Every once in a while I’ll go through some reviews of books I’ve read just to see what other people think. And something I’ve noticed is that there’s a good amount of people who don’t like slice of life moments or detours when they’re reading.

This got me thinking about the shift away from 20+ episode seasons on tv and the cutting of filler episodes.

I, for one, love slice of life moments in books and filler episodes are often some of my favorite episodes in tv. To me, some of the best character moments come from them. Not development, but moments. Something small that tells you these characters have lives beyond what we’re given as an audience. (Please. Some shows need more than 8 episodes, executives.)

So, is there a correlation? If you like little sidetracks in your books, do you also like filler episodes? Do you not like either? One but not the other? (I’m particularly interested in the why on this one)

I'm asking this purely out of curiosity. I tend to look up reviews after I've finished a book already because I want to know what other people think of it. I RARELY look up reviews beforehand; I don't want them to influence my impression of a book, since I know tastes are subjective. The only exception to this is monthly roundups people do of their reading, where they share little reviews of what they read throughout the month, but I think that's different since I'm not going out of my way to look up reviews of a specific book.

I'm interested in hearing why you read reviews!

I’ve tried liking audiobooks but it’s very hard for me to retain anything just from listening to the audiobook. I tried immersive reading (listening to an audiobook and following along with the book) but i find myself reading faster than the narrator 🥲 do you guys have any tips to make it any easier?