The Sunday Prescription

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

Symptoms: Tribalism in Bookish Spaces

I have been thinking a lot recently about how we, as people, have a natural tendency towards tribalism. From an evolutionary sense, it is a highly logical reaction - often in our ancient history, finding a group of people and sticking with them meant safety and access to resources. It's a fascinating phenomenon from a neuroscience standpoint as well. Research has shown that feeling like you are part of a group activates circuits in our brains that have to do with rewards and positive associations, and even activates empathy (at least within our tribe). And of course, as with all things, there are positive and negative aspects of tribalism.

Over the last year in the online book space, I have seen a lot of the positive aspects of this - the support that people who feel some sort of connection with the content I put out there has been overwhelming and amazing. But of course, there are downsides as well, and one of the times where I see this the most is anytime I talk about where I get my books.

I love books in all forms - I love a good special edition of a book that I adore. I love buying used, and I like buying new. I consume stories in all forms, including hardbacks, paperbacks, e-books, and audiobooks, and use a library when possible. And inevitably, when I post about a specific kind of purchase, I hear from the opposite tribe. If I post about being a Broken Binding rep, I can count on a comment about special editions ruining books and gatekeeping reading. If I talk about a used purchase, I will get someone telling me I should support the author and buy new. Team Kindle is always lurking, and of course, team library is always there as well.

I personally think that having a plethora of options is good for reading. As more and more studies come out showing how, all around the world, the percentage of people who read for pleasure is declining, and literacy rates are dropping, giving people options is a good thing. If you have disposable income and love buying a big fancy expensive special edition, that's awesome - you're supporting a publishing company, the author, and the artists involved. If you have a great library near you and you never buy books, that's awesome - you're supporting a great thing, and supporting the author with your rentals. Used books support other book buyers and allow stories to perpetuate, and I've encouraged a lot of people to buy a new book because of my review of a used one. E books are accessible for lots of folks, and audiobooks have made reading stories easier and more accessible for a myriad of people (busy parents, people with reading disorders, folks with long commutes and busy lives, etc.). And while I am always a big supporter of shopping local, and using resources like Libro.fm for audiobooks and Bookshop.org for purchasing online and supporting independent booksellers, I understand that for some folks, financial and logistical pressures make Amazon the best route for purchasing. It's easy to judge, but reality is messy, and we all have different and unknown circumstances.

The same can be said for toxic fandoms - as a Lord of the Rings fan, I would never criticize someone for mispronouncing a word (I do it all the time), but it happens everywhere. If someone doesn't like my favorite books, why would I criticize them? It wasn't their thing, and I can't force you to like something. However, we see it all the time in the book world. At all levels, tribalism can turn into gatekeeping, and put people off from reading.

So my hope for the book world, and something I encourage highly, is to make our tribe the tribe of people who love books and stories, and who encourage and support people who read, no matter what that looks like (as long as you're not stealing of course)! Offer people options, but don't criticize their choices in how they interact with or consume books. Talk about the books you love, but don't get mad when they don't like your favorite book - talk to them about the why! Let's encourage more reading, even if that reading doesn't look like your reading.

What do you think about tribalism in the book space, and have you encountered it in any way? Let's chat down below!

The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing

My new Fable Book Club starts this Wednesday, July 1 with Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. The book club is called Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary, and our goal is to read diverse authors, diverse genres, and try to find diverse books that aren't popping up on your algorithm! I'd love to have you join, we'll do a book a month, and no changes to our usual book club. I'm really excited to kick this off, and would love to see you there!

In terms of reading, I was on vacation last week and, being at the beach, had loads of great reading time! I finished our Dark Travelers June book, Stoner by John Williams, Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian, The Dungeon Crawler Carl Graphic Novel, and The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen. Be on the lookout for my reviews on IG and TikTok, as well as some here, in the coming weeks!

I am currently all over the place with reading! I should be finishing up What Blood Remembers by C William Phillips this weekend, and am loving the Audiobook of Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. I started our July Doc of the Dark Arts Book Club pick Jade City by Fonda Lee, and am enjoying it so far - if you want to be part of that book club, make sure to join us on Discord! And I also started a deep dive reread of the Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien with the Celebreabird read along. A second read there has been amazing so far!

Given I was off, I didn't;t do a weekly reading update or a YouTube video last week, but I will be back this week. One of the YouTube videos I'm working on is a Q&A Video, so if you have any bookish/book content/personal questions you'd like to ask, let me know!

July is going to be a great month - as I said we are doing Jade City for the main bookclub, Our Sister's Keeper for the Fable book club, and the Dark Travelers book for July is going to be Headlights by CJ Leede.

It is also time for our July reading challenge! Participants are eligible for a $25 bookshop.org gift card. To be eligible, you have to either complete the challenge on StoryGraph, or share what you read on the challenge channel in our Discord server. If you are outside of the US, we can figure out a website/gift card/prize for you if Bookshop is not available to you. The theme for July is "Choose a book by its cover." The goal here it to pick a book just based on whatever is on the cover (so the cover, the description on the back/inside the dust jacket). No looking up reviews, no advanced information, just finding something that looks and sounds cool. I am going to be reading A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang.

Want More In-Depth Access?

If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers tier! My Dark Travelers get an exclusive Discord role and channels, a weekly deep dive reading update video, early access to YouTube videos, and each month they get to pick a book for me to read. This can be a book they want to read with me, or something they want me to try for them. It's super fun and a great tight knit group that I really enjoy talking books with, and I'd love to have you part of it!

Thank you as always for being here, and I hope you all have a great week of reading!

The Sunday Prescription

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

Symptoms: Reading in the Summer

Happy Sunday gang, and Happy Father's Day to any of the bookish dads out there! I hope everyone is doing well, and welcome back to my Sunday Newsletter. This week, I've been thinking a lot about summer reading patterns.

As someone who yaps a lot about books online, I hear a lot of feedback about what other people do for reading, and it always fascinates me how different we all are! I have two beach trips coming up this summer, and for me, summer is always a time when I read more. I work from home these days, and the school year means driving kids all over the place, and having a lot of my free time taken up by activities during the school year. So when I get to go on a trip, and during the summer especially, I always wind up reading more. Having less time in the car and less time at teenage kid activities gives me more time to read. In addition, I'm outside working more, so I'm listening to more audiobooks, and generally just consuming more written and spoken stories.

Now when it comes to packing for a trip, I always over do it when it comes to books. For a typical week long beach trip, you will usually find me packing 4-5 books along with my e-reader. As a certified feral mood reader, this gives me plenty of variety. On top of that, I usually find a local beach bookstore and make my way there as well. In terms of what I like to read, this is definitely when I'm going for shorter/less intense stuff. Cozy fantasies like the House in the Cerulean Sea and Tress of the Emerald Sea come to mind (which we're reading right now for our book club!). I of course love it when a book leans into the water, piracy, or hot/desert climates. Which reminds me, I need to start Children of Dune here soon!

However, I hear from other people that when they head into the long, hot days of summer, and go on vacations, they read less. They cite more time in summer/outdoor activities as barriers, and say when they go on vacation they don't want to read more, or are too busy. It does seem an increase in audiobook consumption is pretty well agreed upon, given more time outside, and time spent on road trips in the car. So I'm interested to hear from you all - how does summer change your reading habits? Do you read more or less? Do you read more on vacation? Do you pack a ton of books like some sort of book goblin like me?

The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing

I did announce this week that I was starting a new Fable Book Club! We will be starting July 1 with Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. The book club is called Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary, and our goal is to read diverse authors, diverse genres, and try to find diverse books that aren't popping up on your algorithm! I'd love to have you join, we'll do a book a month, and no changes to our usual book club.

In terms of reading, I finished off my reread of Tress of the Emerald Sea, and I just enjoyed it so much. I listened to the Michael Kramer version for the reread as I read it physical last year, and I'm not a graphic audio fan usually, especially abridged versions. I also finished an Arc of Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian. More to come on that in a future review. And Today, I'll be finishing up Stoner by John Williams, which is our Dark Travelers monthly pick a book. That has met spellbound at the moment! If you want to read with us you should join up as a Dark Traveler!

I also released this week's YouTube video, which is all about ARC's - what they are and why they exist, what you can do to start becoming an ARC reader, and the major Do's and Don't of reading ARCs.

In terms of what's next, I have a bunch of options and I'm not sure where I'll go for sure!

• A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab - probably next

• Jade City by Fonda Lee - researching for next month's book club!

• The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen - sent to me by the publisher, and sounds cool.

• Valor by John Gwynne - Really want to continue, and my TBB versions should show up soon.

• What Blood Remembers by C William Phillips - probably next on my e-reader.

• Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove - Up next on audio!

I also picked up an Assassin's Creed game for the Nintendo Switch, which I'm interested to give a try, and I heard a rumor that I might be getting a sweet Lego set for Father's Day!

Like Discounts and Helping Me out?

Did you know I have a bunch of different affiliate codes? I you head to the link in my bio, you'll see a bunch of affiliate codes. Some of these, like the Flowers and fantasy 10% off, the 15% off TBB regular publishing website, or the Pango books $5 off your first order codes, will save you money! Others, like the Broken Binding special edition code, my Bookshop.org Affiliate, and my wishlist are more just support for me. I also have links to all of my social sites if you're looking to follow elsewhere as well!

The Sunday Prescription

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

Symptoms: Dealing With a Reading Slump

I have seen a bunch of videos recently that start something like this: "Here are 5 books that are GUARANTEED to get you out of a reading slump!" I know I have also talked to a few content creators recently who are also in reading slumps, and I know a few of you all in Discord have mentioned being in a bit of a slump yourself. And of course, being overly analytical, I've been giving it some thought.

I think the term reading slump gets thrown around quite a bit to describe a bunch of different things, so first allow me to kind of describe to you how I see the reading slump landscape.

• First is a simple "book hangover." This is where you read a book that is so good, or so bad, that it can be tough to find something to make you happy after. Whether it's not meeting expectations after a five star read, or that one star book just crushed your reading spirit, I find these are relatively short lived, and easily solved by rereading a favorite, switching mediums, and picking something short and fun.

• Next is a true reading slump. This happens when you're just not feeling reading, and it lasts for a longer period of time. To me this is more on the order of a week or more. Nothing you are reaching for is striking your fancy, you can't get into anything, you're DNFing or NRNing everything, and you're just not feeling reading generally speaking. We'll talk about this more in depth in a minute.

• Then there's what I would consider something more serious - you're an avid reader, but you're not even interested in engaging. Going to the library or bookstore is a chore, you're not into watching book content, and you have a general malaise about reading overall. This is usually something more serious, like depression (which can cause anhedonia, or a lack of interest in your favorite things), or going through major life events or stressors, or some kind of mental health issue.

Obviously, if you are in the throes of option 3, then just don't even worry about reading. Take care of yourself, and whatever you need to do in your life. Option two is usually the one people ask about, and the one that people are referring to when they recommend you a certified slump buster. But if you find yourself in a slump as described above, give it some thought before blindly throwing books at it, and try some other stuff out. Some of my favorite things to do in this situation:

• Read a graphic novel, a comic, novellas, or something super light and easy.

• Reread a favorite, and remind yourself why you love reading.

• Switch mediums - go to an audiobook if you've been doing physical and vice versa.

• Switch genres. Going hard in on fantasy - go pick up a mystery or a lit fic.

• Try a certified slump buster, but don't count on it working all the time.

Now last but not least, sometimes you may notice that your slump is because you don't have the time to read, and you're feeling bad about that. or you are being pulled to other hobbies, and that's making you feel bad about reading. As someone with a ton of hobbies, remember that they should be fun. In the summer and fall, I want to be outside more or building in my shop, so I read a bit less physical and do more audio (unless I'm on vacation). If you're feeling other hobbies, back off reading for a bit - the books will always be there for you! And if your goals are stressing you out, remember your goals are made up numbers that you can change at any time!

Let us all know down in the comments if you have any thoughts or tips on reading slumps!

The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing

There's lots exciting going on right now! In terms of my reading plans this week:

• Reading Stoner by John Williams with the Dark Travelers. Our paid members get together and pick a book for me/us to read each month, and this is what we're doing in June!

• Middlemarch by George Eliot - I'm back on this one. It's a slow read but really good, just needs it's own time!

• Going to be listening to Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

• Not sure what my next e-book will be!

I'm also looking for a good Nintendo Switch game, so if you have recommendations let me know! I also recently hit 25K on Instagram, and as I mentioned before am close to some cool milestones on other platforms including here on bindery, so thank you all so much for all of your support. I have some cool giveaway plans coming up!

Now the big news, you all as my Bindery members are getting an early announcement here! I am going to be starting a Fable bookclub in July. Very importantly, our current book club will not change at all, and is still my main focus! However, I recognize not everyone wants to get into the level of detail of our Discord book club, and I also want to start exploring some more diverse books outside of the SFF realm. So, I'm excited to announce Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary on Fable! Each month, I'll be picking a diverse book to read. What do I mean by diverse? A few things:

• Diverse authors from all different backgrounds.

• Diverse genres - branching out from Sci Fi and Fantasy.

• Diverse books - finding those hidden gems/less discussed books, not the stuff that's all over social media.

Our first book in July will be Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes! If you've been looking to try horror, I think this is a great entry point! If you are interested, head on over to the link above and join the Fable book club, and more to come this week!

Like More In-Depth Access?

If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers tier. My Dark Travelers get an exclusive Discord role and channels, a weekly deep dive reading update video, early access to YouTube videos, and each month they get to pick a book for me to read. This can be a book they want to read with me, or something they want me to try for them. It's super fun and a great tight knit group that I really enjoy talking books with, and I'd love to have you part of it! This week I want to welcome our new members: Sarah, Trav, Chelsea, and Lily!

Thank you as always for being here, and I hope you all have a great week of reading!