Just finished Of Dice And Men, a book about DND and the people that play it. I learned a lot about the origins of DND, especially the interactions Gygax had with fellow contributors and all of the lawsuits involved as the company grew.

The author also had a literary style I've never seen before where he inserted narrative tellings of his own DND campaigns to parallel historic information he was talking about all written in italics from his characters point of view. I've never seen that done before and actually enjoyed it.

Up next is book seven in Wheel of Time, A Crown of Swords, then I'm going to read When Money Dies about Weimar Germany.

Oi, I totally missed the start of the reading challenge. Put me down for 12.

This year I plan on reading The Bible. At 26 years old, I figure even as a non-religious person, it could be insightful to understand a book that has such a weight on our modern world. I figured the best way to do it would be by buying an academic version that will give me an understanding of the context of what I'm reading. I bought the HarperCollins Study Bible, with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, with Concordance, New Revised Standard Edition.

Given the length of The Bible, I'm going to count each book within towards my book count. I will consider all of the pretext as the first book, given it takes a full 62 pages before you actually reach The Old Testament. I'm going to declare my book count at 10 for this year. The Bible has a lot more than that, but I figured I'd just throw out a number, plus I didn't get any of my reading done last year, due to catastrophe after catastrophe.

I haven't finished it yet, but I'll give you the layout of the pretext, because I may not break down each part of that.

Names and Order of the Books of the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books

vi

Alphabetical List of the Books of the New Revised Standard Version (Including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books)

viii

Editorial Board

ix

Contributors

x

Intro to the HarperCollins Study Bible

xiii

To the Reader

xxi

Abbreviations

xxvii

List of Illustrations, Maps, and Tables

xxix

Names and Order of Books of the Bible in Several Traditions

xxxi

Time Line

xxxiv

Strategies for Reading Scripture

xxxix

Israelite Religion

xliv

The Greco-Roman Context of the New Testament

xlix

The Bible and Archaeology

lvii

Archaeology and the New Testament

lxii

I'll summarize all of this in my next post, and then go book by book from there. Wish me luck!

Hello

I will read 12

First book finished this year:

Medical terminology: a student centered approach

took 2 years on and off because im lazy but finally finished it

I took a short vacation and thanks to living in the middle of nowhere the airport is a good 3 hour drive way I got through 2 audio books this weekend and finished another book on my kindle while flying.

3: Chimera's Fall by Glynn Stewart

As always I never get through the ARC before the book is actually released. I am loving where Stewart is going with this series. I know it's like 20 books but I think Starship Mage is one of my favorite series of all time. Just good writing all the way through and despite how many books deep he is there are a number of easy jumping off points.

4: The Brazen City by Torsten Weitze

5: The Sleeping Mother by Torsten Weitze

Now the 13th Paladin has to find the other 11 Paladins he hasn't met yet. Still a pretty good series.

@Asandir - I can't remember if you've said you have read this series before?

Done reading these books:

16. Böses Blut (Troubled Blood), Robert Galbraith, 1200 pages

17. Der Report der Magd (The Handmaid's Tale), Margaret Atwood, 416 pages

18. Hinter diesen Türen (The Turn of the Key), Ruth Ware, 368 pages

Troubled Blood:

5th book of the Cormoran Strike series. This time, Cormoran gets hired to investigate and if possible, solve the cold case of Margot Bamborough, who vanished without a trail in 1947. 40 years have passed, so even finding all the witnesses is a massive undertaking - and it doesn't help that the police commissioner who worked on the case got lost in finding clues in the supernatural realm with tarot cards and other stuff.

Cormoran and his team get one year time - can they find out what happened to Margot Bamborough?

Great book. Lengthy but I was entertained throughout.

The Handmaid's Tale:

Desfred has lost all her rights - and has now only one function - bear a child for another, socially acceptable woman that can't get pregnant herself. This society formed almost in the blink of an eye, blindsighting many and even though Desfred tried to escape with her partner and daughter, they got caught - the wherabouts of both of em unknown to Desfred.

Despite the despair and lack of freedom, Desfred holds on to the last thing she has left: hope.

Great book. Reminded me a lot of 1984, has a lot of parallels to that book.

The Turn of the Key:

Rowan Caines dream job of working as a nanny for a family turns into a nightmare: the half victorian, half super modern house seems to be haunted: objects going missing, doors opening on their own, audible footsteps at night, etc. As it turns out Rowan is not the first hired nanny, as four before her quickly quit. Can she find the cause for the things that happen at this house?

Solid book. Liked the ending.

I have not read them, no.

I was at the library today, I was thinking having deadlines (to return tha books) would make me actually read stuff instead of watching brainrot just because its more stimulating. Don't get me wrong I like reading but brain rot is a lot more enticing for entertainment (even if I don't get entertained as much than if I was reading) cause you can just turn your brain off while watching.

Anyway I read 1 book while I was there its called Animals In The Wild, it was a book for 3 year olds I read for no reason, I finished it in 1 minute max. It was pretty good.

2 - Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

This book teaches an interesting life lesson. If someone says no, you just keep asking them over and over if they want to eat green eggs and ham. Eventually, they will say yes and eat the green eggs and ham. I'm not sure about the lesson of repeatedly asking until they say yes. That kind of seems like a bad idea, but what do I know? I'm the one reading Dr. Seuss books.

3 - Action Comics 1 (Superman's First Apperance) by DC Comics

This is the first time I've actually read what the comic is about. It's crazy that it came out such a long time ago. A lot of the conventions of how comics are made, like the paneling and text boxes, are still there. On page 10 is where the iconic cover comes from.

I like how Superman interrogates a guy at the end, I thought that was the funniest part. He grabs him by the foot and flies up. And the crook gets terrified! I didn't expect there would be as many words in the comic.

4 - How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

I like the rhyming. This one was my favorite out of the three books I've read. The illustrations are also very fun. I like how the story concluded happily. What I like is how clear characterization there is of the Grinch, as well as the pacing of the story.

-- -- -- --

I read them all on Archive.org

They also have a section where you can emulate retro games in your browser, and there are lots of games.

It's called The Emulation Station.

4. Julia – A retelling to George Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston’s love interest Julia, giving her an independent character arc. It details her life during the events of the original novel, re-contextualizing scenes from 1984, and shows how awful the dystopian government is for women and queer groups. The ending adds a sliver of hope, as opposed to 1984’s all-is-lost ending, but it can easily be viewed as disastrous as well. It should go without saying that this novel and 1984 are particularly relevant, given recent worldwide events.

5. Mickey7 – About a space worker doing near-lethal jobs until he dies and respawns as a new clone. Except this time, Mickey survives his apparent death, but the space colony already spawns an eighth clone. I wanted to read the book before the movie Mickey17 out, which apparently adds ten more deaths. The book moves at a slow pace, focusing on the musings of having two duplicates at the same time and the history of interstellar colonization, which sounds more interesting. It takes until near the end of the book for any danger for the planet colony to happen. I do like its bleak sense of humor, though.

6. Before The Coffee Gets Cold – A strangely cozy book from Japan, about a cafe that allows people to travel back in time, with several caveats attached. There are four sad stories about people getting desperate enough to time travel, like the wife whose husband is suffering from Alzheimer’s, but the stories get hopeful endings. Even if nothing is truly fixed or prevented. A bit sappy, but still a heartwarming read.

5. Serotonin - Michel Houellebecq

Wow. Most opinions I’ve read about this consider it one of his lesser works. If that’s the case, I can’t wait to see what I’m in for with the rest.

Finished reading No. 6 #3. Things are heating up in No. 6, and the Correctional Facility is at the heart of it. Shion and Nezumi receive some shocking news regarding the Correctional Facility, and it's up to them to figure out how to get in to save the day. If it's even possible, that is.

The author apparently intended to have them infiltrate the Correctional Facility in this book, but as they kept writing, found out that it was increasingly difficult to do so because a lot of other things were still left undone and unsaid, which would've made it out-of-character for them all.

Wonder what #4's gonna be like. 7/10; it felt a bit meandering at times but it picked up later, and the second half was well worth the wait.

Not sure what you mean here, both on my news post and in your example the squares are the same width as everything else for me, there's just more of them. Is it being rendered differently depending on OS/browser?

I'm using Edge on Windows 10, not sure if that makes a difference but this is what I see:

That's a big darn. Here's how it looks for me:

Guess it's better to stick with screenshots for consistency.

Another chapter closes. If anyone has last-minute updates for Feb get 'em out.

@Aalasteir @AbstractOutliers @AngelLOL123 @Asandir @Atlas @AypS @detergent1 @door88 @Dr-Freebase @Featherwaite @Ganon-Dorf @Gimmick @Haggard @Jackho @JerseyWildcard @Malachy @MetalSlayer69 @ObscuraArcanum @OneThousandMeeps @Pingu @Prinzy2 @PudgieDaFrog @SlutasaurusRex @StrangInk @TecNoir @TopazAzul @TurtleWaffle @Yomuchan @ZJ

Done reading these books:

19. Im Westen nichts neues (All Quiet on the Western Front), Erich Maria Remarque, 154 pages

20. Das Waldhaus (The Daughter), Liza Webb, 416 pages

21. China to go, Frank Sieren, 320 pages

22. Klara und die Sonne (Klara and the Sun), Kazuo Ishiguro, 352 pages

All Quiet on the Western Front:

Well known classic about the cruelty of war and how it changes anyone who witnesses the horror firsthand, leaving them with no hope. Will read the sequel too at some point.

The Daughter:

37 year old Hannah returns to her childhood home to take care of her father who has dementia. In his confused state he mistakes her for her mother, who died under mysterious circumstances when Hannah was a teenager. Her father begs her (as her mother) for forgiveness. Could he have killed her? Hannah chooses to change her outfit and haircolour, etc. to mimic the looks of her mother more, hoping that her father would reveal more by accident. However, as more of the past is revealed, multiple suspects arrise and Hannah herself gets put in danger.

Solid book.

China to go:

Contains 100 facts/chapters about Chinas culture, economy, politics and technology in a digestable form aimed at a younger audience.

Good book, giving insight in how Chinas influence has grown massively in the last decades and how it invests heavily in the future, especially in energy and electronic cars but also medicine.

Klara and the Sun:

Klara is a solar-powered AF (Artificial Friend), waiting in a store to be chosen as a companion. She observes her surroundings a lot and even for an AF, has a high level of emotional intelligence. One day, a fourteen years old girl named Josie and her mother enter the store, but they don't end up buying Klara that day but Josie promises to return soon.

Unknown to Klara is that Jodie suffers from a disease and has phases where she feals very weak. After managing to not get sold to another customer, Jodie finally returns and Klara can now become her friend.

Klara, being observant, had already assumed that Jodie is sick and that becomes more evident each day - but Klara has hope that Jodie can be healed and that she can help to make it happen.

Great book. Beginning is a bit slow but otherwise great. Like that the book doesn't overexplain stuff and lets you put together some aspects of the world that the book plays in yourself. Highly recommended.

+1

I uh actually finished re-reading Eragon last month. I was like halfway through February before I realized it was indeed a new month.

Glad I kept my goal low this year. It's gonna be a rough one my dudes.

Just finished:

1. Flux by Orion Carloto (181 pages)

Flux is a book of poems written by Orion Carloto, who seems to be a YouTuber of some sorts, at least according to the author biography. The poems in Flux detail the author trying to recover from a bad breakup, accompanied by various charcoal(?) illustrations that relate to each poem. There is a lot of vivid imagery, memories of good and bad times the author had with their ex, and more. Good short read for anyone who likes poems.

(Sorry, I'm not very good at reviews)

-------------------------------------------------------

I had another book I was reading, but it got lost and am currently either trying to find it or replace it. Might read some more so I can reach my 12 book goal, things have been too hectic.

1 book is done! The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3. DCC is about a man and his cat trapped in an intergalactic RPG game show of death! The plot, in a nutshell, is Carl and his cat (Princess Donut) going through 18 floors with different themes, dealing with intergalactic corporations fighting over control of this game show and all the stuff that comes with that (alliances, betrayals, etc.) I read the first 2 books and listened to the audiobook for the first one a year ago. I highly recommend the audiobook as well. This book's floor theme was a little confusing at first it is pretty dense and makes the previous 2 books floor themes look a bit simplistic, but It's not too complex, and this series keeps getting better. Hope to get to book 4 soon

Anyone interested in the Lit RPG sub-genre (literary role-playing game) should consider this a perfect start since it does not overwhelm you with stat pages and an overly complicated game system.

Finished 2 books this month.

The Legend of Rah and the Muggles by N. K. Stouffer

Another book suffered through for the 372 pages podcast. Stouffer sued another author with a similar name (the name contains the letters J and K) over an alleged trademark she allegedly held on the word "Muggles", but unsurprisingly she lost (seriously, look into the case. It's bonkers).

The book itself is quite remarkable, but for all the wrong reasons. It's marketed as a children's book and starts off with descriptions of nuclear warfare. Wow.

Laufen. Essen. Schlafen. by Christine Thürmer

"Walk. Eat. Sleep." is a kind of autobiography. Thürmer is well known in the hiking community. She reached "triple crown" status in the US by thru hiking the three big trails: Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and Appalachian Trail (AT), as well as dozens of others long distance trails all around the world. To this day she hiked approximately over 65k km. This book his her first, and she describes how she became the prolific hiker she is today.

Finished one the other night Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky - I one off book that does a great job world building (err...unbuilding because civilization has crumbled). Charles/Uncharles is a robot valet and has done something really bad but doesn't know why he did it. He leaves his perfect little estate to find Diagnostics and get fixed but nothing is working right anymore and the central hub for everything, including diagnostics has been jammed up for decades. He ends up traveling the wastelands in search of a new master to serve but nothing is working right and even when he finds somewhere else to settle down it all goes haywire. I really liked it! Tchaikovsky wrote the Children of Time series which is one of my all time favorites. I've been picking through his back catalogue for a little while now.

So that's 4 for February

February

3: Chimera's Fall by Glynn Stewart

4: The Brazen City by Torsten Weitze

5: The Sleeping Mother by Torsten Weitze

6: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Just the one for me, on track for the year.

FEBRUARY UPDATE

Added: @Dr-Freebase, @Haggard, @TecNoir and @ZJ (though the latter was already present in our hearts)

Congrats to speedster @Aalasteir for already hitting that goal!

@Aalasteir @AbstractOutliers @AngelLOL123 @Asandir @Atlas @AypS @detergent1 @door88 @Dr-Freebase @Featherwaite @Ganon-Dorf @Gimmick @Haggard @Jackho @JerseyWildcard @Malachy @MetalSlayer69 @ObscuraArcanum @OneThousandMeeps @Pingu @Prinzy2 @PudgieDaFrog @SlutasaurusRex @StrangInk @TecNoir @TopazAzul @TurtleWaffle @Yomuchan @ZJ

Ruh roh I think you grabbed some January data for me. I finished 4 in February and my total is 6 for the year.

Ha, back for the first update and already on the "top readers" list.... Okay okay, I only read 2 books, but that's nit-picking.

6. How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way - Stan Lee and John Buscema

My first book of March is one I’ve been meaning to read my entire life. Picked it up finally on a whim and I can tell I’ll be going back to it often.

Yo I finished a book

7. The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics - Klaus Janson

I’ve read the writing and inking DC Guides a couple times each but never picked this one up until I bumped into it at a used book store yesterday. Figured since I had just read the classic Marvel version it was serendipity.

the DC Guides are fantastic and essential educational tools, especially since they’re usually written by industry veterans/geniuses like Denny O’Neil and Klaus Janson. They can be very wordy, though. Too wordy. Still great. The pages on anatomy alone make this one worth it.

Where did January and February go? A lot of things coming up out of the blue. The main readings that I've done:

1) Miscellaneous Snippets, How To Guides, Troubleshooting Guides, newspaper articles, some magazine articles, blog posts, tutorials, lore posts for game characters along with product/service reviews.

Where did January and February go? A lot of things coming up out of the blue. The main readings that I've done:

1) Miscellaneous Snippets, How To Guides, Troubleshooting Guides, newspaper articles, some magazine articles, blog posts, tutorials, lore posts for game characters along with product/service reviews.