Let’s round up the first month of 2026!

What was your January: • favourite books: • least favourite books: • total books read:

For February: • What are you planning to read ? • Are there any books releasing you're interested in? • do you have a reading goal for the month?

Bonus Questions for February: • Favourite Romance Book of all time? • Favourite Pancake Topping? • Favourite Lunar New Year Traditions?

There was a post like this going around tumblr a couple months back and it was really cool and interesting, so I thought the PB-community might enjoy it too - What are your favorite stilistic/rhetorical devices or even executions of literary themes? Do you have any specific examples of them being really well implemented? My favorite specific stylistic device by far is the hyperbaton, specifically in Latin and Ancient Greek, not in the simple sense of "inversion of word order" but rather of the separation of two gramatically connected words, e.g. "word [...] descriptive non-predicative adjective", because it (and any other use of a abnormal sentence structure) can be used to visually represent relations between the concepts behind the words or the characters and their feelings. I have some specific examples, but they would mostly be in Latin, but if someone is interested in knowing what they are, you're welcome to ask me, so then I can nerd out :) Otherwise, as I said, I simply enjoy interesting sentence structures, especially if they are meant to convey or visualise a message. Your turn :)

What do you guys think will be the big trends in publishing and reading over the next couple of years?

I'm particularly interested in any genre predictions you guys have. I feel like young adult readers will continue gravitating to romance and dark romance specifically and that publishing will continue to reflect that. It seems like genres like romance become extra popular during times of political and economic turmoil. People want some escapism. I feel dark romance especially plays into the fantasy that people are seeking while also addressing some of the stressors present in real life. Lately though, as we dive deeper into more turbulent times and more people become aware of the struggles afflicting the world globally, I have seen an increased interest in non fiction with historical or political science theming. People want an escape, but they also want to feel informed and like they are doing something about causes they care about. So while I do think romance will continue to be popular (romance will always be popular), I sense increased interest in these more grounded informative works.

Outside of genres, I also predict (hopefully) that reading will continue to get more popular. Lots of people are getting disillusioned by social media and are trying to find other ways to engage themselves. I've seen some people take to reading for that reason. That might be wishful thinking, though. I'll always want there to be more readers lol.

What are your predictions? Are you sensing any growing trends with your own reading?

When a life-sized blowup doll was delivered to 4 Bright Avenue, the courier hadn’t even gotten out of earshot before Zhao Yunlan roared in fury.

“Guo Changcheng, is that a head or a chamber pot on your neck?!”

Daqing gave the large doll a curious swat, eliciting an indecent moan from it.

I'M ACTUALLY WHEEZING FR THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY OH MY FUCKING GODKDKAJHSJDJ