Choose your 2026 reading adventure

How to navigate book forums and find the best readalong experience for you.

Happy New Year! Welcome to all our new Pagebounders (boundlings?)—we’re now a community of 100,000 🎉

As you set forth on a new year of reading, Pagebound aims to enrich your experience with any book. While we do have community-wide, organized Seasonal Readalongs and Special Events, every book can have its own readalong experience when you sort the forum by % progress and share your thoughts as you read.

You’ll immediately be connected to everyone who has read/is reading the book. We intentionally do not include timestamps on posts and comments, so you’re in an ongoing conversation about the book, whenever you choose to read it.

Based on the activity in the forum, the readalong experience can differ quite a bit. Here’s how you can choose your own adventure as you plan your 2026 TBR:

1. The stadium concert: book forums with 300+ posts

You enjoy being one among the crowd—the energy and excitement of everyone reacting with you.

Buzzy new releases and film adaptations drive big discussions on Pagebound. You’ll get many different takes on the same scene, and it’s the perfect readalong if you prefer commenting over posting. Chances to contribute something new are fewer, but there’s a constant stream of witty, clever thoughts from fellow readers to consume. It’ll definitely broaden your own understanding of the book.

2. The arena show: forums with 100-200 posts

You want to be where the excitement is before it’s too mainstream. You’re motivated by FOMO but want to form your own opinion.

These books are part of the popular conversation, but there’s still room to post and comment with a fresh take. There’s bound to be a few people reading at the same time as you in addition to all the posts from past readers, and the forums are lively without feeling repetitive. Often highly lauded, these books are great for trying out a new genre. If it’s to your taste, there are plenty of community recommendations for you to jump into (viewable at the bottom of the book page).

3. The theater set: forums with ~50 posts

You’re a tastemaker, and you enjoy shaping the discussion.

You know what you like since these books are a little more niche. When you see many posts that you vibe with from the same username, you’ve likely made a friend for life. Your posts will influence the conversation for many months to come and contribute to other readers’ experience with the book.

4. The underground session: forums with <20 posts

You are an independent thinker and early adopter. You know that the best part of discovering a lesser known artist is the tight-knit community of day-one fans.

These forums are great for making new reader friends. You’ll see the same usernames as you read, and it’s easy to comment and go back & forth without discussions being buried. It feels like the cool kids club.

At the top of every book page, you’ll find the post count, which is helpful to get a sense for what kind of readalong experience you’ll have. Try one of each! After all, you contain multitudes.