Reddit is the only place I use to find book recommendations, and now I’m at the stage where I feel like I should use other platforms. Booktube is a hit-or-miss. I also find Bookstagram and Booktok kind of time-consuming.
I don’t like the way social media is nowadays. I don’t want to have to follow people back and keep up with their posts just to get more organic book recommendations and not the same TEN books.
Has anyone joined or a part of any interesting FB groups or Discord servers? If you don’t won’t to share it publicly, that’s fine. I only have one person I know irl who reads, and we don’t always read the same genre. Please, help me 😭.
by Obvious_Escape_7223
4 Comments
I found a local SFF book club via Goodreads.
I like r/progressionfantasy for the kind of books I like.
LibraryThing is old but has niche communities.
If you have access to BBC radio, they have Bookclub (you read a book a month and then they do a programme on it with the author if they’re alive or an expert if it’s a classic novel); A Good Read (three people who each read three books – everyone chooses one and then they all talk about it); Book at Bedtime/Book of the week (books abridged and serialised) and Open Book (authors talking about their books)
Alternatively, Sunday newspapers do book reviews or if you have money for a subscription, there are some excellent weekly/quarterly publications which review books and talk about forgotten books
What kind of books do you enjoy reading? I might have a few recommendations depending on the genres but some places to try:
-You are right on the money with discord and facebook, though usually those groups tend to grow so large that I no longer get that close-knit feel. That said, you can try to search Disboard with book-related keywords and find smaller servers that fit your vibe.
-Social media is 100% time consuming but it’s one of the easiest ways to meet bookworms online. I found that it was a lot easier to connect with people when I had my own platform vs just being part of the audience. You could try making one and keeping your followers low to really focus on connecting with people.
-If you live somewhere with independent book stores, they tend to host book clubs! I love the ones my local store put together.
-Local facebook bookclubs- my area has a lot of FB groups dedicated to people wanting to meet and make friends and every other month, someone posts about starting a book club.
-Book conventions- I’m US based and know that there’s conventions that happen year-round throughout the country. Those are great places to meet fellow bookworms as well!
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It’s really trial and error unfortunately and I still haven’t met someone who’s stayed consistently in my life and shared the same book tastes but I’ve gotten to meet tons of cool people and expand my literary circle even if I haven’t found that niche place yet.
Visit your library! There are usually book clubs, author events, or other book related programs where you can attend and meet other readers. (plus all the other cool non book related services they provide as well)