How do you feel about books being adapted to the screen? (TV series or movie) Are you indifferent or do you have strong opinions?

In the comments, let us know if you like when books are adapted to the screen. Why or why not? If you have a favorite book to screen adaptation, what is it?

For me, my favorite book to movie adaption is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. To be honest, I don't watch many book to screen adaptations!

WEEK OF 02/08/2026

Hi everyone! I hope you've had a nice and warm weekend. Welcome to the first newsletter of 2026. Again, thank you so much for your kindness and patience over the last month. I truly appreciate it.

ICYMI, I made a post sharing what you can expect here on Bindery for 2026. I've made some changes but for the most part, things will run similar to how they did last year. One of those changes is to my weekly newsletter. I've opened my newsletter to free and paid members. Paid members will get an extended version of the newsletter.

For more details, CLICK HERE to read the post.

Image description: A graphic with an illustration of a book, pen and paper, and a coffee mug in the center of a gray background. End of image description.

CURRENTLY READING 

As always, I'm reading a bunch of things.

• Ski-Crossed Lovers by Allison Temple (Ebook; I'm reading this for our Discord book club!)

• It's All in How You Fall by Sarah Henning (This is my physical read for TBR Tackle. TBH I'm not a huge fan of it, but I'm only 3% in.)

• The Healing Hippo Of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama (Audio via Libro.fm - I'm 56% in and started this back in January; planning to finish it up this week! )

• A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins narrated by J. Shani Michaels, Lauryn Nichols (Audio via Libby - I'm reading this for Trope Taste Test)

CURRENTLY FILMING 

• TBR Tackle Ep. 7 - Scavenger Hunt Picks My Reads

• Trope Taste Test: Friends to Lovers

ON THE CHANNEL THIS WEEK 

I'm not sure what my schedule will look like this month. Honestly, short videos have been so much easier for me to make at the moment; mental capacity wise. But I want to get back to long-form content.

This week, I'm planning to finally finish editing my end of the year content. So hopefully you'll get a video this week. I'm not 100% sure if I'm coming back to streaming this week or next. But I'll let you know by Monday! I will be streaming on Wednesdays at my usual time.

ON PATREON + BINDERY THIS WEEK 

For all paid members, I'll be sharing our monthly bookish poll this week!

Last week, for free + paid members, I shared my content plans & hopefuls for February, CLICK HERE to view the post.

Last week, I shared my content plans & hopefuls for February, CLICK HERE to view the post.

Image description: A graphic with an illustration of a book, pen and paper, and a coffee mug in the center of a gray background. End of image description.

WHAT I'M ENJOYING

I know they just started but it's probably no surprise that I'm throughly enjoying The Winter Olympics lol Joy has been really rough for me to find over the last month. But sports are always there to keep me company. Also these athletes are just SO good. I'm in awe!

WHAT I'M PLAYING

I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing since the new update came out in January! I also treated myself to "Tiny Bookshop" for Christmas and that game has been really fun to play. For music, I've been listening to Louis Tomlinson's new album, "How Did We Get Here?" It's SOO good. I'm obsessed! I've also been listening to Olivia Dean and an old band that I enjoy, Transit.

WHAT I'M WATCHING

• Baking Championship: Next Gen - They revamped the Kids Baking Championship and it's under a new name now. I really like the changes because this show has siblings paired up and it's hilarious. These kids are super talented!

• Tournament of Champions - I got into this in January because I love Food Network and Guy Fieri. It's such a fun show! It's similar to Guy's Grocery Games because the contestants spin a wheel to determine what they make and have to use in their dish. In my opinion, it's a better show than Beat Bobby Flay.

• Abbott Elementary - No new episodes this month because of The Olympics but I've been enjoying this season so far!

• Modern Family - I've been finding comfort in watching shows I've already watched before. New to me shows can be hard for me to get into. Let me just say, this show has NOT aged well at all. The "jokes" are very ableist and racist. I've been watching it along with a TV & movie reaction YouTube channel called Reel Time.

NEW HOBBIES

I decided I want to pick up more hands-on hobbies and am going to start puzzling. And I bought a kit to learn how to crochet! I've been super frustrated so far because in my experience, it's super HARD. But I'm determined to learn and be good at it. I'm so pissed about how difficult it is that I want to master it out of spite now lol I'll keep you updated.

I want to hear from you!

Q: What are some of your 2026 goals? and/or what are you enjoying lately? Let's chat in the comments. Tell me some good news or anything you want to share that has brought you joy!

Hi everyone! 

I’m slowly getting back to my routine after experiencing a significant loss in my family. Thank you for bearing with me, your kind words, and your patience.

This post covers everything that will be staying and changing in 2026 on my Patreon and Bindery platforms. I will start rolling out content this week and next. On Sunday, you'll receive the first newsletter of the year! If you are waiting on your book rec request from December, I'll be sending them out this weekend as well.

FREE MEMBERS

• Weekly newsletter (paid members will receive an extended version) recapping what I’m reading, filming, and what content you can expect on my social channels that week. 

• Access to our private Discord 

• Weekend seasonal readathons (Can be accessed through Discord)

• Paperback Pals Themed Book Club (Discord) CLICK HERE for full details.

• Monthly Book Club Live Reading Sprints - I will stream once a month preferably on a weekend where we come together to read our book club picks.

• Content Calendar & Hopefuls - You will receive a post at the beginning of the month with graphics recapping what I plan to read, my content plans, & what to expect on Patreon and Bindery.

PAID MEMBERS

Changes 

• I’m stopping sending mail (i.e. birthday cards and thank you cards) because it was difficult for INT folks and they didn’t always make it to their sender. 

• The newsletter is staying! It is now open for free members but all paid members will receive an extended version where I share a round-up of what I’m enjoying/playing/watching that week. I enjoyed that part of my newsletter last year, but it was hard to find something every week. Therefore, the recommendation part will be removed for that reason. 

PAPERBACK PAL 

(+ Everything for free members) 

• Weekly newsletter including what I’m enjoying/playing/watching that week! 

• One sit down video or  livestream each month - I’ll be continuing the rotation of a sit down video or live reading sprints each month. This is open to members of the Paperback Pal & Bookish Bundle tier. 

• Monthly Behind the Scenes content (Open to all paid members) 

BOOKISH BUNDLE 

(+ Everything on the Paperback Pal tier & for free members) 

• Extended vlogs - I enjoyed making vlogs for you last year but I want to change things up and stick to lifestyle vlogs. So you will receive a short vlog every month starting in Feb! Think of this as a weekly vlog where I share parts of my life + what I’m reading. 

• Quarterly Personalized Book Rec - As per usual, I’ll send out my form to get your personalized book recommendation requests. Bindery now has a feature for free and paid members to ‘Get a Rec’ but I’ll be prioritizing paid members requests first. Requests through Bindery will be turned into a round-up post and YouTube video. 

Interested in more exclusive content? Become a paid member!

Your monetary support has a significant impact, helping me continue to create content and supporting me on my journey to launching my own imprint.  

Thank you for your support. Here's to another year of creating content!

--Alex

Hi everyone! I'm slowly coming back to socials after taking a break to grieve and be with my family during this hard time. As if I didn't have enough going on, I also got sick, but I'm feeling much better now. That being said, I'm starting to plan out and film my end of the year content (I hope it's not too late) and I need your help!

For my video where I go over all of my reading stats and recap the year, I want to have a segment where I give superlatives to books. I usually do this by going over a bookish survey, but I wanted to hear your thoughts and most importantly, what you'd like to know most about the books.

All I need you to do is comment on this post with some bookish superlatives I can feature in the video.

Some examples: book that surprised you, favorite cover, book you wish you read sooner... etc.

Thank you! --Alex

Hi everyone,

A few days ago, I informed on my YouTube community page, Instagram Story, and posted a message in Discord letting my audience know that I had a death in my family and will be stepping away to grieve and be with my family during this hard time.

I'm posting here as well in case the message got lost.

I'll be pausing my content plans until further notice. I'm hoping by the end of January I'll feel up to posting again and sharing my 2026 content plans for YouTube, Patreon/Bindery.

I appreciate all of the kind messages and love I've received over the past few days. I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

This is such an unfathomable loss and I'm truly so heartbroken.

---Alex