(UPDATE: I've spent most of my life living in ghettos. I know exactly what ghettos are. I'm using that word intentionally here. Do not come in here and police my language about a life experience you know nothing about.)

I have waited for Hemlock and Silver through 153 checkouts.

I was 2nd in line for the longest time. Longer than I thought was actually possible.

I was FINALLY 1st in line. Then someone unsuspended their hold and I went back to 2nd in line!

This is ridiculous. If this is supposed to stop books from bouncing around so much and get them to people who actually want to read them, I obviously can't know how well this change is accomplishing that objective. I'm not a librarian. But what I can say is this new system has made it impossible to know, with any degree of reliability, how long you're going to wait to read books with long waits. I kept myself on hold from checking out more audiobooks because this book was supposed to come in imminently. It's pissing me off.

READ THE DAMN BOOK AND GET OUT OF THE LINE!

I’m not talking problematic, I’m talking PETTY. Like, “I know it’s stupid, but I’m dying on this hill anyway,” level of petty. I’ll go first…

Typically I’m all for an author getting their bag for their intellectual property. But in this case, I won’t read 'The Witcher' series, and it’s because the author pretty much dissed gaming as an art form, then got the Polish government involved to force CD Projekt Red (game devs of The Witcher series) to renegotiate his contract because he chose to sell his IP in the gaming sector for an immediate payout over taking a royalties check. He didn’t believe the game series would come to anything, didn’t believe that gaming was a serious art form, then cried when he noticed how much money the devs made (as well as the exposure it created for his book series) and threatened litigation for $16 million.

So I refuse to read his books or watch the show. In fact, I think it’s kinda hilarious that the Netflix writers don’t respect his material in the same way he didn’t respect gaming. I consider it karmic payback.

You can find out the full scope if you look up YongYea on YouTube. The videos span from 5-6 years ago. And yeah… that’s my Petty Betty book moment. What's yours?

Readers of Brandon Sanderson, what would you say is a good starting point for someone who hasn’t read any of his books?

I would love to know what books yall think are excellent examples of showing over telling and what books you think do an exorbatant amount of telling over showing. I want to do a compare and contrast project of my own based on these recommendations

I've seen a lot of critiques on books that seem to always come down to the whole "this author does a lot of telling, not showing" argument.

Now, I think a lot of people take this stance and run with it to an extreme a lot because any sort of telling is often seen as something negative within a story when in reality depending on what/how/why an author is writing their story, some things NEED to be told directly to the audience. There are smoother ways to go about telling an audience certain things but telling is not a sign of a poorly written book. Telling and showing are tools that can be used at the author's discretion in whatever way is best to tell their story.

So I wanted to see what others think are excellent examples of using these tools and which ones are not. This should be interesting!

Suggest me some beginner friendly Standalone Fantasy books!! I want to explore this genre too. But I don't want to start with long series like SJM's . Need some easy going recommendation 🥹

the cozy vibes are there but i don't know if i like the protagonist yet😔im much more invested in the plant, he is too funny. And also, this book is making me want to move to a small town

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…?

The most recent one I've had was a lady who turned the very large book section at a Goodwill near me into a dressing room. She was there with her teenage daughter, and they had clothes hanging all over the bookshelves with their cart in the middle of the walkway so no one could get through.

What behavior bothers you while you're book shopping? What are some of the worst examples you've seen in real life?

After finishing the seven year slip I’ve decided I love a chef MMC, so if yall have any other rom coms where he is a chef I’d love it if you’d drop them 🥹🧑‍🍳

Hey everyone! Right now I'm reading "Replaceable You" by Mary Roach. Each chapter is exploring different medical marvels and ways that we as humans have done sometimes cool and sometimes kooky things to our bodies. I love sharing quotes and details and I would love to get some discussion going, but I'm curious- do you guys think its worth tagging spoilers on nonfiction? Like, if I want to discuss Gaspare Tagliacozzi who is mentioned in Ch1, would you guys consider that a spoiler?

I lean towards not tagging them as spoilers, but I still want to be respectful of others.

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.

So I've never read any of T.Kingfisher's books before but I just added one of her books to my tbr and ofc had to look into the author before committing to reading it. I did come across concerns of T.Kingfisher being racist and anti-indigenous whereas others are saying she confronts racism and prejudice. So now I'm conflicted if I should give this author a green light or add her to my 🚩 list.

Side note: I tried posting this on one of her book forums, but a "something went wrong" message kept popping up. Is anyone else experiencing that in the forums? Or is it just an issue from my end?