Sooooo I've been having this really great discussion here with @JohnNickleback about what it is we look forward to most and love most in books.

For me, the absolute best part is the beginning. When I know very little or nothing, and everything is a new discovery, a first step, a new adventure! Nothing beats this feeling of something new and exciting just beginning and I crave it like I crave air. I'm also a lot like this in real life, so I think it just translates to books as well for me. Same goes for series, I love the start and get a bit bored in the middle and then the end can be exciting too. But nothing beats a great start!

On the other hand, @JohnNickleback instead loves to get into the details, the know how and how it's all working and being used. The thinking and theorizing of what can be done how and who can use it in what way. I find this exciting too, but not nearly as much as the beginning.

There is of course the end, the middle part, the grind, the slower parts where we get to breathe before the next thing etc. So many different parts of a book!

What is your favorite and why?🤔

Does it differ for you if it's a series? Is for example the middle book in a trilogy always your fave? Or maybe you prefer the actionable third?

So excited to see where people land and what is the most commonly loved part!!

(Side note, why is there a progress choice on posts in the club forum?🤔 Bug?)

I was recently reading The Priory of the Orange Tree and i was talking to one of my friends about. I was saying i thought it was really interesting and I thought that by all the elements included, he would enjoy it. He then said he might check it out since i said that, but when he was looking for the book he first saw it described as 'feminist Lord of the Rings'. We then got sidetracked and had a whole discussion about Tolkien and the society he lived in at the time of writing the books, but that is beside the point.

I got stuck in mind the idea or trend that is in describing some books by using others. I think it might have been a BookTok amplified phenomenon, which I did find interesting and fun at first, but also started to feel a bit irritated by it as time went on, because i found most, if not all, popular books being described as 'the cross between this book and this book with the emotional impact of this third book'.

I felt that having an actual description of the plot or characters might convince me more. Also, sometimes, when i see the books described through some titles, I am actually less likely to pick that book up, because I did not enjoy the one they are referencing, even if perhaps this book has a different writing style or story progression or characters I would enjoy much more.

So i was wondering what others think. Do you enjoy having that, so you can discover books more like your favourites, or do you also find that you are not the biggest fans of it?

I’m really enjoying the writing style of this book! There are so many little tense scenes that could go wrong that it makes it all super unpredictable. The short chapters are also extremely effective at making this feel like short windows in this mans life. I haven’t many horror novels (..maybe any..?) but if this is what the genre is like, I will definitely be checking out more!