i'm someone who loves reading physically but whenever i'm a little bored with what's going on, i skim for "just a few pages!" to see what's next and then suddenly i'm at the end of the book and i've spoiled the ending for myself. this most recently happened with Sunrise On The Reaping and House of Earth and Blood. but i don't mark those books as finished cause i technically didn't read the whole thing, and then for some reason i want to skip ahead and reread my favorite parts even though... if i actually read the book i'll be rereading them anyway?!?!? which in turn makes my reading process 2-3x longer

this has been a bad reading habit of mine for years, so it'll be pretty damn hard to break, but i'm determined to- i'm so tired of spoiling books for myself 😫 one thing i've noticed is that i won't do this for audiobooks cuz it's too annoying, but i like reading & listening. i have tried immersive reading but my eyes want to read faster than the narrator and there is no one speed that works for me. i have the same skipping problem with ebooks too. i've also tried reading while doing something with my hands (like playing with putty) which does help a lot, but my family makes fun of me for it...

has anyone else had this issue and broken free of it? i'm desperate, i will try anything!

edit: adding that i am ADHD-inattentive because that might help contextualize it a little bit.

What would you consider to be pausing a book? And when do you usually pause/continue?

There's a book I'm currently reading which I'm enjoying, but I'm reading it so slowly I wonder if perhaps it's not the right time for me to read it.

Ok, I hate half naked men on book covers and it can stop me from reading books if I’m not fully invested into the thing. So I wanted to know what is the thing that makes you cringe so much it makes the book a hard pass and you won’t even look at it ?

I’m reading the Game Changers series so I had to ask as I cringe every time I turn my kindle on and see that cover

I have a theoretical question for my fellow gamer bookworms. What book would you like to play as a videogame? I've been reading the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, and it made me think... Damn it would be an awesome rpg. If it were something similar to Baldur's Gate 3 or South of Midnight I would pass away. I love to dream about this sometimes haha. I'm curious what y'all would love as a game. ✨

I tried searching the club for a post like this first so I apologize if I missed it. But there are librarians in here so... Why might a library might have volumes 1 and 3-5 of a manga but not have volume 2!? like not that it's checked out, they just don't have it. I understand why they might only have volume 1, or like the first couple volumes and no further, but missing volume 2 is weird right??? How is anyone supposed to check out volumes 3-5 if there is no volume 2!? And on that note, why would a library have like, volume 19 and 22 only. It just seems strange to me idk lol. Is it because of requests???? I don't normally look for manga at the library bc i just read them online or buy the physical copy from a bookstore, but I thought I'd check and I noticed that the list of volumes available for some of the manga they have were weird so thats why I'm asking lol. Edit: and if its an ebook version, it wouldn't be due to damage or loss right!? 😅

I am so sick of books masquerading as enemies-to-lovers just because it sells. I know these tropes are just a marketing tactic at this point, but are there books out there that actually keep it alive? For reference, I mean something like The Cruel Prince or even something as lighthearted as You Deserve Each Other. Please try to avoid books that are overtly spicy in nature. Thanks!

Ok so I got recommended a Subnautica (had no idea what it was) playthrough video on yt and it was soooo cool 😎 question here is, do y’all have any recs for books about deep sea creatures or the existence/exploration of many species that live at different sea levels?

I don’t mind fiction or non-fiction books!! As a kid I used to be so fascinated with the deep sea 🌊 I did get this bbc documentary book from a charity shop about different oceans and stuff so I might pick it up again but wondering about how known the deep sea genre is in general 🫣

Just was thinking about this today. Do you y’all count your graphic novels in your total book count for the year? Curious about others’ opinions.

i was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for books they feel like would be similar to the movies produced by studio ghibli?

i don't read a lot of traditional fantasy, but ponyo and spirited away are two of my favorite & most memorable movies from my childhood— i would absolutely love to read pieces with the same "vibe".

One of my goals this year is to read a bit of fantasy. What would you recommend as a beginner read for this genre? I'm typically a romance and thriller person, but looking to expand!

Hi!!! Second forum of the year :) I want to know, do you guys review books you DNF? Do you assign star ratings? I’ve seen a few people say they don’t and a few say they do, and I’d like to open a conversation about it!

I’ll start! I usually do review my DNFs and leave star ratings because I want to share the REASON I DNFed. For me, it’s not a review of the entire book, but rather a review of my experience up until the part where I stopped. I can understand the perspective that it doesn’t make logical sense to review something you didn’t finish. I personally think it’s okay to leave a review/star rating based on the experience you had that CAUSED the DNF.

Looking forward to reading some responses! ⭐️

Inspired by a social post about "underrated books" that was just a list of popular or award winning books. What does underrated mean to you?

Is it just books that you haven't seen around much? Or do you take the time to actively search for people discussing that book? Do you only consider what's outside Tiktok underrated?

I find I see a lot of older books called underrated, even if they were very popular (and sometimes still are) at the time. But those books aren't talked about on Tiktok so does that make it underrated then? (To me, it doesn't.) It also annoys me how much algorithms shape our idea of what’s "rated" at all (though I'm VERY glad it's been encouraging more people to read). If a book isn’t fed to us through the algorithms, does it disappear from sight even if it’s well loved off those platforms?

I’m guess I'm curious if underrated needs or has qualifiers? Underrated by who and where? Underrated by mainstream readers, by awards, by sales, by algorithms? I know there's not really a correct answer here but that's why I'm asking for your takes!

Bonus question! What's an underrated book you love? When someone asks me for underrated books I go straight to indie authors (anyone else or is this just me?). A recent one I loved was the Clecanian series by Victoria Aveline!