steffigz
Just a "woman who reads" (totally borrowed that description from someone else, and I love it) Elder millennial trying to make it in the world In my horror-girlie era, but I'll try pretty much anything
4510 points
How to Be Eaten
Maria Adelmann
How to Be Eaten
Maria Adelmann
steffigz is interested in reading...
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My Dreadful Body
Egana Djabbarova
A dazzling debut novel about a young woman's vexed coming of age in a traditional Azerbaijani community in Russia, grappling under the weight of Muslim patriarchal norms and a debilitating neurological condition. The mysterious affliction leaves her unable to control her muscles, plagued by pain and speech disorders, defying diagnosis. Addressing each body part with the scrupulousness of a medical researcher, the narrator explores memories, traditions, and taboos related to her physical self. In the process, a woman once destined for the role of a beautiful marriageable daughter comes to be perceived as damaged goods. With verbal elegance and poetic power, Egana Djabbarova unveils a hidden world in which illness unexpectedly facilitates her liberation.
steffigz is interested in reading...
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The Marrow Thieves
Cherie Dimaline
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America's Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the "recruiters" who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing "factories."
steffigz is interested in reading...
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Black Sun
Rebecca Roanhorse
The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. A god will return When the earth and sky converge Under the black sun In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created a “brilliant world that shows the full panoply of human grace and depravity” (Ken Liu, award-winning author of The Grace of Kings). This epic adventure explores the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in this “absolutely tremendous” (S.A. Chakraborty, nationally bestselling author of The City of Brass) and most original series debut of the decade.
steffigz commented...
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Ok I'm an idiot...where did you find the badge?? I looked under Discover > Quests and didn't see it... Please help me! 😭
Our next Special Event Readalong celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day and related observances across the Americas, such as Day of Indigenous Resistance, and will run from October 12th to November 12th. Check out the Special Events page (in the hamburger menu on the app home page, or click the orange banner on the Discuss page on web) or scroll down to the bottom of this post for more details.
It’s also time for community-voted Quests, inspired by Lists! Every quarter, Royalty members can nominate 1 List (their own or any community List) that would make a great starting point for a Quest. Royalty members will receive a notification today with a link to a form to fill out by EOD September 23rd to nominate. The form will include context about what makes for a great Quest. Folks who join Royalty through September 23rd will receive an email with a link to the form. The entire Pagebound community will then have the opportunity to vote on which 3 nominated Lists will inspire Quests—look out for a future announcement when voting will start!
Book selections for the Indigenous Peoples' Day 2026 Readalong
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (horror) There There by Tommy Orange (literary) We Will Be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo (memoir, alternate title is We Will Not Be Saved) Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (fantasy) The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (scifi/dystopian)
What's a Special Event? Each quarter, we run a short 1 month readalong showcasing diverse voices in literature. Read one of the selections and comment or post in the forum during the Readalong to earn a special badge. Unlike Seasonal Readalongs, you do not earn a sparkly badge for reading all the selections.
Happy reading,
Jennifer & Lucy
steffigz entered a giveaway...
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Flatiron Books giveaway
Dead Beat
Leigh Bardugo
Hell is empty and all the devils are here… Alex Stern made it to hell and back more than once, but this time she left the door open behind her. Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex and her allies can hunt them, but it’s only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they’ll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex’s own blood. While she struggles to hold onto the dream of a future Yale once offered, Alex must contend with the machinations of a corrupt Lethe Board and a deadly vampire with his own connection to the societies. But for the first time in her life, she won’t have to face the fight alone. Dawes, Turner, Mercy, and even Tripp will have a role to play, none more so than Alex’s mentor Darlington, the golden boy who lived so long in her head, now back in the flesh and cursed with dangerous powers of his own. Hell itself is stalking the delegates of Lethe House, and they’re all about to learn that demons don’t play by human rules.
hardcover • 5 copies • US only
essiest started reading...
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Milkteeth
Caitlin Starling
From the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence comes a new, genre-bending supernatural horror about a vampire broodmother fighting against her own monstrous descent. Beatrice is a a vampire responsible for nursing newly made fledglings through the first years of their unlife. She nests in an abandoned, isolated warren of office space beneath her patron's skyscraper, raising two fractious Gorgeous—once a heartthrob, now to all appearances a living corpse—who longs for the return of the lover who made him immortal with all the fervor of a rebellious teen, and Fortunata, the scion of Beatrice's mistress, alien and ambitious in her desires. But when Beatrice decides to take on a third fledgling, the product of an attempted siring gone wrong, teetering between vampiric purity and ghoulish depravity, Beatrice finds herself strained to breaking between the societal and physical demands of her position, her own ravenous hunger, and an obsessive need to discover what’s happening to her—because her body is changing too, transforming her into something even more monstrous. She begins to crave the taste of flesh, something anathema to all vampires, and to swing between desperate hunger and vicious power. Desperate to master herself once more, Beatrice courts a mortal OBGYN who might be able to unravel the secrets of her unnatural anatomy. But soon their connection threatens the secrecy of her vampiric coven as well as the safety and development of her dependent nurslings… and the humans they stand to slaughter if left to their own devices.
steffigz is interested in reading...
4d
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good
Helene Tursten
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781641290111 Content: - An elderly lady has accommodation problems - An elderly lady on her travels - An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time - The antique dealer's death - An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home. Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way. Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
So I am a lover of pirates. This is a very specific hyperfixation of mine. One of the issues I tend to have is that I can't seem to find a pirate novel that interests me as much as I'd like it to, and always feels incredibly sanded at the edges. Black Sails remains the ultimate pirate media for me, and I have read Treasure Island (though I plan to reread soon because it's been a long time.)
This might be a longshot, but I'm looking for recs that deal with the following:
- I find a lot of the books I've been recommended are entirely too put together. Obviously pirates were people and people are nuanced, but there is a santized desire to 'Robin Hood'-ify pirates that I find narratively boring.
- I wish I could phrase this in any other way, so forgive me for being a bit blunt, but books about famous female pirates turn up the 'girl boss' dial to a thousand. I've not come across a lot of interesting explorations of gender in the historical fiction I've found. For context, I'm a nonbinary person who stays pretty androgynous if I can help it. Life for a female pirate was incredibly complex, and I find most novels I've been recommended largely ignore that.
It can be a little silly and fun--I'm a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean films--but I just want a story that doesn't seem to be afraid constantly that I might not adore their dashing pirate character.
Nettle & Bone
T. Kingfisher
This is my first Kingfisher’s book. I have sooooo many of her books in my TBR, but didn’t get to it before now. I knew from previous comments and reviews that those books would be quite a treat to read, but I couldn’t fathom how much. That writing is making me go through such a rollercoaster, as much from the story as from the writing. I just can’t stop… Having said that, I loved that quote, it had me stop and rewind a few times ahah… (listening to the audiobook)
« Then again, peasants and princesses all shit the same and have their courses the same, so I suppose it’s no surprise that babies all come out the same way too. Having thus accidentally anticipated a few centuries worth of revolutionary political thought, Mara got down to the business of boiling water and making tea. »
steffigz commented...
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So not to be that guy, and I mean this in the most courteous way possible but I think you mean etiquette? An edict is like a law, while etiquette is social norms and polite behavior... I too, want forum posts that are more than a quote - but I don't want the folks who post quotes without context or elaboration arrested...
In light of @smallbaggirl’s post 🔗here I thought it would be good to just have a general review of good habits/practices regarding posting in the forum to help make Pagebound a better space for everyone. My intention is not to bash anyone or call people out, simply to make this a place where we can all have better discussions about books. I love this community so much, and I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. @sharky_97 made a post while ago about making Pagebound more accessible, which I’ll link 🔗here and @HyacinthBlue made a post about the importance of alt text 🔗here. Those are two of the ways that we can make Pagebound a more welcoming place and have better discussions about books. It’s also important to remind ourselves of the 🔗PageboundGuide for the basics of forum etiquette, by our lovely community guides and founders J+L. Please share what you consider to be good etiquette so we can all contribute to meaningful conversations. I’ll update the list below as things come in!
- No repeat posts- posts saying the same thing as another post, instead comment on an already existing post! (For those wondering if they have to scroll the whole forum to check this, you don’t! You can search by keyword or sort by %.)
- Be aware of how to make PB more accessible 🔗here.
- Don’t use the forum for personal updates, like “reading this as an audiobook,” (unless you have meaningful to say about the narration.)
- Try to avoid purely reactionary posts like “OMG I CAN’T BELIVE X IS DEAD,” as that isn’t really fertile grounds for a discussion. Instead, try and say something like “X’s death is surprising because Y.”
- Already briefly mentioned, but, when possible, comment on posts don’t post a whole new post. This helps keep forums (for popular books in particular) from getting cluttered and also encourages more discussion.
- Make sure you’re posting something that can be discussed-leave something meaningful (see @ayzrules comment down below).
- Include chapter number and percentage from where you’re posting as well as title with context (“X’s reaction”) to help people navigate the forums.
- Instead of just a quote leave context or details about why that quote is important/striking as well as asking for other interpretations.
- Avoid spoilers for later in a book from where the post is in the comments of that post.
- Downvoting is not a disagree button- downvote (or flag) things that are harmful or don’t belong in the forum/contribute to discussion not unpopular opinions
steffigz is interested in reading...
4d
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good
Helene Tursten
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781641290111 Content: - An elderly lady has accommodation problems - An elderly lady on her travels - An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time - The antique dealer's death - An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home. Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way. Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
steffigz started reading...
4d
Two Can Play
Ali Hazelwood
Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her co-lead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, a.k.a. her arch-nemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her–and Viola has no idea why. When their bosses insist a wintery retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can’t think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you. But as the snow piles on, Viola discovers there’s more to Jesse than she knew, and heat builds in more ways than one.
