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A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)
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*Current Buddy Reads* > A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1)[September 10, 2025]

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message 1: by Yanique, Thread Master (new)

Yanique Gillana | 2889 comments Mod
This is a Buddy read for A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers starting on September 10, 2025.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) by Becky Chambers

Happy Reading!


message 2: by Nirkatze (last edited Sep 01, 2025 02:18AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Nirkatze | 21283 comments Thank you!

We are also reading book #2:
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2) by Becky Chambers

This is a Cozy Parsley between the Sharing Knife series and Vatta's War series.

Thank you!

Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold:
1. Beguilement (May 10) [link]
2. Legacy (Jun 10) [link]
3. Passage (Jul 10) [link]
4. Horizon (Aug 10) [link]
4.5 Knife Children

Sept Standalone: A Psalm for the Wild-Built/A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

---Pause for Spook/Cozy/Wrap-up season---

Next: Vatta's War
1. Trading in Danger (Jan 10)
2. Marque and Reprisal (Feb 10)
3. Engaging the Enemy (Mar 10)
4. Command Decision (Apr 10)
5. Victory Conditions (May 10)
Vatta's Peace:
1. Cold Welcome (Jun 10)
2. Into the Fire (Jul 10)


Following possibilities:
Find 2 solos to tide to Spook/Cozy
Penric--all short, could just bully through
Paksenarrion--3 connected series in-world


Nirkatze | 21283 comments I'm doing my presentation tomorrow (Weds 8/27)! If anyone wants to check it out, here is the PPT:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/...

I'm working on a kahoot too.

I have zoom open during the class. It'll be from about 4:30-5:30pm Pacific Time. If anyone actually wants to join the zoom/presentation, send me a message. Only open to folks who I've interacted with and friended in FBR, sorry silent observers!

This is a pre-read presentation--so it won't spoil anything, we won't go into the book content, and folks don't have to have read the book beforehand.


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments I'll look at the presentation when you give me access. Shame I can't see it in zoom but I'll be sleeping


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Whoops, share settings weren't open yet. It should be accessible now!


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments I did more questions right in the kahoot by luck than anything else haha. I did not know there were so many punks, i only knew of cyberpunk, steampunk and biopunk.

And i liked the presentation, the background was lovely and you had a lot of videos.


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Thank you! I'm presenting in about... seven hours? Gosh, is the day really so long? Yikes...

I use slidesgo for all my PPTs... they have such a nice selection and organization.


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Good luck! I always used PowerPoint and really liked the trasitions. I saterted doing a couple and then i ended up doing the whole presentation with animations and trasitions haha


Nirkatze | 21283 comments It can be addicting! I just finished for today and I think it went well. I was really excited about the topic so that always helps.


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Glad it went well! Being excited is important for a teacher, because then the students feel it


message 12: by Nirkatze (last edited Aug 28, 2025 12:02AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Nirkatze | 21283 comments Well, my students in this case was about six fellow teachers, so not too hard of a sell. I love the dedication in this book: "To anyone who needs a break." Everyone in the room (save one) raised their hands. The one dude was like "nah, I'm good." LOL

The Kahoot was funny. Very few folks knew anything. There was one question "Which -punk was the first -punk?" and I tossed "Punk Rock" in there as an option along with Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Stonepunk... I had one rather incensed teacher pull up the factoid that Punk Rock is from 1970 while Cyberpunk didn't show up until 1983... and I just pointed to the small hyphen in front of the word "punk"... not any punk, but a -punk, as in the literary genres. Other teachers were like "oooh, burrrrn." A very teachery thing to point out.... I thought it was pretty funny and will be teasing her about it for a while. As I'm sure she will be arguing that it was a misleading question every time. Fun times. On such exchanges are friendships made.

My favorite video out of the bunch in the presentation is the interview with the author which has several video clips--the one on cozy SF. She talks about how rest should be normalized. Comfort should be normalized. We should not feel guilty for wanting--or needing--to indulge in something comforting. It hits a deep note. I should not feel guilty, right now, for taking an hour to myself before bed after being at work from 7am until 8:30pm. But it's hard not to, when there are so many demands on my time from all directions, and some days it feels like society exists just to tell me I'm doing everything wrong.... So, long story short, I'm looking forward to this BR. Y'know, in like, a month. LOL.


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Those students are better than the actual students haha. What a happy guy the one who didn't raise his hand

The kahoot was hard, i agree, I knew almost nothing. The arguing over the -punk sounds fun. A little detail but you won the argument

I still need to watch the author interviews, I love watching those. The behind the scenes so to speak. Yeah, I agree about the guilty part, it's difficult. I remember when I was a student and wanted to read and even then I felt guilty that I was not studying more. I also look forward to this one (only one month away haha)


Nirkatze | 21283 comments I agree--I love hearing about the nuts and bolts that goes into the inspirations. One of the reasons I love Sanderson is for how analytical he is about his writing process.

It'll be really interesting to see if these books still give the same level of catharsis.


Ann-Marie | 5595 comments I finished the first just now and it was just as lovely as I remember from my first read <3 I looked before I started posting and 1582 people rated this 1 star? I mean I appreciate people have various opinions in general but yeah, I am judging them lol This book is absolutely a hug in book format. (view spoiler)


message 16: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
Ann-Marie wrote: "I finished the first just now and it was just as lovely as I remember from my first read <3 I looked before I started posting and 1582 people rated this 1 star? I mean I appreciate people have vari..."

Some people really don't like cozy / hopecore books...

Sucks to be them :D


message 17: by Ann-Marie (last edited Sep 07, 2025 10:28AM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Ann-Marie | 5595 comments Right? Happy to say just 159 people rated the second 1 star and I'll say the same to those people I say to those who don't like Klune, I am sorry you lack joy in your life lol

Finished the second, no surprise that I thought it was as lovely as I did the first read. Back to civilization and we get to see how Mosscap interacts with humans in general. (view spoiler)


Nirkatze | 21283 comments I'll probably be reading these late rather than early, since my book club for 'em is on the 19th and I'll forget details if I go too early. I'm really looking forward to the reread though--both as "hug in book format" as Ann-Marie says, and also after doing all the research I did...

From that research, seems like Chambers is working on a separate solo Spacey project right now, and then has plans to return to Monk & Robot... After so much space, she needed to ground herself... but after having a few books on the ground she itched to go back into space...


Ann-Marie | 5595 comments Are you ready to be jealous? I found ANOTHER SFF book club in my area and we are meeting Thursday and the book is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet which I started after I read these 2 today so it is a Becky Chambers day for me lol


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Gah!!! Yes, I am so jealous!!!


message 21: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (last edited Sep 09, 2025 06:39AM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
Joined the book hug party... Good description of the series... Zoomed through book 1 after reading Harmony Black... Then went and finished League of Unusual Denizens... Then read Lady Darby 11... Now over halfway through book 2...

Bunch of short and medium books...

Also a bunch of books that kinda surprised me when the end credits happened...


message 22: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
These really feel like modern fables or allegories or whatever word I'm looking for...

They have a feel good message to convey to the reader...


Ann-Marie | 5595 comments Wait until you get to The River Has Roots, 3 simply lovely novellas in less than a week is a good week for sure :)


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments I really loved The river has roots too! Very fairytale like.

Started, just read the first three chapters and it's so lovely. The only thought I had was wow, those laptops sure are long lived. I've had one computer for 13 years too and it's so slow that's maddening. The fans also make so much noise. So last year I bought a laptop instead and I was floored that it started in less than 5 minutes, the bar was so low...


message 25: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
That's the difference between SSD and HDD... SSDs startup in like 30 seconds (depends how much BIOS stuff there is before it loads Operating System...

My old computer was from 2012, but the OS was on a 128GB SSD... and then most of the rest of my stuff was on a secondary 1TB SSD and 1TB HDD...

My new 2025 PC, my OS is on a 2TB M.2 NVMe (basically an SSD that looks more like a RAM stick and plugs in sideways to the motherboard) and my audiobooks and other junk I don't want on the internal SSD are on a 5TB external HDD that's just plugged into a USB back port and sits on top of the computer...

I guess "laplets" are a thing now... 2-in-1 laptops that can also function as touch screen tablets and detach the keyboard...


message 26: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
Also, yea... technology longevity isn't really a thing these days... most things are designed to be replaced in a few short years to make companies more money...

TVs have Operating Systems that stop updating... etc etc etc...

Really bad for schools, that were kinda tricked into getting cheap Google tablets in the past decade I think, and now need replaced...

When I was in school, half the textbooks were like 50 years old... no budget to be replacing all the time...


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Yeah, I have seen people with "laplets".

My parents refrigerator is 30 years old and until its broken down they won't change it

When I was in school we had to buy the textbooks, still do. But there is a system where you rent those books for the year if they aren't new.


message 28: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
That's college over here... you buy the textbooks, and it's a whole racket where teachers write books that either they use, or other teachers/schools use, and they come out with a new edition every 2 years, so you can't buy the books used for cheaper, really...

I think things are alot more digital these days, but you have to buy ebook leases for the same exorbitant costs...


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments In uni everything we needed was digital and we didn't use textbooks. You only had to pay to fotocopy them. It was mostly PowerPoint slides so it was the bare minimum. And there were so many slides that i fotocopied 4 per page, to be cheaper and fool myself to think there were less haha. They recommended textbooks if we wanted and I checked some on my first year from the library but they were mostly useless. But yeah, there plenty of textbooks online (legal and ilegal) or scientific articles


message 30: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
yea... I paid the first year, and found alternatives as much as possible in later years... PDF math books, just waiting until day 1 of class to learn if the teacher thinks it's worth it or provides alternatives on their class website, endure the first few weeks while buying used copies online (back in 2005-2009, when physical textbooks were still common)... you were supposed to be able to checkout some textbooks from the university library, too, and use without leaving library, but the library was under renovation the entire 4 years I was in college, and for the 2nd half all the books were in annex storage and you needed to request they dig them out of storage... kinda sucked...


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments The library being under renovation is really bad luck


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Ann-Marie wrote: "I finished the first just now and it was just as lovely as I remember from my first read <3 I looked before I started posting and 1582 people rated this 1 star? I mean I appreciate people have vari..."

I read #1 last night and #2 this morning, and gods, I needed this. These books still feel like someone giving me a hug and telling me it's okay. It's like therapy in a book. Though it's interesting, what Ann-Marie points out about book 1--(view spoiler)

In the second book, (view spoiler)


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Finished both novellas! (view spoiler)


message 34: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
I think Chambers is working on a 3rd one...

I think they stopped writing for a year after someone passed away in their family, but returned to writing in 2024...


Paula (paula7) | 2004 comments Nice, maybe next year the 3rd one will be released


message 36: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
Internet says she's actually working on new IP right now, my bad...


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Yeah, that's what I'd been saying... in one of her interviews, she talked about how doing so much space she felt a need to write some stories that were more grounded, and that became part of Panga & the Monk & Robot books. But after that, she felt the drive to return to space again... and she'll come back down to Panga when she again switches to the need to be grounded.


message 38: by Nirkatze (last edited Sep 19, 2025 11:32PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Nirkatze | 21283 comments Had my book club over this today, and about 5/7 people loved it, one person was like meh (but listened at 3x speed and wasn't really paying attention) and the last felt like it was a waste of their time. Though they did appreciate some of the quotes.

We had some good conversations though. Some folk mentioned how they liked the (view spoiler)


message 39: by Timelord Iain, Tech Support (new) - rated it 5 stars

Timelord Iain | 35884 comments Mod
I know you're not memeing, but it feels like you are... 5/7 is a meme rating system from some imgur post a number of years ago, I believe...

https://i.imgur.com/DEhnH0W.jpeg


Ann-Marie | 5595 comments Please tell the person who thought it was a waste of time that I am sorry they lack joy in their life :(


Nirkatze | 21283 comments LOL Nope not memeing.

The person who thought it was a waste of time didn't find that it spoke to their stress the way others of us did (and she has a CRAP TON on her plate) and felt like there were other books she was more interested in and doesn't have time to read, and she wasted the limited time she has on reading this for book club instead. I mean, I can relate to that aspect...


Ann-Marie | 5595 comments It sounds like book club may not be for her sadly.


Nirkatze | 21283 comments Wanna bet she loves Fourth Wing?


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