previously misericordiae@kbin.social
Clicking on the name of a square on the Storygraph challenge page** should bring you to a page that shows every book that’s been added to that square (by me or other participants). For instance, here’s the A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words page. They do take a second to load all the way, especially when there’s a lot of books in the list. Does that help?
** clarifying edit
As always, this year’s Storygraph challenge is pre-seeded with over 400 example books from a variety of (99% fiction) genres and subjects! Each square on there has at least 10 works that qualify only for regular mode, plus 10 more that also qualify for hard mode.
Finished The Cadaver Client by Frank Tuttle. Fantasy PI is hired by a ghost to find his (living) wife. Fun adventure, pretty light; good palate cleanser after 1984.
Currently reading Extremity by Nicholas Binge. I’m a little unsatisfied with it, but I think it’s a me-not-it kinda thing. Maybe the last 30% will change my mind.
Thanks for taking part again! Nicely done.
Awesome! How hard did you find it?
Congrats!
I’ve never had roasted barley outside of barley tea, so not sure if I’ll get the flavors right, but I’m thinking hearty salad. Roast a pan of bell pepper and kabocha (or similar squash) with a clove of garlic. Cook/drain a little toasted barley (not a ton, just a pleasant amount for texture/flavor) while that’s in the oven. Greens, roasted veg, cooked barley, conveniently leftover chicken, thin-sliced green onion, sprinkle of dried cranberries. Roast garlic goes in the vinaigrette.
Not OP, but I would have thought a basic pantry included staples like rice, cheap dried beans, and pasta (probably elbows or shells, since they’re pretty versatile).
I’d also do mac & cheese, the same as theirs, but with different seasonings: a little sauteed, minced onion or a dash of onion powder; a tiny bit of mustard for creamier cheese sauce; and a dash of black pepper.
PS: This is great! I hope you do these regularly.
I did two cards this year: one was fully hard mode, and the other was fully regular mode (meaning the books couldn’t count for hard mode). It was fun (and valuable playtesting), but also a lot. Prolly not gonna do that again.
If you did bingo this year, thank you! We enjoy putting it together, and we hope you enjoy playing it.
Veeerrryyy slowly making my way through The Cadaver Client by Frank Tuttle, number 4 in a fun series about a PI in a fantasy city. It’s nice and light (and very short), I just haven’t been reading more than a few pages a day.
Idk why I’ve never considered murder mystery short stories, that sounds great! Gonna put that on my TBR.
I have finally just finished 1984 by George Orwell, and with that, my last bingo square as well. \o/ Overall, I liked it, but found it too drawn out; the book section at the 60% mark especially killed the pacing for me. The appendix about Newspeak at the end was fascinating, though.
I’ve barely been reading, so that + being on the section of 1984 that’s (mostly) unnecessary info dump means I’m still 2/3 of the way through it.
I did finish
A cantankerous old man’s plans are interrupted by new neighbors.
Not my normal fare, but this was a cute, poignant story about found family and starting a new chapter. I knew nothing about it going in, so I was surprised about Ove’s intentions in the first half. A little repetitive in places IMO, but otherwise pretty solid.
I found Authority jarringly different. It’s good in its own way, but… yeah.
I paused 1984 about 2/3 of the way through due to finding it too depressingly close to reality, but I’ll go back to it once I finish A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman in a day or two.
Read:
Renowned detective Hercule Poirot investigates the death of a rich man in a small village.
Since I’d heard this was one of Christie’s best, I decided to read it before I watched the adaptation (I’ve been slowly re/watching Poirot this year). Pretty par for the course til the reveal, which… well, I didn’t figure it out. I’d call it cheap, except they go through exactly which clues I missed, so I can’t actually be indignant about it.
Standard Ebooks is a volunteer project that makes really nice versions of public domain stuff (that’s why a lot of those are marked “not P.D. yet”), and I think they work mainly in English, yeah. If you see something on that list that’s public domain, and you want to read it in the original language, just hit up Project Gutenberg; it’s probably there.
I’m hoping Ready or Not 2 will be as fun as the first one, but we’ll see. Not sure when I’ll get a chance to watch it.
Hmm I think the post links may be messed up; I’ll poke Jaymes.
Glad to help–I hope you find something fun to read next!