What are your favourite film or TV adaptions of books? I’m currently reading Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, and I can’t help but compare it to the 2008 film starring Brendan Fraser & Josh Hutcherson. The general plot is the same, although the film provided some much needed modernisation (changing the male guide to a woman was a good call. There’s literally 2 women in this book and they disappear by page 40!). I think I prefer the film.

I was talking to @maomi about fictional diaries/journals on their Dracula Forum post. I want to try to write a journal in the style of different fictional characters, with a different character/book every week. Do you guys have recommendations for fiction books with diary entries? So far we have Emily Wilde, Dracula, Bridget Jones and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I would love more recommendations! I'm also considering whether it would be a good idea to include actual historical diaries in the challenge. On the one hand it would be quite interesting, on the other hand actual diaries usually have less of a consistent style to immitate 🤔. What do you guys think?

Hi everyone, we're excited to share the 4 selections for the Summer Readalong, running June through August AND 5 selections for the Pride Special Event in June! We announce Readalong titles a month in advance to give everyone time to place library holds. Head to the Seasonal Readalong page & Special Events page to see 2 badges, the full list of selections, and add the books to your TBR (on the app via the More/hamburger menu on the Home tab, on desktop via the Discuss page).

SUMMER READALONG:

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross: A romantasy based on Scottish mythology, it has limited sexual content with a heightened focus on world-building that leans cozy, making it a great entry point for those who don't typically read romantasy. The protagonists defy the typical archetypes, which makes it fresh for veteran romantasy readers too!

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali: Set in 1950s Tehran, this historical fiction book follows two girls, Ellie and Homa, whose fierce childhood friendship is tested by class divides, betrayal, and the upheaval of the Iranian Revolution.

The Empress of Salt & Fortune by Nghi Vo: A feminist high fantasy set in an empire reminiscent of imperial China, this Hugo Award-winning novella is short but powerful.

The Stranger by Albert Camus: A classic of twentieth-century literature originally published in French, this is the story of an ordinary man drawn into a senseless murder in Algeria. It explores the philosophy of Absurdism.

PRIDE:

Last Pride was our very first Special Event, and this Pride marks 1 full year of quarterly Special Events! The goal of these is to encourage diverse reading, and while we have loved how the PB community has embraced these events, we also recognize their quarterly cadence makes it impossible for us to recognize all the voices we would like to each year.

Choosing the Special Event for summer was quite difficult for us; PB is a thriving queer & allied space that absolutely should celebrate Pride, but also as an American company, we very much wanted to celebrate Juneteenth as well (for our international friends, Juneteenth is the official celebration of the emancipation of enslaved people in the US). We ultimately decided to make this a Pride event, since we have such a large international community and Juneteenth is a US holiday. However, we feel strongly about recognizing and celebrating Juneteenth, which leads to the following:

1. Next year in 2027 we will have a year-long limited time Main Quest hosted by Pagebound with the express purpose of promoting diverse reading. With this Quest, we can promote all the voices that are not highlighted in a quarterly Special Event.

2. For this Pride, we recognize Juneteenth and the intersectional nature of justice with Harriet Tubman Live in Concert. If you are looking to recognize both holidays this Readalong, we highly recommend this pick! Authored by Bob the Drag Queen, this is an alternate history where Harriet Tubman pairs with a gay hip-hop producer to create a Hamilton-esque Broadway musical about her life.

BONUS: We have a new Limited Time Quest launching today: Sourcebooks Summer of Swoon featuring 6 romcoms running May through August. Check back later this afternoon to see the book list! Hint: 2 of the books have giveaways that just dropped 👀

Excited to read with everyone in the coming months!

Happy reading, Jennifer & Lucy

I feel really mean and petty but I keep seeing new lists that definitely should be shelves 😅

I get some of them! I'd love to share my 5 ⭐ reads with everyone - but that's what the shelf is for!

The ones I don't get are the "books I want to read" - you don't even have to make a shelf the TBR one is there already

Does anyone else feel this way or am I just too invested in the shelf function? 🤔

Two of my recent reads I really enjoyed feature an elderly protagonist, and it made me realise that while I loved this character, I haven’t read almost any books with elderly protagonists!

Do you have any recommendations? What did you enjoy about them?

Mine are:

• The Switch by Beth O’Leary, a romance novel where a grandmother and her granddaughter swap lives for two months. The grandmother ends up living in a London flat with two younger roommates, and all her chapters made me laugh.
• BL Metamorphosis, a manga about an elderly woman who discovers BL manga and becomes unlikely friends with a high school girl who works at the bookstore. They have an adorable friendship!

I can’t believe we already made it to the end of April! This month was actually my worst reading month this year when you look at the numbers, but I can’t have a great reading month every time, so I accept defeat this time. I’m so ready to start over tomorrow.

I also made some progress in the spring readalong, and hopefully I can get the shiny butterfly badge in May!! I’m a sucker for stats, so I’m curious how this reading month went for all of you! I know the month isn’t completely over yet, and there’s still time to finish a book or two, but bear with me hehe

template for anyone who’d like to share some april stats:

books in total: favorite(s): least favorite: most surprising: longest read: shortest read: book(s) you’re looking forward to read in may:

I'll leave my own stats in the comments!!

Is anyone else buzzing with excitement to see the picks for the summer readlong? I haven't even finished my spring readalong yet, yet I'm very excited about the dopamine hit of having the summer picks revealed.

What are you hoping for, vibes and genre vibes?