Started The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling. Have never been much interested in these in-universe books of Harry Potter, but kid got it from school library so thought might as well read it.

Also reading Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Book 2 of The Witcher series.

What about all of you? What have you all 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

I just finished "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke. Prima facie, it's satirical commentary on influencer culture, the glossy facade hiding the cesspool of social media brands, and the tradwife movement. More deeply, the novel draws attention to a wide array of points:

• the challenges of balancing our public and inner personae
• the lies we tell ourselves when things go well or go badly
• the myth of the self-made person (basically "lies," above)
• the immense weight borne by women in traditional gender roles
• the fundamentally man-child aspects of the manosphere
• the disinformation campaigns of the rural vs urban lifestyles
• the cognitive dissonance required to be a tradwife influencer

I do some computer and video editing work for a couple far less sanctimonious social media brands. Burke captures and perfectly characterizes the mental toll and physical toil of maintaining a specific public image. Even when not lying about the nature of reality, there is still a huge amount of work involved in just making things camera-ready. For example, clutter tends to look bad on camera, getting the lighting right so that things show up properly is a perennial struggle, editing for an enjoyable flow is complex work, etc. These aspects get a good amount of ink.

As if on cue, NYT suggested this article this morning (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/style/ex-tradwife-influencer-bernadine-bluntly.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GVE.2dtb.Qd-iJrloTskB

Kai is a powerful demon who awakens outside of his human body to find he's been trapped unconscious in a tomb for over a year. His long-time friends are also missing. He has to figure out who has done this, and why. The story alternates between this “present" timeline, and a "past” timeline that starts with him as a young demon in his newly-gifted human body. Wells has a real knack for creating worlds with interesting rules (far from the cookie cutter tropes of some fantasy), and then exploring the boundaries of those rules. I enjoyed it, but also felt like there was an odd detachment to the story - like there wasn't a lot of emotional attachment to the characters. As an aside, Wells has a penchant for making subtle or not-so-subtle commentary on our society and the prejudices in it. As examples in this one, demons are referred to by the gender of their demon selves, not the gender of the body they're in. Some societies have gender neutral clothing, but where it's gendered it's the men who wear skirts and women who wear pants. One culture is referred to as confusing because they stick to two genders.

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it."

This book is the origin of that phrase, and it's full of so many similar bon mots.

Sneaky weekly post, as I didn't see a new sticky post for the week. :3

Check out the community bingo post for 2026, it's a genuinely fun way to navigate your reading, and it's accompanying recommendations post. Happy reading and spooky season! 🎃👻📖

Had some fun playing around with it tonight. You don't need an account, and can just add books manually if you want.

I've been pontificating about what kinds of posts I want to make with this account and the thing that comes to mind often is half-remembered books that strike me like lightning bolts in the dark of the night.

Being the shadows of the cave wall of my own sheltered but also kind of neglectful childhood, they're the sort of thing that I had no idea how much shaped me. At least until years later and then suddenly I'm like, "Oh, that's where I probably where I got that" and have to do dishes in the middle of the night to explore the memory before I can sleep again.

Right now I'm thinking about How to Eat Fried Worms and the way I saw it as a child. It felt like such an unusual choice for required group reading. I thought, "This is clearly a boy book, it's about eating worms!" Now, I'm not so sure. It's a boyish premise, but the conflict in the plot is a kid having a life-changing trial of delayed gratification. In the contest he faces 

• the monotonous toil of a task drawing on despite having a set endpoint

• visceral disgust being punctuated by the knowledge he can simply walk away at any time

• peer pressure to quit by people who stand to profit from his failure

• backstabbing by peers who, when all other obstacles fail, decide to cheat in order to subdue him

My dude, he wasn't having a childish contest of eating filth. That child in the story was working a 9-to-5 job. What was this story actually preparing us for? As kids? Damn, Daniel.

Since growing up, I've had a pretty combative relationship with the concept of resilience. It was something I had to self-teach and once I got it, I wasn't letting go. It also was a shackle holding me in situations where I should have GTFO'd way before the point I decided to stop eating worms. In late stage capitalism it's obviously become a powerful cultural tool to manipulate people into exploiting themselves. However, divesting yourself of it in an attempt to stop being exploited leaves you a wreck of a person.

I don't know for sure where I got my propensity to grit my teeth through discomfort or how to hold on to that virtue in a society that would turn it into my destruction. But I loved that I had it and there were triumphs along the way that often came in the dark of the night, on the eleventh hour before a deadline, after somebody else's focused attempt to move goalposts, after I had already done the complete extent of what I could do to make the shit I was eating palatable, after I had completely broken the way I think about pain to accommodate a work style where the worse things get the better I perform.

All those things were events that happened in this kid's book about eating night crawlers, so I have a pretty strong suspicion.

TLDR: OP is baffled and astounded how children's literature has morals and capitalism exploits our best qualities like an abusive partner

Reading Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Book 2 of The Witcher series.

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

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

... I know, it's seriouuuusssss.

I was wondering. What if we have a blood meridian game. What would you expect from it? And how was you going to adapt this masterpiece to a video game?

I'm looking for short stories or novelettes to read, preferably around 20-50 pages. Something I can finish in a day but that's not too short. Any genre works. Thank you!

Finished Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman, book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl.

::: spoiler spoiler for book 2 I thought Bea will show up in the second book, though it looks like she is actually dead now. Carl has a point if she was still alive some show will have found her by now.

It looks like they are going to do something in future books and split up Carl and Donut. Not a fan of this in most books, so let's see how it goes. :::

Started Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Book 2 of The Witcher series. This is the second short story collection, after which comes the 5 book novel series. I read the series quite a while ago, but never finished all the novels, so re-reading the earlier books to finally complete the series.

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

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

I just started Dungeon Crawler Carl. In it he fights a Spanish speaking boss. The Spanish is not translated (so far) and if you can read it, it really changes the mood and impact of the entire scene.

Are there any other books that hide significant plot points behind the use of foreign language?