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!

----



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

----



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

----



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.


----

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!

------



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) -

---

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) -

---

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
-------------------



Always here for a little Easter horror! 😱🐇

---------------------



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.

-------------------



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

-------------------



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

-------------------



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.

---



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.

---



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.

---



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

---



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 -

---

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.

---


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