My bank account tells a different story.

But seriously an interesting article! I had no idea that such a huge swath of books simply aren’t profitable, even for the big publishers. Wild!

Mine’s not so much a pile so much as at least half of my bookcase. And it’s a little bit of everything!

I relate to this a lot. I was on Reddit for over a decade, too, when I left after the third-party apps shut down. I loved a lot of the discussion over there (once I got away from some of the big subs and found smaller ones), and still kind of miss it. There really was a period of sadness when I left. I’m trying to be active over here to help these communities grow, but it’s hard to get back into it and be motivated sometimes.

Are the readers-in-residence allowed to read their books on their phone?

In simpler terms, you won’t find labels like “fiction” or “biography” on the shelves. Instead, you’ll find genre labels lifted from book titles (“Living by Fiction”), poetry lines (“Flood the Margins”) or wordplay (“Subject, Object, Predicament”).

I get what they’re going for, but good grief that sounds like it would be annoying if you’re looking for a particular book.

Blaine is a pain, and that’s the truth.

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Interesting article!

The use of AI should be disclosed to readers “where appropriate,” the guidelines read, though, as with so much else, precisely where that line is drawn is left to the author. 

I would appreciate a disclaimer like this, because I’m not interested in reading books written by AI. But that does beg the question of where to draw that line and where the distinction between authors using AI as a supplementary tool (e.g. to fill in a description of a room like the writer mentioned doing), and where the AI is doing big chunks of the writing itself lies. How much AI assistance to too much?

I’m in the same boat. I tried Storygraph and the error rate importing from Goodreads was too high for me and it was missing some features I use to keep my books organized.

I’d love to move away from an Amazon-owned company, but all the alternatives are lackluster, at least for me.

Goodreads’ strongest utility is its shelves, which function as a kind of external brain for some folks.

That’s me, ha ha! I use Goodreads solely to keep track of my book collection and reading data, and completely ignore the reviews and all of the social media features.

Lego sets! I had some that were ice planet themed, and I remember having a bunch of spaceships that had transparent green windows, visors, etc. that I thought were so cool.

Isn’t that one part of a trilogy? I think I remember seeing those books!

Such a great title, ha ha!

Okay, turns out I’ve had this book on my list for a while and I couldn’t exactly remember why I had it in there until your description jogged my memory! Sounds like I need to read this one soon!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was another one that surprised me with how much I ended up enjoying it!

Absolutely loved Pirenesi!

This one has been on my list forever and I just need to get to it!

Cover looks intriguing; I’ll have to check it out!

I recently finished up Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! I got the impression, for whatever reason, that it was overhyped. But I enjoyed seeing how the characters developed and seeing the ebbs and flows of their relationships, which I thought was well done and believable. There was a lot more depth there than I was expecting. I also thought it was going to be more of a traditional love story and was (pleasantly) surprised that it wasn’t!

Another surprise for me was The Silmarillion. I’m a fan of LotR, but I still expected it to be a bit of a slog. But, wow, I tore through that book so quickly! Loved the stories and lore and mythology and everything, incredible!

Is reading technically considered consuming content? Fun and it’s a pretty cheap hobby if you have library access or go to used bookstores!

Some favorites in no particular order:

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Bel Canto and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

All the books on birds by Jennifer Ackerman

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Nettle & Bone and Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Pet by Catherine Chidgey

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion by Jia Tolentino