Would you rather only read series or only read standalones?

People always ask, if you could read a book for the first time again what would it be? But what they don't ask is which book do you wish you never read? As in, it was so bad you could only hope to forget it ever existed.

I want to talk about popular/well-liked books that YOU personally hate (and why if you want)! I'm also curious to hear what books you refuse to pick up, no matter how popular/well-liked they are! Popular books I hate are: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (literally the most boring book I've read that I truly believe people only like because it makes them feel smart) Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (I can't even begin to explain how much I hated every moment reading this book -- everything from racism being a plot point despite it being about white people??? to the way grief is handled pisses me off) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (cishet white men need to stop writing stories about young girls and especially should not use a weird school-slave-roleplay plot point) The Troop by Nick Cutter (I refuse to believe that all young boys are perverted little creeps) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (This book made me realize anyone could write and get published 700+ pages of trash) Some popular books I will never pick up: ACOTAR/Any SJM book (I have not forgotten about using Breonna Taylor's death in a promo post) Fourth Wing/Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow 🍉 Anything by Nick Cutter but especially The Deep because I hated The Troop THAT much Anything Colleen Hoover because it has not and will never appeal to me personally The Love Hypothesis because I don't like Reylo nor romance Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo because it sounds overly edgy (lmao) No hate to anyone whose favorite book is listed above! Just because I don't like the book doesn't mean I don't like you!

When you rate a book, do you rate it based on how you liked it, or how good you think the book actually is by literary standards? One of the things I love most about Pagebound is the ability to break down the rating into separate categories. I particularly like the 'quality' and 'enjoyment' ratings. A lot of times, I dislike a book, but can also acknowledge that the book is very well written, I just didn't click with it. I tend to give books I dislike a bog standard 3 star, as to say i didn't like it but it wasn't a bad book. tbh I feel bad rating any book low because of how much work goes into writing a book and how creative authors are. Do you do the same? Or are y'all more brutal?

Do you ever read a BookTok rec just to be part of the convo, even if it’s not your vibe?

I want to talk about popular/well-liked books that YOU personally hate (and why if you want)! I'm also curious to hear what books you refuse to pick up, no matter how popular/well-liked they are! Popular books I hate are: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (literally the most boring book I've read that I truly believe people only like because it makes them feel smart) Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (I can't even begin to explain how much I hated every moment reading this book -- everything from racism being a plot point despite it being about white people??? to the way grief is handled pisses me off) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (cishet white men need to stop writing stories about young girls and especially should not use a weird school-slave-roleplay plot point) The Troop by Nick Cutter (I refuse to believe that all young boys are perverted little creeps) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (This book made me realize anyone could write and get published 700+ pages of trash) Some popular books I will never pick up: ACOTAR/Any SJM book (I have not forgotten about using Breonna Taylor's death in a promo post) Fourth Wing/Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow 🍉 Anything by Nick Cutter but especially The Deep because I hated The Troop THAT much Anything Colleen Hoover because it has not and will never appeal to me personally The Love Hypothesis because I don't like Reylo nor romance Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo because it sounds overly edgy (lmao) No hate to anyone whose favorite book is listed above! Just because I don't like the book doesn't mean I don't like you!

Are any of y'all fellow writers? I'm struggling to write my manuscript and even though I'm doing better than before (I've implemented a realistic goal forum to track milestones) I still find myself absolutely dragging sometimes when I'm faced with a blank page. Is there any advice you can give about how to get more comfortable with the intimidation of a blank page? And how to write without feeling like you're just rambling on? Its a first draft so I know its going to be messy but I just feel like Im not happy with any of the progress I've made.

I've been looking to follow more people, so curious about how everyone else does it! Do you have friends irl that you've invited here? Do you use the "% overlap"? Do you find folks you vibe with in the discussions and just add them? I've tried the "readers with similar taste" list in the Discover page, but because it suggests people based on them having at least one book similar to mine in the "My Taste" section, I think it works better for people who have fairly uniform taste in books (e.g. typically reading from one or two genres, which I don't) and also leans towards matching based on books that have been widely read by the Pagebound community.

Once I go on Pagebound, I spend SO MUCH time in here, that I have no time to doomscroll anymore LOL. It's great, but it also makes me think that I don't have enough lifetime to read all of the books T-T I love how much it motivates me to read tho and I started listening to audiobooks thanks to people's recommendations!

How many books have you read this month? What were your five-star/favorite reads? It's a slow month for me; I was in a reading slump the first half of the month and was busy with moving out of our apartment. I read 3 books in total: - The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (⭐⭐⭐⭐) - The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore (⭐⭐⭐) - The Dare by Elle Kennedy (⭐⭐⭐⭐) All great books, but my fave is The Dare. It's funny and cute at the same time. Special mention to my favorite discovery this month, too, Pagebound! If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't have been able to get out of my reading slump. ☺️

I haven't read any of his works yet, I tried but couldn't get into. But I often heard that his descriptions of women are very sexualised and one-dimensional. Do you think it is true ? Does it get better or worse with time ? Which are his books where it is less or not the case ?

How many books have you read this month? What were your five-star/favorite reads? It's a slow month for me; I was in a reading slump the first half of the month and was busy with moving out of our apartment. I read 3 books in total: - The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (⭐⭐⭐⭐) - The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore (⭐⭐⭐) - The Dare by Elle Kennedy (⭐⭐⭐⭐) All great books, but my fave is The Dare. It's funny and cute at the same time. Special mention to my favorite discovery this month, too, Pagebound! If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't have been able to get out of my reading slump. ☺️

For example, I'm obsessed with endpaper art and sprayed edges right now. Illustrated edges are also so beautiful. I just love these little details, I feel like they can make the book stand out!

I’m always curious what books people come back to, even though they already know exactly how everything ends. Is it for comfort? Nostalgia? A favourite character or vibe? Or maybe you discover something new each time? I’m someone who generally enjoys re-reading books, I think mostly for comfort reasons, but honestly… I’m not even sure why exactly. I just like going back to stories I already know, even if I already remember the plot, e.g. I’ve re-read Harry Potter and The Black Magician Trilogy more times than I can count. I first read both as a kid, so there’s definitely some nostalgia involved, but I also just love the characters and the world, and they’ve become real comfort reads for me. Do you re-read books often too? Or are you more of a one-and-done reader? And which stories do you find yourself going back to – and what makes them worth revisiting? 😊 (I’m thinking of making a little re-read TBR based on your answers 👀)