Once you do, you're gonna open yourself to so many amazing media and literature! So for context, I recently finished Hemlock & Silver and I quite liked it! It could have been about a 100 pages shorter because I felt like there was some exposition but overall a solid book. And in case anyone is interested in what body neutrality is (which I find works better for me than body positivity because I can't be positive all the time); it's when you focus on what your body does for you instead of how it looks. You don't love your arms because they look a certain way, you love it because it allows you to hug your friend. Your love your belly because it allows you to eat and store delicious food and you love your legs because you can walk to your favourite gym. Things like that!

Today there will be an event where R.F. Kuang will be chatting about Katabasis and other things. The event can be viewed online, which is what I am planning to do! This online watching is based on donation and all you have to do is to sign up. Couple of weeks ago someone had mentioned this book festival here in the forum (the original post), and last week I watched V.E. Schwab's event. So, here I am doing a community service for anyone who would be interested. The link to the book festival's website is here.