Yes, it was very different.

A lot of male behavior became codified around not being gay at some point after this. I would pick the 1940s, but some people would pick an earlier point.

Before that, there was even the concept of a "romantic friendship" in which men would write each other love notes and sometimes kiss that was not considered to be the same as a romance with a woman. The categories and boundaries have shifted wildly.

I've been on GR since before Amazon bought them and the reccos have always been garbage. It's always twenty books from the same general genre as like, one maybe two books you've read.

I use the genre lists, user-made lists, shelving key words, etc. a lot more.

I set a goal for starting books. I set a different goal for finishing books. At some point, I lowered be finishing books goal and raised the starting books goal So I would not feel pressured to read books that I don’t wanna read