Having made a shelf specifically for books I think my cat would like, I'm now curious about everybody else's pets on here! Based on his tv viewing behaviors, I think my cat would love horror, true crime, and thrillers.

Also, obligatory pic for y'all (his name is Goose!):

FRIENDS. Fitzcarraldo Editions (indie publisher based in London) is running a 30%-off sale on their website from now till the end of the month! The physical copies are so beautiful (but more expensive than most paperbacks) and I've had a few on my wishlist for a while. was wondering if anyone had any favourites?

on my list: Flights or House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir Minor Detail by Adania Shibli Morning and Evening by Jon Fosse

In the age of social media, it’s way too easy to grab a book just because everyone’s hyping it up. And honestly…sometimes I’ve ended up groaning more than reading.

Case in point: the book club I’m in’s last pick, Circe by Madeline Miller. Every single one of us had it on our TBR, yet we were fighting for our lives to get through it. Painful. Agonizing. Why did we do this to ourselves? Our text thread was basically a war zone of “are you struggling too?” I mean, half of us DNF’d, the rest forced our way to the end out of sheer stubbornness. Because…it had to get good, right?

So now I’m curious…be honest: what “masterpiece” did you force-read and still just…didn’t vibe with? Spill the tea. And why???

For our book club, we all figured we’re about the yearning, and spice life, and Circe was just out of our genre palate…🫣😬

Hello boundlings! Lately, I've been pondering the idea of what it means to be a reader in a community of readers (like Pagebound). Reading can be such a solitary activity and it is a joy to see how that activity can be used to bring people together. I think most of us here acknowledge that community is actively built and maintained; it is a place where we can connect, support, and uplift each other. However, I do wonder if bookish spaces (especially online) can become over-relied upon.

I think there is a lot of room for misinterpretation here, so let me outline what I am specifically referring to: As more users join PB, I feel I see more club posts along the lines of "which of these five books should I read next," "should I do this," "should I do that," and so on (with no other information, and no one truly engaging with each other---they could be Instagram polls, essentially). I find a lot of these posts disconcerting because they often read as though the user isn't looking for advice, but rather explicit decision-making by others. I feel like this defeats the purpose of being in a reading community, but also of being a reader in the first place. Reading is such a major channel for autonomy, intentionality, and expression---I feel like those things are taken away when relying on others to make every decision about one's reading journey. (To be clear, I'm not referring to advice/rec posts in general, nor any specific users/posts. Just a prevailing trend.)

I don't want to seem like I'm trying to tell people how to act in a community space---that is not my intention. If this posts comes off that way, please let me know and I will reevaluate my words.

Ultimately, my questions are,

• How do you feel about these types of posts? (Am I reading too much into them?)
• What does reading, as part of a community, look like to you?
• How did you find confidence in your decision-making as a reader?

I do know it takes time and experience to develop this aforementioned confidence; perhaps these posts are a new way of doing that in the age of technology. I'd love to know your thoughts.

hey gang 👋🏻 not sure if this has been done before but i'm going ahead anyway because i've been feeling really down as of late about all that's been going on in my work / the world / online space. everything feels very disheartening and bleak (jeez sorry for the negative turn)

BUT! just wanted everyone here to share 3 things that you're grateful for this year / month / week. anything counts 😊 so that we can all count our blessings and realise that there are still things to be appreciative of 🌸 i'll go first!

the three things i'm grateful for are:

1. had a two days off work because of the festive szn last week so i managed to get some much needed rest + tons of reading done
2. managed to smash a tough workout
3. finding out about PB(!!!)

Do you keep a book/reading journal or some physical log of what you've read/reading/want to read?

I have a page in my bullet journal for my favorite book of each month which I love but it doesn't feel like enough. So I'm wondering for those who do keep a physical record, what sort of spreads do you have?

tell me about your day, your current read, how you’re feeling, etc! sending you each love and warmth and cosy energy 💌🌻🫂 always