We have some product updates to share - please make sure you're on the latest app version to see them! Quick summary here, with more info below:

• Set your 2026 reading goal! See past/future goals in the app.
• Save on Pagebound Royalty with an annual subscription
• New way to support PB: Gift Royalty to any PB user for 3, 6, or 12 months (link in footer or visit https://support.pagebound.co/gift)
• New OP tag on comments when the Original Poster comments
• New ways to filter forum posts (see both posts + comments from people you follow)
• See badge names when editing the badges displayed on your profile

2026 Reading Challenge You can now set your goals for next year, and continue to edit and add to your 2025 yearly goal as normal. You can now view your past and future goals in the app by visiting the Reading Challenge screen and clicking the blue "All Challenges" link on the right below the progress bar.

PB Royalty Gifting + Annual Subscription In the Serviceberry spirit, we're offering a new way to support Pagebound and spread community love through gifting a Royalty subscription to a fellow Pagebound user. You can specify which user you'd like to gift a subscription to for 3, 6, or 12 months (or, send this link to loved ones asking what you want for the holidays!). 6 months includes 1 month free and 12 months includes 2 months free. For those considering joining Pagebound Royalty, we're excited to share an option to become a yearly supporter (at a discounted price of $100 for 12 months, so 2 months free)! This option is available through our payment provider Stripe to everyone on the web, and to iOS app users in the US. If you’re an iOS app user outside of the US, visit us on the web instead of signing up in-app to see this option (Apple requires us to use Apple in-app payments outside the US).

A huge thank you to all our Royalty members who make Pagebound possible; it's not cheap running the servers + software required to keep Pagebound going and our Royalty members ensure PB continues to exist for everyone.

Another huge thank you to all our readers here on Pagebound; 2025 was an incredible year, from public launching the Website in January after 4 months of beta testing, to releasing the app in October, to growing to 70k readers and seeing this community flourish and thrive - it has been SUCH a great year, and we couldn't be more grateful and proud of the Pagebound community. You all do so much to ensure PB stays the welcoming, diverse, discussion-centered, interesting place that it is. Cheers to you all!

Happy reading, Jennifer + Lucy

Absolutely loved the call to action at the end. Sure you enjoyed the concepts discussed in the book but what are you willing to do about it? How will you introduce a gift economy into your life?

”In a serviceberry economy, I accept the gift from the tree and then spread that gift around, with a dish of berries to my neighbor, who makes a pie to share with his friend, who feels so wealthy in food and friendship that he volunteers at the food pantry. You know how it goes. In contrast, if I were to buy a basket of berries in a market economy, the relationship ends with the exchange of money. Once I hand over my credit card, I have no further exchange with the clerk or the store. We’re done. I own these berries now and can do with them as I like. The clerk, the corporation, and I—the customer—have a strictly material transaction. There is no making of community, only a trading of commodities.”

during the 2024 hurricane season, my partner & i helped a lot of neighbors with clean-up after the storms. we sawed up fallen trees, hauled wood, raked yards, replanted/potted plants, pulled up plants that were too gone, cried over broken papaya trees with the woman next door. our whole block had no power or AC for a week, no internet for three weeks. all we could do was help each other

in exchange for helping, the neighbors brought all kinds of things: an entire crate of red bell peppers, a basket of onions, avocados & mangos from their trees, leftover nuts & seeds, bottles of wine or rum, & honey from their hives. some of the best food i ever made was in that house with produce from gardens & beehives just a few doors down. we always traded back - fresh eggs from our chickens back home, roasted pepper soup from their peppers, veggie scraps for compost.

i had lived there for months & nothing made me feel as much as part of a place as that street. waving to neighbors, trading, leaving gifts on each others porches. it just felt like something. i felt like someone & like a kid again. what started as a “thank you for helping” just because the norm after that. it was a gift to think of others, a gift to share, a gift to know the neighbors allergies & food preferences. it felt like kindness & spirit & good, every single time. this whole section just hit me so hard!!! to gift is to love is to care is to try is to be people!!!! it’s all love & community & extending that relationship towards our trees, seas, & skies just makes my heart feel all aglow!

A solution to this issue is already in the works! See the comment from lucyPagebound for a cool update 😊

Original post: I've noticed that posts that don't meet forum standards (for example because they're ephemeral like "Reading for my book club!" or lack context like "What?") are moderated mainly through downvotes without explanation, which feels a little passive aggressive to me and maybe discouraging or confusing for new users who haven't carefully read the guidelines.

Sometimes somebody explains the downvotes with a comment about forum standards, but I think it'd be better to have a consistent way to give feedback and deal with posts that should've been comments.

One solution could be to automatically delete posts that reach a certain threshold of downvotes, like -3, with a notification directing the user to a page explaining why their post was removed, reminding them of forum standards, and encouraging them to try again. This standardized message would help create clarity, cut down on conflict, and be easy to scale for a large number of users. And if a user's posts keep getting downvoted and removed from the forums, they can ask for more guidance in the Pagebound Club.

The downside is that some downvoted posts are interesting but upsetting to people who disagree with the sentiment. However, I love the positive vibe of Pagebound, so removing downvoted posts, even if they're interesting because they're contentious, would be fine by me. But I'm curious what other people think!

I was surprised not to see him here. I’d add The Call of the Wild