Been ma-hoosivly derailed off my reading progress by Pokopia so the tension between me and the next badge has dramatically increased!

I’m back on normal levels of balancing everything rather than just building homes and vomiting water on dead grass to bring it to life again 24/7 (-working hours)😂

Anyway I’m in need of help deciding how I want to close this badge in(I need 1 more)! so please let me know your preference between my options from my “next” 5:

• Fledgling by OEB ( loved her anthology series)
• The devil all the time by DRP (loved the film)
• White is for witching by HO (seen interesting reviews that have me intrigued!)
• The Vampyre by JWP (A classic I know I need to read)
• Mexican Gothic by SMG (looks fun and pretty sure also counts to other badges!)

How do I tell a friend that recommended a book to me that you didn't like it? My issue is that I thought it was badly written. I think I would be OK saying that it wasn't my genre or the tropes weren't for me, but telling someone that I think a book they love is poorly written feels impossibly awkward and even unnecessarily mean 🙃

I try to keep the 5 books in my 'my taste' section the same without much change to them but i Have definetely changed them since joining PB. So, I was wondering what books has anyone bumped off their my taste since joining ! & what other books almost make the cut for your 'my taste' section but just miss out? Do you regularly change your taste section or do you prefer to keep it consistent?

For me, I originally had immortal by sue lynn tan, dallergut dream department store by miye lee and the midnight timetable by bora chung in my 'my taste' section but they were bumped for yona of the dawn, hungerstone and why raeliana ended up at the dukes mansion 🙂‍↕️ I still love those other books soooo much but unfortunately choices had to be made 😩

Other faves that could be in there would be the hobbit (which I actually did have in there for a time), a tempest of tea by hafsah faizal, quicksilver by callie hart and immortal longings by chloe gong (also spent a little time in the my taste section) ✨️🐈 I do definitely prefer to keep it consistent so I don't switch books out too often but sometimes it can't be helped 😶‍🌫️📚✨️

So Pokopia has derailed my life, at one point even water was forgotten, never mind reading! Vomiting water on grass to revive whole towns is not for the weak!

Anyway, the sun is shining and I’m touching grass again - my skin hydrated and back in my hands? a bloody good book

I read an incredible gothic (We Have Always Lived in This Castle) that’s been on my list for ages and finished a fun little side book (Mort) over the weekend and have already started another! Which has reunited me with lovely PB and wow seeing the upcoming roadmap updates I am extremely excited

We are heading into peak reading time imo - there’s nothing stopping me, a book and a patch of grass to read on in the sun! So want to spread the joy and see what’s everyone else latest gooooood book, where is your ideal place to read it and what are most excited for on the roadmap cause it’s looking spicy

The topic of declining literacy and anti-intellectualism has been and is still discussed a lot. Reading is a muscle we can train and I know some of you on Pagebound have just gotten into reading as a hobby recently (again) and others like me have been reading their whole life for fun (consistently). My question to you is, how has your hobby of reading helped you improve your reading comprehension? Have you noticed a difference? Or were there no changes? If it improved how did this extend to different aspects of your life (e.g. do you now have an easier time understanding contracts or other written texts you encounter in your daily life)? To the teachers, what differences and struggles in reading comprehension have you noticed with your students?

To illustrate what I'm talking about when I say reading comprehension, here is an example:

The city wants to save money. Which is why less busses will be operating starting today.

Does that mean a) that there will be more busses on the street or b) that there will be longer waiting times in between busses?

For the practiced reader finding the correct answer (b) shouldn't be too difficult. But this skill of comprehending what the text says has to be learned and practiced.

For me it's diffcult to say whether my reading skill has changed in any way, because I've always been an avid reader. My parents read aloud to me and I listened to a lot of audiobooks before I was taught how to read myself. There has always been an abundance of books available to me. And more importantly I have always loved reading. My teachers did a good job of having a mix of fun books and important classics for our mandatory reading in school. I'm incredibly privileged in that regard.

Edit: spelling