I'm getting more into annotating my books [books I own. Not library books] while I read. I don't need any tips but I am looking for like recommendations for good pens that write smooth and won't bleed through or smudge, highlighters that don't bleed or run out fast, sticky notes [or good pens for the transparent sticky notes because so many smudge], etc.

My current pen is the Sharpie S-Gel 0.7 I love them but they can bleed through a little and sometimes they do skip.

I have so many different highlighters and the main issue I have is that they run out so fast, but the ones that don't fade fast usually bleed through. I need a good balance.

The only pens I've found that work on the transparent sticky notes are BIC intensity ultra fine point but the dry time for them can be so finicky.

Any other recs for annotating are welcome too.

Hi~ I'm asking this because in many years of tracking my books I've almost never used the tbr section,but I'm starting to wonder if that wouldn't be way more practical than just staring longingly at my shelves whenever I'm considering to start a book. So,the questions are: -Do you only put books you own physically in the tbr,or also those you still have to get a hold on or that you are planning to read digitally? -Does actually having a full tbr list ruin the magic of scanning the shelves? Because that would be kind of...meh

Hi all!

I’ve been thinking about the kind of books I like and what I tend to rate 5 stars, and the themes (or I suppose maybe tropes is a better word?) that seem to come up surprisingly often in the books I love. I’ve noticed some of them are very specific, and wondered if anyone else has very specific things you enjoy reading about in books.

My top specific topics are:

• Books about Tea
• Creepy Sentient Forests
• Female Rage or Revenge in a fantasy/academic setting
• Books Featuring Tarot Cards (or similar, but especially if magic is linked to them)

Also if you have any recommendations please let me know, especially if it fits more than one of the topics.

as someone who loves animals and pets, but don't have one because of where i live, would you give/have you given your pet a name from a book character?

inspired by @teebee comment on a book forum lol

What's the longest line you've ever encountered? I just remembered this banger from Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, lol:

'Once I'm an owl, what is the spell or antidote for turning me back into myself?' Mr Muhammad Sufyan, prop. Shaandaar Café and landlord of the rooming-house above, mentor to the variegated, transient and particoloured inhabitants of both, seen-it-all type, least doctrinaire of hajis and most unashamed of VCR addicts, ex-schoolteacher, self-taught in classical texts of many cultures, dismissed from post in Dhaka owing to cultural differences with certain generals in the old days when Bangladesh was merely an East Wing, and therefore, in his own words, 'not so much an immig as an emig runt' — this last a good-natured allusion to his lack of inches, for though he was a wide man, thick of arm and waist, he stood no more than sixty-one inches off the ground, blinked in his bedroom doorway, awakened by Jumpy Joshi's urgent midnight knock, polished his half-rimmed spectacles on the edge of Bengali-style kurta (drawstrings tied at the neck in a neat bow), squeezed lids tightly shut open shut over myopic eyes, replaced glasses, opened eyes, stroked moustacheless hennaed beard, sucked teeth, and responded to the now-indisputable horns on the brow of the shivering fellow whom Jumpy, like the cat, appeared to have dragged in, with the above impromptu quip, stolen, with commendable mental alacrity for one aroused from his slumbers, from Lucius Apuleius of Madaura, Moroccan priest, AD 120-180 approx., colonial of an earlier Empire, a person who denied the accusation of having bewitched a rich widow yet confessed, somewhat perversely, that at an early stage in his career he had been transformed, by witchcraft, into (not an owl, but) an ass.

Pagebound. I need your help. I’m looking for a book I read years ago as a teenager. What I remember: • It’s about 4 teenagers, I think 2b, 2g, that end up in the same holiday resort with their families. • They are all born on 29 February. • A bull god/ Mithras is involved. • Gingko Biloba trees play an important role. • It’s YA. • I read it in Dutch but I think it’s originally an English book. I’m pretty sure one of the boys is called Harvey.

This book always stuck with me so I would like to reread it. Does anyone have any clue? 😅

Is it recommended to read The Hobbit before reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Do you have a book that you’ve been eyeing, but haven’t followed through on reading?

Drop a book you’re considering reading and let others reply with a gif that matches that book’s vibes/mood/theme - spoiler free though!

Maybe you’ll get some extra motivation to read it, or maybe you’ll get that sign that it’s not for you!

Happy reading, Boundlings! Wishing everyone a lovely upcoming weekend 🩷☀️🌿

So something I noticed is that a lot of people whose careers are focused on book reviews and discussion don't end up getting high recognition for the books they've written themselves

The most recent example is Cindy Pham whose debut got a mostly negative response

Which I find really interesting considering Cindy's videos do a decent job at dissecting bad writing (even though to me at least Cindy focuses too much on line to line critiques than the full book overall, but I only watch their videos time to time)

And then I remembered book/writing creators like Jenna Moreci (I found one channel that dissed her book in like 6 seperate hour long videos) and others also get mostly mid receptions of their own books

In my opinion, I think that while the skill of dissecting someone's writing is still connected to the act of writing itself, it is still a seperate skill, and doesn't mean one is automatically good at both, but people think it does so they write a book regardless of their skill level

And I'm not trying to say that "content creators can't write books" because xjz wrote iron widow and is a youtuber and I've seen a lot of love for iron widow

I just think that people who percieve themselves as skilled in a thing don't always know how weak their skills are

What do you all think?

I'm really bored with this book now. I'll finish it because it's short and I'm already this far in, but I really don't care what happens to this fictional woman.

I also get the impression that the author is using this book to criticize ways of life that she doesn't like.