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Proverbs - Solomon's sort of the original boomer who hates his wi[f/(v)]e(s). Of course men gravitate toward such verses rather than those that promote goodness; men do love having something to point at to justify their baseness. Anyway, all to say -- mixed bag again, as tends to be the usual with compilations. I like how a few randos (oracles) get thrown in right at the end. I would say, overall, unremarkable.

"Is that who you are, that vaguely criminal face on your ID card, its soul snatched by the government camera as the guillotine shutter fell..."

Psalms - If you've fully bought in, then this book would likely hit very hard, but for those who haven't, it is very much a mixed bag. The parts written by David offer insight into his character from earlier moments. The Bible being the literal word of god is a lens of nonsense: David writes to god, but it's actually god writing via David? So god wrote this to himself? This implies what I'm certain must be unpopular.

Job - Actually a good book and one that I would recommend! "Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness." Job would've loved MySpace, but maybe he should rethink his top 3 - ayyy... Anyway, it's a lot of monologuing, so very much play vibes. Consistently weird as such texts should be.

Esther - Probably the most interesting story so far? Robert Pattinson is who I'd cast for the role of Haman if you were wondering... King hates his wife, really into Esther like a lot, as is everybody, obvi. Her uncle Mordecai saves king. King's guy, Haman, hates the Jews, wants to genocide. Mordecai invokes "First They Came". Esther inspires king to hang Haman. Genocide. Party, established annually.

Nehemiah - So much construction in so many of these books. List heavy, this one. Concurrent with Ezra. Sort of breaks the fourth wall when Ezra diagetically recounts the narrative. Consider the section header: Mixed Marriages Condemned. Pretty neat; couldn't imagine such a passage utilized nefariously; really appreciate the omniscient level of care put into ensuring against such a possibility. Thanks, god.

Ezra - I appreciate the epistolary stuff and the creeping POV shift. Beyond that... What are we doing? What's going on? Side note: It really annoys me when people seem to claim a direct impression when really they are just imitating an existing impression from SNL. Anyway, Ezra is NOT chill with foreign wives and the resulting offspring. Therefore, I am NOT chill with Ezra.

2 Chronicles - This king was good, and then this king was bad, and then this king was good, and then this king was bad, and then this king was good, and then this king was bad, and so on, and so on, and also we've already gone over most of this in the preceding 5 books. Jesus Christ, it is so boring. Ostensibly, god created editors, so like might've been cool to maybe bring in some of that energy? Alas, I am not god.

1 Chronicles -- Probably the most boring book so far. It is essentially all recap. And then there is a shit ton of genealogical record. Nothing much to report other than I believe this includes the first mention of "Satan", but apparently it's up for debate whether this is referring to like the literal devil or just some other non-devilish and not-necessarily-supernatural adversarial entity.

2 Kings - Baldhead accusations result in Lord-induced she-bear mauling of 40+ children. Classic. Prophets are basically wizards, except the Lord does not approve of wizards. I used to question how Islam might reconcile Jesus' miracles while considering him but a prophet, but it seems like prophets be doing such supernatural shit all the time. 300+ pages in, I can't recall any mention of Jesus, directly or indirectly.