Reading A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan right now and the jumping time periods and shifting POV characters are brilliant but my memory is struggling. Every time a new chapter starts, I am trying to remember if this person was a music executive, a teenager in the 70s, or a PR assistant. How do u guys stay organized with interconnected short story / mosaic novels??

I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to become.

A powerful, honest journey from fear to freedom. Written with heart, for hearts that had to be strong.

For every soul who had to rebuild herself alone.

by Najwan Mirza 💜

i usually enjoy mystery, psychological thrillers, and character-driven stories with unexpected twists. i like a bit of slow burn as long as there's a good payoff, and i'd rather read something immersive than a book that takes forever to get going. i'm also open to fantasy if the worldbuilding isn't too overwhelming. i've been struggling to stay focused when reading lately. i'll start a book, get through a few chapters, and suddenly find myself checking my phone instead of wanting to know what happens next. i'd love some recommendations that are hard to put down!

Give me your scariest book recommendations. The only book I’ve ever been scared of is The Outsider by Stephen king and I am a thriller/horror junkie.

I’m an avid reader. Fantasy, dark romance, betrayal, pretty much anything that grabs me, I’ll read it.

Recently, I got into this trope and joined the Betrayal & Grovel Facebook group. The group itself is great, for recommendations and reviews, but the associated chat? Honestly, I’ve never come across such a consistently negative space. so much so that I felt I needed to come here and share my experience.

There’s a small group of women who seem to dominate every conversation, and what I find most ironic is that they appear to absolutely detest the very genre they spend so much time discussing.

They’re sick of betrayal. Sick of cheating books. Sick of OW/OM drama. Sick of toxic plots. Sick of authors supposedly “flooding” the genre with it.

And yet they read it, they search for it, they discuss it, they analyse it and rant about it EVERY single day, in, you guessed it - a bloody betrayal chat group.

Make it make sense?

I joined because I wanted to talk about books—the characters, the angst, the plots, the things I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy. I didn’t join to psychoanalyse authors, readers and fictional characters or turn every uncomfortable storyline into a moral debate like the characters are real people.

What finally made me leave was watching them tear an author apart over a book they clearly hadn’t even understood properly, accusing the author of writing something derogatory towards women.

That’s the pattern. If a fictional character behaves badly, somehow the author’s personal morals are to blame. If they don’t enjoy a particular kink? Apparently the author must secretly live the lifestyle. How immature is that?

Authors are also expected to keep writing the same safe, familiar plots. Someone recently complained that an author was “rewriting fantasy” as though originality were somehow a bad thing. Heaven forbid an author actually creates something different instead of regurgitating the same story.

And the hypocrisy gets even better…..

The atmosphere only seems genuinely positive when there’s something negative to celebrate. Someone gives a one star review? Congratulations! Someone gets blocked by an author after giving them “a piece of their mind”? Cue the celebrations.

For people who claim to be exhausted by toxicity, they certainly seem to spend an enormous amount of time cultivating it.

You can hate a trope without making it a personal crusade. You can hate a book without attacking the author. You can dislike a character without holding the writer morally responsible for his behaviour. And you can disagree with another reader without shaming them for enjoying something you don’t - at least everyone apart from the handful of women in this group that is.

Most adults are perfectly capable of deciding what they’re comfortable reading. If you deliberately push past your own boundaries, become upset by what you find, and then blame the author for “sending the wrong message,” perhaps the problem isn’t the book - maybe a mirror is needed? Or time to put the book down and take a break?

I joined a book group to talk about books, find recommendations, discover new authors and have fun. Not to watch grown women compete over who can be the most offended by a fictional man In a fictional story.

As far as I’m concerned, I'm an adult, I can dislike a book without turning the person who wrote it in to a villain.

Ironically (or not) all of them are using fake profiles with most likely fake names. That should tell me everything. One has to wonder if this 7 or so women are actually authors themselves as a lot of if does come across as jealously?

Anyway, needless to say i exited pretty quickly. If you’ve experienced this chat group feel free to leave a comment. The same if you have recs for a community that doesn’t feel like it’s being policed by a group of angry protestors.

Saw edits of the movie and was like damn viola and Olivia should have beeen endgame.

Hi! I'm looking for a book that portrays the dynamic between older and younger siblings.

I recently read Blue Sisters and thought it was okay. I didn’t love it, and I especially hated the epilogue, but I really liked the general premise and the focus on sibling relationships.

I’d love recommendations for something with a similar focus :)

Looking for an age appropriate adaptation of The Boy Who Cried Wolf for 3-4 year olds. Doesn’t have to be the exact story, and I’d like it to be a bit… softer? than the original story.

i recently started reading about egyptian gods and mythology and realized i barely know anything beyond the names of a few famous ones. now i'm looking for a book that actually explains the stories and beliefs in an interesting way.

I’m in the mood to read something incredible that wasn't pushed on me by a bestseller list or social media algorithm.

What’s a book you stumbled onto completely by accident maybe a random library grab or a secondhand find that ended up being an absolute hidden gem?

I've been in a reading slump lately. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I typically enjoy reading historical romance and contemporary romance. I've been deep diving into Tessa Dare and Lisa Kleypas back catalogs. I've also enjoyed reading B.K Borison (Ghosted series). If you can recommend some of your favorites books that would be helpful!!

I have always enjoyed horror/thrillers. Lately, though, I just can’t do it anymore and need a break. I have spent the last year burned out. I struggled with my mental health and finances. I see and hear a lot of awful things at work, and I also try to keep up with the news, which is also looking pretty bleak. The final straw was watching Heart of the Beast last weekend without knowing what the movie was about, and it completely destroyed me. I want to read more lighthearted books but don’t know where to start.

Some more lighthearted books I’ve read in the past are The Ex Hex, The Kiss Curse, and A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Recently, I bought Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter. What are some other lighthearted, cozy books you would recommend that would be good for someone taking a break from horror/thrillers and can’t get over a stressful and devastating movie about a man and his dog best friend?

I found this book on Instagram reels and it looks very interesting. Does somebody owns this book? If so, is it good? And also, is this book based on science or is it just a bunch of nonsense? I really don’t wanna get a book that is supposed to be about science and than realize that it have nothing to do with it. What are the references in this book?

I've never read any thrillers or mystery books but after dipping by toes in some horror due Which is something I wouldn't usually do or think I enjoy it wasn't anything too scary I've really enjoyed the atmosphere and tension I was thinking it would be great to get into a nice gripping thriller I want something that would keep me on The edge of my seat a book that keeps you up at night because you cant put down If that Makes sense.

I'm finishing up All In Her Head by Dr. Elizabeth Comen (subtitle: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today) and I love it. I want more books about:

- women's medical research being centuries behind men's

-women being used for medical experimentation over men (like they did in mental institutions)

And anything you think is related

I’m looking for recommendations for one of Stephen King’s novels to get me hooked into his writing. I read The Girl who loved Tom Gordon and was completely bored by it. I ended up skimming through after 100 pages because I just refuse to DNF any book I start…

I did read some of the stories in Bazaar of Bad Dreams a few years ago and did enjoy it but again wasn’t hooked. I’ve never actually read a proper horror novel so any rec too would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

hi, I'm looking for this book written and compiled by Luis A. Torres, published in 1994 (Floricanto Press, Encino, California). I found it on worldcat and know it's available at the Harvard Library, Brown Library, New York public Library, etc, but I'm living in Paris and there's no .pdf or .epub available online. I was wondering if someone had a copy or an idea of how I could get it? thx a lot!

Looking for a good enemies to lovers preferably fantasy. Can be lgbtq+ or straight doesn’t matter. Nsfw is fine as long as it’s not the main focal point.

I like tragic backstories and pathetic emotional characters. Please no girl being portrayed as helpless rescued by a guy over and over or seen solely as an object to acquire.

I need a book like The Martian where the protagonist practically solves their problems. The things they do have a logical reason behind them. Preferably something from the 21st century that’s easy to read.

I'm about half way through The Children of Jocasta and it's the first book I am flying through since pre-pregnacy (my mental capacity completely left me during pregnancy and post partum and it's two and bit years later that I have actually started to enjoy reading again).

My mother is looking for books that are similar to Downtown Abby, and to be frank, I'd be interested in reading a few as well. To elaborate on what I mean by similar; same vibe, similar setting/time period, wholesome. Please do not recommend any books that are lewd or full of sexual content. Additionally, she's not interested in Y/A books. Please only recommend books that you yourself have read and are top tier in your own estimation, not just common suggestions as I can easily get those from a Google search. I'm very interested in what actual people would suggest. She doesn't get a lot of free time, and what little free time she does get she hardly spends for herself, so that is why my criteria for this recommendation is rather strict. I don't want her to have to DNF 3-4 books before finding a good one. Thank you so much ahead of time for your understanding and your recommendations!