Hey y'all! Just wanted to pop back in and thank you for all the love for this quest. I've already started seeing those Champion badges pop up in my feed! Since I know so many of us already have a deep love for Southern Gothic, I figured it would be a good idea to create a space where we can recommend some of our favorites that may not be featured on this quest. Keep in mind since this is a side quest, no additional titles will be added. But that doesn't mean we can't find some new items for our TBR! So, what are your favorite contemporary Southern Gothic titles?

Hello, friends! 👋🏻

What is everyone reading? Any weekend plans?

Drop a string of emojis, gif, or photo below that best represents your current read and/or your weekend vibes 🤩

So, this is just a book about a self-obsessed man who had bit off more than he can chew? I'm bored.

Hello all! I just wanted to put together a little post to thank you all for the wonderful words of appreciation I've already received in the short time since the quest launched. This quest has been a goal of mine since I became a member of the recently-sunsetted Top Contributor program and I recently found the time to put together a series of titles that I feel provides a good overview of the subgenre and it's main themes. Additionally, I wanted to provide a bit of context for those who may be unfamiliar with the subgenre or are wondering why certain titles were excluded from the list.

Southern Gothic is a genre that takes the traditional elements of Gothic literature and sets them in the American South. Much like it's predecessor, it is characterized by an exploration of the macabre, the grotesque, and the deeply flawed aspects of human nature. It differs primarily from traditional Gothic literature in the way that it replaces what are often external supernatural threats (ghosts, monsters, etc.) with the internal human horrors of social injustice, racism, and violence in the region following reconstruction. The intention is to critique Southern politeness, hospitality, and gentility by revealing the racial and social hypocracy under the surface.

While Southern Gothic focuses on the American South, the definition of this region can vary signficiantly depending on the time frame, variables like culture and politics, and who's doing the defining. For the purposes this quest, the definition being used is the one set by the U.S. Census Bureau, which includes the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Although Southern Gothic got its start in the 20th-century, this quest is focused more on the resurgence of Southern Gothic in contemporary literature, hence why you won't find any Flannery O’Connor or William Faulkner here. While Southern Gothic has a rich tradition, contemporary writers have reinvented and revitalized the genre, exploring its themes in new and unique ways and with characters written by authors whose own lives and experiences inform their creation, and it's these perspectives I wanted to place front and center.

I hope you all have a wonderful time exploring the good, bad, and the ugly encapsulated in the genre and find a new favorite among the titles.

Happy reading!

Hello! I'm looking for recommendations for books about friendship. I've had a look through some lists but there aren't a huge amount.

This has been inspired by me reflecting on my long term friendships, and how you navigate the difficulties of people moving away, marriage and children, and just becoming different from the friends you remembered as children and teens. And how sometimes old friends can remind you of the person you used to be!

So I'm particularly looking for adult stories about how friendships change over a lifetime. Mixed gender friendships (that don't evolve into romance!) I'd be particularly interested in as well. They can be about one friendship or a group.

The book that immediately comes to mind for me on friendship is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (one of the most incredible portrayals of the relationship between two girls).

I'm really keen to hear your suggestions, if anyone wants to share :)

Oh no! Pagebound has had a glitch and all your My Taste books have been replaced with the exact opposite. What (up to 5) books would be displayed to show who you aren’t as a reader? These aren’t necessarily your least favorites, but books that are the opposite of who you are as a reader. Books you would not be found reading because it’s not to your taste.

My Anti-Taste

• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Shining by Stephen King
• Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton