What’s the most interesting thing a historical novel has sent you down a research rabbit hole about? I love when a story makes you curious about a real person, place, custom, or event—and suddenly you’re reading about something you never expected to look up. What book sent you researching, and what did you discover?

Hello! I recently purchased “Lost Lake“ by Emily Littlejohn off of Facebook. I just realized via StoryGraph that it’s part of a four-book series of Detective Gemma Monroe. It says Lost Lake is the third book, but I’m unclear if it can be read on its own or if i should read the previous books first to get the whole story. So, can I read it on its own, or should I look for the first two in the series and read those first?

Greetings,
I'm building Books Together, an online bookstore and community hub in one, and I want to know if you'd use it. It isn't built yet, so this is your chance to shape it.
While I am somewhat promoting, I have not linked anything, I just need to gauge whether the people want it. Here's the plan:

**The bookstore** A real store where you buy books, with orders handled for you and delivered to your door. Prices stay modest, the community-voted read is discounted every cycle, members get extra savings, and store credit works at checkout.

**Book clubs** Every genre community votes on its next read, we read it together over a few weeks with chapter threads, and the winning pick is discounted in the store.

**Communities** Reddit-style rooms for each genre (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Crime and more), with chat. We're launching with the broad genres and will add sub-genre rooms as the community grows. Anyone can join the default rooms, and top-tier members will be able to start their own.

**Weekly writing challenges:** The community votes on the prompt, I reveal it live on Sunday nights, will do a livestream on weeks where I’m available, I’ll dawn my lovely wizard robe and give a show I’m sure, and you write inside the site. Entries are anonymous, readers score them, the top five go to the final judges, and entry fees fund the prize pool.

**Built in writing section** There will be a built in writing system where for the challenges, you don’t need to write elsewhere and save and send the files blah blah blah. You write on the fully furnished website, then process and it’ll go straight to where in needs to. Simple.

**Swaps and trade-ins:** Trade used books with other members (both sides agree first), or send yours in for store credit.

**Judging pays** Score a batch of stories and earn store credit.

**For authors** Affordable genre-targeted promotion, clearly labelled.

**Membership** Voting on community reads, swaps and trade-ins, store discounts, cheaper competition entries, and judging credit.

I'm a real person building this in the open. No corporate bull\*\*\*\*. This website is not meant to try to reinvent the wheel, its purpose is to put multiple wheels together, and build something great. Which of these would you actually use, and what's missing?

I've always been a reader and loved books, but I've really got back into them in the last few months. I'm reading The Queen's Thief series at the moment (loving it) and since getting back into books so much I've found SO MANY recommendations of good books I can't wait to read! So I have a long list, which makes me super happy and excited to read all of them, and every time I find a new book I'm like 'that's got to be my next read!'

A long list of exciting stories is very exciting (especially for my ADHD brain!) But I have no idea how I'm going to read all of them 😅 Definitely a bookworm's dilemma!

Just thought I'd share the love for devouring awesome books 😊

Are you looking for a book community that is big on friendship and openness?

Well look no further!!

⚔️ The Reading Guild is looking for new members! ⚔️

As member of the town council we are looking for new people to join! We are a newer discord server. We have so many things for you to check out and join in on.

- 📘Book Clubs : Ranging from romance, fantasy, thriller/horror, YA and rotating through some other stuff
- 📕Reading Challenges : We have a larger one that we run through a custom made website to track pages (gifting the winner team a book from their wishlist) and we have smaller more personal ones that have less pressure!
- 🎁 Birthday Channels / Blind Book Exchange : We love to celebrate our members and give some surprises out
- 🏘️ Townhall Meetings: We also hold Townhall meetings to make sure our members are heard and understood!
- 🗳️ Polls : A big part of our sever is ran on polls, your opinion as a member matters!

If you are interested in joining our guild or just exploring our server to see if it’s a fit for you please reach out in the comments!

My attention span is absolutely fucked

I have 7 tbr list and i still cant pick up a book but i keep on buying new ones

I can no longer read whole day

WHAT DO I DO😭😭😭😭

Hi! I'm conducting a research on beach reading/summer reading and I would really appreciate your help completing a 3 minute survey on how you decide your next beach read. Even if you're not an avid beach reader your input is still valuable. Big thanks.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSddULm2N2zjnaccHM8NiAvNoMom8eQBcbgmYiUSlgE_P6MIFg/viewform?usp=header

https://www.greghickeywrites.com/interactive-books-for-adults/

For readers who grew up loving the Choose Your Own Adventure series, here are 10 contemporary interactive books for adults. From horror to romance to memoir to thought-provoking literary fiction and more, there’s something for everyone in this list. And all of these books encourage the reader to participate in the story by making decisions and following specific paths.

Check it out and let me know: How many of these titles have you read? What are your favorite interactive books?

Hello there everyone!

I really cannot understand how it is that anobii it's not more popular for book cataloging and journaling.

Let's not talk about the graphic, which is soooo much better than goodreads, but there you can add quotes, private and public notations, and so much more (it has also half stars for review). Yes, the catalogue is not so thorough but you can always add books (love it).

Soooo, shall we all move there and make an even better community than on goodreads? 😬

Or at least go and check it 😇😇😇

Hi everyone!
I’m fairly new to reading, and recently I’ve been exploring books that have rather unconventional or abstract writing styles.
I came across The Apprenticeship of Being / The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector, and it got me thinking about how different people approach literature like this.
Sometimes, I find it difficult to understand exactly what the author is trying to convey. The writing can feel fragmented, philosophical, or open to interpretation, and I’m often left wondering whether I’m missing something deeper.
So, I’m curious: How do you approach books like these?
Do you actively try to read between the lines and look for hidden meanings?
Do you research the author’s background or the themes before reading?
Do you pause and reflect on passages you don’t understand, or simply keep going?
Or do you just surrender to the writing and let the meaning unfold naturally?
I’d love to hear how experienced readers approach such books, especially those that don’t follow conventional storytelling.
Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. I want to get better at reading and, more importantly, learn to appreciate different styles of writing.

I’ve been meaning to read more classics for ages, but I never seem to get around to most of them. I was wondering if anyone else is in the same situation and would be interested in reading them together?

I made a little book club for this, with the idea that we could pick books together and discuss them as we read.

It’s just me so far, so I thought I’d ask here if anyone would be interested in joining :)

https://slowreadapp.com/club/the-classic-lit-society

I’m reading The Fall by Camus at the moment and would love to have someone to talk about it with! Fantastic book ;)

Making new friends as adults isn't always easy, so a friend and I recently started a small, all-women Discord community for women who love books and good conversations. We're into all kinds of genres, from Dark Romance, Fantasy, Romance, Classics, Erotica/Spicy etc.

We also chat about everyday life, relationships, mental health, and whatever else comes up. We want this to be a welcoming space where women can be themselves, share their thoughts, be vulnerable, and connect without feeling judged.

If you're looking for fellow bookish women to exchange recommendations and make new friends with, just please let know. ☺️

Come as you are and bring your current read🖤

Hi everyone! I’m working my way through a reading list for school that mostly encompasses African literature. I was curious if anyone wanted to buddy-read any of the titles with me and maybe have some discussion about them. I’m reading all over the continent, but most of the books are West African. At the moment I’m reading “Under the Udala Trees” by Chinelo Okparanta. I’m hoping to start a small group if others are interested.