75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Joining you all in tracking my reads with the group!

This year I'm keeping it simple: I'm challenging myself to read around two a month, and reread an old favourite that's pretty long, Tommyknockers.

Happy reading!

Read so far:

Happy New Year Shelby!

Yay welcome back, Shelby! When are we reading Tommyknockers? lol. I haven't read it before.

Andrea wrote: "Happy New Year Shelby!"

Thanks, Andrea!

Elyse wrote: "Yay welcome back, Shelby! When are we reading Tommyknockers? lol. I haven't read it before."

Thanks Elyse!

I'm planning to read it off and on during the year. Probably over the first few months/half the year, but I kinda want to just sit with it as I go. I'll warn you that this one's real messy because it's a mix of legitimately great stuff, and also just wild nonsense because King wrote it at the height of his addiction problems. Even though it's a favourite of mine, I always gotta qualify it a bit next to Pet Sematary and Misery lol. It's been about a decade since I read it last, and I really enjoyed the audio version the first time I read it.

You're very welcome to join me! I was just thinking we should buddy-read something again, but I'm planning to read this one casually.

Shelby wrote: "Elyse wrote: "Yay welcome back, Shelby! When are we reading Tommyknockers? lol. I haven't read it before."

Thanks Elyse!

I'm planning to read it off and on during the year. Probably over the firs..."

Well, we can still make a thread and you can just post when you start it and I'll join in whenever I can!

Elyse wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Elyse wrote: "Yay welcome back, Shelby! When are we reading Tommyknockers? lol. I haven't read it before."

Thanks Elyse!

I'm planning to read it off and on during the year. Probabl..."

Sounds great!

Elyse wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Elyse wrote: "Yay welcome back, Shelby! When are we reading Tommyknockers? lol. I haven't read it before."

Thanks Elyse!

I'm planning to read it off and on during the year. Probabl..."

Set up the thread!

Early year catch up:



A short novella about werewolves in the snow. Read it in one sitting!

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The world of this one was interesting, and the ace rep was a nice surprise.

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This one was okay. Never seen the movie, but I've been wanting to.

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This was such a fun ride!

My favourites from this anthology were Daughter of the Air by H.V. Patterson and The Look-Out by Georgia Cook.


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It would appear that 2025 is the year I pick up mostly indie books. At least, so far. I'm reading another now, and planning to start a few more soon.

One of the books I’m in (Run, Rabbit, Run) is currently free this week only! Just in time for Easter 🐣😱🐰

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Quick catch up! Feels like I've finally feel like getting some serious reading done - just in time for Magical Readathon! I'm going back to my original character, AJ because she's maxed out all the benefits for reading prompts and I don't have to feel too much pressure reading her classes.

But first, quick catch-up:



When I saw this was a collection of horror stories that had to include a penguin somewhere, I had to check it out! Angela really goes through it. 😱

I loved Aurora Australis by Rowan Hill and Christmas Cookies by JC Rudkin. I had a blast reading!

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This was a reread for me. I still enjoyed it. My thoughts on Mina Harker getting cheated by pop culture still stand.

I didn't finish my Magical Readathoning last year, but I finally feel like I can get some good reading going, so I'm going to go back to AJ's first career, Spellsword. If I feel like I want to keep going, I might also pass any extra classes in the Archmage career so she's doing both this year.

Spellsword Classes:


Animal Studies: Raccoon Studies (Steal a book from another TBR) -

Demonology: Banishing Basics (Book with a missing person) -

Restoration: Uncommon Antidotes (Book with 4+ star average rating) -

Spells and Incantations: Spell: Copy-Paste (Word from your last book title) -

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Archmage Classes:


Alchemy: Volume Magnification (ALL CAPITALS book title) -

Inscription: The Hook (First sentence challenge: try 3, pick the best) -

Artificery: Clockwork Mechanics (Check time (5pm) title length in words or letters) -

Spells and Incantations:

Art of Illusion: Distance Manipulation (Book you already planned for this month) -

Conjuration: Locational Summons (Random country generator (x5: Russia, Sri Lanka, Eswatini, Armenia, or Mali) for author) -

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Because I've unlocked all the bonuses, I can count 1 DNF, exchange 1 for any other book, count 1 500 pg book as 2 (provided it fits both prompts), and use 1 book for multiple prompts.

Just wanted to update here that I've officially got another short story coming out in the future!

Shelby wrote: "Just wanted to update here that I've officially got another short story coming out in the future!"

Woohoo congrats Shelby!

Quick Catch-up
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Always here for a little Easter horror! 😱🐇

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This is one of the more recent tbr books. Interesting to see how it inspired so many other classic dystopian novels like Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984.

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FINALLY read this. I saw the movie as a kid, but I remember nothing.

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Really like the atmosphere in this. I just wanted more.

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Definitely the darkest Hunger Games book to date. I could FEEL Suzanne Collins' frustration at some people's surface-level reading of the text.

Shelby wrote: "Just wanted to update here that I've officially got another short story coming out in the future!"

That is so awesome Shelby!

Been a while, so I guess I should catch up.



This was a reread for me, and it was interesting to revisit with Dracula still fresh in my mind. On a character level, it's certainly one of his weaker ones on reread.

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It seems I'm playing catch-up on upcoming adaptations again. I think this is one of his better of the new books I've read, but by this point I was getting Kinged out for the year.

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This was great, actually, and weird enough to keep my attention even while I've mostly been bingeing other reading lately. I wanted to read something for pride this year, and I'm glad it was this.

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Not much to say about these. They were very quick.

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This was a weird experience. I saw the first movie when it came out and tried to read the book, but it didn't work out. The movies are better all around, but I didn't hate the last book. Team Brenda.

Magical Readathon - Autumn Equinox tracker - HYPE

Spellsword Classes:


Animal Studies

O (Hatchlings) A debut book -

Q (Baby Dragon Care) A sequel -


Demonology

O (Impling Outbursts) Emotion in the title -


Restoration

O (Unbroken Focus Tincture) Single POV -

Q (Continental Remedies) Random country generator (x5 Venezuela, North Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Canada) -


Spells & Incantations

O -

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Archmage Classes:


Alchemy

O (Liquid Sunlight) Sun on the cover -

Q (Blossom Properties) Cover in your birth flower colour -

D (Flavour Enhancing Tricks) Auto-buy author -


Inscription

O (Magic of Primes) Prime number of letters in the title -

Q (Archiving) Vertical spine title ANY BOOK -


Artificery

O (The 9 Laws) - 9th book you see on social media PROMPT SWAP: (Conjuring Circles) Circle on the cover -


Spells & Incantations

O (Charm: Luck) Roll a D6: Book in that page bracket (1-100, 2-200, 3-300/Number: 3) -

Q (Current Spell Trends) Released this year -

Finished a few things before the Autumn Equinox starts.



This was the thing I found myself in the mood for a few months ago, so I made a weekly plan so I'd finish it in time to read book 4 next month. It was...something.

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Seems like all the King adaptations to books I haven't read are out this year. Goodie. I'm interested in seeing this one.

Quick catch-up of what I read for Autumn Equinox. A couple books that were on my tbr for ages, some graphic novels, and it looks like I'm returning to bingeing indies like I did at the start of the year!
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This is one that I felt crazy for not having read yet, especially in the year 2025. Not really sure how I waited so long. It was pretty good.

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I had this book sitting on my shelf well before it was re-released back into print (the short story is now exclusively available in the new edition. This was an odd experience. It's like if you took every popular YA trope from Twilight on and had a skilled writer layer them all into a single book.

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Short and sweet. My favourite was Cheese! 🐈 (This is the author who also wrote Phoenix, if you're looking for more supernatural stuff from them!)

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Nice to finally be reading more comics. I really enjoyed volume 2 especially. And Sam telling off T'Challa for his privilege was soooo satisfying. Also, Deadpool shows up for half a minute and we get the adventures of Wilson & Wilson. Also also, Doom's here for a sec.

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A tense story about corrupt survivors in a desperate attempt to return to earth after failing to build a home on a new planet. There's two bonus short stories set in the same universe. The first one about a sentient AI on a research vessel trying to get around its coding and save a crew member from their abuser - "A Lifeline of Silk" - might be the best thing I've read this month.

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Perfect for the end of summer. My favourites were What Happened On Winter Watch by Hannah Brown, Oyogaseru by Samir Sirk Morató, and Sink by Donna J. W. Munro.

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I really liked the descriptions in this.

This was really good! I'm looking forward to more horror from this author.

Shelby wrote: "

This was really good! I'm looking forward to more horror from this author."

Yes I liked this more than her Keeper of Night duology!