Is there a tea blend that comforts you? A self•regulating technique? Do you limit how much you read at a time? Any insights appreciated.

I’m on my third very-helpful-but-also-heavy-book this year that puts personal lived experiences into words, which I am highly motivated to read. Still, it is a lot to process each time. What is the magic herb that helps 🍵😮‍💨🍃🫖🫂

ETA--Thanks for all of the comments; I've been preparing for a Board meeting, which I'll be in all day today, but I'll be reading through all of the responses. It is fun to get to know more about each of you in the community here!

I have a hypothesis that people who really like reading--enough to be in a community like this and to read a wide variety of books--were not only encouraged to read growing up but had a fair amount of latitude in what they read.

My mother didn't read very much but my father read all the time and the house was full of books. A little of everything, though mostly SF/F/H. We had everything from the Narnia books to LotR to very adult-oriented horror books. It was all open to me and my parents never policed my reading, so I read a bit of every type of book we had going back to at least 3rd or 4th grade.

I'm curious about the rest of you. Not necessarily a no-boundaries childhood when it came to reading, but whether you felt like books were encouraged and you were mostly given the freedom to explore them on your own.

The other day, we laughed a lot with @mom.is.a.geek because she discovered the expression "to bust a nut" while reading Razorblade Tears. And it's true that as a non-native english speaker, I sometimes find myself discovering new expressions while reading, that i can't really translate literally in French. And I find this fascinating! 😌

Expressions and idioms are all uniquely related to each language, culture and history, and it's crazy to think how many different ways we have of describing something abstract using images and concepts, sometimes varying depending in which region of your country you live in. Pagebound is a wonderful international community with Boundlings coming from all around the world. We all have a ton of different idioms we use in various situations.

So tell me, what are your favourite expressions/idioms in your language and how do you use it ? 🤭

For me, French has a loooot of very funny expressions, but one of my favourite would be (sorry it's a little bit vulgar lol) : "il n'y a pas à tortiller du cul pour chier droit" meaning literally "no need to wiggle your ass to shit straight". You basically use this to say that you don't have to do things in a complicated way when there is an easy solution 😅

It was so good!!! I haven’t been to the movies in over 6 years so I was really looking forward to it. I have nothing to add that wasn’t already said when it first released but I’m just happy it was adapted so well.

i can usually tell when i’m not going to get along with a book right off the bat (be it the writing style, the content, the characters, etc.), but my partner often encourages me to keep reading to see if i’ll like things more because historically, i struggle with expositions and as a new reader, if i’m not hooked within the first page or two, well…

so, when do you dnf a book? when is too early to dnf a book?

i find it basically impossible to make it halfway through a book if i’m already trudging my feet one chapter in. maybe i need to work on this, or maybe life isn’t that serious 😭

i have been STRUGGLING to work on my creative nonfiction synthesis essay for my final honors portfolio project. it may just be cuz i’m so close to graduating my brain isn’t willing to touch anything getting me closer, but it’s been so hard to sit and write, well, anything, even though i’ve really enjoyed tackling the very meta question of “why do i write?” usually reading poetry helps, but that wasn’t really getting me anywhere. i finally stumbled on the interstellar soundtrack today, and BOOM felt like i could write twenty pages. specifically, i’ve been loving “Cornfield Chase,” “Where We’re Going,” and “S.T.A.Y.” do any of you have music or something that helps get the juices flowing again or unsticks your brain a little bit?