I wanted to finish this around Dec 31st but I had time today. It was a tough pick between Diavola, Dark Matter, and The Goblin Emperor, but The Goblin Emperor won 🎉 I don't think I'll get anything else read this year. The construction is still going on and on unpredictable days as well so it's difficult to keep on schedule. I've been treating this like a vacation.

(the template is by @/CSeydel)

#bookbracket2024
#ReadingBracket2024
#TopRead2024

Every time I read anything related to GRRM I am reminded of how spoiled and entitled people are with no regard for the author's mental or physical health, no regard for him losing anyone this year, burnout, and stress. No regard for his busy schedule with TV producers making adjustments to his work. Like toddlers demanding candy from their parents and throwing tantrums, adult women and men complain and whine and demand that they are owed books.

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King

Progress: I had minimal reading done in the past two weeks due to siding replacements and the construction of an overhanging roof to this house. I'm afraid the following week will be the same 😭

Replacing the roofing and siding of the house has made it difficult to get any reading done. 😞

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King

Progress:
I finished all of my planned reading for December and my Goodreads challenge as a result. Got through a few hours of ROTK which was nice, rough week for Lud but I managed to get through a chapter on Friday. Monday is busy as always but I will pick it back up on Tuesday. I will focus on those for the rest of the year.

This was pretty good for an early vampire-centric story. You can definitely attribute a lot of the themes and vampire lore to contemporary vampire fiction (attractive vampires, inviting them inside, burning in the sun, etc) I know a lot of it was plagiarized later on by other writers, and in other cases inspired and adapted by others. It is important work, even if it is lacking in a lot of ways.

It suffers a lot from telling and not showing.-

“Who can say that the dead are not grateful for the loving thoughts of the living“

oh boy I'm terrible at these haha

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

3 that I didn't enjoy/like: A Christmas Story, Snowmance, The Mistle-Tones (to be fair most of these are not the best)

3 that should have been: Scrooge (2022) it's more aimed at kids, but it's so unique. Jingle All The Way, that one is fun. Hot Frosty is a classic at this point.

Tagging anyone who wishes to participate!

Well at first this was a really interesting read, but then the unnecessary sexism and racism happened so that takes a lot of enjoyment out of this survival story. This topic always comes up when reading older works but just because it was acceptable back then, it isn't an excuse not to talk about the harm it does or did. A work of fiction is not exempt from criticism.

Kafka never disappoints. This is a fairly short story about the nature of morality under pressure from authorities, and how easily people are swayed when their safety is in peril. It is scary to think how authority figures can manipulate the masses under pressure and how easily the masses are swayed to change their mind when the authority changes.

Since these will be the last 2 months I'll probably post them one after another, instead of bi-monthly like I did in the past. And with that out of the way, it's time for #2024bookbracket. Nov. has been my most active month with 14 books in total. A lot of it is due to reading Narnia novels, but also because I was aiming to hit my yearly goal.

(the template is by @/CSeydel)

#bookbracket2024
#ReadingBracket2024
#TopRead2024

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King
🎧The Midnight Library

Progress:
With all the holiday chaos I managed to do minimal reading last week. I am hoping to get back on track this December. I am still enjoying Lud a lot and started The Midnight Library, which is more depressing and relatable than I expected. Need to jump back into the Drizzt book, though, perhaps when I'll be drawing later/tomorrow

I really love the movie so I thought I'd give the book a try. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. The movie definitely did a better job telling a more cohesive story and took out the unnecessary POVs of essentially the same characters.

The book is definitely more loosey-goosey and full of tangents that feel awkward to read. It feels like the author added them in haste.

Adding the investigator 70% into the narrative felt off.

Boy, do I have a lot to say about this. I went into this book with little expectation but was still disappointed. I wasn't the biggest fan of Murderbot, but I thought if the same care was applied to the characters it would be a fun read. I was wrong. There was a general sense of lost potential and bad execution throughout the novel. I think it could have been negated with a short prologue introducing the world. --

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King
🎧Witch King

Progress:
I didn't finish anything last week, although I am very close to finishing Witch King (78% currently) so that will be done this upcoming week. I've mostly been trying to get through Witch King. I'm reading Lud chapter by chapter daily and I am really loving it. Not so much Witch King. Not sure when I'll finish Lud, but we shall see.

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King

Progress:
Last week was a very productive reading week. Tried to get a lot of shorter work done to make it to my Goodreads reading goal of 70 books. My favorite read has been Diavola. Still slowly making my way through Lud and I might put the Drizzt book on hold again until after I'm done with the challenge. Will try to pick another audiobook as well this upcoming week.

Picked this up on a whim yesterday, and it had me hooked.

To be fair it dragged in the third half of the book, and a lot of the events could have been summarized in a chapter or two. But, towards the end the book picked up the pace again and the very ending was extremely satisfying.

The gothic horror delivered well enough, although Italy isn't really ideal for a “scary book“ Maybe that's just me.

I wanted whimsical poetry about fey and got a discussion about the evils of monarchies, wars, and institutions at the time. The fairy Mab takes the soul of a child and shows it humanity and its follies and mistakes.

This isn't surprising because Percy Bysshe Shelley was quite the activist in his time and many of the themes reflect his passions and views.

A story aimed at children, focusing on living life at a normal pace and not trying to grow up too fast.

I read Howl back in college and didn't like Ginsberg's work or Beat poetry in general, but studying them further and disconnecting the meaning from the shocking and raunchy poems, I really like them. A lot of them are unfortunately still relevant today. the various poems are about: the government's mistreatment of the working class, anti-consumerism, and anti-war.

So far I liked this one the most, it felt like it took a page out of Tolkien's Hobbit. There was a grand-scale adventure with an end goal in mind and the adventure felt natural rather than “we have to do this because the plot demands it“. This would have been a solid 4-star hands down, except for the sexism that came out of left field at the moment.

“The school was bad because a woman was in charge, by the way“ isn't exactly a gotcha.

I didn't particularly like or hate this one. This had the skeleton of a good nautical story in there but a lot of it felt unpolished. Lewis drew from Homeric influences as well as Norse and Irish mythology and folklore, so that was interesting.

I have to keep telling myself that this is children's lit, and not judge the lack of... everything too harshly, but then The Hobbit exists. but I digress. It just doesn't have that “ummph“ moment.

The soft void creature is overseeing my work #catsoflitsy

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King
🎧Dawn Treader

Progress:
Really needed to catch up on my reading goal so I started the Narnia books and have been getting through one of them a day. Hoping to finish Dawn Treader later today. Lud has been a delight to read through and i'll get back to Drizzt novels after Narnia in a few days. Will probably finish all of the remaining Narnia books this upcoming week.

I was really hoping I would like this one, but it was really disappointing. It started off strong but it kind of fell apart in the middle, and then Aslan was doing some weird stuff towards the end that no one bothers to explain.

The plot of the whole book is so gross. What do you mean the rightful king of Narnia has to be human, despite every creature being sentient? What do you mean those who are nonbelievers are 'relocated' ???

Aside from the blatant racism and an array of problematic things, this was a neat little story. The horses were so sassy and proud, and it was a bit amusing.

I think an unintentionally funny sentence was “And then they get married but not to each other“ and Lewis made it sound like Cor and Aravis got married only to quarrel more easily with each other. not gonna lie both got a snort out of me.

I just started this and boy oh boy has this aged poorly...

The religious allegories were a little bit more toned down in this one, but it still suffers from antagonists lacking any real motivation.

what kills me is sentences like “Battles are ugly when women fight“ as if women haven't been serving in the military alongside men. Men feeling like women beat them at anything (including war) is a whole different can of worms and has been around for longer than this book.

I told myself I would never read these books, but here I am. The story was simple and to the point. While there is nothing wrong with Christian values, this book feels like it wants you to blindly follow and trust in those values, without questioning, and that's where the problem stems from.

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King

Progress:
Glad I got back to the Drizzt novels, maybe I can finally catch up by next year. Been making slow but steady progress with Lud in the Mist. I am really loving it. I might pick another short audiobook between those two, but we shall see.

I was finally in the mood to start these again. I think at this point I've made peace with the fact that I only really read these for the B plot with the dark elves, and to see what my favorite assassin is up to and his character development through the series. if it were not for those things I would not bother with this series at all. When Salvator wants to be good, he is SO good, but most of these books feel like mediocre shlock.

Technically not a book but I do love rewatching this little gem annually.

I'm not too far into this, but I found it a bit hard to follow, so I've been annotating it, and taking notes on it. Found a nice Reddit thread and taking my time with the text. It's helped a lot.

It's almost the end of the month, so it's time for another installment of my #2024bookbracket. I accomplished a lot more reading in October compared to September. Both Sep/Oct were tough to compare as well as the bonuses as they are completely different books but I managed to make my picks with careful consideration.

Only two more months!

(the template is by @/CSeydel)

#bookbracket2024
#ReadingBracket2024
#TopRead2024

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧Lud in the Mist

Progress:
last week was pretty productive, even if I wasn't feeling my best. Finished my #Victober read, Haunted House, and my palette cleanser; The Little Prince. Looking forward to hopping into Lud in the Mist, I'm quite fascinated by pre-tolkien fantasy novels.

The title felt like a bait and switch, which was a letdown. It wasn't so much of a haunted house story (Hill House/The Woman in Black) but more of a possessed doll story (Chucky/Annabelle/Robert the Doll), with a hint of generational trauma and healing themes.

The main characters bickered like children for a lot of the book which also irritated me. At first, I only found one of them insufferable but quickly the other joined into that category.

Read this delightful work as a palette cleanser. I really enjoy children's books that treat their audience with dignity, maturity, and respect.

My last #victober read is pretty underwhelming, unfortunately.

This book felt a bit too drawn out for the amount of plot it contained. It opens up an interesting conversation about abuse and abused women and their reasoning for going back to their abusers. Although I can sympathize with Helen, I also think she shouldn't have gone back to take care of her abuser and still be abused by him because “maybe he'll redeem himself in the end“

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧How to Sell a Haunted House
🎧The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Progress:
I have mostly been focusing on my #victober read, and thus I did not finish anything last week. Will definitely finish the tagged book this upcoming week and resume HTSAHH

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧How to Sell a Haunted House
🎧The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Progress:
I finished two books last week. Will continue onto my 3rd #victober pick, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it before the month ends. I have also been making my way through HTSAHH and I'm having mixed feelings about it, definitely not what I expected it to be.

The format of this novel was very different from the other Gaskell works I've read and am used to. It isn't very stimulating to read. The book isn't plot or character-driven but is formatted as vaguely connected vignettes.

There's always something about these types of “expedition gone wrong“ stories that's sadly fascinating to me. They are so tragic and hopeless, but the indomitable human spirit really shines through. I enjoyed most of the book, though I am not a fan of racial slurs being used, even if it's “accurate“

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧The Terror
🎧Cranford

Progress:
Last week has been a bit chaotic so I haven't finished The Terror like I initially planned, but hopefully this week it will be finished. Picked up Cranford and it has been delightful but a bit uneventful so far.

My second #Victober read, probably gonna stretch this out to a chapter a day.

The first #Victober read of the year is done. I honestly had no memory of this but it is a nice little short story/novella. Very simple story that is probably inspired by Frankenstein in some aspects.

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧The Terror

Progress:
I put down WFTD and AK because I just cannot find the time to sit down and read. Will come back to them at some point in the near future. I have been listening to The Terror and I might finish it this upcoming week, on top of my #victober read.

I'm so excited for #Victober this year, and I think I'll start with the tagged