am i a horrible heartless evil person with no morals or compassion for anyone if i soft-dnf this book because its boring …. ? /hj

I get a little sad and envious when I see that people can read like 120+ books a year, and I can manage 12 if I try reaaaaaally hard.

I can't get any of the seasonal badges because reading that many books in that amount of time is impossible for me.

Any tips to not be so sad about it? I'm not looking for tips to read faster, honestly I've tried everything under the sun and I'm pretty much as fast as I'm ever going to get.

I'd definitely like to follow more people who self-identify as a slow reader, so I don't feel so alone 🥺 I'm definitely the slowest reader I know and it gets lonely down here 😭

I've been swamped with school yet my nose is always stuffed in a book and I'm always reading something.

It occurred to me, reading is a constant in my life and something I couldn't consider NOT doing.

Why do you read?

One thing I keep saying that I love about PB is how longer, more thoughtful, and “high effort” posts are encouraged and appreciated by the community as a whole! I can’t recall any other place on the internet where I’ve seen such a widespread appreciation for the time, effort, and insight people put into their posts and the things they share, and it feels like not only is there the space for that kind of thing here, but that it’s integral to the foundation of the platform as a whole.

I thought I’d put together a thread for people to share their favorite “high-effort” posts and give them some additional love! I’d love for everyone to share 1-3 of their own posts they worked on, and 3 (or more!) posts from other people they appreciated for the insights someone else had to add. Note that for your own posts, please don’t feel like you can’t share if you didn’t spend 12 hours writing out a huge essay review or something; “high-effort” is relative, and honestly I think the best judge of these things is always going to be yourself. If it’s a forum post, review, comment, etc in which you worked harder on or put in more effort than normal, I want to see it!

[Note also that I use the term “high-effort” here not to disparage any other type of post (i love jokes n memes as much as anyone else!), but as a quick and convenient way to encompass posts that 1) clearly took a lot of time and effort to put together, 2) made you think and examine angles you hadn’t previously considered, 3) offered valuable insight and discussion, 4) any combination of the above. If anyone can think of an easier/catchier term to encompass posts like this, I’m all ears hahaha]

Here are my offerings to the class:

+Mad Sisters of Esi review: I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to articulate my thoughts about this book, and I’m glad that I ended up writing a review for myself to look back on and remember just how the book made me feel! (no spoilers)

+Starving Saints forum post: An analysis of some themes in the book which took me a lot of time to think through and get my thoughts all organized. It was a great exercise for me personally to work on expressing how the narrative was impactful to me (final thoughts post)

+Blood Over Bright Haven forum post: An attempt at a more technical breakdown/analysis of the opening chapter, from a writing/craft perspective. This kind of thing is my bread and butter but I don’t normally take so much time to sit down and write it up all organized-like, so it was a fun challenge for me! (no spoilers past chapter 1)

+“What are your favorite stylistic/rhetorical devices?” Club discussion post - by @mythos: Really great and insightful and interesting topic, I’m honestly sad that it didn’t get more attention because this is just the kind of thing I love to pick apart when I read! @mythos is clearly super knowledgeable and it was a delight reading about rhetorical techniques i’d never heard of in the comments

+Interview With the Vampire review - by @farron: Not only is this a stellar review of the book itself, but it’s an awesome analysis of how Anne Rice’s life, experiences, and values shaped the narrative and storytelling choices. I’m always going to appreciate such a holistic perspective when it comes to considering a book or text! (no spoilers)

+The Goblin Emperor review - by @kateesreads: In just two paragraphs, @kateesreads paints such a vivid picture of not only the book itself, but also the technique and craft behind the scaffolding of the narrative. Love the analysis in this review, no notes, it’s such a great look at a book and everything that makes it so subtly unique. (no spoilers)

Pls go forth and share your own self-shoutouts and others-shoutouts! I'm keen to see what I might have missed!