Hi and welcome to another Let’s Talk Bookish post! This post was supposed to go up on Friday, but I forgot about it, so had no time to write it. And then that cold that has been bugging me for the entire week decided to come through on Friday and hit me in full force. So, I did not much apart from chilling on the couch with an audiobook. Blah blah blah. Anyway, this week’s topic is interesting, it’s Reading with Friends. I’m a notoriously fast reader – or at least I used to be –, so I definitely have two cents to share.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted by Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Since April 2022, this meme is hosted by , Aria @ Book Nook Bits and since February 2025, Dini @ DiniPandaReads is the co-host. Let’s Talk Bookish is a meme where participants discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and share their love by visiting each other’s posts.

Prompts: Do you enjoy buddy reading or participating in group reads? If you do, what do you like most about them? Do you prefer reading 1-1 or in a big group? For those who might not have access to in-person group reads, do you have a recommendation about where to join online reading groups?

Do you enjoy buddy reading or participating in group reads? If you do, what do you like most about them? Do you prefer reading 1-1 or in a big group?

I have to admit that I used to enjoy doing group reads, but now I prefer to read by myself, on my own terms. I haven’t been in a book club for nothing since 2017, have I? I did them both online and offline, but I slowly quit over the years. My offline book club actually fully parted ways in late 2025. This was not due to one big reason, but multiple circumstances such as life, different reading tastes and so on. However, we often met when several people hadn’t finished the book. I like spoilers, I actually love them. But it sometimes made discussing the book hard. It was pretty casual, we didn’t meet e.g. every four weeks. I think that worked best for me, because I don’t like to have a set reading/mandatory meeting schedule. My online book clubs I quit earlier, because I just wasn’t really vibing with the whole concept anymore. Do I miss them? Quite frankly, no. 

I am a huge mood reader and group reads sometimes felt like a chore. I do however enjoy them when they are casual, everyone may read at their own pace without a set reading schedule. I often read pretty fast when I’m 100% captivated by a book, nobody could slow me down, let alone tell me to stop for the sake of sticking to the reading schedule. Plus, I just don’t want to pay any actual attention whether I have to stop in order to stick to the schedule. What I do like most about them? The venting and ranting when needed LOL. I’m just not the type for massive group reads, I just like to read at my own terms. I think this habit has grown over the years, because I used to dive into anything and everything at once years ago.

For those who might not have access to in-person group reads, do you have a recommendation about where to join online reading groups?

If I do the occasional buddyread or group read, I prefer doing these on The Storygraph. You can read at your own pace without the danger of encountering spoilers. This feature on this reading tracking app – which I recommend anyway – locks other people’s comments until you reach a certain part in the book and even then you still have to unlock them. Many people also seem to rave about Fable, but I don’t like that app so can’t comment on that. I’m not even sure Goodreads has a buddyreading feature, but that user interface is so outdated, I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t even available. And if it is, definitely not on the app. 

Another online resource of doing group reads are the different bookish Discord servers that are around. When people want to discuss something in the book, there are spoiler tags so you can’t get spoiled if you’re not at that specific part in the book yet. Or at least, technically you can’t. It’s much easier to click on the tags and open the spoilers than it is on The Storygraph LOL.

Do you enjoy participate in buddyreads/group reads? And if so, do you prefer a 1-1, a smaller group or a bigger group? What resources do you use for such buddyreads?