Books (General)

[ivory cypress]

i'd agree that in an enemies to lovers, it's almost necessary

and in that case, the povs is not necessarily about how much i want povs, but whether it's a success or failure at carrying what the story is

some stories need it more than others, but i don't put it in the category of being a preference of mine

[long sorrel]

It depends what the narrative is trying to do, I think, and at that point, I hope the author knows why they're making this or that choice about their narrative, so I don't usually mind about the PoVs

Which isn't to say I won't sometimes heavily disagree with their choices

[proper silo]

I usually prefer for both sides of a romance to have POVs cause I often find the love interest to be the more interesting character, and wanna see what the story looks like from their perspective 😅

[velvet umbra]

It doesn't guarantee this will be the case but it is often more indicative of the love interest being an actual character and not a cardboard cutout SexyMan

[proper silo]

that is also true

[velvet umbra]

(in my comparatively limited experience at least)

[long sorrel]

I've read so many LI with PoVs that are 100% cardboard cutout SexyMan though

I think the LI is obviously less fleshed out if all that happens happens through someone's PoV, but being a cutout or not is just the writing skill in my experience

[velvet umbra]

my thought process is more if you're not confident in them being at least a little bit interesting as an individual you're less likely to write their POV but maybe I'm just underestimating some writer's overconfidence lol

[long sorrel]

hmmmm

I think maybe that's the case in some cases?

[ivory cypress]

mmm yeah I do fully disagree with that reasoning

[long sorrel]

But overall I think it's about what the author is trying to write

and not about their confidence

[proper silo]

Hmmm... To elaborate on my thoughts on this, there's what I said before, that I usually find the LI to be the more interesting character, but also, I wanna see what the relationship looks like from both sides. Cause, with only one POV, there's always an element that they don't see and have to infer, which is doubly an issue when you have an unreliable narrator (which so many of those "he can't possibly be in love with little ol' me!" main characters suffer from). So I find it interesting if we can dig into both sides. It makes the romance feel more... equal, if that makes sense? At least to me personally.

[velvet umbra]

I guess a different way to say it is it's a lot harder to hide a character's flatness when you're in their head

[ivory cypress]

some stories are not served by having povs from everyone, and I honestly think the "aura" of some characters would fully disappear if they were written in their own pov section. I think sometimes it just doesn't serve the story that the author is interested in telling, and sometimes a recognition that the specific outside "angle" is the most interesting view of some characters, and that's a writing choice, not failure

[proper silo]

We're not talking failures or not, just preferences

[ivory cypress]

rn32 was

[velvet umbra]

no Im not

Im not saying it's bad if they don't do that

[long sorrel]

But like... how to explain this, I don't think an author is like "I don't know how to write a character so I will hide their PoV", if you're not confident in your writing skills as a PoV you're probably not writing at all

[ivory cypress]

the idea that a lack of confidence is what holds them back is describing a failure

[velvet umbra]

I think you misunderstood what I'm saying

[long sorrel]

I'm not sure there's anything to misunderstand 😅

but feel free to elaborate, please

[velvet umbra]

I'm not saying "if you don't write from both POV's you aren't confident in your writing ability"

[long sorrel]

What I understood is that you're asying having both PoVs is a potential indicative that you're not writing flat characters

[velvet umbra]

sure, but that's A. just a matter of pre-reading info I take into account when seeing if I might be interested and B. Doesn't mean that not doing that is an automatic negative

[long sorrel]

No, of course

[ivory cypress]

the point of disagreement is not whether a flat character is a positive or negative, but whether that even indicates flatness

[lusty meteor]

The tension in many romances collapses immediately if you know what the other lead is thinking

[ivory cypress]

although to some extent, i think calling a character flat does carry negative connotations, and i think it absolutely did carry that connotation in some of the above messages

[proper silo]

I suppose it is a matter of, what serves the story best.

It's just that, personally i find the romances where i can read both sides' thoughts to be more enjoyable

[long sorrel]

I read too many smuts for this to be true to my experience

[ivory cypress]

i also personally am not interested in the concept of a romance feeling equal vis a vis povs. some are interesting BECAUSE you can't see both sides

[velvet umbra]

I think it can be fine to have flat characters, BUT if 90% of the story is focused on two characters and one of them is very flat and doesn't feel like a real person that's gonna generally be less interesting

[proper silo]

okay so we're all agreeing to disagree here?

[ivory cypress]

on that one axis,we can say

[long sorrel]

Oh for sure, I think nobody is sying we like flat characters? Instead having 1 PoV isn't indicative that the other character is flat

[ivory cypress]

the concept of flatness i think is still very much open

[velvet umbra]

yeah Im trying to clarify that wasn't what I was saying

[ivory cypress]

a lack of povs doesn't indicate anything about a character's flatness to me

[long sorrel]

hmm, sure (this was to Rn32)

[velvet umbra]

its not like a "if you have X that's good if you don't have it that's bad" thing

[ivory cypress]

i don't think i would ever go so far as to say povs are something i look to as any kind of indicator of flatness or a writer's confidence/ability to write a character

[velvet umbra]

it's a "I generally see X as a pro, even if you can still be perfectly good without it"

[long sorrel]

Y'all

I've still read a total of 0 books in May 😭

[velvet umbra]

hey you got like 3.5 days

[long sorrel]

2026 stats

still on the 3d average despite not reading a single book this month

[velvet umbra]

NINETY THREE

[ivory cypress]

I think that's only affected by the distance between start and finish date

[long sorrel]

hmmm

It's gone up though

from 2d to 3d

so I wonder if it's doing books/time

[ivory cypress]

I'm at 72 - really fell off this month too

[long sorrel]

What you say makes more sense though 🤔

[analog geode]

I’ve fallen off in May a ton

[proper silo]

...how do y'all read more books in a month than there are days

[velvet umbra]

if you don't have any books as currently read I think a low reading month shouldn't affect ATTF

[proper silo]

or are those annual stats

[long sorrel]

I have 2 currently reading, yeah

[long sorrel]

this is 2026 (so, since Jan 1st)

[proper silo]

okay that makes more sense

[velvet umbra]

maybe it doesn't calculate until you actually finish them?

[long sorrel]

but it has gone up over May

[velvet umbra]

idk though cause I took 2 and a half months to finish one and I expected my ATTF to go up more than it did

[long sorrel]

We shall see once I complete my 2 current ones

but my brain's just all over the place

[ivory cypress]

tears of the kingdom got its hooks back into me

[velvet umbra]

I had a killer ATTF early this year but I'm reading more of the 500 pager type books in may so it's up to 11

[proper silo]

I feel like if I started tracking books like this, I'd get anxious about my stats

either that, or forget about updating it after a week 🤔

[long sorrel]

I only mark when i start and end

I defs don't care about my stats but I'm annoyed at not being able to do the things I want to do (such as reading)

annoyed at myself which is the worst type of annoyed

[proper silo]

[junior dew]

I did get a bit anxious last year when I fell behind on my 52/year goal

But it honestly wasn’t all that bad

This is I think my third year of tracking my reading and maintaining a 52/year goal

And this year I’m well ahead of schedule

[proper silo]

yeah i don't think i'd be able to do that 😅

[ivory cypress]

the metrics of tracking really aren't a pressure to me because there is no "should" involved. no "i should read this" no "i should read more". it's just there for recognizing what i have done. and it does encourage me to read more, but the little gamification of it has never outweighed the feeling of remembering, oh yeah i love stories

the reason for tracking is because i genuinely want to be able to find (1) what i read (2) when i read it

[long sorrel]

Stats are fun

[ivory cypress]

i've been slowlyyyy reaching some of the books that have been on my tbr for years and years, and that genuinely feels good

and i probably wouldn't have gotten here without the little push

this is sort of the ideal thing for me to gamify i'll say

[long sorrel]

I don't think it does anything of the sort for me lol

I wish it pushed me into the tbr but it does not

[ivory cypress]

i just like seeing the covers and being able to look at some of those covers and realize they're in a different "pile" than the one they've been in for years is exciting

[velvet umbra]

I don't really understand why or how but I do think the like percentage tracking of where I am does help me

I guess you don't need the app for that cause most e-readers and audio books have it but seeing all the things Im reading in one place can help me decide which one to pick up in the moment

[long sorrel]

Oh you mean in the book?

[velvet umbra]

yeah

[long sorrel]

I thought you meant in like yearly goal and such

[velvet umbra]

nah like seeing that I'm 80% on a really chunky book encouraging me to pick it up cause Im close to the climax or something

[ivory cypress]

i do put in my daily reading and honestly, that sort of encourages me a lot to realize how fast a book can go? so before storygraph, sometimes i'll be like, oh that didn't feel like a lot... but then it was like, oh wait i went from 0% to 18% in a sitting? it sort of encourages my brain by helping me realize it isn't going to be forever. sometimes books can feel like that

[velvet umbra]

yeah that too

[long sorrel]

I think I do that calculation mentally

on some vague level

[velvet umbra]

I feel like it's more useful this year where I'm reading like 3-4 books at any given time

[proper silo]

I think maybe I've been doing too many trackers and checklists as part of my work. I look at those stats pages y'all share and get Jira flashbacks

[long sorrel]

Oooh, my work requires me to do a bunch of trackers and checklist...

which is part of why I like my work

This is how my brain is wired

[ivory cypress]

I am an Excel spreadsheet fiend

so satisfying

trackers aren't really part of work tho

[long sorrel]

I did put a bunch of the work trackers in place myself

and I love seeing them go up

[ivory cypress]

oh yeah it is enjoyable when it's self initiated

I don't tend to have work trackers forced on me, usually they're things I initiate, yeah

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I'm forcing them on everyone else 😈

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM book 9 chapter 14 || we can stop having American accent having Travis show up any time shirtaloon thank you||

[long sorrel]

(failed spoiler)

[proper silo]

I like trackers for work!

I'm less positively inclined towards them when it comes to stuff i do for fun, though

it makes me feel like that one meme tweet about doing well in therapy

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/373/463/64a.png

[unique turret]

I like keeping track of data, I’m just not good at logging things myself, so I prefer to have it logged for me automatically

[long sorrel]

mhmmm, as Grey said I do not much care about reaching a goal (in fact my goal is purposefully lower than what I would generally read)

I'm currently at 65% of my goal

[quaint tendon]

Frick

That’s me, always failing to finish what I start

Thanks usha

[somber timber]

When I was in elementary school we’d have reading logs and I would always get in trouble for not filling them out despite reading (except for the one read across America week where we won prizes for reading the most). And unsurprisingly I don’t do any sort of log or trackers now 20 years later lol

[analog geode]

Same lmao

[ivory cypress]

I intentionally set a goal that isn't really a goal, a number I know I'll reach

[long sorrel]

Maybe I should try to read today, I'm could probably finish my current book in 1 day, and the print one in 2-3 days

print is harder for me to read because I don't read physical books at night which is where most of my reading happens

but that's fine, the issue is that I'm reading nothing at all 😩

[snow vessel]

Objectively I know Edward is terrible but I still think he's a 100x better than Jacob.

Oof there was more discussion between then and now than i realised

[hollow hedge]

That tends to happen, idk why but sometimes discord likes to show some seemingly arbitrary point in time rather than now or my last activity

[snow vessel]

I think it popped me to the first message I hadn't read, and I just didn't check how active the channel had been since lol

[unborn furnace]

Dungeon Crawler Carlitos book 1 29 ||I love Odette's character so much||

[long sorrel]

Is "unsane" an acceptable word or a typo

[ivory cypress]

mmmm it's okay. not common, but it's not necessarily an error

if i were beta'ing, i'd probably mark it to be safe but also wouldn't be surprised if it got stetted

[long sorrel]

Mhm, I don't think I had ever seen it used

This is in Saint of Bright Doors, for which it somewhat fits

So I think it's likely intentional to use the less common one

[alpine drum]

I would say it depends on the context

[ivory cypress]

oh yeah, i'd say that's on purpose

[alpine drum]

I could see the author choosing it over insane to be like "this isnt just insanity, its eldritch" or something

[ivory cypress]

lots of unconventional choices in Saint

[long sorrel]

The prose is slightly odd in this book

The word is used to describe "country" in this sentence anyway

I guess it does have an...eerie (?) vibe to the insanity but I'm more leaning into it just being slightly odd sounding

[ivory cypress]

i think it points to a bit of a difference, shades of meaning, between not being sane (a bit more passive) and insane (stronger, more negative, more active)

[alpine drum]

Unsane to me implies an intentionally not sane state

Instead of the uncontrolled lack of sanity that insane would conote

[velvet umbra]

I've seen it in a book before I think I read it as like a milder form, just like a bad decision but not truly crazy

[junior dew]

I flagged it when I read the book too. I may have even looked it up to see if it was a typo or a real word

[ivory cypress]

there is a sense of like, they are not sane but it's not something you would reach for the DSM and point to an entry for

[junior dew]

Yeah it definitely was a word that read strangely a bit at the time though haha

[versed agate]

Unsane sounds like Prachett's "Knurd" to me

[long sorrel]

Saint of Bright Doors 26 ||wtf is this prison camp?? Seems like some massive concentration camp really... ||

[long sorrel]

I so badly want to know what's going on while also not wanting to read

SoBD 26/gen ||sometimes Fetter's way to parse his emotions/feelings leave me so tired. Like they feel quite heavy in a personally negative way. I feel related (vaguely) to the feelings without feeling related to any of the reasons why they're there for him... and it's kind of exhausting?||

[unborn furnace]

Dungeon Crawler Karl 1 30 ||PRINCESS DONUT IS A NECROMANCER NOW?||

[long sorrel]

SoBD 28 ||... so we're talking with dad...||

||“I have been an absent father,” No! How'd you figure?||

Wait what

[long sorrel]

||we're just moving on like the narrator didn't just address themselves?????||

[junior dew]

Able to paste the context/sentence for memory sake?

[long sorrel]

In ch 28 || it says something like "Fetter's Father is looking at me, even though he shouldn't be able to" ||

https://tenor.com/view/blinking-eyes-white-guy-blinking-meme-what-huh-gif-26334322

34 ||Did Fetter's shadow just... hide themself in his Father's ...glans??? ||

I did it, I finished a book

Relevant bits. Saint of Bright Doors ALL ||my guy died due to having sex, hah||

I don't think I'm particularly impressed by the end though so hmmmm... I guess I'll let the story settle before I try to gather my thoughts about it but rn I'm quite indifferent. Loved the prose though

[junior dew]

Glad it wasn’t just me

[long sorrel]

Okay, this is very funny

[junior dew]

Saint of Bright Doors all || It's quite fortunate my "skipping to random points in the book" to check when you asked when I was only a few chapters in didn't spoil that lol ||

[abstract kiln]

Nothing quite like the ADHD urge to randomly stop reading a book you're in the middle of to go and reread an entirely separate series

And I say randomly, cuz it's not like I'm not enjoying the book

[mild lance]

Platform Decay 5 ||whew, what a start of the book. Killing off Leonides immediately caught me off-guard. I’m glad that the whole party is in agreement to save the people she wanted smuggled out. Nanna Naja is already awesome||

[junior smelt]

yeah it was a big "Huh????" moment

[uncut shoal]

I never liked that they want us to do minutes instead of, like, pages or words

[uncut shoal]

Read more than one book a day, duh!

[opaque sundial]

At any given time I'm reading three or four books. Physical, audio, audio with my wife, e book. So if I'm really blazing on all fronts I can finish a lot of books really fast

[proper silo]

Not like... At exactly the same time, though?

[low hill]

Surely that just means each book takes three to four times longer, and the number completed over time remains the same?

(Or longer, if you read faster than audiobooks speak, like I do.)

[velvet umbra]

eh, not necessarily

if you have 3-4 books you're reading at the same time you're less likely to go "eh not in the mood for this kind of story right now" and then just not read at all

plus if you don't have the audiobook for one book you can listen to a different one instead of making zero progress overall

[low hill]

I don't follow. If I don't have a book on me, I don't have a book on me; regardless of how many I am reading at a given time.

[long sorrel]

Yeh this just doesn't happen to me

[velvet umbra]

do you exclusively read physically? then yeah it doesn't apply to you

[low hill]

I mean, it would also be true if I didn't? If I had books digitally, then I'd always have the current one on me because I'd have my phone with me, so why would I need three alternatives?

[velvet umbra]

ugh

stupid enter button

ok, I will give a common example

[ivory cypress]

I do often have multiple books on the go

[velvet umbra]

I am reading 2 books.
Book 1 I have a physical copy of only. Book 2 I have borrowed both the ebook and the audibook from the library.
I have to drive an hour to get somewhere. I listen to Book 2 on the way.
If I had only been reading Book 1, I would have gotten zero reading done. Instead I got an hour done.

[long sorrel]

This feels like something that'd happen to people that do not prepare the correct format for their needs/wants

And not about reading multiple books at once

[velvet umbra]

I mean no not necessarily

[long sorrel]

no of course not necessarily

but we are talking generally

[velvet umbra]

Sometimes you just don’t have access to all formats for every book

Fairly commonly I would even say

[low hill]

Mmm. Guess that doesn't make sense to me, because that's not time I would ever consider to be available for reading regardless of the format of the book. I want to focus on what I'm reading, not have it on in the background, because my interest is in what I'm reading. shrugs

[velvet umbra]

I mean like I said if you're just not an audiobook person the effect is significantly less

[long sorrel]

More like, if reading on the car is something you usually do and you don't have the format available that's on you, still. Regardless this is a thing about multipe formats and not multiple books at once

[low hill]

Well, even if I was, an audiobook is several times slower than I read, so an hour of an audiobook isn't going to get through four books quicker than just reading one at a time physicially.

WHich was my point, that reading multiple at once doesn't make sense for speeding up reading rate.

[long sorrel]

clearly you're not properly speedrunning reading a 5x audio =P

[velvet umbra]

it might not for you because you don't like using them while you do other stuff, which is fine

[low hill]

Apparently not!

[velvet umbra]

it's just that for people who do it does

[velvet umbra]

I don't really agree with the "you don't have the format available that's on you" framing. I would love to have physical, e-book, audiobook available when I want it for all books I read but that often doesn't happen

[long sorrel]

no, that does seem like a waste of money

but if you do usually do audiobooks on the car and you don't have audiobooks on the car that's definetely on you

For very mood readers I can see how multiple books would make sure they always feel like reading one of their books

but the format thing is like... you could do with 2 books, not 6

[velvet umbra]

I do have audiobooks in the car, just not always one for every book I am reading, that's my point

[long sorrel]

I did get that

[velvet umbra]

6 is a bit of an extreme example I think 2-4 is more common and usually due to "I couldn't wait to finish the first 2 books before starting a new one"

[long sorrel]

yeah and doesn't make you read faster than 2

[velvet umbra]

I mean I don't think anyone was saying that you get like unlimited exponential growth of your reading speed the more books you are currently reading lol

this but for books

I would definitely say past ~5 you're gonna start getting diminishing returns for most people

[long sorrel]

that also doesn't make any sense, you either read or you don't imo

If you read 6h it doesn't matter if you read 1 book or 6 books

not counting that some books are heavier/denser than others anyhow

[velvet umbra]

sure, but we're saying we read more than 6 hours because of reading multiple books at the same time

plus the density of the text thing is not totally negligible having a lighter easy read available for when a doorstopper with lots of lore and dense prose is too much is a big benefit

[low hill]

Right, but the factor by which you'd have to add more time spent reading in this way isn't sustainable. If I wanted to read two books at the same time faster htan I currently read one book physically, I'd need to be spending over 6 hours a day driving (to use your example).

WHich, thankfully, I do not do...

[velvet umbra]

yes it is

because lots of people do it everyday lol

[low hill]

Lots of people drive for over six hours a day?

[velvet umbra]

omg

it doesn't have to be driving and it doesn't have to be 6 hours lmao

it doesn't have to be every day either

[low hill]

I am specifically saying six hours, because that's how much I would need to add to make my reading consumption more than double by reading two books at once.

[velvet umbra]

why are we talking about this like it's a KPI in a business meeting

it just gets you more percentage of book read per day on average than not, for the people it works for

it's not about hitting a specific goal

[low hill]

Because the conversation was about reading multiple books allowing you to get through a greater volume across the time it would take to read them sequentially?

[long sorrel]

Yeah, it was "how do you guys read more books than there are days in the month"

which means we're talking about it making a substantial difference

[low hill]

It wasn't about reading more per day. It was about reading more across the sequential time.

[velvet umbra]

It does make a substantial difference (not 82 books a month because that was a misread of the graph lol)

[low hill]

If it takes me a week to read a book sequentially, the argument was that if I read four at the same time it would take me less than four weeks to finish all of them.

[velvet umbra]

No

[low hill]

That was the argument being put forth before you joined in, so I'm not sure what you're "No"ing.

But I've finished work now, so I'm going to go and read for a bit.

[velvet umbra]

Zeee didn’t say “if you, Vecna do X, your number of books per month will increase by Y%”

[velvet umbra]

We’re just answering the question of “how do you read so many books a month”, by saying what we do lol

[low hill]

I'd appreciate not being tagged in conversations I said I was leaving.

[velvet umbra]

Sorry i forget tagging is a thing

[cloud socket]

I read multiple books at once- mix of formats and genres.
on deck for me now:

• A Mercy of Gods as the audiobook (mostly listening in my car)
• Dragon Haven (Rain Wild Chronicles 2) as my library book, but because Hobb can be slow I might also start/finish other library books like
• Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hull, a graphic novel memoir about three generations of women as the author untangles her grandmother's mental illness amidst 20th century China
• Southbound by Anjeli Enjeti- nonfiction essay collection for my irl book club
• Becoming Earth - a nonfiction science ebook on my phone
• [empty slot for #1364954784737792102 readalong, haven't started Dark Tide II Ruin yet but I pulled it off the shelf]

last night I finished my shelf book, The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi which gave me Six of Crows vibes and I should've read it earlier becase it was so fun

[dusty stream]

I'm only missing a couple now

[long sorrel]

I've to decide what to read next

[somber timber]

A trade of blood!?! Please tell,me you got an early copy

[tight kindle]

stares at book I'm unsure if I want to finish
I might need to as well

[long sorrel]

Sure, that's for tomorrow

[minor sleet]

There’s this indie author I think you might like. He writers really long books with really detailed magic systems

[somber timber]

And you haven’t shared GASP BETRAYAL

[long sorrel]

I am in between 2 but I don't wanna say til Ichoose

Though a faction war might be fun

[minor sleet]

Run, clan cats, run!

From the new Warrior Cats graphic novel

[long sorrel]

okay, the choice is made

[analog geode]

Good choice

[minor sleet]

https://tenor.com/view/sickos-sicko-haha-yes-creeper-gif-25057805

[long sorrel]

We shall see

I'm not sure if this is my cup of tea or not

but I'm giving it a go

[long sorrel]

Okay, I've read 10 pages only but I'm digging the mc personality

[buoyant sedge]

Hmm, for some reason I don't like how detailed the twoleg is. I feel like, because the clan cats don't really understand humans, they should be more ... vague?
Idk

[minor sleet]

I don’t think that would work in a graphic novel for children

[buoyant sedge]

Oh yeah kinda forgot these are kids books lol

[light drum]

DCC 8 61 ||bar room fight to take on me karaoke is awesome ||

[cloud socket]

DCC 8 61 (though I think the chapter is 57) ||when this was released on Patreon, Matt wrote that he had an alternate scene ready to go in case they didn't get the rights because audiobook is essentially a performance and I'm so glad they secured it; Jeff does an amazing job||

[mild lance]

Platform Decay all ||great book as expected. I feel like this one got pretty dark even by Murderbot standards. The dad at the end has a special spot reserved in hell. Three is great and I wish it were in the book more.||

[junior dew]

Care to share with the class? 👀

[wide hearth]

Royal Assassin all + Assassins Quest 1 ||I really enjoyed how Royal Assassin ended, assuming it would follow the counter-Regal intrigue but from the shadows outside Buckkeep. I don't think I was prepared for the weird "Fitz still thinks he's a wolf" reset, and I'm really struggling to pick this thing up again knowing it's 800+ pages, and not knowing how many of them will be Burrich re-training Fitz like he's a freaking dog... It's not my thing. Is there much more of this?||

[wind sinew]

||The singing one?||

[hybrid kettle]

I don't remember much of it at all

[minor sleet]

His name is Brandon Sanderson

[wide hearth]

So I could skip bits I'm not enjoying and not miss much? I plan to eventually read all of RotE I guess

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/reaction-ferris-yikes-ferris-buellers-day-off-oops-gif-4950597

[old bone]

The Tainted Cup does this really well. would recommend if you haven't reaed it

I should probably give Founders trilogy another try. Because the way worldbuilding is integrated in shadow of leviathan is incredibly amazing and natural

[minor sleet]

https://youtu.be/BIMEPPZxzyg?si=w6klCjvuMGkxRLq0

[junior dew]

My reading progress has slowed substantially over the last few days. Only 5 chapters into The Book That Wouldn’t Burn so far and I started it 4 days ago. Dang

[unborn furnace]

Carl el Mazmorrero 31

[cloud socket]

Yes, they mentioned [PoH 57] ||bar fight to Take On Me, and that's the one I was most curious about for the audio version||

[unborn furnace]

Yes, they named it like that in spanish

[raw musk]

Now I'm listening to the secret skit for PoH. Thanks

[cloud socket]

I actually haven't listened to that yet- I want to do Faith of Beasts for my next audiobook but I do want to do my PoH reread on audio (since I did the Patreon chapters I figured I shouldn't immediately revisit)

[buoyant whale]

Carlitos el pibe mazmorra

[wind sinew]

One of the best audiobook experiences I've had. Easily.

[hollow hedge]

Jeff really couldn't wait for the Audio Immersion Tunnel to produce that, he just had to put it in the original release

[unborn furnace]

Carlos el del calabozo

[abstract kiln]

Alright having dealt with my ADHD tendencies and finished Primal Hunter 14
It's off to This Inevitable Ruin
I am strapped in for a wild ride

[abstract kiln]

Prologue ||...they GAVE HIM THE NUKE CODES????||

[proper silo]

well, i suppose the title is appropriate in that case?

[raw musk]

TIR prologue: ||TACTICAL NUKE INBOUND!||

[abstract kiln]

Chapter 2 ||heh Canadian ||

[cloud socket]

are you audiobooking or eyeball reading? I swear like... whenever a very specific accent description comes up, I feel like Matt is messing with Jeff

[abstract kiln]

Audiobook

Jeff is great

[velvet umbra]

I feel like I saw an interview where he just straight up said he does that sometimes lol

[astral atlas]

Fate strange fake vol 7 ||THE EL MELLOI CLASS???? They're all here omg||

[trim tide]

The will of the many was a fairly good read

Maybe 7 of 10

Interesting but not my favorite

Nor painful

Ive finished 6 books in 6 days (started and finished 6 in 8 days)

Been on a crazy reading spree

[abstract kiln]

TIR 12 ||holy hype
Just.... Hype. This ain't gonna be easy, many are going to die, but honestly
What group would you rather go to war alongside||

13 ||I am entirely too terrified to imagine what kind of children Kiwi and Mongo are definitely going to have
Poor mongo tho, bro is very, very confused now||

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM book 9 chapter 34 this reveal is not in this chapter but I forgot the number || I cannot believe Jason’s secret identity is Donald trumps fake publicist persona||

[long sorrel]

A Deadly Education 9 ||I LOVE HAVING existential crises at bedtime, it’s so restful. Same El, that's why I'm reading at 4.37 am instead!||

[junior dew]

Such a good book

[little dock]

Just finished Last Contract of Isako. ||Am I the only one that really liked Martim’s PoV much more than the rest of the book? ||

[somber timber]

|| I thought they were good but I didn’t really have an opinion of it being better or worse than the Isako ones||

[old bone]

overall thoughts

the blurb sounds... pretty stupid premise 😭

and I was put off by GBS

but it being cyberpunk is making me interested

[little dock]

If you don’t like Green Bone, idk if this will hook you.

[little dock]

||For me, I just found his part so tense and paced much quicker and more interesting and then going back to Isako felt like slowing down. ||

[old bone]

GBS was more of Urban fantasy issue than the actual book issue

[little dock]

This is much more corporate espionage than samurai in space, and I feel like the marketing leans heavy on the second there. It is also definitely cyberpunk more than typical sci-fi, which I also didn’t really expect.

[old bone]

how stupid does like samurai corporate espionage feel in context of cyberpunk

or does it mesh well

as in not feel out of place

[little dock]

I mean, I don’t read a ton of cyberpunk, but it felt fine to me. I thought it meshed well

[old bone]

noted

[somber timber]

||That’s fair. Wonder if Lee was just writing her as old and a little weary||

[snow vessel]

Reread the last few issues of Absolute Martian Manhunter and I feel like I finally get it

It was cool but I feel like I finally actually understand the themes and story its telling

[long sorrel]

I finished A Deadly Education

I definitely just don't vibe with academic stuff. Overall it was entertaining, I quite liked all the characters.

Though their interactions were less interesting to me

All ||The descriptions of all the ways the school tries to kill them also got tiring after a while, though I enjoyed the end of the book the most, maybe along with the beginning 🤔 ||

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with it but a lot of things that are there because it is an academy setting just make me tired 😔

Ill probably read the next since ||the note from the mother has me intrigued ||

[snow vessel]

The starless sea is fun so far. I don't have a ton to say, I'm waiting to see where it's all going

[jovial tide]

Been listening to "Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses". It's fun, and it was immediately obvious from the title and blurb that it was written by someone with experience with chronic illness. :p

[long sorrel]

I forgot to get book 2 and I'm out for a couple of days... I guess there goes my chance at reading book 2

I could get it with my tablet but this bothers me

[snow vessel]

Starless sea 61% ||it feels like this is meant to be a romance but I'm not really sure where the feelings came from||

||also god Zachary remembers more of the little short stories than I do ||

||Dorian also seems less familiar with everything than I expected||

[royal carbon]

I went to bed around midnight rather than staying up to finish DCC 8

[true falcon]

Boo!

/j.

[raw musk]

Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires 25: ||Jesus Christ Carter's getting on my nerves. He's a real piece of work. I can accept Carter doesn't believe Patricia that's not that crazy. I can accept throwing her under the bus when James Harris shows up and forces her to apologize.

What I won't accept is Carter treating Patricia like a child and calling her Patty. Self medicating his wife. Setting up situations where Patricia is the bad guy. Blaming Patricia when she ODs on her meds he gave her (and committed medical malpractice) and not taking any responsibility. Not stepping up as a father when Patricia was in the hospital. Trying to commit more medical malpractice by trying to diagnose his son and give him meds as well. Calling Patricia "just a housewife."

Oh, and the probable cheating. Can't forget that tiny detail ||

[alpine drum]

Farseer Trilogy ||This is a reread for me but I'll keep future book stuf out of this. I first read these in highschool and, despite how it sometimes feels, have changed a lot since then. I really enjoyed the books then and now but for a lot of different reasons. I remember I often felt intense frustration at Fitz when first reading these books. This time around there was still some frustration but overall, even in the first book where hes so young, he just felt too familiar for me to just feel frustration. Especially after Molly reentered his life in book 2.
Hobb does a wonderful job juggling all the relationships, letting some of them fester and others grow naturally off page. On that note, I have to say Fitz didn't make that many huge mistakes which was a surprise given how I vaguely remember the series. Like he messed up a lot at the end of book 2 but he was also pretty screwed no matter what he did. He probably should have contacted Molly to tell her he was still alive (although this is something i am not positive on), but again there were a lot of people who share the blame on that circumstance.
Overall, I am very glad I returned to this series and plan to continue it to the end (albeit while skipping Rainwild). I restarted it on a whim but expected the first few books to be a bit of a slog, glad i was proven wrong. Hobbs strength, in my mind, is exemplified by her ability to turn any conversation Fitzs has into a page turner. On that note, I am very sad that Fitz and Patience never met again, their conversations were some of my favorites||

RotE ALL ||One thing that felt weird was how the Fools relationship with Fitz seemed to change so much in Book 3. Based on the subsequent books I associated them with having a very warm, loving relationship but that only happens in book 3 after two books of Fool mostly ignoring Fitz in favor of Shrewd with the occasional joke or ominous prophecy. The disconnect might have just been a reread thing.
On the topic of Molly, I vividly recall a scene from a later book where Bee dies. That scene and Nighteyes dying are going to wreck me even more than they did the first time through, i am sure. ||

Assassin's Quest ||Specifically thinking about this book, I think it is safely my favorite if this trilogy. The Fitz-Fool-Nighteyes dynamic hits the ground running. I feel like Fitz actually goes through less torture in this book than the previous ones, although i think part of that was me knowing in the back of my mind what happens with Molly. Having (almost) the entire book take place outside of Buck was a good choice, even though it means we miss out on some characters I liked.
Speaking of characters, Starling was a good addition to the cast imo. She could easily have been stepping on the toes of Fool but is very distinct. Kettle is a bit more lackluster, the reveal of who she is was sort of too strongly foreshadowed but not in the right direction? There are several heavy handed implications shes a former coterie member, but the fact shes a member of a coterie who we've never heard of (even through epigraphs) robs the reveal of its weight. The scene where Fitz helps her overcome her guilt was nice though.
The quarry section could easily have been a slog, perhaps for some people it was, but I was impressed that Hobb was able to keep things moving almost entirely with character interactions. Hobb definitely also had some perverse glee in how she wrote Fitz and Ketts interactions knowing where they'd end up...
If I had to pick out one weakness of the book, other than the Kettle thing I mentioned, it would be Kett is a bit onedimensional of a few standout scenes. Maybe thats just because I never really felt her relationship with Verity super strongly.
Shout out to the ferrit assassin||

OK block of texts over

[brazen pilot]

Farseer all ||While some of people's frustration with Fitz comes from not empathizing with his own situation enough, I think a surprising amount of it actually comes from not empathizing enough with the other perspectives or understanding the whole situation. Like when you're younger you think "why doesn't Fitz just kill Regal" but reading again it's like, literally what could he even do. You realize that all the adults pulling Fitz in different directions have their own valid points. I think it's really cool because the kind of stuff you realize when you're older is the same stuff that Fitz wasn't realizing at the time because he was just a kid. Also at the end of book 2 he was literally coked up.||

Farseer all ||When specifically do you think he should have contacted Molly, and how? Genuine question tbh.||

[alpine drum]

||he tried and was no diffed by will after almost immediately messing it up||

[brazen pilot]

Farseer all ||I think that the trilogy is hugely upgraded on reread because once you understand all the side characters better, every conversation gets so much more depth. You see so much vividness in what they think of Fitz from their own perspectives. As you say, they're all page turners.||

[alpine drum]

||Chade, and iirc someone else, offered to do while he was in the Mountain capital||

[alpine drum]

||not to brag, but despite not remembering it i clocked Patience and Burrichs situationship from her first mention of him to Fitz||

[brazen pilot]

Farseer all ||There's definitely a weird shift in Fitz and the Fool's relationship. Honestly I'm not super sure how to explain it. I think Hobb kinda just like... wrote herself into that in book 3 off of vibes and then liked it enough to roll with it. But it wasn't necessarily set up in Book 2. I think it can maybe be explained by Fitz struggling so insanely much, with nobody he loves or is close to by his side by Nighteyes, that he's ready to get hugely attached to the first person he actually finds again who cares about him. And from there, that dynamic is pretty set. On the Fool's end I think they just always felt that way and were holding it back, of course.||

Farseer all ||IMO I would say Kettricken's relationship with Verity isn't meant to be the center of her character. The relationship itself is really more just for the sake of her sense of duty.||

||Small Ferret? More like Big Goat.||

[alpine drum]

||I guess her being the Sacrifice in her mind that importance of duty could be argued, but I think I'm meant to take more away from the relationship than that. She's devastated that Verity seems to have forgotten about their relationship||

[wraith lynx]

Ooo speaking of Farseer!

[royal carbon]

Okay, internet being out seems like a good excuse to finish DCC 8.

[raw musk]

What chapter are you on?

[true falcon]

I need to get back to reading myself

Almost done with umbrella academy miniseries 1 apocalypse suite

[proper silo]

Ballad of Sword and Wine, end of vol 3 ||With the way everyone is talking about one of the boys from the "school" being the Imperial Heir, and how they're all allegedly dead now, I am like 90% sure that the Imperial Heir is actually one of the girls. This feels like the kind of twist this book would pull off.||

Also, this book is illustrated, and this book contains sex scenes, and I was reading on a bus when these two aspects suddenly converged

I've never turned off my phone's screen so fast before

[raw musk]

Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires 30: ||🤢 That was gross and tense. Very well written though||

[tight kindle]

The Starless Sea ||tbf I don't think Zachary really understands where the feelings are coming from either.
But like if a very nice smelling man pulled me into a dark room and whispered a story in my ear I think I would fall in love immediately so I can't judge ||
I opened the book to estimate where you were and now I think I might reread it again
I'm in a bit of a slump rn and I think it might help

[raw musk]

Southern Book Club 34: ||Assuming James Harris isn't lying (which he may very well be), then Carter is a certifiable pos||

Southern Book Club 35: ||What the... This guy's a monster. There's no other way to describe him||

||Bro you have a storming proboscis. That's not a "condition"||

[royal carbon]

Hmm, so we got a bit more information but definitely not as much as I wanted.

[wide hearth]

My issues with Assassin's Quest's start seem to be mostly resolved by just reading a few more pages, oops

[alpine drum]

Generally with RotE either that happens or Hobb convinces you its not an issue

[long sorrel]

Hmmmm, what am I reading tonight 🤔

Time to look at all the books I do have on my tablet

The last 2 books I've read have not been quite a hit

But I'm not sure what would be a hit in my current mood

[wind sinew]

Does anybody here buy travel books, and do you think they're worth it?

[long sorrel]

I have a lot from when I was a child

They were very useful when no Internet

[proper silo]

What kind of book mood are you in rn?

[wind sinew]

The Internet destroying good things 😭

[long sorrel]

Im not 100% sure on how that holds up, I think it depends on what you want to get out of them

[long sorrel]

Hmmm... not really?

[proper silo]

Travel books like guides? Or more like people writing about their travels?

[long sorrel]

This the problem

[tight kindle]

I mean they still exist afaik
It's just that you can get the same info for free if you spend some time looking

[wind sinew]

Well, I'm assuming they'll give you information that you wouldn't find online if you didn't know what to search for. I also want to use them as a travel plan thing

[long sorrel]

It is quite backwards

[proper silo]

We used to buy them, but in my experience they tend to get outdated very quickly

[long sorrel]

It was very limiting to whether you has gotten a good one, and if you agreed with the type of things the author considered important to tell you, etc

[proper silo]

Online information is much more up to date when it comes to stuff like availability, prices, opening hours...

[wind sinew]

Wouldn't have expected that

[long sorrel]

Now you can plan around exactly your preferences and interests and contrasts hundreds of people's experiences rather than trust one book

You can also ensure you find accurate info of stuff like

[proper silo]

I mean, ultimately, a travel book remains static once printed, whereas online information can be updated much more easily

[long sorrel]

If you went to see a historical monument the guide would have some history info for you that was... not necessarily good at all

Now you can go down the rabbit hole of the place you're going to visit all on your own

I remember some of the guides we had going to Australia were very... patronizing of native people 😬

You can walk out of Internet places that do that much faster too

Overall I don't see any loss on the guides being less popular besides pure nostalgia

That said if you do want to use a few go ahead! Try to get them as up to date as possible and do a little research on which to get

[ivory cypress]

encyclopedias and atlases are another massive casualty

i remember TOMES of them in the libraries as a kid

now? lol

[long sorrel]

Oh yeah, we have dozens at my grandma's place

I don't think I've opened one in my life tho

[ivory cypress]

i'm sure i used them for homework up until junior high

[proper silo]

My parents have this old encyclopedia that's been so used, the spine is completely covered in tape to keep it from bursting apart

and an atlas that still has yugoslavia

[long sorrel]

That's not so long ago!

[proper silo]

the breakup of yugoslavia started before i was born, that's old enough for me

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM book 9 chapter 42 || yes shirtaloon i get it, Jason’s super hot and bones super good. You don’t have to remind me every time someone calls him a wanker ||

[long sorrel]

I don't think it effectively happened until after I was born, so not that long ago!

I don't think itd be on the maps until it was "official"

[proper silo]

i'm not actually sure how old the atlas is, i'm about 300 km too far to check rn 🤔

[long sorrel]

You should ask so we can settle this 😌

Otherwise we'll have to fight at dawn

[proper silo]

I am not phoning my parents at 1:30 AM to get them to look at the atlas

[long sorrel]

Fight at Dawn it is then

[proper silo]

🫡

[long sorrel]

I think that emoji doesn't quite exactly convey the vibe I wanted it to

[minor sleet]

It’s at least from before 1992, which was 34 years ago

[proper silo]

I have this vague idea that it might be from the 70s, but I'm not sure

[long sorrel]

I was drawn to a couple of decent books on my tbr however I feel I'm in a mood where nothings gonna work

So imma read something that's stuff I care less about

[raw musk]

I don't think you're giving Jason enough credit here

[trim tide]

Finishing both jekyll and hyde, and Dexter book 6 today

Hopefully treasure island tomorroe

[quaint tendon]

I think the entire series gives Jason too much credit

I just don’t need to know how roguishly handsome and sexy personality he is in possession of in scenes where I don’t have the excuse of his being an unreliable narrator

[raw musk]

Clearly he warps the world so people have to comment on how roguishly handsome he is
/s

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM all || there is a less than 0 chance this is canon.||

Wait no I’m stupid at words

I meant there is a non zero chance

[abstract kiln]

Wait, isn't he usually told that hes less handsome and that his chin is sharp

Literally its a running joke that hes just looking more like his brother over time

[quaint tendon]

Yeah but that doesn’t stop every woman character also talking about how sexy his personality is

[light drum]

Any recommendations for books about wizards with a good magic system in a more mundane world. I know its rather specific but somting like The Scholomance Trilogy, or Dresden but not nessasary in modern day

[snow vessel]

The starless sea 70~% ||something about this book is just not connecting with my brain||

||maybe I'm just tired||

||I feel like I just don't get the characters/relationships right now||

[versed agate]

You might enjoy Rivers of London. New police constable is forced into the underfunded department that deals with any crimes intersecting with the masquerade

[light drum]

Oooh I also just started the startles sea

[versed agate]

(which is only slightly more accurate a description than saying Dresden Files is about a Wizard who makes a living as a PI)

[light drum]

Oooh that does sound good

The starless sea, Sweet Sorrows: to Decive the mind (Wild basesless speculation)|| Ok so im predicting this book is about intersecting worlds of "stories" and the real world. It seems like the pirate might be one of these acoylotes that can speak and the book is one that tells of the starless sea, maybe even the tale the pirate is about to say||

||Oh. Does it count as meta if the story is self refererental||

[quaint tendon]

There’s the Bartimaeus trilogy. Sort of in your vein. Modern ish day Britain of an alternate history. Good story. It is a young adult series, but the magic is interesting

[trim tide]

Dexter book 6 ended quite well, I love the series

[analog geode]

I love Bartimaeus

It’s sooooo good

[trim tide]

Halfway through Jekyll and Hyde

[teal igloo]

Hello fellow nerds!
The Kingkiller Chronicle Discord server is hosting a reread of Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss starting on June 7th. We are excited to do a deep dive on the themes, theories, and lore for the book. We know there is a lot of overlap between our fandoms so we were looking to see if anyone here would be interested in the invite? 🙂 React if you're interested so I can send you the info.

[low hill]

Mmm, what's that Folio Society? A nominal money off voucher? Well, I guess I have to buy another book from you then...

[wide hearth]

Assassin's Quest 4 ||I wonder if I have a very different reading experience to people who read this series when it first came out. There's no way I can see this story being a simple "kill Regal" suicidal revenge quest, given I know there are more Fitz books and we haven't met any Elderlings yet...||

[wide hearth]

Oh I forgot this guess/observation I made from a while ago, Assassin's Quest 5 ||Burrich is platonically living with Molly and helping her raise her and Fitz's child, right?||

[idle trellis]

for anyone here who is into star wars ( looking at you Bean) should I start reading the high republic stuff

[finite sonnet]

The Obelisk Gate 14 ||So Hoa is the narator, and states he is a very powerfull stone eater, one of the eldest. OFC he is also apparently the stone eater from the broken obelisk, that I did not see coming. How did this other random stone eater defeat him though? He clearly has been going on a murder spree outside of antimony, who ofc is no threat unless Alabaster is threatened. Who tf is this third stone eater and how did it manage to incapacitate Hoa???||

[finite sonnet]

TOG 15 + MB ||This feels a LOT like mistborn in many ways. A world not unlike our earth that has been damaged by very powerfull people. The goal being to return it to the previous state. "The enemy" steel refers to must be "Evil Earth" they seem to all have the same goal of stopping the seasons. Why does the unamed stone eater seem to be against the others? They all are the same side no? ||

[unborn furnace]

Dungeon Crawler Charlie Brown 35 ||CARL ALMOST DIED||

Book 1

[raw musk]

That's not the last time that happens

[proven token]

The Scar part III ||This book is doing a buildup to the climax, but I just checked the page numbers and I'm less than halfway through... Uh oh||

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/mezzodical/817778045479944192

[trim tide]

Finished Jekyll and Hyde

Not my favorite classic so far.

I'm gonna read Red Dragon next

[wind sinew]

Any particular reason?

[trim tide]

Just didn't draw me in like the invisible man did

Kind of a meh story

[wind sinew]

Fair enough, still gonna have to read it myself

[trim tide]

Doesnt help I guess that I already knew the story from abridged versions

Its a pretty short book

[snow vessel]

My May reading

Might bump CoD up to a 4.5

[minor sleet]

Looks like your criteria for this month was Wacko Crazy Books Only

[snow vessel]

I did enjoy the sequence of weird scifi books
-# even if GEOD could've been weirder imo

-# or, I dont think my problem was that it wasnt weird enough so much as it was that I'd seen people discuss it as this weird philosophical masterpiece that it just didnt feel like it was to me. That's Children of Dune, imo

[minor sleet]

And the late in the series Anne Rice vampire novel?

[ivory cypress]

calling it here, as i'm not finishing operation bounce house tonight, although maybe tomorrow

[snow vessel]

Well that got us [PLATROA] ||Derek the alien's severed arm growing a face and breastfeeding from Derek to grow into a clone called Derek-Two||, so that was sufficiently weird

[minor sleet]

Oh Anne, it is both wonderful and awful that you fired your editor

[snow vessel]

I think I liked PLATROA more than a lot of people, but I do feel like Prince Lestat was a perfect ending to the series for me and so the sequel felt a bit more unnecessary than usual

[minor sleet]

Theres one more

[snow vessel]

Yeah

[ivory cypress]

so it wasn't as minimal a month as i thought, but it's the least i've read/month this year

but really good books

[snow vessel]

I expect Blood Communion will be a nice ending because I have liked the Prince Lestat books, but PL#1 really felt like a wrap up of the whole series arc to me

For June/July/Winter break I want to get to some more Vampire Chronicles, some Malazan, the King In Yellow, a Cruel Prince trilogy reread and... maybe Assassin's Apprentice or A Game of Thrones

[long sorrel]

My May 😩

Defs also the least I've read in like... 3 years

[trim tide]

Shoot maybe I should actually track mine

[minor sleet]

If you join storygraph, which is free, it autogenerates these graphics

[junior dew]

May reading. I really want to read more of Honey and Spice. It’s SO GOOD so far. Listening to it with my gf and we haven’t had the chance to do more yet

The last week of May really slowed down with the book that wouldn’t burn

[trim tide]

I have an account, I just suck at keeping it accurate

I got all the books in there I got no idea how accurate it is

I did all audio

Red Dragon is the one i'm currently working on, its gonna take me a few days

Last years stats

Last week's listening

[unique turret]

ABS

This was mine from last year

[velvet umbra]

not sure why it says I listened to audiobooks 22/24 hours on the 3rd that's not true lol

ah I think it converted ebook to audiobook when I switched editions and logged that all as one session for some rason

[old bone]

God Emperor and Children 😎

[trim tide]

Goodness sake

[zinc flicker]

LotM 8 ||hm they mention the Tudor Era. Is this perhaps an alternate future…?||

[uncut shoal]

I spent more time sleeping and playing games than reading this month

[wide hearth]

Do you not normally spend more time sleeping than reading?

[uncut shoal]

Depends on the series 😄

[snow vessel]

I am not 100% sure I'll finish the Starless Sea. I might take a break, at very least

TSS 76% ||I don't entirely blame the book: I think my attention and memory have been a little spotty for this book. Unfortunately, I just don't feel like I understand anything going on right now, and not in the way of like... "omg what's happening"... i just couldn't tell you what anyone is actually trying to achieve right now or why. I don't feel like I know the characters or the conflict||

||things are happening but I'm not sure why or why I should be invested||

[minor sleet]

Ghormamghast time!!! I’m starting the classic series

[old bone]

And still managed to read more than me

[minor sleet]

Happy Pride from a tactless, time displaced teenage Jean Grey!

[quaint tendon]

Planetary genocides and turning people gay

The most famous powers of the phoenix

[spring turtle]

perfectly balanced

[quaint tendon]

So I saw something

Like solicitations for some X-men stuff

And people were hyping up that storm is like. Controlling. The sun. Or something

Like solar flares or something

I have to ask, I know Storm is omega that’s totally understandable. But like

When does it stop being weather

[minor sleet]

Don’t worry about that

Like all characters, she’s as powerful as the story needs her to be

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/tablestory-oracle's-rest-wacksteven-dungeons-and-dragons-dnd-gif-8476798325269137362

[snow vessel]

I might start rereading the Cruel prince today

[cunning pivot]

It's just space weather of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_weather

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/knuckles-knuckles-the-echidna-approved-knuckles-approved-knuckles-approve-gif-12133775096657000385

[snow vessel]

Storm can control weather or not she can do that

-# is that joke too bad

[valid sapphire]

kinda surprised we don't have a red rising thread

[finite sonnet]

The Obelisk Gate ||So Either Essun or Nassun will "bring the moon back" though does that mean back into orbit or smashing into the earth? Do Steel and Hoa both want the same thing? This series is amazing. Ty to whoever recomended it to me. ||

[raw musk]

Not enough consistent RR talk probably. Malazan and Will Wight had enough and still get regular traffic, but I haven't seen RR take over this chat long term

[long sorrel]

I barely see RR talk

[wraith lynx]

Yeah it comes in bursts. Im sure that'll change once RG drops but who knows when that'll happen 😭

Im satisfied though because I have an irl friend reading it 😌

[velvet umbra]

Yeah anecdotally it’s the most talked about irl book Ive read that I wasn’t at some specific event for

I was reading it at work and had 3 students comment on it to me in one day

[wraith lynx]

Same, its the most after stormlight for me, but I have an actual book group circle consisting of me (the one who told everyone about stormlight in the first place), my bf, and our 2 friends (one of which just started GOLDEN SON WOOOOOOO)

[unborn furnace]

about to finish Dungeon Crawler Carl

amazing book

[low hill]

• May: Dracula Daily, Bram Stoker et al.; Blood Over Bright Haven, M.L. Wang; The Bonehunters, Steven Erikson; A Lesson In Vengeance, Victoria Lee.

[abstract kiln]

TIR ||buckle up bois cuz the cease fire has been suddenly shortened and HERE WE GOOOOO
Right after flashing back to the dog...||

[alpine drum]

happy pride month everyone, Winds will come out this year

[lusty meteor]

@viral fractal

[analog geode]

https://tenor.com/view/hahaha-haha-haha-stupid-gif-18352447936202430144

[viral fractal]

GAY BOLTONS

Trans Freys

The more I look at this the worse it gets

[analog geode]

At first I thought the kraken was a uterus

[viral fractal]

This is what happens when men pay for clothes

[valid sapphire]

yeah it feels like it as a lot of normie cachet

[abstract kiln]

TIR ||o7 Volteeg||

||perhaps most will not remember, but the Cooks will||

[abstract kiln]

TIR ||wait, is the AI in love with Agatha ||

[peak grove]

whats peoples vibe here on Mercedes Lackey and Valdemar series?

[ivory cypress]

i read a couple, they're fine

i'm not like over the moon about them but i didn't hate them either

[ivory cypress]

chipping away at the tbr feels so good tho!

[cloud socket]

honestly kicking myself for letting The Gilded Wolves sit on my shelf so long- I bought it during a prime day in 2019 but picked it up this year for an AAPI reading month bingo, and it's so fun. Six of Crow vibes, but set in 1889 Paris on the cusp of a World Exposition

[analog geode]

Why did we stop doing World Expositions

[cloud socket]

according to wiki we apparently still do? like there was a revival in 2000 and they now go every 5 years but maybe it isn't as advertised

[wide hearth]

Assassin's Quest 9 ||I was so wrong, he actually went and tried to kill Regal. But also right because he failed like he obviously was going to. Unless he didn't fail. Confusing. Anyway, the real quest begins, let's go find our blorbo Verity||

[alpine drum]

||I appreciate that Hobb understood that the guy who got like 3 or 4 years of training as a child isn't that good of an assassin||

[wide hearth]

||Preternaturally good at angry axe fighting though||

[alpine drum]

||wolf magic or something||

[worldly carbon]

I've been reading book of the new sun and it's incredible

[snow vessel]

Cruel Prince 3/all ||it's weird how despite everything sucking it feels so peaceful compared to later on||

[junior smelt]

The Ironborn have taken the 7 I see

[minor sleet]

Bullying the fish spirit!!!

Bullying him!!!

[vagrant torrent]

Heyyy I haven’t been in this channel in like a month

I’m gonna start reading The Sword of Kaigen

[wraith lynx]

Im taking a bookstore trip on Saturday so I will show what I get tee hee XD

Tainted cup is on the list though, along with Yumi and warbreaker~

[vagrant torrent]

Have fuuuun :3

What’s tainted cup?

[ivory cypress]

great book by robert jackson bennett

[wraith lynx]

Thats all I know about it so great 😂

[somber timber]

Tainted cup never heard of it

[vagrant torrent]

Oooh well Foundryside is on my TBR so maybe I’ll eventually read tainted cup 😂

Hmm should I get a new copy of Way of Kings 🤔

[mild lance]

Three excellent picks!

[vagrant torrent]

I’m excited for you to start Warbreaker! :D

Such a great book

[royal carbon]

Wait, TBR lists are meant to get shorter???

[minor sleet]

They’re all lying, don’t listen to this blasphemy

[proven token]

The Tainted Cup is a Holmes and Watson murder mystery but body horror and also well-written mental disabilities and also Attack on Titan

[vagrant torrent]

That sounds amazing

[proven token]

It is

There's some other good stuff in there too but it could be considered spoilery, so you'll just have to read it.

[potent linden]

if it's just the dust jacket then I'd say that's still a readable copy, but if you want nice stuff on your shelf then maybe

[quaint tendon]

I would love a set of the leatherbounds

[mild lance]

One chapter into Empress of Salt and Fortune, and I’m definitely intrigued

||Rabbit already seems delightful||

[untold leaf]

Finally finished The Martian!

[cloud socket]

It's a sisyphean task because there's always new stuff coming out, but this year I'm deliberately trying to read unreads I physically own which are a lot! I added a column to our home library spreadsheet for read yet and half have not been touched by either husband, me, or both (I think I need to update it though because i don't see a formula in the count tab...)

He likes to collect old pulp sci-fi novels and I go ham on library used book sales so the backlog is a lot

[wide hearth]

Assassin's Quest 11 ||The Skill would have been a great way to give a male protag a lived experience of childbirth from the pen of a female writer who's experienced it. Seemed like a missed opportunity.||
part of 12 ||Starling here displaying Chekov's Surefootedness? Surely they're going to travel together||

[junior smelt]

AQ all || Oh how I want to tell "don't worry, they do some weirder things with Skill." but that feels like spoiling. ||

[quaint tendon]

Hwfwm book 9 chapter 60 || it’s a bummer Palimastis doesn’t have dnd rules where healing magic hurts the undead, I feel Neil’s pain.||

[snow vessel]

The Cruel prince 6/all ||i forgot how rapid the pace of this book is. Also, I feel like this book is pretty clearly actually being narrated, though I don't remember that coming up as an actual thing later on||

[abstract kiln]

This inevitable ruin ||look, there is chaos, there is Carl Chaos, and then there's whatever is going on right now in the Vanquisher club I almost feel a tiny bit bad for the naga princess, it's not like it's directly her fault she needs to die for donut to live... But nah screw her ||

||also it makes me laugh how the god quest seems to just advance on its own with very little promoting from Carl||

||LMAO NOT THE SLUG GETTING THE KILL LMAO||

[tight kindle]

The Gate of the Feral Gods 34 ||NOOOO KATIA
That makes me immensely sad.||

[raw musk]

What happened Atrus?

Too much sad stuff happens to the characters to remember everything unfortunately

[trim tide]

It's on my tbr (which is incredibly long) how was it?

[unborn furnace]

Dungeon crawler Carlos Baute 36 ||So Carl now has a stereotyped underwear and they are popular? I love that Carl is slowly liking the interviews||

Carlos Baute is a TV personality from Venezuela

also also I love that Carl is like a Guts from Berserk but waaaaaaaaaaaaay dark

[untold leaf]

Really good. Very interesting story that manages to keep building tension with one complication after another, and even though it's very sciency, that doesn't diminish the enjoyment of it if you're not a sciency person. It's a rather feel-good read that does a great job of evoking the feeling of overcoming impossible odds no matter what obstacles you face. Which sounds corny, but that's my best descriptor of it. Would recommend!

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/dimetrodone/758847362078736384/gormanghast

post mammalian synapsid

Gormanghast

-# #great book if you want to read about a bunch of weird people in a freaky castle #titus groan #gormenghast #doodles

Tumblr · Aug 15, 2024, 3:40 AM

I finished Gormanghast v1

What an incredible group of weirdos

[tight kindle]

||She announced she would be leaving the party :(||

[zinc flicker]

LotM 9 || Lovecraft quote jumpscare||

[vital ibex]

Children of Ruin p4ch5 ||Maybe Meshner still exists trapped inside his implant whilst the adventurers control his body, thats an absolutely horrifying existance if so, either that or the adventurers are just controlling the implant||

||I have to say theres not much book left, I dont foresee a particularly happy ending ||

[junior dew]

Yay more children of ruin reactions 🎉

[snow vessel]

TCP 9/all ||God, it really feels like every chapter is used to its full potential. Things are moving so fast without feeling too rapid, just right to not be dragged out||

||also im really questioning my choice to like cardan last read through ||

||also Locke is starting to get into his shenanigans now...||

[long sorrel]

Hmmm~

You said the magic name

https://tenor.com/view/meerkat-hello-gif-1193751987915966512

[snow vessel]

We will see if you've managed to corrupt me so thoroughly that I like him this time through as well

[long sorrel]

Good good

[alpine drum]

Ship of Destiny 6 reread ||you know I knew I hated Kyle but I am surprised how quickly I am being reminded why||

[abstract kiln]

This inevitable ruin part 3 end ||EXCUSE ME WHAT THE HELL||

[tight kindle]

Ok I finished DCC 5
I like the audiobooks WAY more than the physical books
I'm just really annoyed that I can't get any of them from Libby

[proud stone]

Im going thourhg DCC rn and i think the narration is the best part for me by far

[abstract kiln]

Jeff Hayes is a master

[raw musk]

The Ace hardcovers have exclusive content though

[junior dew]

Book that wouldn’t burn has gotten quite interesting

The book that wouldn’t burn chapter 27.

Dictated a text with my speculation to my gf while in the car on my way home this morning and uhh… Siri as always certainly tried

Book that wouldn’t burn 27 || I think Levira may still be the woman Evar is looking for since she just aged 2 years. I think they may see each other time and time again as she grows older and eventually they end up in the mechanism together and Evar gets sent to the past. And Levira may end up trying to fix it. I think there’s a possible time loop thing that could end up happening especially because an assistant mentioned an eternal war or something.

Plus Evar traveled to Clovis’ past via a pool I think in the exchange. So I think the exchange does time travel stuff. There’s also note of different libraries across different worlds. So it could be parallel worlds or same world across different times. Or both. ||

Gotta love a book that establishes a good mystery or fuels speculation and has you like

https://tenor.com/view/conspiracy-charlie-day-crazy-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-qanon-gif-23738584

Some comments my gf had made before I started the book have had me wildly speculating with each new nugget of information

[little dock]

You should be able to request that your library get them now! Matt Dinniman posted in the last couple months saying they’re available on Libby

[velvet umbra]

where did you see this? The audiobooks are audible exclusives, I don't think libraries can ask for them

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM 9 chapter 62-63 || of course Colin is the only apocalypse beast these messengers have never defeated. Why not. Lmao. Oh shirtaloon you silly man. But also Colin is a big ol lamprey faced sweetheart what’s there to be scared of?||

[little dock]

Yeah it’s a new thing. They must’ve negotiated something. Matt and Libby posted it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXcJuRNEtpu/

[little dock]

Oh my bad, you’re totally right, didn’t realize that was ebook only

That was a big change too, but not as big.

[velvet umbra]

yeah it is still nice cause my library went from like 3 copies of book 1 and 1 copy of book 2 to like 40 copies of all 8 books

but the ebook is more just a convenience to have to check spellings and details while listening to the audio for me

[abstract kiln]

No, that's not true

They imply there are a few others that have been massive issues

But aren't named or shown on screen

[quaint tendon]

Still

HWFWM General up to book 9 chapter 63 || I love shirtaloon, but to me Jason having the spiritual make up of an astral king would be narratively enough to elicit this whole response, enough people have already been freaked out enough by Colin that I don’t feel it necessary to also make him one of the beings the messengers are concerned enough to not use in their conquests||

I keep occasionally chafing against some of the “omg this has never happened before” of it all

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM 9 chapter 64 || ruh roh. Jason can eat messengers and regain his % chance for star phoenix rebirth.||

[peak grove]

Yale on the left and Princeton on the right

[raw musk]

HWFWM 9 64||Jason just be going om nom nom||

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/encino-man-hungry-pauly-shore-munch-eat-gif-7648938

[cloud socket]

annoyingly, I think that's an audible exclusive problem

[tight kindle]

Yeahhhhh
Audible moment 😒

[ivory cypress]

well you missed the above

they can be got by libraries now

might have to make a request

[unique turret]

I’m only seeing the ebook available in libraries, doesn’t appear they’ve said anything about the audiobook

[tight kindle]

Just the ebooks
Which I did check out
But I still want the audiobook

[ivory cypress]

right here

hence the thing to make a request

[cunning pivot]

Yeah I think they signed a pretty binding exclusivity deal. The Immersion tunnel ones are slowly coming out but those are radio play styled with less Jeff and more production.

[unique turret]

I hate the Audible exclusivity agreements so much

It works too well

Keeps me coming back to Audible

[hollow hedge]

fair, it works for the authors too, it can put food on the table for the unknowns

I see why it would be frustrating to feel locked in

[cunning pivot]

J. Zachary Pike launched his latest book as a Kindle exclusive for a year because that seems to be a solid way to lay a foundation for future sales. You could get it via a Kickstarter before they launched regular sales but that was it.

I don't have an official copy of DCC 8 because I have the Royal Road one and I am not keen on it being locked to Kindle.

[tight kindle]

Any of the Abercrombie fans in here recommend this one?

[alpine drum]

yep

[hollow hedge]

with a caveat: it's an excellent trilogy of books, but it's not like Mistborn where the first book is a satisfying standalone thing with an off-ramp

[alpine drum]

assuming you are up for a bit of a bleak story, it's got fun characterization and an interesting plot

[hollow hedge]

I think of the trilogy as like one three-volume book, more than three books

[wind sinew]

Yes, yes YES!!!!!

[wind sinew]

Also, this

The trilogy is basically one massive book

[wind sinew]

Just trying to keep things realistic eh?

[alpine drum]

some would say so yeah

[long sorrel]

I've been wanting to start it but I don't see the moment across all my already started series

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM book 9 general || I’m sorry now Colin can become a voice of Jason’s will?||

https://tenor.com/view/evil-are-we-the-baddies-surprised-gif-19176339

[zinc flicker]

LotM 18 || consuming the potions and turning into a monster sounds kinda like Bloodborne ||

[zinc flicker]

LotM 20 ||Dunn is forgetful. I wonder if that is an indication he transmigrated too?||

|| “I don’t drink coffee after 3pm because if I’m awake at night I’ll hear the demons 🤗” crazy statement buddy||

[old bone]

Damn lotm. Enjoy

🙏

[ivory cypress]

okay.... I have now read all the Hugo finalists for best novel

good year!! very good year

whew. and woo

[analog geode]

Tier list time?

[ivory cypress]

yes

and then I put that tier list into my vote :P

1. The Everlasting
2. Death of the Author
3. The Incandescent
4. A Drop of Corruption
5. Shroud
6. The Raven Scholar

I think this is what my final vote is going to be

and I really liked all of them

[old bone]

being better than ADoC is saying a lot

[ivory cypress]

I love ADoC 😩 probably my favourite in terms of just, personal appeal

[old bone]

Death of the Author added to tbr

1 and 3 doesn't speak to me much.

[ivory cypress]

in terms of like, when I think about, "do I imagine this book with a Hugo", there are other things to consider

[old bone]

fair

[ivory cypress]

death of the author is one of those ones that seems to be a miss with a lot of people

[old bone]

the goodreads description really interested me a lot

[ivory cypress]

some people mention how they feel it's more literary than sff, and I get that, but I really really connected with the main character

I'm the only person I know who likes it, so take that warning

the everlasting and the incandescent are both things that i think would pleasantly surprise you in being a bit more than their blurbs suggest

[brazen pilot]

I dnf'd Death of the Author 1/4 through, disliked it heavily 😔

I can see how it'd work if you vibe with the main character more than me

[old bone]

oh that's like even better for me? I dunno

Is it like

kuang's works

in that sense

[ivory cypress]

then I'm very interested to hear what you think!

idk, I haven't really gotten into Kuang very much

I read the poppy war book one and that's it, babel and katabasis are still on my tbr

[old bone]

I wanna start Lamplight mysteries and then spear cuts through water

then prolly

also it's eerily similar to one of my sister's WIP. Time to rec this to her too

[ivory cypress]

oooh

[somber timber]

https://tenor.com/view/howdareyou-offended-rude-offensive-appalled-gif-26011926

[analog geode]

I can’t wait for the Raven Scholar 2

[long sorrel]

This is one of the books i left on ch 5 last year when i was unable to finish anything

I really should get back to it

[wide hearth]

Assassin's Quest 17 ||Oh really, Fitz, what could possibly have given you away. Your noble ways? Your priceless earring? Your freaking huge wolf? Any combination of those along with the fact that the King is actively searching for you? Nope, it must have been Starling's fault.||

[alpine drum]

||I thought he had taken the earring off at this point||

[finite sonnet]

Ty for this rec btw.

[light drum]

Shucks, its nice the ebooks are avaliable but the audioble exclusivity for the audiobook sucks cause they add so much to the story

[finite sonnet]

Fifth season is so interesting and creative. With both it's magic system and writing style

[wide hearth]

||This is when he was sold out by Nik the smuggler. The earring was the payment. To be fair it probably was Starling's fault, because she encourages his greed for it by mentioning Chivalry, which was... bafflingly stupid. But when the betrayal happens all Fitz can deduce is that she let slip his identity during "pillow talk", because I guess Fitz isn't above a good old-fashioned Madonna-Whore complex? Or probably just jealous.||

[wraith lynx]

Raven scholar at the bottom?? Ooo I am intruiged 👀👀

I bought it in November and havent read it yet 😭

[junior dew]

With how great The Incandescent was, I'm really curious about the two above it now. I just got The Raven Scholar in on Libby yesterday but still have 8 hours left on The Book That Wouldn't Burn somehow

[junior dew]

I've noticed that everything I've read by African authors so far has really slapped, so I'm super curious about Death of the Author

[wraith lynx]

writes that down 👀

[junior dew]

Granted I haven't read many yet, but they've all been peak even if one made me want to throw things

[ivory cypress]

.... how dare I what? 😅

[finite sonnet]

Same.

[quaint tendon]

I can’t comprehend why HWFWM doesn’t have more cursing in it

It is by no means an all ages series.

Not that it necessarily means that there must also be cursing if something is “for adults”

[old bone]

Cuz the author probably doesn't want to have?

[quaint tendon]

It just often feels weirdly conspicuous

Idk

[old bone]

Or author probably himself doesn't like swearing

[quaint tendon]

🤷🏻‍♂️ possibly, idk much about shirtaloon. I don’t interact with the wider readership groups

It’s just when saying crap sandwich takes some of the oomf out of a scene lol

Palimastis doesn’t even have any fun like fantasy curses

Like storms or blood and bloody ashes and such

[old bone]

I think for some reason F word takes me out of the story than other stuff nowadays

[quaint tendon]

I guess the most fantastical one is “gods damned” but like I know real people who say that

Sure. It definitely does in stuff that is like. Pure fantasy

[old bone]

Like Tainted Cup had me getting used to with || How much Ana F bombs ||

[quaint tendon]

Like the broken earth books have internal culture curses. But then they also say the f bomb

Which confuses me, either do one or the other

The only books that really balance it for me are the gentleman bastards books. And for me it’s because those books almost take cursing to a like. Artistic expression level

Hwfwm has the whole Litrpg pseudo isekai thing, so it just feels weird when the fantasy world characters basically just talk like Jason does anyway

[old bone]

Oh that's he who fight with monsters

[quaint tendon]

It never ruins a scene for me, and this is 1000% the most petty thing I take umbrage with in the books. My other critiques are a lot more to do with the tone and stuff

Yeah. My bad.

It’s just such a long title I always default to the acronym lmao

[old bone]

My brain just goes on low effort mode with litrpg that yeah i am not affected by stuff

Those probably have more to give but they are my popcorn flicks

[quaint tendon]

I am only familiar with dungeon crawler Carl and Hwfwm

Though some here have put cradle as an adjacent thing

[old bone]

Cradle is prog fantasy, not litrpg

[quaint tendon]

That is my feeling as well

Especially when wight specifically announced he is doing his first foray into lit rpgs

[old bone]

Prog fantasy is superset of Litrpg

[quaint tendon]

At some point hopefully after The Commander comes out

[old bone]

Cradle would fall more so on Cultivation fantasy

[quaint tendon]

Yes, that’s how I was introduced to it

[old bone]

It's also almost a Xianxia, but such a western take on it that I don't like calling it one

[quaint tendon]

My apologies for now abandoning this train of thought. But I work nights and it is almost 11 am for me so. I need to get to sleep before I pass out anywhere but my bed

[old bone]

Good night

[analog geode]

It’s excellent

[tight kindle]

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/82142940-f00a-4146-9af1-875b192f6102

I have no idea if this is going to be good but I need to try it anyway

Usha and Grey if it has Sir Cameron energy like I'm hoping do you want me to tell you?

[ivory cypress]

I mean I'll also take it if it's still just a good fun gay time

[tight kindle]

14 weeks wait 😭

Legit might be faster to make a purchase suggestion for my local public library

[swift flint]

Dungeon crawler Carl chapter 5 ||Im predicting a theme where Carl will get hella loot but never get pants or shoes no matter what ||

Also this audiobook narrator is great

[tight kindle]

Or I could buy it for $17...

[velvet umbra]

https://giphy.com/gifs/meme-bilbo-baggins-Nls93wQ6w3WZZBRmZ5

[tight kindle]

I set myself a $30 book budget for the month and haven't used any of it yet
-# yeah it's the fourth of the month. What about it

[long sorrel]

I see it for 9 bucks digital

7.69 actually

[tight kindle]

Yeah but if I'm gonna buy a book I want it physical :P

[long sorrel]

Ah well

[tight kindle]

I have all that room on my bookshelves to fill 😌

[swift flint]

Dungeon Crawler Carl ch 8 ||This foot skill message is hilarious||

[tight kindle]

There's something immensely unsatisfying to me about buying digital books. I just don't feel like I own anything

[tight kindle]

||Oh, it gets so, SO much worse.||

[long sorrel]

Hmm this is why I download and dedrm them

[tight kindle]

Well yeah I do that too

[long sorrel]

However, i buy them to show support

My to own them per se

[tight kindle]

I have all my ebooks backed up in like three places

[swift flint]

||I can imagine, considering Carl's lack of footwear ||

[long sorrel]

I barely buy physical so this is the support I give

[swift flint]

My co workers urged me to listen to this book and I'm loving it

[tight kindle]

It's pretty good

I just finished 4 and I'm enjoying myself quite a bit

Oh also I finally started TMA due to the urging of my coworker and... It's really good

I have to manually skip the minutes of ads at the beginning, but the episodes themselves are great

[swift flint]

Niceee

It's amazing

[unborn furnace]

dungeon crawler Charlie Benante book 1 39 ||Yolanda died, poor girl, also HAHAHAHAHAAHHAA JACK NOW IS A RAGE ELEMENTAL||

[raw musk]

Welcome! Also, I know @mortal mortar has been through TMA as well

[ivory cypress]

I am approaching the very limit of of the bookshelf room I do have, so the physical space is reserved for absolute favourites now

fave authors, fave reads, etc

[mortal mortar]

@raw musk Hi ... wait, what actually is TMA? I'm a bit lost here, tell me more!

[cloud socket]

I'm guessing it's The Magnus Archives

[raw musk]

Sorry about that, thought you were a different Ene

[cloud socket]

@potent linden is the one you're thinking of, I think

[raw musk]

Yeah...

[random dome]

I have also picked back up with my DCC listening after running out of Pathologic 3 lets plays to watch and I'm like a fourth of the way into book 6

I don't usually do audiobooks but it was impressed upon me that the audiobooks are really worth it for this series and I do tend to agree

[potent linden]

yeeesssssssssssss

sadasjhdasljl for a second I almost thought the other Ene was an alt I'd created ages ago and somehow forgotten about, because that pfp looks kinda like one of our dogs, and my YT account is Ene of the Cosmere. hello other Ene, sorry for the mixup XD

[proven token]

Eneception

[tight kindle]

Yeah having tried both now the audiobooks win by a lot

[hollow hedge]

They absolutely elevate the story, the books on their own are fine but I don’t think they’d be as popular with a ‘normal’ audiobook. And the author even seems to write with the audio in mind from time to time

[unique turret]

sometimes it seems like he's trying to break Jeff Hayes

[tight kindle]

Welp
Tripped in the bookstore again

[long sorrel]

how much did you trip?

[tight kindle]

Saw this and realized I didn't have a single sapphic romance in my collection
So just a small trip (I still have enough in the budget to buy Bromantasy)

[long sorrel]

I wsa thinking of getting it... what I'm reading rn is kinda boring

[tight kindle]

Also went and bought coffee
It's a "treat myself" kind of day

[long sorrel]

and I need something light

(and new shiny)

[tight kindle]

Oh also the bookstore had this sign

I also went and returned my extremely overdue library books 💀
Now hopefully they'll reactivate my account

[cloud socket]

I was looking for a quote but here's a clip of Matt explicitly messing with Jeff doing Donut lines in other characters' voices- https://www.instagram.com/reels/DMm_HhDI0bY/

[tight kindle]

Why does Thriftbooks hate my debit card ;-;

[analog geode]

Its looking out for your bank account balance

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM 9 chapter 78 || this Haliastur guy is tier one side quest bait.||

|| Naga genesis egg||

https://tenor.com/view/tight-smile-cat-cat-tight-smile-wide-smile-cat-cat-wide-smile-cat-gif-12207868737982701324

|| Is it already “arrogant and disgraced noble scion teams up with the baddies and gets in over his doofus head o’clock” again||

Where does the time go

[raw musk]

https://tenor.com/view/peter-griffin-perhaps-family-guy-thinking-gif-13587558

[quaint tendon]

Tom bombadil ass

Tbh his description makes him sound way more like a one piece villain

HWFWM General || also, assuming the occasionally mentioned tattoos that Taika has are Māori Tā Moko their continued appearance on his skin post several ascensions means indigenous tattoo work counts like a soul mark like Jason’s personal crest.||

[long sorrel]

you know @tight kindle I keep forgetting I got the Dollmakers short story lol

and so I keep forgetting to read it

I just moved it to my tablet

Maybe that'll make me stop forgetting, now that it's there with 300 hundred other unread books 😌

[little dock]

Anyone here read Impossible Times or Book of Ice series by Mark Lawrence? I’m finishing up Daughter of Crows and looked up his bibliography and I’ve never heard of these two series even though Ive heard tons about his others.

[cunning pivot]

Yeah there a very clear exchange in PoH that is clearly a let's screw with Jeff addition.

PoH general ||It's the one when they are going through all of the hard to pronounce names because they have just encountered a new one. No way that wasn't the intention.||

[light drum]

Starless Sea, Ballard of Somon and Eleanor: A short lecture on the nature of time ||WAIT ARE THE KERPER AND MERABELL ARE FATE AND TIME||

[long sorrel]

Oh! You're reading Starless Sea!

[ivory cypress]

i just took a tally of books i own but haven't read.... i'm at like, 141 BEFORE counting sequels (they're "in progress" and don't get a spot on my tbr) and the cheap/free romance novelettes i pick up from time to time

😬

REALLY gotta shear this down

[light drum]

Related to this but generalized for books. It feels so rewarding when the author gives just enough hints you can start putting 2 and 2 together before its stated

[long sorrel]

I don't even wanna look

though calibre kindly tells me on my unread section

not counting print

[ivory cypress]

my physical tbr is thankfully a lot shorter since i purged some years ago but it isn't zero

[lofty glen]

Stan why didn’t you just make a novel

[quaint tendon]

Cause excelsior

[swift flint]

DCC Ch 29 ||I love that there’s a canon reason why he still doesn’t have pants, it makes sense too xD||

[light drum]

Starless Sea, Book IV: Written in the stars||You did just bury your gays on me. ||

[untold leaf]

One of his superpowers is the ability to climb walls of text

[uncut shoal]

Just finished Empire of the Vampire series. Pretty good but goodness are they long winded ||And yes, it's low key hilarious that it's on purpose. Blaming the characters!||

[snow vessel]

Cruel prince all ||I got to the coronation chapter and then had to go out 😭 ||

[random dome]

Oh brutal stopping place

[snow vessel]

Yuppp

[low hill]

One might even say ... cruel.

[old bone]

https://tenor.com/view/michael-bay-credits-michael-bay-meme-credits-absolute-cinema-gif-8477607763834899187

[swift flint]

Dungeon crawler Carl ch 37 ||Damn Agatha a freak||

||I like how an old dude pissing in the hallway is the worst thing that can happen||

[muted nebula]

YOURE READING DCC

[swift flint]

Yes xD

My co workers got me on it

[muted nebula]

Yes yes yes. I am ok with being pinged for your reactions

[swift flint]

Will do lol

Only got 2 hours left on book 1

[muted nebula]

Niiice

[swift flint]

After which I’ll be immediately getting book 2

I’m told they get progressively better

[long sorrel]

@tight kindle I might or might have not just read Bromantasy last night in one sitting

[ivory cypress]

omg

was it good?

[long sorrel]

I had a lot of fun

It's kinda...

Bromantasy general ||It's kinda dumb in a fun way? Like it uses the typical "bromance" troupes in silly ways, also uses romantasy troupes and makes fun of them a bit (still using them), but the characters were slightly (not a lot) deeper than I expected, which was fun, so I had some tense moments. Also also, in this world there's no mention about being gay or not it seems there's no particular point about people's sexuality they just are, which was probably the coziest thing||

||Because of the name I thought there would be some push back from one or another character about being gay, but that isn't it at all, and I'm glad for that.||

[raw musk]

They also get darker. Dinniman is a self described horror writer, who makes sense for some of the stuff that happens layer

[long sorrel]

I think most of all, it was exactly what I needed for my mood

[minor sleet]

Listening to the Blacktongue Thief and its read by the author. And sung. Christopher Buehlman has a lovely voice

[cunning pivot]

He spent years on the Ren Faire circuit as Cristophe the Insulter. I got to see him once and he is quite the performer.

[cunning pivot]

https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/taipei-story

Tickets for the book tour for Taipei Story are available. Looks like she is swinging through the US, Canada, Dublin, and multiple UK locations.

[quaint tendon]

HWFWM 9 chapter 83 || YAAAAAY GARYS DOIN STUFF||

[muted nebula]

This is true

[unborn furnace]

guys quick question

why is Twilight so attractive to girls aged 20-25?

[versed agate]

Why not?

[quaint tendon]

In some cases cause it’s probably something they learned about by watching their sisters (or brothers or siblings I don’t judge.) who are in their 30s and read it the first time it came out

[minor sleet]

Cool!

[proven token]

The main character has no personality so readers can insert themselves into hot vampire romance

[unborn furnace]

ohhhhhhhhhhhh

[long sorrel]

[proven token]

Also one must consider the time it was released, since it basically started Romantasy as a proper subgenre. It was the first work to exploit a profitable niche.

[velvet umbra]

I think there’s a connection there but I think there might be a couple more steps before you get to what is now called Romantasy

It’s usually secondary world fantasy

[swift flint]

@muted nebula finished book 1

||Love the achievement at the end lol||

DCC 2 ||Manager is very fun, but Mordecai is def gonna find out someday||

[abstract kiln]

Bleh I've been sick at home so I haven't finished this inevitable ruin which I would normally listen to at work

[tight kindle]

Oh my gosh xD

From your description I'm very glad I bought it

[wraith lynx]

I feel like 20-25 might be a bit high tbh. Like, im 24 and I only like it because I loved it when I was 13 😂

[cunning pivot]

I finished Crypt Currency and it was a fun ride. If you liked the Dark Profit books you'd like this one. It's a fun fantasy parody of the crypto boom.

[swift flint]

DCC 2, ch 10 ||City boss, oh boy||

[quaint tendon]

|| BABABABABABABAABABABABABABABBOSSSSSS BATTLE!||

[tight kindle]

Lmao ok I need to read more Sapphic romance because this one immediately has me like 🍿

[cunning pivot]

You are also far enough along now to catch up on the webcomic if you want visuals.

[tight kindle]

It's also got a prominent non-binary character which is nice
I'm realizing how little of that I have in the books I read

[long sorrel]

@minor sleet is The Devil She Knows heavy at all? It is tagged with lighthearted but since I know you've read it

[minor sleet]

No it’s not

The relationship and the girlfriend the main character is clinging to sucks but it’s not abusive. Just a crappy person

[tight kindle]

Ok so this was adorable

I enjoyed it quite a bit

[twin hull]

She shouldn’t roll the dice right into the minis

[snow vessel]

Cruel prince all/chapter 28 ||so, am I right in understanding that jude always planned on crowning cardan? That's my understanding right now.||

||which is really interesting as a scheme because that's 100% the obvious thing for her to do||

||it's like... we're being tricked into assuming there's a trick, but really the trick is that there isn't. Even though there are complexities to it, she is going with the obvious option, just not how anyone would expect||

[long sorrel]

||The trick is for the characters! Since Cardan wouldn't agree without being tricked. But yes I think that was always the plan. It's written in a way where it seems like there's some trick for the reader but it's all just to trick the characters||

[snow vessel]

||oh totally. I just find it interesting how the trick isn't her tricking them into some other secret scheme she has, it's just tricking them into believing she's not doing the obvious thing||

||the "secret scheme" is just, as you said, making them buy into a plan they wouldn't normally||

[long sorrel]

Jude! Jude! Jude!

[old bone]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/jun/06/readers-top-100-novels-of-all-time

I wonder what this chat's count here is

[snow vessel]

Many on my tbr, some on my shelf even, but only read 4

[old bone]

Mine came around 43. I thought there would be more

[minor sleet]

28

[old bone]

A Little Life, Animal Farm, Love in the Time of Cholera, Mrs Dalloway, Dune, Picture of Dorian Gray, The Stand, BNW, Old man and The Sea, To the Lighthouse, Madame Bovary, Never let me go, Emma, tale of two cities, david copperfield, Lolita, HHGTTG, Frankenstein, Catcher in the Rye, Monte cristo, Huckleberry finn, great expectations, Jane eyre, Crime and punishment, Brothers Karmazov, beloved, east of eden, Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, One hundred years of solitude, 1984, War and Peace, to kill a mockingbird, grapes of wrath, Pride and prejudice, Lord of the rings

Unless I missed smth

[old bone]

Man didn't even hear of MiddleMarch until today

otherwise I would have all of top 10 read

😔

[minor sleet]

You know what you must do

[snow vessel]

iirc my four were dune, frankenstein, animal farm, the secret history.

I need to lock in harder

[minor sleet]

You know what you must do

[alpine drum]

by book, definitely genre fiction
maybe by series itd be literary fiction

[old bone]

Man I don't feel like including Ulysses because while I did read it, I don't think I really understood/engaged with it

[minor sleet]

Like so?

[old bone]

:g5Laugh:

ye

I don't even want to try finnegans Wake