I had a mini reading slump recently and haven't been very active on here. Making this post kind of feels like coming back to class as a kid after being gone for a while. My apologies, it's not personal I promise. Nothing on my shelf sounded interesting to me, at all. I thought I wanted to read Outlander (still do) and struggled to just pick it up. Then I thought maybe I'll read Razorblade Tears, same thing. I looked through all of the books I owned and there's a lot I really want to read, but just starting was causing paralysis. I think I was just really stressed with work, and tired, and all I could manage was figuring how to nourish my fiancé and I for the night and then lay down and zone out to whatever background noise I chose for the evening. Then this Saturday I had a really crappy moment with a loved one, and I was really upset, so my partner sent me on a book retail therapy to cheer me up, and I got two new books. One I started, The Book of Azrael. It's good so far, I'm not very far in, I'm still trying to pull myself out of my slump. I really like that the FMC is not the typical hero, but actually more like an anti-hero. Does bad things, for a good cause. I really like that trope. This just felt like a book that was similar to other comfort reads, one that I knew I'd likely enjoy, I knew what to expect while still getting those fun twists and turns, no one else in my face-to-face life has read it so I can take my time with it.

I've missed my PB community, I've missed updating and chatting and seeing my streak (which I lost, I'm very sad about it). Is anyone else feeling that spring stress? Or am I just an anomaly here?

I'm happy to be back, stay creepy lovelies! Crow

I want to confess that I've been downloading books since I got access to the internet for the first time. I grew up in a tiny town and we didn't have a lot of new books here even in the closest big city. And if I wanted to read something out of library stock I had to search for .txt files and read it on my mp3-player.

Now, there are so many things available to me: tons of bookshops, online shopping, huge libraries. Still I pirate some books because I don't think it's right to buy them if they aren't available in my local library. I mean mostly the books written by celebrities and rich people (or rather written by ghost writers for them): those people certainly don't need my £20 if they can afford tickets to Met Gala, for instance. I don't want to support them with my scarce money; I'd better support some indie author or charity. Also I buy physical copies of books that I pirated and loved because I want to thank the author.

So my question is: do you think it is ethical to pirate certain books? Textbooks, nonfiction, fiction, whatever?

I’m encouraging you this morning to be bold and take up space. Maybe that’s hard in real life so feel free to use this as a place to make space for yourself and shout what you maybe can’t about in person.

I can go first! 📢 Homeowners Associations (HOAs) suck and absolutely do not need to micromanage every little thing. I wish I could go tell mine this!!

Hello everyone... How r u all? I am kind of taking short breaks to come here. 😅 Anyways let's talk... It can be anything (books, life, philosophy, psychology,... 😅) even silly things like cats, dogs, toys, simple thoughts❤️

Happy Friday, fellow fiction fans!

Drop the first line or two of the book you're currently reading, and let fellow Boundlings try to guess the title and author. If no one gets it by the end of the day, come back and reveal the answer!

A few friendly guidelines: • Keep it to the first line or two only (no spoilers!) • Don’t include the title or author right away • Feel free to add a hint later if people get stuck

The other day, we laughed a lot with @mom.is.a.geek because she discovered the expression "to bust a nut" while reading Razorblade Tears. And it's true that as a non-native english speaker, I sometimes find myself discovering new expressions while reading, that i can't really translate literally in French. And I find this fascinating! 😌

Expressions and idioms are all uniquely related to each language, culture and history, and it's crazy to think how many different ways we have of describing something abstract using images and concepts, sometimes varying depending in which region of your country you live in. Pagebound is a wonderful international community with Boundlings coming from all around the world. We all have a ton of different idioms we use in various situations.

So tell me, what are your favourite expressions/idioms in your language and how do you use it ? 🤭

For me, French has a loooot of very funny expressions, but one of my favourite would be (sorry it's a little bit vulgar lol) : "il n'y a pas à tortiller du cul pour chier droit" meaning literally "no need to wiggle your ass to shit straight". You basically use this to say that you don't have to do things in a complicated way when there is an easy solution 😅

We're all here since we appreciate books, but since song lyrics are poetry, I was hoping to read and listen to some of your favourites.

This was prompted by the fact that I went to see City and Colour this weekend, and I cried listening to Against the Grain, unexpectedly.

you need not to climb mountain tops you need not to cross the sea you need not to find a cure for everything that makes you weak you need not to reach for the stars when life becomes so dark and when the wind does blow against the grain you must follow your heart you must follow your heart

all your friends have come and gone and the sun no longer shines and the happiness for which you long is washed away like an oceans tide when all the hard times outweigh the good and all your words are misunderstood when the day seems lost from the start you must follow your heart you must follow your heart

Dallas Green is a musician, but also a magician. It's a gift to be able to captivate an audience with only yourself and a single instrument. Acoustic sets from any artist are always something special. 🩷

Edit: I'm saving the thread so I can listen to the music from every post as I have the time. Please keep sharing and thank you 🫶

This question came to me whilst I was reading so I immediately had to type it out 😂 I thought this would be a fun question for today..

What is a book/series that everyone hyped up, but you didn’t enjoy?

For me personally it had to be the acotar series. I enjoyed the first two books, but then it went downhill from there for me. I hate to say it but I preferred the series when Rhysand and Feyre weren’t a couple 🫣 I came for Lucien Vanserra, and I stayed for Lucien Vanserra.

The story was just boring for me after the first two books, ESPECIALLY Acosf. I heard so many good things about Feyre and Rhysand, but I hated their relationship. They just irked me out, I didn’t even like them as individual characters either. I probably won’t continue with the series because it will mean having to reread all 5 previous books and I’m not going through acosf again 😩

it’s may, we’re far enough into the year that i think this is a fine question: any trends in topics/genres in your reading so far this year? rabbit holes you’ve gone down? consistent themes you’ve noticed yourself going for? was thinking about this and i’d love to hear!