Hi, so I've been trying to get into actually analysing books and picking up on underlying themes, symbolism, and deeper meanings instead of just reading for the plot.

Sometimes the themes are pretty obvious, but a lot of the times I struggle to collect my thoughts and put them into words in a way that feels accurate to the book, or even insightful enough. Usually, I just read a book, enjoy the vibes, know what happened, and know what I loved about it. That kind of thing. But I want to actually understand a book on a deeper level, if that makes sense.

I tried annotating, but I genuinely had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and I mostly ended up writing wattpad-level comments in the margins lmao.

Does anyone have any tips or methods or resources that helped them learn how to analyse books more deeply and like intentionally?

i just went to the bookstore and bought three books!!!!!!

💙“I Am Not Jessica Chen” By Ann Liang 🖤“The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer” By Michelle Hodkin 🤍“The Stranger” By Albert Camus

What are some books you’ve bought recently and are excited to read??? 👀

Hello all! What’s the last book you read out of your comfort zone? I read Ace of Spades for the pride challenge. I am NOT a thriller reader. I have nothing against the genre, but I’ve given it a fair shake and found it’s just not for me. However, I could not put this book down and inhaled it in one day! A lot of the themes and plot points were left unexplored, but I don’t care because I had SUCH FUN.

I followed it up with God of the Woods (which once again reminded me that thrillers are not my cup of tea bc everyone acted like it was a masterpiece and I enjoyed it, but could have taken it or left it).

Also also: im considering starting a new regular (maybe weekly or twice a month) with prompts about reading diversely (e.g. this question, but also more specific questions about different marginalized voices). Would anyone be interested in that?

I'm talking the ones you can't read in public because you can't stop laughing. Not the ones that made you snort or chuckle dryly. The ones that made you cry real tears and made it so you couldn't breathe.

I'm making a list and I want your very best gut busters.

Here are my contributions so far:

*Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh *Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison *The Humans by Matt Haig *Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim by David Sedaris

I'm reading The Obelisk Gate (the follow-up to The Fifth Season) right now and I actually really dislike the covers for this series and think they need better ones. I just don't like the style and I think they need something more badass. Looking at Jemisin's other works, I think The City We Became has such a great cover (but maybe I'm just less of a photo-realistic over gal)

Are there any book covers you think should be changed?

Someone on Threads said that they want to change the romance genre and make something different... They want to end their romance book with a tragedy or without a HEA. And listen, a piece of advice, if you don't like romance, that's fine, BUT be careful because you can end up messing up your own book and/or your book may not find its audience because of that bad decision. Also, THE ROMANTIC TRAGEDY GENRE EXISTS, WHAT DO YOU THINK ROMEO AND JULIET IS????????

by writers, i'm referring to anyone who may write for enjoyment- poetry, fiction, nonfic, substack, medium, or anything that's a lot of writing! not just published authors

i know there are a lot of posts here about splitting time between multiple hobbies, but i haven't yet seen one about writing and reading!

as a fellow writer/reader with little free time i tend to get obsessed with one or the other for a length of time (ranging for a week to half a year) and then flip flop. for instance i spent jan-aprilish on a reading kick and i was reading a solid 3-4 books per week because of my night reading... then i had an incredibly vivid dream that i created an entire book premise on, so i've been focusing on writing while i have momentum, but i would like to be a bit more varied in which how i spend my time because now i've been finishing barely a book a week 🥲

so my question is how do you split your time? do you block out specific times/switch after a certain amount of time? or are you insane like me and get obsessed randomly with one or the other? any feedback is greatly appreciated!!!

Personally I’m arc reading rn so I’m trying to get through at least 10% of my book(Thankyou kindle) per day. I find however that it’s quite difficult to read during a busy day.

Share your thoughts below!

I’m curious, how do you guys rate books? I know everyone is different and for some people 3 stars is super low and for others is above average.

For me: 5 is I absolutely ADORED it, maybe it’s not objectively perfect but it is perfect TO ME. 4 is amazing book, loved it. 3 is it was… good! A fine book. And then 2 is I didn’t enjoy it all that much.

I give a lot of books 3.5 because that’s like right between loved and just good. And I don’t think I’ve ever given a book a lower rating than a 2 because that would mean I absolutely hate it and honestly, I don’t think I hate most things. Some people are haters, I’m an enjoyer! I usually always find something I like.

This post is sort of.. twofold!! Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I haven't seen this pop up recently so I hope it's fine.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever picked up a book from a used book store and then been unable to find the next book in the series, or even another copy of the same book? Or, unable to find the other books by the author? If so, what book was it, what's your story about that?!

The next question is... how do you find obscure books? Thriftbooks was a bust... ebay has suuuper expensive shipping... do i just hope and send good vibes and manifest the book appearing?

So let me explain my story. I love used book stores and when we go camping/on roadtrips my family likes to stop at any we find on the way. Well I found my favourite... a mass market paperback fantasy from the 80s. It was called Songs from the Seashell Archives (banger title) and it was the first volume (if you follow me you might've seen me update a review) hehe. I love it. It's not the greatest book of all time but it was the perfect book to read in the summer. Well I wanted volume 2 and i'm like well i'm not gonna find this book anywhere, not the volumes (they combined books 1-2, etc). I ordered it on thriftbooks... just to get a 🤷🏻‍♀️ heres your money back bc we don't have that book On ebay its being sold for like... $8 which is fine except the shipping is +$20!!! I'm kind of getting obsessed now so I checked thriftbooks again and it's listed. So friends.... should I try to order on thriftbooks again? Should i let it be and search for this book in used book stores for the rest of my life?