I was thinking about this today, cause it /really/ pisses me off. I find it insane how certain books/authors will literally use literally the most ridiculous workaround to portray raw, no condom, no nothing, sex in the main plotline

My worst example for this is love hypothesis, and before trashing the sex scene, I have to say i actually liked this book. So Adam and olive are making out and getting in the mood, AND THEY GET TO THAT PART WHERE HE'S LIKE, WAIT, I DON'T HAVE A CONDOM and instead of literally doing anything else olive turns around and tells him, SHE IS ON BIRTH CONTROL????? mind you, Olive is self proclaimed demisexual, and for a while outside of a relationship, an academic working for quote unquote inhumane hours, SHE DOES NOT HAVE AN ACTIVE SEX LIFE. Olive also doesn't have any forms of pcos or any other complications, her randomly being on birth control, WHEN IT IS NEVER MENTIONED BEFORE IN THE BOOK, is insane to me, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S ONLY THERE SO ADAM DOESN'T HAVE TO WEAR A CONDOM Edit: Bc my point for this came off wrong, I'm editing to say ik birth control has many uses, my main issue was that it felt as just an excuse for said unprotected sex to happen, which is the trope in intimacy scenes that I'm complaining about. The fact that there's no other basis for it and she just blurted it out was what irked me, not the fact that she might, hypothetically, take it. I have to mention here that's not the only just thrown there characteristic that I didn't enjoy in the book, as an aroace person I disliked how her demisexualness was explored and also just blurted it out, in the first few chapters, but that's a whole different matter. I just dont think it was nuanced or ernest

And it got me thinking, just how many romance books/eroticas pull strings like these to portray this fantasy Edit: I'm not shitting on ppl enjoying this trope, I mention later on I've had my run with it as well, just from the broad selection of spicy books I have encountered, I think its over glorified and way too common. To compare, just as I expect a book with bdsm elements to do it in a safe, consensual, not necessarily educational but good way, from a similar pov I find it frustrating that unprotected sex is often shown as more 'sexy' and has no reprecautions whatsoever, not maybe even a little mention. My main issue is sexual health, not conception

I think this is annoying especially in /way/ too much about having to wear one and the measures of protection from pregnancy fall only on the woman (my girls birth control isn't always effective). And that aside why are we glorifying std spreading? I can understand a scene where after a while they don't have one at hand and they use it as a "I need this so bad do whatever" but this is totally different

I'm not gonna say that books have to be a hundred percent textbook accurate cause some of these are just for fun too, but it's getting to a /point/ yk. Idk what's your opinion on this, do we like the rawdogging?

strong start! haven't had such strong character from a 3rd person POV in a while. takes such few words to establish tone. so efficient.

also im just gonna keep reading this name as yummyness

I guess it's sort of, do you adjust your expectations out of a book on the fly, or do you have a set bar that you expect your reads to come up to?

Depending on the genre or beginning vibes of a book I pick up, I usually find myself having to adjust to manage my own expectations. I noticed this recently when I started A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking blind, so I was initially thrown by how young the MC is at 14yo. It felt like I wore a business suit to a ren faire, so I took a few minutes (pages) to change out and wear more fitting clothes (our MC is a child and therefore doesn't come with a developed frontal lobe and that's not her fault and probably not the point of the story).

But I know there's also people who don't really care when they're overdressed or undressed to a party, so I thought well surely the same principle can apply to reading books. Especially with readalong books where we're usually pushed out of our comfort zones, do you try to adjust and fit in by changing your expectations out of a book? Or do you stick with something familiar and comforting and you know works (I need this character or this book to be xyz) in a place unfamiliar?

I don't know if I'm making sense lmao in my head it's like, well you're not gonna have as much fun in the ren faire if you're not dressed to fit. Like, you could still go obviously but also you could be setting yourself up for disappointment. Or it could be inconsequential. But like, in book experiences.

The challenge is to cultivate our inherent capacity for gift economies without the catalyst of catastrophe.

something i like about this book is that the author kind of predicts where we will have learned gift economics from & then gently pushes us past that every couple pages. the conversations in the forum will be like

•30%: i know gift economies from hurricane cleanup - forum post •35%: “we cannot wait for hurricanes to experience this” - author

this is just an example (of a post i both made & comments i saw in other posts) but it’s like that for lots of ideas over the course of the first 35%, at least for me. she seems to know where we will logically go & continues to gently say “but that’s not enough - why would we stop there” at every turn. just a really good handle on predicting the cultural touchstones & basics we will turn to next. really really cool

I read this book early last year and it does still stick with me. As an Indigenous person who is almost completely disconnected from the land (I belong to a landless band who gave up our land rights for government status and benefits) this book speaks to something deep inside. I wish I knew all of the things that my ancestors would have, and wish that my grandfather's mother hadn't stopped speaking "Old French" to my mother and her sisters. I wish that when I told my mother that I was taking language lessons to learn our language, she didn't look at me with complete bafflement and ask "But why? What's the use for that?"

With Christmas not too far off and me putting aside the books I'm planning to take with me when visiting family, I was reminded of last years holidays which were especially fun because one relative went on and on about how fantasy and sci-fi aren't real literature. This started when another relative gifted me some of Sally Rooney's books so I'd have "something real to read for a change" - they meant it jokingly but it nevertheless started a rant that continued over several days (the entire time we shared a house for the holidays).

I mostly ignored the ranting person, we don't really get along anyways, but we will be sharing a house again this year for a couple of days and I can already feel a continuation of the rant coming and I'm wondering if there's some way to convince them that books written by someone other than Kafka or Murakami can be impactful and that just because something is fantasy or sci-fi doesn't mean it's entirely divorced from reality.

Any of you ever deal with similar situations? How did you handle them? Did you ignore them or argue with them? What arguments did you use?

EDIT: Thanks to all you lovely people! All your kind (and petty) words have reminded me that this person just isn't worth my energy. So while I'll probably try to be nice, I'll most likely just go back to ignoring them and, if that doesn't work, I now have some very fun and petty ideas about what to do next 😄

Also thank you for wishing me nice holidays despite having to be around someone like that. Luckily, they will only be there for a few days and I'll have lots of time before and after to enjoy my holidays - with tons of "bad" books, good food and far better company. I hope you all also have lovely holidays 😘

Hello friends! Sorry to post on Australia time. To coincide with the the PB Winter Readalong, we will be reading The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter from December 2025 - February 2026. This is a collection of short stories based on fairy tales with a distinct emphasis on feminist themes through the lens of Gothic symbolism.

This is unofficial, I can't give you a sparkly badge for this, but let's pretend :)

Excited to delve into this with all of you!

My bookish hot take is that people informing you authors are terfs, Zionist, racist, etc. is not policing what you are reading. People are actively pointing out the harm these authors cause so you have that information and if you chose to continue to support the authors after receiving this information then you don’t get to say people are bullying you/being toxic when they are just pointing out the harm your favorite authors are causing. If you’re uncomfortable maybe do some self reflection and drop the problematic authors.

Hey, are there any fellow writers out here? (You count even if you have a work in progress!) ​I am trying to write a book. Here is my typical process: I get an idea, then I write it down, but then I feel like all the ideas in the world are stolen, and then I get stuck. ​ What should I do next? I would like some quick tips on how to overcome the feeling of "stolen ideas" or writer's block