Whoa whoa whoa whooaaaaa "A political hobbyist debating the latest headline protest is 'no closer to engaging in politics than watching Sports Center is to playing football.'" WHOAAAA yes yes yes. I love this take. When I first got into organizing, I spent SO much time reading the news, terrible comments sections, and carousels that just made me spiral - and then bad-news-slime all over my friends. It impacted my ability to do my job and enjoy down time. Over the last year, I've really been trying to shift my outlook and feel it's made a huge difference. I love being able to name this now.

Lucy and I were going through the Roadmap today (for those that don't know, we have a public roadmap to show what we're working on - you can find it in the "more" menu on the app in the top left of the navbar, or linked in the footer on web) and realized we've had a few requests for quarter star ratings. We said we'd let the community weigh in and make a decision, but the feedback thus far has been split. So, we're opening up the convo now!

Should Pagebound have .25 star ratings?

Pros: You can get granular with your ratings, you decide if you want to use the quarter star system or not (if you don't like them, you can continue to use half stars), many folks have personal rating systems that involve quarter stars

Cons: Since we have sub-ratings on PB, there is additional cognitive load to rating things like plot and quality with quarter stars (we think only having quarter stars for overall rating would be confusing and look like a bug). It could potentially discourage people from adding sub ratings if they feel paralyzed by the granularity

Very curious to hear what you all think!

"On February 11, the military declares neutrality. The old regime is now officially gone. The revolution has succeeded in installing a new hard-line government. And we enter a strange new world."

In a novel like this, it's so much more interesting — and more realistic — to find out what characters think about historical events after they've experienced (and, potentially, been changed by) them, rather than for the characters to somehow tell us about the arc of history before it's even taken place. In fact, this book is at its worst in these textbook-like passages on Iranian history (the quotation above being the end of a much longer passage).

Why? Because not only do these parts of the novel completely lose sight of the characters, for pages at a time; they also, unwittingly, give the characters a deterministic pre-knowledge of history. To wit: there is no way for Homa to know, on February 11, that the old regime is "now officially gone" or that the "revolution has succeeded" in accomplishing anything. She couldn't have known this even if she had heard definitive news of the military decree on that date. That's doubtful given both the historical relationship between news media and the state in regime-change situations and the fact, as already established, that Homa intentionally doesn't keep up with current events out of fears for her own (and her family's) safety.

So while there are issues of historical accuracy to consider with these moments in the novel, what it really comes down to is believable character development. And unfortunately, the book's second half has taken a turn into conflating character development with recitations of history.

I’m trying to decide what symbols/colours to use for annotating because this feels like a reference text to support my hatred of gen AI, tech bros, and companies like Microsoft and OpenAI.

Any thoughts? So far I have:

• in the margin for allusion or reference to empire (should be busy with this one) ! For collective action • for any ‘100% agree’ moments

And different highlighters for: Narrative/ marketing, environment/climate / human cost.

I’m considering different colours for different companies so I can find references to specific instances of idiocy that relate to Microsoft or OpenAI but this feels like it might get old a bit quickly to me.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Hi PB! I'm looking to complete a summer reading bingo card from my local library. I've completed most squares, but of the handful I still have remaining, I'm looking for recommendations under one category: women's sports.

A little about my reading preferences that can help inform your recommendations:

• I tend to gravitate towards nonfiction more than fiction (but it's a 60-40 split so not by that much evidently).

• I'm a bit burnt out on memoirs, since most of the ones I've read this year have been underwhelming (but I would consider memoir recommendations if it truly left a major impact on you/your perspective of the world).

• Of fiction, I don't really reach for romance or smut (no judgement to those who do, just not my jam).

Thanks in advance for any recommendations you have for me!

Hello. I hope it's okay if I ask for non-fiction reccs for myself here. I don't normally read it. I've read revolting prostitutes, gender queer, bad Indians book club, disfigured, the invisible women, care work, enemy feminists, against technoableism, hood feminism, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen, future is disables, white tears/brown scars, you look like a thing and I love you. I normally don't like memoirs because they're written by people who aren't authors and editing is expensive I guess.

Generally speaking, women are more likely to have reading as a hobby than men. Why do you think that is? I know we've also (at least in the US) seen a flip where college graduates are more likely to be women. It definitely has something to do with how women and men are socialized, how early education is treated, etc. I don't think men and boys are out here getting shamed for having reading as a hobby- but maybe they are?

After finishing this book, I was reminded of a couple of movies I watched over the last few years and I wanted to share them because they explore similar themes.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. "Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble." If I remember correctly it takes place in 2022.

Cutting Through Rocks directed by Sara Khaki, Mohammad Reza Eyni. "37-year-old Sara Shahverdi, a motorcycle riding, land owning, former midwife-turned-fierce citizen advocate and recent divorcée, just won a landslide local election in her remote Iranian village and everyone has an opinion about it." This one is a documentary. Sara Shahverdi is one of the Iranian lion women.

The works above focus more on women and their fight for their rights, while the one below focus more on the brutality of Iranian prisons and its consequences.

It Was Just an Accident directed by Jafar Panahi. "An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor."

Have you watched any of the movies I mentioned? Do you have any other recommendations like these ones?