Finished When Moon Hits the Eye by John Scalzi.

The book is divided so that each chapter is a new day, and it's from perspective of new people. So there is no story of certain people, rather it's about the "event" and we see things from different people's point of view throughout the book.

I didn't know that, so it took some getting used to, but once I had come to terms with that it was a very interesting book.

Highly recommended for soft sci-fi fans.

What about all of you, what have you been reading or listening to lately?

Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!

Have you read something that you really enjoyed and want to give others a reason to try it out because it fits a square? Want to solicit help finding things to read that fit squares? This is a great place to do that.

• Official Thread Link Here
• Questions, Complaints, Whines, General Commentary, Shitposting

This thread will contain one top level comment for each Bingo square. In order to preserve the organization and readability of this post, please limit recommendations to only replies on those top-level comments. We will be removing comments that don't follow this rule for for this specific post.

Markdown Card

You can scroll through the thread or use the links above if your reader supports comment linking directly.

Reminder, Please DO NOT make comments that are not replies to a prepopulated top-level comment. Your comment will just be removed without any additional info.

Want to read more, but need motivation or direction? Want to gamify or expand your reading? Try book bingo! Our hope with this challenge is to provide a fun way for you to keep up with your recreational reading goals throughout the next twelve months.

How Does It Work?

The goal is to read something that fits the theme for each bingo square in any single row, column, or corner diagonal of your choice (one work per square) on this year’s card. You’re welcome to complete the entire card (or multiple cards) for an additional challenge goal, but you only need to check off a single line of 5 squares to complete the challenge.

So what can you read? Well, anything you enjoy, really. There’s no requirement to consume any particular kind of work, so any length, format, subject, or genre is totally fine. Want to read graphic novels, audiobooks, poetry, 10-page memoirs, or works in other languages? No problem. There’s no bingo police, either! If you think you can make a well-reasoned argument for why something fits the spirit of a square, go for it. You can even swap out a square (see Rules, below) if it doesn’t quite work for you.

After the thread closes at the end of April, we’ll use the submissions to put together a summary of the results, as well as to determine eligibility for community flair (currently not possible, but maybe in the future!) or some other recognition. If you want to be included, please make sure to contribute to that post as that will be the only way we are tracking the end participation.

Rules

• You must read a different work for every square you complete, even across multiple cards. There’s no problem, however, overlapping other reading challenges that aren’t associated with c/Books (or Books on piefed.world).
• Repeating authors on the same card isn’t forbidden, but we encourage you to read different authors for every square on a card.
• Likewise, we encourage you to primarily read things you haven’t read before (though we subvert that explicitly in one square this year).
• If you’re having trouble filling a certain square, you’re welcome to replace it with any square from a previous year's card, with the following restrictions:
  • You may not have two squares that are functionally the same on your card.
  • The center square (C3) cannot be swapped.
  • Please limit your substitutions to one per card.
• Anything you finish during the challenge period (see Schedule, below) is eligible, as long as you were no more than halfway through on May 1^st^, 2026.

Schedule

This year’s bingo runs May 1^st^, 2026 (today!) – April 30^th^, 2027.

• On May 1^st^, we post not only this thread, but also a recommendations thread and a Storygraph challenge (seeded with lots of suggestions already!) to help you plan your bingo reads.
• Every week, there’s a community “What are you reading?” thread. We encourage you to share your progress and ask for/suggest recommendations!
• Halfway through the year (usually the first week of November), we’ll make a midpoint check-in post to remind you bingo exists. Let us know how it’s going, give us feedback, and get help with troublesome squares.
• In mid-April, 2027, we’ll post a turn-in thread. Make sure to submit your list of completed squares through that thread before it closes on April 30^th^! (A form will be available if you’d rather keep your reads private.) This is the only way we can count your participation, even if you’ve been tracking your progress on Storygraph or in other threads.
• In Summer 2027 (June or July, if not sooner), we’ll post 2026’s stats, created from all the (anonymized) submissions. Look forward to unnecessary graphs and charts! (See 2024’s stats for an example.)

Changing Up the Challenge

Want an additional challenge, or maybe subvert some general rule for a more targeted challenge? Try one of these, or come up with a variation of your own (and share them!).

• Hard Mode: This is just a stretch goal for those interested; it does not convey any greater achievement. Most square descriptions include an optional extra restriction, which you can do or ignore on a square-by-square basis. It’s up to you!
• Genre Mode: Read only one genre.
• Review Mode: Write a sentence or two (ratings alone don’t count) about each work you read for bingo, either here on c/Books, a personal blog, Bookwyrm, The Storygraph, Hardcover.app, or elsewhere.
• Strictly Regular Mode: Read only works that don’t qualify for hard mode.
• Single Author Deep Dive: Limit yourself to just one author for the entire challenge.

The Card

Squares in List Form

The Squares

Row 1

• 1A LGBTQIA+ Lead: A major figure identifies as LGBTQIA+. HARD MODE: Features a significant, committed relationship (romantic, queerplatonic, or deep primary partnership) between LGBTQIA+ characters.
• 1B Supplementary, My Dear Watson: Includes extra material like a map, glossary, introduction, afterword, or author’s note. HARD MODE: The work includes notes that add context or richness, such as footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes, or marginalia. (miskatonic.org/footnotes.html has a long list of qualifying works.)
• 1C A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words: Illustrations, photographs, or graphic elements noticeably enhance the work. HARD MODE: Heavily visual, such as a graphic novel, manga, photo essay, picture book, or coffee table book.
• 1D Award Winner: Has won a notable literary award with broad recognition. HARD MODE: Has won two or more distinct awards (e.g., a Hugo and a Locus, or a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Heartland Prize).
• 1E Against the Odds: A person rises against a seemingly insurmountable challenge. HARD MODE: An “unlikely” hero—someone who steps up despite having no special destiny, powers, or prior training.

Row 2

• 2A Revisiting an Old Friend: Reread a work that holds a special place in your heart. HARD MODE: Reread it in a modified format (updated reissue, manga or graphic novel adaptation, illustrated or annotated edition, different language or translation, listen to the audiobook, etc.).
• 2B Author from a Different Continent: The author(s) resides on a different continent than you do. HARD MODE: The work required translation to be published in your native language.
• 2C Weapon on the Cover: The cover art (or key art, for short works) features a weapon (sword, gun, bow, tank, etc.). HARD MODE: No knives or swords.
• 2D Great Big Title: The title takes up a lot of real estate on the cover (or cover-analogue). HARD MODE: It’s also six (6) words or longer (articles, conjunctions, and names do count, but subtitles don’t).
• 2E Independent Author: Self-published by the author at the time of reading. This includes works that have been picked up by a conventional publishing house, but are not yet rereleased, as well as those that are no longer conventionally published. HARD MODE: Not published via Amazon Kindle Direct.

Row 3

• 3A Punctuated!: The title on the cover (or cover-analogue) includes at least one punctuation symbol. Example: Thud! by Terry Pratchett. HARD MODE: Includes a symbol that is not a comma, apostrophe, or colon (e.g. !, ?, -, or …).
• 3B We’re Putting the Band (Back) Together: A group assembles for a common purpose. HARD MODE: The group had previously drifted apart, but is now reunited.
• 3C FREE SPACE - Off Your TBR Pile: A work that’s been on your TBR list for a long time. HARD MODE: First published over ten years ago.
• 3D What’s in a Name?: The title contains the name (or pseudonym) of a figure or collective whose story is central to the work. Examples: Jane Eyre, Dracula, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. HARD MODE: The title is only the name, nothing else. (Multi-name titles with ‘and’, like Romeo and Juliet, as well as basic honorifics like ‘Mr.’/‘Mrs.’, still qualify.)
• 3E Late to the Party: Apparently this is a really popular work, you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Read something you’ve seen recommended over and over. HARD MODE: Has not been released as a major film or television franchise prior to the end of the challenge.

Row 4

• 4A Minority Author: The author belongs to a demographic that is underrepresented or marginalized in publishing where you live (e.g. LGBTQIA+, BIPOC). HARD MODE: Belongs to more than one marginalized group.
• 4B Rooted & Rising: The natural world is prominent in some aspect of the work, such as setting, theme, or narrative catalyst. HARD MODE: Nature is key to a major figure’s resilience or ability to survive. Example: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
• 4C Free Read: A work you didn’t pay to read (e.g. in the public domain, a gift, from the library or a Little Free Library, an ARC, or borrowed from a friend). Illicit downloads or stolen copies of the work do not qualify. HARD MODE: By an author you’ve never read before.
• 4D The Ink Is Still Fresh: New for 2026/2027 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: Not a sequel.
• 4E Putting the Pieces Together: The premise involves an individual or team solving a puzzle, uncovering a secret, unraveling an ancient mystery, or investigating a crime. HARD MODE: The “detective” is an everyday civilian or an amateur in the field of the investigation, like a cop looking for a lost city on vacation, or an archaeologist trying to solve a murder.

Row 5

• 5A Get Off My Lawn: A major figure is middle-aged or older. HARD MODE: They’re considered a senior citizen or elderly.
• 5B The Late, Great…: The author is deceased. HARD MODE: They passed away before January 1, 2000.
• 5C Sufficiently Advanced: Technology plays a major role in the narrative or world. HARD MODE: A prominent aspect of this technology attempts to preserve or create life (e.g. robots, AI, cloning, medical advancements, cryogenics, or resurrection machines).
• 5D Kintsugi: A major figure attempts to navigate a significant personal or systemic struggle, trauma, or loss. HARD MODE: Centered on a healing journey.
• 5E Double Up, Double Down: Includes two or more points of view that are notably separate from one another (although they may eventually converge), rather than jumping between members of an adventuring party or one person’s past and present. See also epistolary works/letter collections, critique/analysis, sociology-related works, shared worlds, parallel narratives, and nesting narratives. Example: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. HARD MODE: The title includes a pluralized or repeated word.

Resources

If you make or find any bingo-related resources, ping or DM me so I can add them here. Thanks!

• 2026 Bingo Recommendations List
• The Storygraph Reading Challenge

Appreciation

• This challenge is inspired by, but totally separate from, the one run by r/Fantasy on Reddit. We deeply appreciate the past organizers and the work they did that we are now benefitting from.
• 2026 bingo card font credits: Figtree, by Erik Kennedy.

Markdown Card

Excluding textbooks for classes, I bought this for ~$300 (several several years ago as a special treat)

Most of my collection is thrifted/bought from garage sales (for a quarter to a dollar usually) but I do have a handful of nicer ones.

Link for There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury (written May 1950)

This is probably asked here a lot so i apologise. Almost every day i think about siting down, and having a nice read, but i just dont know how to find the books i like.

I wrote a quick history of the book publisher DAW, and how I recently became a collector of their classic sci-fi. Now with those newfangled pictures!

Caveats: it must be a single book, published on its own under a single title. Within, it can be a series of essays, or poems, or whatever.

I'm already anticipating many people adding the obvious ones: The Little Prince, Of Mice and Men, The Lorax, The Grinch, Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #141, etc.

Really, I'm curious about the obscure, rarely read, short books that caught you unaware — but LANDED.

e.g.

The first book of this kind, for me, was Indignez Vous! (Time for Outrage) by Stéphane Hessel. It is 32 pages. In its time, about 2011, it said a lot of things I needed to hear and hoped others wanted to say. If I remember it correctly at all, it's grown more relevant with time.

The latest book of this kind, for me, is the Burnout Society by Byung Chul-Han. Finishing it tonight, at 51 pages, I've re-read it twice already.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2250460/company-offering-printed-books-to-train-ai-stops-after-404-media-coverage

Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."

And, why do we do this to ourselves?

I have two copies of:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

• Small Island by Andrea Levy

• Thinking Clearly by Jill Leblanc

These are due to integration between my partner's books and my own.

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

• No Logo by Naomi Klein

• Island by Aldous Huxley

These are because they are some of my favourite books and, except for No Logo, I have one hardcover and one softcover edition.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/73048134

Artificial intelligence labs are in a new arms race to buy up millions of rare books, slicing them open, scanning the pages and pulping the remains — sparking concerns that the last remaining copies of out-of-print texts are being destroyed on an industrial scale.

ISBNdb notes that “print books from the pre-LLM era are structurally guaranteed to be free of this contamination”.

“Millions of the most valuable books have never been digitised. They exist only in physical form, scattered across library shelves, used bookstores, and out-of-print catalogues. We get them to you at scale.”

I have started reading Climbing the Mountain My Search for Meaning by Kirk Douglas.

I picked it up at first because thought it was just another celebrity autobiography. But this one is different. Kirk goes over what it like to be Jewish and his search for his spirituality.

The problem is with how things are going in Gaza I am having hard time sympathizing with the Israeli the way written in this book. Further more I wonder how he would feel about it all if he was alive today?

Anyway 134 pages in and when he mentions the name Bibi Netanyahu I stopped and found it hard to breath. He doesn't go in detail about the man but just passing note he wrote as he writing about a lunch he had with Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. As someone feels strongly that Israeli is committing genocide and Palestine should be set free, not sure I should finish said novel.

What would you do if your over halfway through a book that is interesting but then troublesome at same time?

Reading When Moon Hits the Eye by John Scalzi.

What about all of you, what have you been reading or listening to lately?

Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!

I've been going to a queer book club, and we're currently looking for books with trans characters to read next month.

Ideally we'd like a standalone book (not part of a series), and a story where trans identity is a significant part of it.

Thank you :)

A bet between God and the Devil.
A shrewdness beyond comprehension to the mind of a man.
A tragedy.

If only this were the case, the oldest of all stories of Christianity, then Goethe probably wouldn't have ventured to write Faust.

Faust is a blueprint. A blueprint of tragedy that an intellectual, curious, and rigorous philosopher may have to navigate in his life.

At the beginning, when we meet Faust the polymath, he was in Loevinger’s Ego Development Stage 4/5 (Self-Questioning/Individualist/Pluralist). The notions of reality and truth are fractured, yet not in complete disharmony. We can find the evidence for it in Scene IV:

This life of earth, whatever my attire, Would pain me in its wonted fashion. Too old am I to play with passion; Too young, to be without desire.

and,

The God that in my breast is owned Can deeply stir the inner sources; The God, above my powers enthroned, He cannot change external forces. So, by the burden of my days oppressed, Death is desired, and Life a thing unblest!

This stage comes with acute existential dread and distress, as Goethe portrayed them so faithfully.

We need to make a clear distinction here. This distress is not the work of the Devil. Every sincere person, at some point in their life, must stomach this. In consensus, Christianity allows free will; therefore, free exploration of knowledge is allowed. With that exploration, considering the depth and breadth a philosopher may navigate, comes obvious distress.

At this lowest of the moments, Faust made a pact with Mephistopheles. Here, we can see the brilliance of Faust's mind. While Mephistopheles wanted to give all possible earthly pleasure in return for his soul, Faust's counter-offer was to forfeit his soul only when he is content. And if you consider his state of mind at this point, bringing contentment to him is a formidable task, even for Mephistopheles— if Mephistopheles is a man.

But Mephistopheles is no man. While a man, with his short span of life, and probably by the very architecture of our mind, cannot help thinking from the perspective where we are the centre of everything. This egocentrism is the Devil's playground. He runs a whole gamut of tests on all of our feelings to catch us off guard:

MEPHISTOPHELES
Yes, thou findest that unpleasant! Thou hast the moral right to cry me "shame!" at present. One dares not that before chaste ears declare, Which chaste hearts, notwithstanding, cannot spare; And, once for all, I grudge thee not the pleasure Of lying to thyself in moderate measure.

Indeed, he is right when he declares:

MEPHISTOPHELES
Poor Son of Earth, how couldst thou thus alone Have led thy life, bereft of me?

For he is the first rebel in the Bible, and he, also, is the scapegoat for all our dubitable actions.

But Mephistopheles is an egoist too. Soon, it became a chess match of ego. In every turn, one superseding another's strategy. Although by narrow means, Faust conquered all the traps and lures. You may disagree with me on this point. But this conquering happens in such a bloody, agonising way that it often may feel like a defeat.

We can see their battle externalised in Walpurgis Night:

Tell me, if we still are standing,
Or if further we're ascending?
All is turning, whirling, blending,
Trees and rocks with grinning faces,
Wandering lights that spin in mazes,
Still increasing and expanding!

MEPHISTOPHELES
Grasp my skirt with heart undaunted! Here a middle–peak is planted, Whence one seeth, with amaze, Mammon in the mountain blaze.

First, we find Faust's mind-bending philosophical investigation being externalised by a metaphor of Will-O-Wisp.

Then we see the satanic promise of remedy, but not through philosophy, but through materialism, by promising Mammon's treasure.

Despite every attempt, despite a tragic end, we can see Faust keeping his intellectual sovereignty intact. A prime example of this is when Gretchen, the innocent lover of Faust, asked him about his faith; he replied:

FAUST
My darling, who shall dare "I believe in God!" to say? Ask priest or sage the answer to declare, And it will seem a mocking play, A sarcasm on the asker.

This is not a lack of faith, but a sincerity. A sincerity that the person should show if his faith or belief is not handed down to him and accepted as is.

Faust was right in thinking that Mephistopheles, indeed, cannot make him content. No worldly pleasure (or, even woe) can deter him, ultimately, from the philosophical distress of his soul, a tragedy most intimate, a tragedy wrought in his soul, which no diversion can touch.

It was a stalemate, at least, at the end of this book.

How do you manage the same book with different editions in Calibre? (Like US, UK, Illustrated, Portuguese Translated, ...)

I think they should all belong to the same folder, but that's not how Calibre works. Is there any way to keep books organized after "Save to Disk"? (I use Kavita)

Here’s the breakdown of 2025’s bingo!

Submissions are included in the stats as they were reported. In other words, while we do verify that works exist (as a side effect of compiling reading stats), we don’t check if they “count”. We also don’t police other aspects of the rules; we’re just happy you’re reading!

::: spoiler What got completed?

Cards

• 10 cards total (one person did two cards)
• 9 challenges completed
  • review mode, 5 cards
  • hard mode only, 2 cards
  • regular mode only, 1 card
  • TBR only, 1 card

Bingo Lines

• 85 bingos
  • 5 cards with 12 bingos (“blackout”, all squares done)
  • 1 with 10 bingos
  • 1 with 7 bingos
  • 1 with 5 bingos
  • 1 with 3 bingos
  • 1 with no bingos But they completed 10 squares, so that’s a win in my book!
• most completed bingos (each on 90% of cards): row 1, diagonal “&” (1A--5E)
• least completed bingo (on 50% of cards): column E

Squares

• 218 completed squares
  • 201 squares contributed to a bingo (92.2% of completed squares)
  • most completed squares (on 100% of cards): 1E (Now a Major Motion Picture), 3B (Title: [X] of [Y]), 3C (Off Your TBR Pile), 4D (Award Winner), 5E (Jerk with a Heart of Gold)
  • least completed square (on 60% of cards): 3E (Saddle Up)
  • least favorite square (according to survey): 2A (Independent Author)
• 106 completed hard mode squares (48.62% of completed squares)
  • most completed hard modes (on 80% of cards): 5C (Late to the Party), 5E (Jerk with a Heart of Gold)
  • least completed hard modes (on 20% of cards), excluding 5D (Cozy Read), which had no hard mode: 1A (Number in the Title), 1C (Featured Creature), 3A (Based on Folklore)
• 6 substituted squares (2.75% of completed squares)
  • 50% of cards included a substitution (one person substituted twice): 4 were regular mode, 2 were hard mode
  • no square was replaced more than once
  • 1 square from 2024 (Water, Water Everywhere) was used as a substitution twice; the other squares used were Family Drama, It Takes Two, Older Than You Are, and There Is Another…

:::

::: spoiler What did people read?

Works

Starred (*) categories have related squares this year.

• 208 unique works read (95.41% of completed squares)
• structure/length:
  • 159 novel-length works (76.44% of unique works)
  • 22 novellas* (10.58%)
  • 16 prose anthologies or collections* (7.69%)
  • 7 pictorial works (comics, graphic novels, manga, or picture books) (3.37%)
  • 2 single short stories or essays* (0.96%)
  • 2 verse works (epic poems, novels in verse, or dramatic verse) (0.96%)
• marketed audience:
  • 171 adult works (82.21% of unique works)
  • 29 YA works (13.94%)
  • 8 middle grade works (3.85%)
• publishing:
  • 195 traditionally published works (93.75% of unique works)
  • 13 self-published works* (6.25%)
• original language:
  • 193 English works* (92.79% of unique works)
  • 15 non-English works* (read in the original language, or translated to English) (7.21%)
• series:
  • 103 standalone works (49.52% of unique works)
  • 55 works considered #1 in a series (26.44%)
  • 50 prequels, sequels, or other works connected to a series (not #1) (24.04%)

Notable Content Tags

Works may be in multiple categories/subcategories. A space thriller with strong mystery and romance elements would be counted once for each of the following tags: speculative, space, suspenseful, mystery, thriller, and romantic.

Starred (*) tags have related squares this year.

• speculative: 147 (70.67% of unique works)

  • general fantasy: 63 (30.29% of unique works)

  • folklore*: 13 (6.25%)

  • urban fantasy: 10 (4.91%)
    __

  • space: 23 (11.06%)

  • dystopian: 22 (10.58%)

  • general scifi: 21 (10.1%)

• suspenseful: 82 (39.42%)
  • mystery: 53 (25.48%)
  • thriller: 31 (14.9%)
  • horror/gothic: 29 (13.94%)
  • war*: 11 (5.29%)
  • espionage*: 5 (2.4%)
• historical: 37 (17.79%)
• literary/contemporary: 31 (14.9%)
• LGBTQIA+*: 30 (14.42%)
• romantic: 29 (13.94%)
• nonfiction: 19 (9.13%)
  • memoir: 8 (3.85%)
• cozy*: 15 (7.21%)
• politics*: 13 (6.25%)
  • feminism*: 7 (3.37%)
  • social issues*: 7 (3.37%)
• humor: 11 (5.29%)

Publication Year

• before 1940: 6 (2.89% of unique works)
• 1940s: 1 (0.48%)
• 1950s: 5 (2.4%)
• 1960s: 9 (4.33%)
• 1970s: 2 (0.96%)
• 1980s: 9 (4.33%)
• 1990s: 7 (3.37%)
• 2000s: 18 (8.65%)
• 2010s: 68 (32.69%)
• 2020s: 83 (39.9%)

Most Read Titles

• 3 times: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
• 2 times:
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
  • A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
  • Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  • Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
  • Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

Most Read Authors

Starred (*) authors were on the list last year, too.

• 6 works: Brandon Sanderson, Martha Wells
• 5 works: Suzanne Collins
• 4 works: Pierce Brown, John Scalzi
• 3 works: Becky Chambers*, T. Kingfisher, Sarah J. Maas, Nnedi Okorafor*

Historical Read Time Periods

• pre-1000s: 2
• “medieval”: 1 Couldn’t find a more exact century for this one.
• 1000s: 0
• 1100s: 0
• 1200s: 0
• 1300s: 1
• 1400s: 2
• 1500s: 0
• 1600s: 0
• 1700s: 3
• 1800s: 12
• 1900s: 16

:::

::: spoiler What about specific squares (and participation)?

Judge a Book by Its Cover

A few of these had multiple covers; I hope I chose the right one for the graphic!

• Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
• The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
• The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy
• The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
• Lute by Jennifer Thorne
• My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
• Soul Eater by Lily Mayne
• Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm
• The Wager by David Grann

Author from Another Continent

• 8 unique works
  • 3 from Asia (37.5%)
  • 3 from Europe (37.5%)
  • 1 from North America (12.5%)
  • 1 from Oceania (12.5%)

__

Participation

• 9 people submitted cards
  • 6 returning participants, 3 new
  • 50% increase in Fediverse participation from last year
• 13 people joined the Storygraph challenge
  • 4 returning participants, 9 new
  • 85.71% increase in Storygraph participation from last year

:::

::: spoiler Feedback There were a couple of pieces of feedback we got at turn-in that we wanted to share our thoughts on:

Firstly, Independent Author was ranked the most difficult or disliked square for 2025. We’re definitely going to be looking at making it more accessible going forward.

Also, someone asked if we’d consider using Bookwyrm for future challenges. We absolutely like the idea of spreading bingo to more reading sites, but we don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin. Instead, our hope is that the community may eventually step in to provide resources like this (and maybe even take over the Storygraph challenge someday)! We’re happy to coordinate with projects, whether Bookwyrm lists, tracking spreadsheets, online tools, more discussion threads, or anything else you think might be helpful; just let us know.

(In case you’re wondering, the yearly list of book suggestions is actually a by-product of playtesting squares to make sure they’re doable! Storygraph has just always been the fastest, easiest way for us to share that work as a community resource.)

If you’d like to help make bingo, chat about resources, alert us to something cool you made for the challenge, or give feedback, please do comment here or DM me ( @[email protected] ) or Jaymes ( @[email protected] )!

:::

__

Data Visualization Font Credits: Parchment, by Photo-Lettering, Inc.; Noto Sans, by the Noto Project authors.

I believe the solution for all this Amazon Kindle shenanigan is not about buying a Kobo. It's about how we do not allow corporations to determine how we protest. Responsible consumption combined with political and social activism is a more sustainable way to challenge corporate power.