DocoftheDarkArts | The Sunday Prescription: July 5, 202...

The Sunday Prescription: July 5, 2026

How many books have you read so far this year?

Not that it matters - any amount is perfect!

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! A second read of the Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien with the Celebreabird read along has been amazing so far!

Given I was off, I didn'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!

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The Sunday Prescription: June 28, 2026

10 books

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 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.

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

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!