I'm curious if anyone has any opinions or takes that are apparently sacrilege to everyone else? I find it annoying when I cant find an adult fantasy or sci-fi that doesn't have a lot or any romance/spice that also isn't the obvious popular choice that everyone is already talking about (if you have any recommendations PLEASE help me)

Okay let me start this by saying I KNOW not everyone audio book is narrated by both male and female. BUT... is it just me or does it give you the ick hearing a guy using a high pitch voice to read the females part and vice versa? Like I love audios.. but sometimes it just *shutters* ugh when I listen to them reading opposite roles!

After having a really good conversation with a coworker/friend it got me to thinking. Why do you read? Do you read to escape (that's me), for pure enjoyment (also me) or to better educate yourself/learn something new?

I used to rate books with ".25" and ".75" stars (especially on StoryGraph) but now in my opinion 3.25 can just be 3 stars and 3.75 can just 4 stars. And in pagebound i think its nice to not confuse myself with this bc here it's only .5! What do you think?

I personally keep a reading journal because I like being crafty and having a physical space to reflect on my reads and keep track of readathons. I will admit I can absolutely get behind month-to-month, though, if I get busy. What do you all think of reading journals? Do you like them? If you do use them, what kind of spreads do you make?

If you've read Babel or speak multiple languages you'll know what I mean, but how do folks feel about translation gaps? I think a good example of what I'm talking about is; when most East Asian languages, especially Japanese, are translated into English the sentences feel oddly clipped or a little too short. I think its just a feature of the two languages and its not a net negative, but I ALWAYS notice it. Im curious if people notice it also? If you do, how does it affect your reading experience? And if you read books in a Non-English language, does English have any similar quirks of translation that you think are interesting? (if you cant tell im a linguistics major)

I didn't know this was a possibility 🥲 I just got a notification that my library will be lowering their 30 book hold limit to 15. On the bright side, less wait time and more can enjoy titles sooner (according to them).

A recent forum post made me think of the topic of trigger warnings. Do you think they should exist?? I used to not think they should exist but have since changed my mind. If there is an unexpected action that could really upset people, aka rape or for me my line in the sand is animal cruelty, in a book that would not necessarily have it. Aka a romance novel. I think they should exist. If your reading a horror novel or a dark romance novel or a book about domestic violence that is marketed as such I don’t think they need them because that’s what is advertised Thoughts?

I personally keep a reading journal because I like being crafty and having a physical space to reflect on my reads and keep track of readathons. I will admit I can absolutely get behind month-to-month, though, if I get busy. What do you all think of reading journals? Do you like them? If you do use them, what kind of spreads do you make?

Just wondering... because these things are an epidemic in the publishing industry, but I've never seen anyone mention them. There are different types of matte covers. There are beautiful smooth ones, and then there are...the sticky ones, tacky feeling...dirt attracting, ugly. I don't know their official title or how to describe them properly, but they're so bad that I had to purchase clear, smooth archival quality book covers in multiple sizes to cover every bad matte book in my collection. I'm so disappointed when I receive one in the mail. It's to the point that I won't purchase a book anymore without verifying, in person, that it doesn't have one of these covers. If a book has one of these, I get the ebook. Please make them go away.

English was certainly a subject few people framed as their favorite during high school— and still quite some time afterwards— but it's also where a lot of readers got introduced to the wider world of novels. Whether it's as part of a curriculum (or of a limited selection for a book report), there were plenty of books to be read in those handful of years, and I'm curious as to which people maintain the most connection with. For myself as a proper class-wide novel, it would have to be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I've read it many times since those days, and will likely continue to do so. An incredible degree of foresight and creativity for something encroaching on a hundred years old, and something that still impresses me was able to make it into and be used effectively in a high school curriculum (though in various areas it *is* also a banned book). As for a more selective book, I had chosen to do a report on Ringworld by Larry Niven a year after Brave New World. Incredibly cool science fiction novel that I absolute devoured, alongside its subsequent sequels and prequels. I'd found it a surprisingly digestible series despite its age, but it still held such an incredible degree of wonder and separation from contemporary science fiction that I would read at the time. In hindsight, it really shows how amazing my English teachers were during those years, but also proves the importance of a guiding hand through literature in your youth— hence why I'm curious as to what other peoples' experience have been.

I'm curious what is people's thoughts on doing a TBR Roulette? Like I've thought of doing it to mix up my reading schedule but also I feel like it may not help since I fear I'll get a book that won't incentivize me to get back into reading more. Has anyone actually tried it before and have thoughts or if you haven't done it yet would you think you would enjoy it?

I made a post last night stating that, if you play video games that are extremely lore heavy and story-driven, it should count as reading. EDIT: I stated that they should count towards your reading goal here and I feel I should've explained what I meant better (sorry about that). I don't mean that in the sense that it should count like a physical book does (I'm not going to put the FFVII game in my Pagebound reading list), but in the sense that it should count that you have indeed read something this year. You have actively read something that forms a story and a plot. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm having a hard time trying to form the words to properly explain. This got people in a tizzy, saying it's not reading because it's not an actual book, or that "if that's the case, the movie I'm watching should count as reading if I use subtitles" (which... I mean you do READ subtitles but that's not what I meant). One person even went as far to say "reading only counts if it's words unhindered by pictures or motion and allows you to have analytical thoughts." How pretentious!! That's like saying reading comics or manga isn't reading (or that children don't actually read because their books have pictures). I think lore, story heavy, READING HEAVY video games should count as reading. I read more while playing Final Fantasy and Assassin's Creed last year than I did reading physical books. There are some games that required over 45 hours of just reading (that isn't the dialogue in cutscenes or tutorials). I believe it should count as reading. What do you all think? EDIT (2): I'm not saying spaces like Pagebound or Goodreads or anything like that should have a space for people to mark these things as "read" like you would a physical book. I'm more so saying that when we discuss people reading, I think we should allow writing-heavy, story-heavy games that have you read a big chunk in them be a part of the discussion of reading. Video games are not books, I know that, but if you are actively reading in order to take in the story of the game, should it not be counted that you read something? (Some people don't like reading novels, but we shouldn't say they don't read just because it isn't the conventional way we think of reading). I don't know if this is making any sense, it made better sense in my head, but it's hard for me to properly convey it in writing this way.

So, I've read/heard a few times that not everyone can see the scenes playing out in their heads while they read books and that it does not, in fact, seem like watching a movie being created reel by reel. I personally cannot read books without forming at least a vague outline of what the characters and the world look like. Honestly, I think majority of readers have some form of imaginary theatre going on while they read a book which makes me think that what I read/heard is untrue. But what better place to gain enlightenment than this wonderful guild of tree preservers? :D