Hooked on Books discussion

32 views
Bookish Chats > ⭐ Reader Analysis Department

Comments Showing 1-31 of 31 (31 new)    post a comment »
dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (last edited May 22, 2026 05:10PM) (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Welcome to the Department.

Our highly unqualified literary analysts are now accepting reader profiles for immediate investigation.

To participate, share some combination of:
📚 favorite books
📚 favorite genres
📚 beloved tropes
📚 reading habits
📚 comfort reads
📚 auto-buy authors
📚 biggest reader pet peeves
📚 anything else that exposes your reader soul to the public

Then the rest of the Department will analyze you accordingly.

Expect diagnoses such as:
🔍 “You survive entirely on emotional devastation.”
🔍 “You claim to hate romance but your reading history says otherwise.”
🔍 “Your TBR is fueled by chaos and impulse decisions.”
🔍 “You would absolutely join the villain willingly.”
🔍 “You haven’t emotionally recovered from a book published 8 years ago.”

This is not science.
This is bookish profiling.
Accuracy is optional.
Chaos is guaranteed.


message 2: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (last edited May 23, 2026 06:39AM) (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca Yarros Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt Dinniman The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer Bloodguard (Old Erth, #1) by Cecy Robson


Science fiction
fantasy
romantasy


Not a huge fan of romance unless it is mixed in with other genres.


message 3: by Amanda , The Mindweaver of Hidden Truths (new)

Amanda  Edgar (amandaedgar) | 1950 comments Mod
Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross, #1) by James Patterson

Currently reading this, and the short chapters are *chef's kiss.* Super long chapters are a pet peeve of mine, I've realized. I deal with it, but I get so happy when a book has short chapters lol


message 4: by Amanda , The Mindweaver of Hidden Truths (new)

Amanda  Edgar (amandaedgar) | 1950 comments Mod
Donna wrote: "Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca YarrosDungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt DinnimanThe Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1) by Jennifer Lynn BarnesAssistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1) by Hannah Nicole MaehrerBloodguard (Old Erth, #1) by Cecy Robson


S..."


Donna, I'm the same when it comes to romance. Occasionally, I'll be in the mood for just a romance on it's own, but I have to be in the mood for it to seek it out.


message 5: by Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* (last edited May 23, 2026 08:08AM) (new)

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* (erinpaperbackstash) | 1403 comments Same, I like my romance mixed with other genres. I love romance incorporated into fantasy, Urban Fantasy, cozy mysteries, etc, but for just an outright romance I have to be in the mood. I am in a year long romance type challenge though so this year I will be dabbling in different romance sub-genres I haven't touched in awhile.


message 6: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Amanda wrote: "Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross, #1) by James Patterson

Currently reading this, and the short chapters are *chef's kiss.* Super long chapters are a pet peeve of mine, I've realized. I deal with it, but I get so ..."


Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Condition Identified:
Chronically Rewarded By Tiny Accomplishments™

Prognosis: Stable, but likely to consume increasingly fast-paced books in pursuit of the next microscopic serotonin hit.


message 7: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Same, I like my romance mixed with other genres. I love romance incorporated into fantasy, Urban Fantasy, cozy mysteries, etc, but for just an outright romance I have to be in the mood. I am in a y..."

🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Condition Identified:
Selective Romance Integration Syndrome (SRIS)

Patient exhibits a strong preference for romance when safely embedded within fantasy, urban fantasy, mysteries, or other narrative ecosystems. Pure romance exposure appears tolerable only under carefully controlled mood conditions.

Additional symptoms include:
📚 “I’m not really a romance reader…”
📚 immediately reading 47 books with romantic subplots
📚 joining year-long romance challenges “for science”
📚 accidental emotional attachment to fictional couples

Current Treatment Plan:
Gradual exposure therapy through romance sub-genres previously avoided.

Prognosis:
Patient is expected to emerge from the year saying:
“Well apparently I DO like romance… but only specific kinds.”


message 8: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (last edited May 23, 2026 08:56AM) (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Now... Who would like to try their hand at analyzing my profile in message 2?


message 9: by Amanda , The Mindweaver of Hidden Truths (last edited May 23, 2026 10:21AM) (new)

Amanda  Edgar (amandaedgar) | 1950 comments Mod
Donna wrote: "Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca YarrosDungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt DinnimanThe Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1) by Jennifer Lynn BarnesAssistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1) by Hannah Nicole MaehrerBloodguard (Old Erth, #1) by Cecy Robson


S..."



🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Condition Identified:
Disorganized Romance Attachment Pattern
("If We Aren't Dying, This Isn't Dating")

Clinical Interpretation:
The patient claims a limited tolerance for romance, yet exhibits a severe addiction to watching psychologically damaged individuals suppress their feelings for 600 pages while fighting for their lives.

A.k.a., pt finds healthy communication boring and under- stimulating. They are psychologically incapable of registering an emotional connection unless it arrives covertly disguised as a dragon war, a deadly dungeon crawl, a puzzle-palace inheritance scheme, or workplace comedy in an evil empire.

If a fictional couple sits down to calmly discuss their feelings over coffee, the patient experiences immediate boredom. For emotional intimacy to count, it must be buried beneath toxic levels of yearning, heavy sarcasm, severe emotional repression, and life-or-death crisis bonding.

Additional Symptoms Include:

📚 Defensive use of the phrase: "I’m literally only reading this for the plot."
📚 Emotional investment that increases proportionally with the body count.
📚 Intense avoidance toward emotionally stable, supportive partners OR inability to sustain interest unless at least one member of the couple is emotionally repressed, morally conflicted, or actively in danger.
📚 Severe denial: Consuming a 500-page book fueled entirely by mutual eye-fucking while claiming, "Well, it’s basically just hard sci-fi."
📚 Requires at least one external catastrophe to maintain romantic interest. Chaos required.

Current Treatment Plan:

Exposure Therapy: Attempt gradual exposure therapy by prescribing a standard contemporary romance where the highest stake is a minor misunderstanding about dinner plans. Monitor patient for immediate withdrawal symptoms, eye-rolling, or the urge to throw the book across the room because nobody was attacked by a homicidal AI or a shadow-daddy.

Explore Childhood: Investigate possible early formative experiences in which emotional vulnerability became psychologically linked with danger, chaos, competition, or withholding. Patient may have subconsciously learned that if two people are communicating clearly and emotionally regulating themselves, there is no reason to keep turning the page.

Prognosis:
Chronic, stubborn, and highly entertaining. Patient will continue to dodge the romance section like a battlefield while exclusively reading about people dodging literal battlefields to get a hug.


message 10: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Donna wrote: "Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca YarrosDungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt DinnimanThe Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1) by Jennifer Lynn BarnesAssistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1) by Hannah Nicole MaehrerBloodguard (Old Erth, #1) by Cecy Robson


S..."


📄 Department Assessment Filed:
Genre Camouflage Romance Consumption

Patient insists they are “not really into romance” while exclusively selecting books where:
⚔️ people flirt during deadly trials
🐉 enemies develop tension while battling monsters
🗡️ morally questionable villains become suspiciously attractive
🎲 emotional attachment forms mid-apocalypse

Further observations include:
📚 claims romance is “better as a subplot”
📚 immediately gravitates toward romantasy anyway
📚 enjoys chaos, banter, puzzles, and world-ending stakes
📚 somehow always ends up emotionally invested in fictional couples against their will

The Department would also like to note a dangerous attraction to:
🔍 competitive rich people games
🔍 sarcastic disaster men
🔍 villain employment opportunities
🔍 “touch her and die” energy

Current Diagnosis:
Romance Avoidance via Dragon-Based Distraction

Patient appears to require at least one of the following before accepting romantic feelings:
✔️ a murder tournament
✔️ a magical kingdom
✔️ a dungeon crawl
✔️ imminent societal collapse

Prognosis:
Patient will continue saying:
“I’m here for the plot.”

The plot, unfortunately, is two idiots falling in love while the world burns.


message 11: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
ROFL You two crack me up. Neither diagnosis is wrong.


message 12: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Ok... my profile...

Some of my 5 star books that I think are worth calling out for (in no particular order):
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) by Ken Follett A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1) by John Grisham Without You (Without You #1) by Marley Valentine James by Percival Everett Soul Eater (Monstrous, #1) by Lily Mayne Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby Want Me (Extracurricular Activities, #1) by Neve Wilder The One and Only Ivan (The One and Only, #1) by Katherine Applegate Armored (Armored, #1) by Mark Greaney The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah All the Glimmering Stars by Mark T. Sullivan The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1) by Peter Swanson Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
*note: For Pillars of the Earth - this applies ONLY to book 1 in the series

Special callout to some of the nonfiction I particular liked well enough to give 5 stars:
Nobody's Girl A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre MOVE The Untold Story of an American Tragedy by Curtis Bryant The Man Nobody Killed Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart's New York by Elon Green No More Tears The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris King A Life by Jonathan Eig The Killer Across the Table Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John E. Douglas

Not listed above are just some of my go-to authors - some I buy, some I borrow, but all are always done.
Karin Slaughter
Michael Connelly
Connor Sullivan - a favorite newer author
Greg Iles - I'm new to discovering him but have devoured his catalog
Becca & Kristie Ritchie

Some favorite authors for specific series that I will keep up to date with and many in the series get 5 stars from me, but I never rate below 4.
Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X
Mark Greaney's The Gray Man
Don Winslow's The Power of the Dog

My favorite genres tend to be an odd mixed bag with Thriller, Mystery, MM Romance, True Crime leading the pack. But I'll almost try anything. Although I recently had to admit that I rarely will like Fantasy and High Fantasy is 100% a no for me.

I think that's it. Oh, and since 2019 I am pretty much 100% audio.

Ok... that should be enough to figure me out... or at least make it funny!


message 13: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Danielle wrote: "Ok... my profile...

Some of my 5 star books that I think are worth calling out for (in no particular order):
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) by Ken Follett A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1) by John Grisham[bookcover:W..."


🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Patient Overview:
Subject presents with severe Genre Contradiction Syndrome alongside advanced Emotional Damage Tolerance and a near-total dependence on audiobooks for daily functioning.

Initial assessment suggested a standard Thriller Reader profile.

This assessment collapsed almost immediately upon discovery of:
⭐ emotionally devastating MM romance
⭐ literary fiction
⭐ true crime
⭐ sprawling historical epics
⭐ serial killer nonfiction
⭐ morally gray vigilantes
⭐ traumatized assassins
⭐ courtroom drama
⭐ emotionally broken men finding love
⭐ “I don’t like fantasy” immediately followed by attachment to monsters

Further examination revealed the following:

⚠️ Symptoms Identified:
📚 Claims to dislike Fantasy while actively loving books containing:
— monsters
— impossible assassins
— morally mythical men
— emotionally enchanted murderers

📚 Gives 5 stars to books that either:
— emotionally destroy the reader
— expose systemic corruption
— involve murder
— involve devastating love stories
— or all four simultaneously

📚 Maintains a highly suspicious relationship with:
— damaged protagonists
— competence porn
— vengeance
— FBI profiling
— men with trauma
— men with knives
— men with trauma AND knives

📚 Has fully evolved into an Audioform Reader Entity.
Visual reading functions appear largely vestigial after 2019.

📄 Official Condition Identified:
Narrative Intensity Dependency Disorder™
with
Selective Fantasy Denial Subtype

Prognosis:
Patient will continue insisting they “don’t usually like this kind of book” moments before giving it 5 stars and emotionally recommending it to everyone within range.


message 14: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Donna wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Ok... my profile...

Some of my 5 star books that I think are worth calling out for (in no particular order):
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) by Ken Follett [bookcover:A Time to Kill|3..."


LOL ... funny... and spot-on in many areas!


message 15: by Sammy (last edited May 23, 2026 01:51PM) (new)

Sammy (sammystarbuck) | 5111 comments 📚 favorite books - Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) by Jacqueline Carey Ulysses by James Joyce The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven The Winter King (The Warlord Chronicles, #1) by Bernard Cornwell David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray The Princess Bride by William Goldman Going Postal (Discworld, #33; Moist von Lipwig, #1) by Terry Pratchett Duma Key by Stephen King 1984 by George Orwell The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas The Odyssey by Homer Daughter of the Empire (The Empire Trilogy, #1) by Raymond E. Feist The Martian by Andy Weir Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1) by Robert McCammon Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1) by Larry McMurtry
📚 favorite genres - I enjoy variety above all, but have a soft spot for classics, spec fic and action-based historical fiction most of all.
📚 beloved tropes - I prefer originality to tropes in general
📚 comfort reads - any of my favourites
📚 auto-buy authors - Bernard Cornwell, Andy Weir, John Scalzi, Blake Crouch
📚 biggest reader pet peeves - predictable mysteries, lack of communication leading to pointless break-ups in romance novels, love triangles, the term "romantasy". Comparing freckles to constellations.
📚 anything else that exposes your reader soul to the public - I will read anything for a (team) challenge (providing I can get hold of it), no matter how terrible. I prefer longer books to shorter ones.


message 16: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Sammy wrote: "📚 favorite books - Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) by Jacqueline Carey Ulysses by James Joyce The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven [..."

🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Patient Overview:
Subject displays advanced Literary Endurance Conditioning alongside severe Plot Snobbery and chronic exposure to Extremely Long Books™.

Initial intake interview revealed:
⭐ Ulysses
⭐ Moby-Dick
⭐ The Lord of the Rings
⭐ The Odyssey
⭐ The Count of Monte Cristo

At this point the Department briefly considered whether the patient was actually three Victorian professors standing on each other’s shoulders in a trench coat.

Further testing revealed the following symptoms:

⚠️ Symptoms Identified:
📚 Experiences physical nourishment from books exceeding 700 pages.

📚 Reads “for fun” what most readers would describe as:
— academic punishment
— maritime suffering
— historical infrastructure
— philosophical wandering
— emotionally devastating epics

📚 Suffers immediate allergic reactions to:
— predictable mysteries
— unnecessary love triangles
— third-act breakup misunderstandings
— the word “romantasy”
— freckles being compared to constellations

📚 Displays unusually high resistance to terrible books due to prolonged exposure through team challenges.
Patient appears capable of surviving novels that would kill weaker readers instantly.

📚 Claims to dislike tropes while simultaneously maintaining an extremely specific ecosystem of beloved narrative elements including:
— morally complex rulers
— strategic geniuses
— survival epics
— dry humor
— historical warfare
— deeply competent weird little men

📚 Strongly prefers originality, yet continues returning to giant foundational classics that accidentally CREATED the tropes everyone else uses badly.

📄 Official Condition Identified:
Epic Narrative Consumption Disorder™
with
Advanced Anti-Romantasy Reflex Syndrome

Prognosis:
Patient will continue reading 900-page masterpieces “casually,” mocking weak plot twists from orbit, and emerging from horrific team challenge books saying:
“Well… it had interesting ideas.”


message 17: by Sammy (new)

Sammy (sammystarbuck) | 5111 comments whether the patient was actually three Victorian professors standing on each other’s shoulders in a trench coat.

🤣🤣🤣


message 18: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Sammy wrote: "whether the patient was actually three Victorian professors standing on each other’s shoulders in a trench coat.

🤣🤣🤣"


Well, you never know... ROFL


message 19: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Sammy wrote: "📚 favorite books - Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) by Jacqueline Carey Ulysses by James Joyce The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven [..."

📄 Department Findings:
Severe Literary Omnivore Disorder (L.O.D.) — Advanced Stage

Patient demonstrates alarming willingness to read:
⚔️ dense classics
🐋 symbolic whale monologues
👑 sprawling fantasy epics
📜 historical warfare
☄️ apocalyptic disasters
🧠 philosophical despair
💀 and apparently anything if a team challenge is involved

Initial assessment suggests the patient cannot be stopped by:
✔️ page count
✔️ complexity
✔️ emotional devastation
✔️ archaic prose
✔️ “this book changed literature” warnings

Additional symptoms include:
📚 casually listing Ulysses and The Princess Bride in the same breath
📚 openly rejecting tropes while secretly collecting extremely specific narrative patterns
📚 visible irritation at “lack of communication” plots
📚 immediate psychic damage upon hearing the word “romantasy”
📚 full-body recoil from freckles being compared to constellations

The Department also notes a dangerous preference for:
🔍 hypercompetent protagonists
🔍 political maneuvering
🔍 revenge arcs lasting several hundred pages
🔍 books with maps
🔍 stories where civilization is collapsing but someone still has time for sarcasm

Concerning Behavioral Pattern:
Patient claims to dislike tropes, yet consistently gravitates toward:
⚔️ doomed quests
⚔️ clever rogues
⚔️ obsessive revenge
⚔️ morally complicated leaders
⚔️ “one competent person holding the entire situation together”

Current Risk Level:
Would absolutely survive a 900-page historical siege novel with annotations and emerge asking for the sequel.

Prognosis:
Patient will continue saying:
“I just like good books.”

The Department regrets to inform them this is the most dangerous reader type of all.


message 20: by Jenny (new)

Jenny | 2835 comments If I am asked to provide a list of favorite books, I cannot hold back from making a long list. Sorry.

📚 favorite books
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1) by Dennis E. Taylor In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan Sleeping in Flame (Answered Prayers, #2) by Jonathan Carroll Orbital by Samantha Harvey The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #1) by Jodi Taylor All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) by Martha Wells There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm Watchers by Dean Koontz The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) by Liu Cixin Nutshell by Ian McEwan Finder (Finder Chronicles, #1) by Suzanne Palmer Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline The Demon-Haunted World Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan A Dirty Job (Grim Reaper, #1) by Christopher Moore The Cabinet of Curiosities (Pendergast, #3; Nora Kelly, #0B) by Douglas Preston The Iliad by Homer The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Lovecraft Country (Lovecraft Country, #1) by Matt Ruff The Changeling by Victor LaValle Seveneves by Neal Stephenson The Stand by Stephen King

📚 favorite genres
-Science Fiction
-Speculative Fiction
-Literary Fiction
-Books about physics
-Any fiction book that is well written and recommended by a trusted source.

📚 reading habits
-Morning, noon and night. Physical books and audiobooks.

📚 comfort reads
- Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1) by John Scalzi The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) by Becky Chambers Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams One Grave Too Many (Diane Fallon, #1) by Beverly Connor Crystal Singer (Crystal Singer, #1) by Anne McCaffrey The Nothing Girl (Frogmorton Farm, #1) by Jodi Taylor

📚 auto-buy authors
-Too many to name. Close to all of the authors of the books on the above favorites list, plus a lot more.

📚 biggest reader pet peeves
-Bad or no editing, unoriginal storylines.

📚 anything else that exposes your reader soul to the public
-I will take one for the team in a challenge setting.


message 21: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Jenny wrote: "If I am asked to provide a list of favorite books, I cannot hold back from making a long list. Sorry....."

📄 Department Report:
Catastrophic Genre Saturation Event

Patient attempted to provide “a few favorite books” and instead submitted what appears to be the complete intellectual history of their inner world.

Department analysts are currently trapped somewhere between:
🚀 existential sci-fi
📚 literary devastation
🧠 theoretical physics
👻 cosmic horror
😂 absurdist humor
🐇 emotionally significant animal stories
and
💀 humanity confronting incomprehensible truths

Further symptoms include:
📚 reading books about antimemetics and then expecting us to remember them
📚 alternating seamlessly between Carl Sagan and Christopher Moore
📚 treating “light emotional destruction” as a comfort read
📚 openly consuming apocalypse fiction recreationally
📚 believing a trusted recommendation is legally binding

Patient demonstrates advanced:
🔍 “I read across genres” energy
which actually translates to:
🔍 “I require every book to permanently alter my brain chemistry.”

The Department also notes recurring attraction to:
⚠️ lonely competent weirdos
⚠️ sentient entities with emotional repression
⚠️ humanity surviving impossible odds through science and sarcasm
⚠️ cosmic-scale despair
⚠️ books where reality itself may be malfunctioning

Concerning Behavioral Pattern:
Patient claims to dislike unoriginal storylines while actively hunting books that contain:
🧠 concepts no normal person would think of
📖 narrative structures held together with philosophical duct tape
🌌 existential implications that arrive at 2 a.m. uninvited

Current Team Challenge Risk Assessment:
EXTREMELY HIGH

Patient has repeatedly stated they will “take one for the team,” which Department translators confirm means:
📚 willingly reading cursed books
📚 finishing them out of spite
📚 emerging with a 12-paragraph analysis anyway

Prognosis:
Patient will continue acquiring books faster than linear time should reasonably allow while saying:
“I just want something well-written.”

Unfortunately, their definition of “well-written” now includes:
✔️ emotional trauma
✔️ quantum mechanics
✔️ eldritch implications
✔️ at least one devastating philosophical realization.


message 22: by Jenny (new)

Jenny | 2835 comments Damn girl. That was scarily accurate, and hysterical.


message 23: by Donna, The Titan Trickster, Instigator of Legends (last edited May 24, 2026 03:56AM) (new)

Donna (dkflynn33) | 8890 comments Mod
Jenny wrote: "If I am asked to provide a list of favorite books, I cannot hold back from making a long list. Sorry.

📚 favorite books
Tam Lin by Pamela DeanWho Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor[bookcover:We Ar..."


🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Diagnosis

📄 Patient Overview:
Subject attempted to provide “a few favorite books” and instead produced what appears to be the complete archival record of a highly intelligent interdimensional book entity.

Initial evaluation detected:
⭐ existential science fiction
⭐ literary devastation
⭐ physics
⭐ cosmic horror
⭐ time travel bureaucracy
⭐ emotionally damaged robots
⭐ apocalyptic survival
⭐ ancient epics
⭐ deeply weird speculative fiction

The Department immediately upgraded this case to:
“Extremely Advanced Reader Lifeform.”

⚠️ Symptoms Identified:
📚 Displays severe inability to answer simple book questions concisely.
Question:
“What are some books you like?”
Response:
*entire doctoral thesis on speculative fiction and human consciousness*

📚 Reads books that casually include:
— quantum mechanics
— antimemetic organizations
— existential despair
— ancient mythology
— collapsing civilizations
— sentient spaceships
— emotionally exhausted murder robots

📚 Simultaneously enjoys:
— Carl Sagan
— Homer
— Christopher Moore
—which should not logically coexist in one human psyche and yet somehow does.

📚 Shows strong attraction to:
— “What does it mean to be human?”
— “Humanity was a mistake.”
— “Humanity is beautiful actually.”
— all within the same book.

📚 Possesses unusually high tolerance for:
— massive page counts
— emotionally catastrophic endings
— experimental narrative structures
— weirdness levels that would frighten casual readers

📚 Claims willingness to “take one for the team” during challenges.
Department notes this is a classic symptom of:
📄 Martyr Reader Complex™

Patient will knowingly read a terrible book so nobody else has to.

📚 Comfort reads include both cozy emotional healing and quiet existential reflection, suggesting the patient periodically requires recovery time after reading books about the collapse of reality.

📄 Official Condition Identified:
Existential Speculative Fiction Hyperfixation Disorder™
with
Compulsive Recommendation Expansion Syndrome

Secondary Diagnosis:
Chronic “This Weird Little Book Changed My Brain Chemistry” Condition

Prognosis:
Patient will continue discovering obscure speculative fiction masterpieces, casually recommending emotionally destabilizing books to unsuspecting readers, and answering simple questions with approximately 43 book titles.


message 24: by Amanda , The Mindweaver of Hidden Truths (last edited May 24, 2026 10:30AM) (new)

Amanda  Edgar (amandaedgar) | 1950 comments Mod
Danielle wrote: "Ok... my profile...

Some of my 5 star books that I think are worth calling out for (in no particular order):
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) by Ken Follett A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1) by John Grisham[bookcover:W..."


🩺 Official Reader Analysis Department Report: Danielle

📄 Diagnosis Identified:

Competency Obsession Disorder
(Otherwise known as: “The world is a dumpster fire, so my protagonists better know what the fuck they're doing”)

Observed Symptoms:

📚 Immediate distrust of any fictional government, police department, hospital, church, corporation, or school system
📚 Requires protagonists to possess at least one of the following: combat training, emotional repression, forensic expertise, legal brilliance, sniper capabilities, or crippling childhood trauma
📚 Develops visible irritation when characters survive through destiny, prophecy, “special bloodlines,” or simply vibes
📚 Can tolerate 1,000 pages of cathedral construction politics but draws the line at one magical map
📚 Experiences psychological stabilization while listening to books about murder investigations, systemic corruption, cults, abuse, organized crime, and corporate negligence
📚 Suffers from acute “Fantasy Processing Failure,” in which dragons are considered unrealistic but emotionally constipated assassins are viewed as comforting and trustworthy
📚 Displays a dangerous tendency to emotionally recover from horrific nonfiction by immediately consuming devastating M/M romance with emotionally shattered men who communicate exclusively through yearning and self-sacrifice
📚 Maintains a fully audio-based reading existence since 2019, meaning she casually listens to gruesome homicide details while picking avocados at the grocery store

Clinical Interpretation:

The patient demonstrates a severe psychological dependence on hyper-competent protagonists. Normal readers use books to escape reality; this patient uses them to escape the crushing disappointment of watching other people attempt basic tasks incorrectly.

At its core, this pattern reflects a profound distrust in the average person’s ability to handle literally anything. The patient is deeply aware that real-world systems are run by people who should not be trusted with safety scissors. As a result, fiction becomes a corrective fantasy where at least one person in the room has a triple-digit IQ and either a functioning moral compass or a highly efficient way to hide a body.

The patient’s true psychological comfort object is competence under pressure.

This also explains her violent rejection of High Fantasy. The issue is that the patient requires fictional worlds to feel psychologically containable (i.e., she needs to feel in control or at least have the illusion of control). She needs systems, structure, rules, competence, and at least the illusion that someone is in control of the situation. Her nervous system immediately rejects the idea that a 17-year-old stable boy with no survival skills can defeat ancient evil because a glowing rock whispered to him in the woods. If a protagonist survives, she wants it earned through obsessive pattern recognition, contingency planning, operational competence, emotional repression, and at least three nervous breakdowns.

Her preferred protagonists are typically one missed therapy appointment away from complete emotional collapse, yet somehow still capable of dismantling organized crime syndicates while bleeding internally. Within the patient’s literary ecosystem, “barely functioning” is interpreted as charisma.

Most clinically significant is the patient’s deeply unhinged emotional self-care routine: first consuming books about institutional collapse, serial killers, systemic abuse, corruption, and catastrophic violence “to relax,” then immediately pivoting into emotionally catastrophic romance as psychological aftercare.

This is the literary equivalent of eating a ghost pepper and washing it down with battery acid.

🧾 Recommended Treatment Plan:

• Remove patient from all “broken but brilliant federal agent” content for a minimum observation period of 72 hours
• Introduce one fictional character whose primary skill set is emotional communication instead of tactical homicide
• Limit exposure to men described as “dangerous,” “morally gray,” “dead behind the eyes,” or “surprisingly gentle despite the murders”
• Gradual reintroduction to fantasy through tightly regulated exposure to one (1) competent wizard with paperwork responsibilities
• Monitor audiobook usage during grocery shopping to ensure patient no longer associates produce sections with serial dismemberment
• Strongly discourage immediate emotional rebound reading in which two emotionally unavailable men process trauma through yearning and mutual self-destruction
• In acute episodes, administer one highly competent female protagonist with anger issues and severe trust problems
• Encourage controlled exposure to ordinary civilians who are neither assassins, FBI profilers, elite operatives, nor emotionally shattered crime lords
• Under no circumstances should the patient begin another 14-book thriller series narrated by a gravel-voiced man who sounds clinically exhausted

Prognosis:

Extremely poor. The pt is stubborn and appears fully aware of the condition and has mistaken it for “having standards.”


message 25: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Amanda wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Ok... my profile...

Some of my 5 star books that I think are worth calling out for (in no particular order):
The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) by Ken Follett [bookcover:A Time to Kill|3..."


my reactions as I read through this awesome list:

LMAO @ 📚 Can tolerate 1,000 pages of cathedral construction politics but draws the line at one magical map

I DO listen while at the grocery store. 100% accurate!
📚 Maintains a fully audio-based reading existence since 2019, meaning she casually listens to gruesome homicide details while picking avocados at the grocery store

YES! @ The patient is deeply aware that real-world systems are run by people who should not be trusted with safety scissors.

LOL... this was great!!! And funny.


message 26: by Izzy (new)

Izzy | 114 comments 📚 favorite books
Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2) by Lois McMaster Bujold The Regressor King by A.J. Sherwood Of Pranks and Passion by Amy Padilla The Fall by Tal Bauer Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson Leave by L.A. Witt Huntsong (The Singer of Terandria, #2) by Pirateaba Grave Situation by Louisa Masters

That's probably enough, although that's only going back to last March for "last read" dates.

📚 favorite genres
Most commonly I read MM romance, but I also read fantasy and urban fantasy. I'll read other things, too, but I'm not afraid to put a book down.

📚 reading habits
I can no longer read books on paper, so it's ebooks and audiobooks for me. Mostly, it's ebooks by day and audiobooks by night.

📚 biggest reader pet peeves
Poor writing, poor characterization, insufficient anything (backstory, plot, side-characters, you name it), making any character weak.

📚 anything else that exposes your reader soul to the public
2026 books so far: 196 (undercount).


message 27: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Izzy wrote: "📚 favorite books
Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2) by Lois McMaster BujoldThe Regressor King by A.J. SherwoodOf Pranks and Passion by Amy PadillaThe Fall by Tal BauerOathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson[..."


📄 Department Evaluation:
Extreme Competence Reader Syndrome

Patient exhibits a near-total intolerance for:
❌ weak characterization
❌ weak plots
❌ weak worldbuilding
❌ weak side characters
❌ weak people in general

Department analysts suspect the patient would attempt to provide developmental notes to fictional characters making poor life decisions.

Primary reading ecosystem appears to consist of:
⚔️ emotionally intense MM romance
🗡️ battle-hardened fantasy protagonists
✨ magical competency
💀 deeply traumatized but functional adults
and
📚 books exceeding reasonable emotional investment limits

Further observations include:
📚 casually listing Oathbringer like it’s a light afternoon read
📚 requiring “sufficient anything” at all times
📚 abandoning books mid-read with zero remorse
📚 consuming ebooks by day and audiobooks by night in what experts are calling “continuous narrative intake”
📚 reading 196 books by May and labeling it an “undercount”

The Department would also like to note recurring attraction to:
🔍 competent paladins
🔍 emotionally constipated men healing slowly
🔍 found family chaos
🔍 dangerous magical idiots with good intentions
🔍 romance partners who communicate like adults

Concerning Behavioral Pattern:
Patient claims they “mostly” read MM romance while the evidence suggests:
📚 MM romance has become the structural framework holding their entire reading life together.

Current Risk Assessment:
If trapped in a fantasy kingdom, patient would:
✔️ organize the rebellion
✔️ emotionally support the disaster mage
✔️ critique the kingdom’s political structure
✔️ fall in love with the deadliest person in the room
✔️ demand stronger character motivation from the villain

Prognosis:
Patient will continue reading at a pace that alarms both librarians and mortal time itself while saying:
“I’m actually pretty picky.”

The Department regrets to inform them that reading nearly 200 books in under five months removes the right to use the word “casual” forever.


message 28: by Izzy (new)

Izzy | 114 comments Danielle wrote: "Primary reading ecosystem appears to consist of: ...
📚 books exceeding reasonable emotional investment limits
"


Oops. Got any recommendations? I need more books of this type.

I don't think I would organize the rebellion. That would take too much work. Besides, it would cut into my reading time.

Other than that, spot on.

Isn't "casual" a description of clothing?

Izzy
Reading at a pace that alarms both librarians and mortal time itself since 1992


message 29: by Ashley, Eric Northman's Worst Nightmare (new)

Ashley Basile (smashreads) | 7548 comments Mod
I'm hereeee! to be diagnosed... (as problematic?)

📚 favorite books

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson Soulless by Gail Carriger Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison Beartown by Fredrik Backman I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

📚 favorite genres

Fantasy (all types), Romance — PNR and UF were my entry points and they still have my whole heart — and Sci-Fi are my anchors, with Memoir and Historical Fiction getting regular rotation. Honestly, I'll read anything. Make me mad? Even better.

📚 beloved tropes

I'm drawn to books set in underrepresented countries, lesser-known authors, and stories that earn their darkness — ones that end bleakly because the story demanded it, not for shock value. Also: enemies to lovers and ...wait for it... "who did that to you?" omg I'm MELTING.

📚 reading habits

I just read. a lot. I prefer a series, but I do really love a standalone... I listen to audiobooks at 2x (ok 1.75x sometimes). I'd rather give a book 2 stars and mean it than round up.

📚 comfort reads

Twilight Series... it's just twilight, it's always twilight. Hello, new moon?
And maybe Sookie Stackhouse. I need Eric in my life.

📚 auto-buy authors

Ilona Andrews

📚 biggest reader pet peeves

people who complain that a book had no plot, when they are reading lit fic. I know. That's kind of niche, but it annoys me. Otherwise, I don't really care. If you're reading, I'm down with you.

📚 anything else that exposes your reader soul to the public

My personal library has black walls and too many unread books. I consider both of those features.


message 30: by Danielle, The Challenge Enabler (new)

Danielle (dani410) | 4419 comments Mod
Ashley wrote: "I'm hereeee! to be diagnosed... (as problematic?)

📚 favorite books

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson Soulless by Gail Carriger Outlander by Diana Gab..."


📄 Department Intake Summary:
Gothic Emotional Damage Collector

Patient demonstrates a deeply concerning ability to transition seamlessly between:
🖤 Victorian repression
🧪 existential sci-fi
🐺 paranormal romance
💀 literary despair
😂 chaotic memoirs
and
✨ emotionally devastating fantasy worlds

without suffering narrative whiplash.

Further symptoms include:
📚 openly admitting Twilight is the comfort read “and always will be”
📚 demanding darkness that is earned
📚 immediate emotional collapse upon hearing:
“Who did that to you?”
📚 reading books specifically because they might make them angry
📚 listening to audiobooks at speeds that frighten ordinary citizens

The Department would also like to note recurring attraction to:
🔍 emotionally unavailable immortals
🔍 dangerous blondes named Eric
🔍 women surviving impossible situations out of pure spite
🔍 bleak endings that leave psychic residue for months
🔍 books with vibes so strong they become home décor

Concerning Behavioral Pattern:
Patient claims:
“I’ll read anything.”

Evidence suggests this translates to:
✔️ literary fiction with no traditional plot
✔️ monster romance
✔️ devastating dystopias
✔️ emotionally feral fantasy heroines
✔️ memoirs written by people barely surviving adulthood
✔️ at least one book per year that permanently alters brain chemistry

Department analysts are particularly alarmed by:
🖤 black-walled personal library
📚 towering unread TBR
😌 complete lack of shame about either

This is not a library.
This is a beautifully curated crypt.

Current Diagnosis:
Advanced “Make Me Feel Something” Reader Disorder

Prognosis:
Patient will continue giving books 2 stars “with integrity,” defending literary fiction in comment sections, and falling in love with emotionally damaged supernatural beings while insisting:
“I just like good character work.”

The Department believes the black walls were inevitable.


message 31: by Ashley, Eric Northman's Worst Nightmare (new)

Ashley Basile (smashreads) | 7548 comments Mod
I'm about to really show out, because all this "analysis" has brought up my deep seeded anger regarding the end of the Sookie Stackhouse series....

If you haven't read or watched ... like close your eyes now.


SAM. SAM?! The guy whose entire personality is "I own a bar and I'm nice and I'm there." The literary equivalent of unbuttered toast. He's not a bad guy! That's the PROBLEM. He's fine. And "fine" is a WAR CRIME after you've had Eric Northman pin you against a wall and then SAVE YOU FROM EVIL FAERIES...

Sookie went from:
Vampire sheriff with a thousand years of protective obsession
To... a shifter who is essentially a golden retriever in a flannel shirt

That's not a character arc. That's a nosedive into mediocrity.

And in the show: A NAMELESS, FACELESS HUMAN MAN. Are you kidding me?

The show spent SEVEN SEASONS building this world of supernatural chaos, loyalty, violence, and passion — and then Sookie ends up with Some Guy. Not even a named character we've met. Just... a man. A human. A rando.

That's not an ending. That's a white flag. And we do ONLY RED FLAGS HERE.


I made a chart:

Choice Verdict
Bill Manipulative, sent to seduce her, has a child bride history, no
Sam Dull, safe, "he was there the whole time," absolutely not
Eric Protective, obsessed, would burn the world down for her, funny, hot, correct
Human Literally garbage. An insult. I'm calling the police.


Ok, let me go.. calm down somewhere.


back to top