Random Chatter Showing 5,701-5,750 of 6,505

[Soo]

Exactly!

My def for normal is whatever is normal for individual. Not the masses. 🥸

[Monika]

Hmmm... I think I need to read back little bit more here cause I'm bit lost 🤔. Will do it tomorrow, time to hit the hay for me. Night night peeps!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Today has been a chatty day, all around, for the group...

[Nirkatze]

LOL It is possible to edit the annual goal, if it is staring at you... edit it every day, so you're always exactly where you want to be... no, let's not create another obsession... nooooo.....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I usually only edit my goal once or twice a year, if I've vastly over/underestimated my reading abilities for the year, based on previous year (uptick in reading speed, or Book Burnout mid-year)...

[Monika]

I think I'll stick with my current reading target 😃

[Beena]

Mel wrote: "I've never experienced this, but it's also the sort of reason why I have purposely never signed up for the Reading Challenge. To my mind, the number of books that I end up reading is the perfect am..."

Well said Mel! I like your point of view on the challenge.

[Nirkatze]

I used to just arbitrarily set my number at 100 books, since I typically read 150 or so a year... just 'cause I like watching the numbers go up... had to set it higher once y'all got me in to audio though... I still want it at a number that I know I'll hit without any problem... one year I actually stressed about being on track and that was not fun.

[Monika]

I'm on 200. So far I'm ahead of schedule 😁

[Saar The Book owl]

Just follow your gut! If you want to read more than you're normally do, then don't feel guilty about it, but enjoy it! There will be times that reading slows down, because of a number of different reasons. I set my goal to 100 books, but every year I adjust to a lesser goal.
I've learned now to at least read an hour a day without anything distracting. At first I felt guilty because of the work that didn't finish, but now I enjoy it.

[Monika]

We all need our 'me-time' @Saar or we change to workoholics and that is not good for our overall health I think.

[Saar The Book owl]

No, that's true, Monika. We need that escape to other worlds ;)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've already read 50 things this year... if I did that all year, I'd read 600 books... but I never set my goal above 366 (1 book per day, including leap year)... I've set it lower, in the past, but that's basically where I've set it, most of the last 5 years...

[Monika]

Audiobooks are different kind of reading me thinks 🤔

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I've already read 50 things this year... if I did that all year, I'd read 600 books... but I never set my goal above 366 (1 book per day, including leap year)... I've set it lower, in the past, but..."

I think that's my new goal... 365 seems a good goal.

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I've already read 50 things this year... if I did that all year, I'd read 600 books... but I never set my goal above 366 (1 book per day, including leap year)... I've set it l..."

Someone is reading a Chuck Tingle "tingler" every day this year and honestly it is an appealing idea, 365 days of "getting pounded in the butt" stories lol

[Soo]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/stat...

Book Stats

🤣🤣🤣 I forgot about 2020 and almost hitting 1k books read. I was deep in comix and started reading LNs at the end of the year. Cause I wanted something different from regular books/stories. Man, I should have recorded my comix and LNs. Could have been closer to 1k!

One day, maybe I'll try again. 📚📚📚📚

[Nirkatze]

1k is quite a milestone!!

And wow... a year of Chuck Tingle... I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared for that...

[Chris]

I'm in awe of the number of books you guys read. I managed 21 last year, This year maybe I'll reach two dozen.

If only those damned solo board games weren't so tempting....

[Yanique, Thread Master]

WHEW!!!
What a month January was! So many great group reads. But February refuses to be shown up this year. She's longer and better than ever!
Want evidence?.... See this amazing list of Buddy Reads below. Go Go Go!

Feb 1, 2024 Grand Conspiracy (Wars of Light and Shadow Series #5) by Janny Wurts
Feb 1, 2024 Akata Woman (Nsibidi Scripts #3) by Nnedi Okorafor
Feb 1, 2024 The Predator / The Capture / The Stranger / The Alien (Animorphs #5-8) + Andalite's Gift (#7.5) by K.A. Applegate
Feb 1, 2024 Shattered / Staked / Beseiged (Iron Druid Chronicles #7-8.5 by Kevin Hearne
Feb 2, 2024 A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2) by Charlaine Harris
Feb 2, 2024 The Hurricane Wars (Hurricane Wars #1) by Thea Guazon
Feb 3, 2024 Stalking Darkness (Nightrunner #2) by Lynn Flewelling
Feb 3, 2024 Yule Be Sorry (Beaufort Scales #2) by Kim M. Watt
Feb 3, 2024 Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton
Feb 3, 2024 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine
Feb 5, 2024 A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) by Seanan McGuire
Feb 5, 2024 Rise of Empire (Riyria Revelations #3-4) by Michael J Sullivan
Feb 5, 2024 Highfire by Eoin Colfer
Feb 5, 2024 Hot Six (Stephanie Plum #6-9) by Janet Evanovich
Feb 7, 2024 Deadbeat Druid (Adam Binder #3) by David R. Slayton
Feb 7, 2024 Everwild (Skinjacker #2) by Neal Shusterman
Feb 8, 2024 Equal Rites (Discworld #3) by Terry Pratchett
Feb 9, 2024 To the Bloody End (DFZ: Changeling #3) by Rachel Aaron
Feb 10, 2024 The Book of Lost Things (The Book of Lost Things #1) by John Connolly
Feb 10, 2024 Stones of Light (Threadlight #2) by Zack Argyle
Feb 10, 2024 The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga #3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Feb 10, 2024 Majesty (American Royals #2) by Katharine McGee
Feb 10, 2024 Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles #2) by Frank Herbert
Feb 12, 2024 The Sword of Kaigen (Theonite series) by ML Wang
Feb 13, 2024 The Trials of Empire (Empire of the Wolf #3) by Richad Swan
Feb 13, 2024 The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart
Feb 13, 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett
Feb 13, 2024 Dead Reign (Marla Mason #3) by T.A. Pratt
Feb 15, 2024 The Spirit War (The Legend of Eli Monpress #4) by Rachel Aaron
Feb 15, 2024 Burned (Alex Verus #7) by Benedict Jacka
Feb 15, 2024 The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan
Feb 15, 2024 Temple of the winds (Sword of truth #4) by Terry Goodkind
Feb 17, 2024 Swordheart (World of the White Rat) by T. Kingfisher
Feb 18, 2024 Vigor Mortis (#3) by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher
Feb 18, 2024 Tangled Webs (Black Jewels #5) by Anne Bishop
Feb 19, 2024 Malleus (Eisenhorn #2) by Dan Abnett
Feb 20, 2024 What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier #2) by T. Kingfisher
Feb 20, 2024 The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker
Feb 20, 2024 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie
Feb 20, 2024 Soulhome (Weirkey Chronicles #1) by Sarah Lin
Feb 22, 2024 Mort (Discworld #4) by Terry Pratchett
Feb 23, 2024 Leviathan Falls (Expanse #9) by James S.A. Corey
Feb 24, 2024 Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
Feb 25, 2024 The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3) by Matt Dinniman
Feb 27, 2024 Spell Games (Marla Mason #4) by T.A. Pratt
Feb 28, 2024 Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel #2) by T. Kingfisher
Feb 29, 2024 Godkiller (Fallen Gods #1) by Hannah Kaner

[Nirkatze]

Chris wrote: "I'm in awe of the number of books you guys read. I managed 21 last year, This year maybe I'll reach two dozen.

If only those damned solo board games weren't so tempting...."

Solo board games do sound awfully tempting... hm... I'd audiobook through that!

[Chris]

Nirkatze wrote: Solo board games do sound awfully tempting... hm... I'd audiobook through that!

Multi-tasking.... I'm not good at that, but more power to you if you are.

My collection includes a number of fantasy-based games: DungeonQuest, LOTR the Board Game, LOTR Adventure to Mount Doom, Castle Ravenloft, Elder Signs, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.... You can take the man away from his fantasy books, but you can't take the fantasy out of the man. :)

[Diana Stormblessed]

Not book related but I’ve says been a huge final fantasy fan. When VII came out 15 years ago I was obsessed with it. But I never played crisis core cuz my parents wouldn’t buy me a psp. Well now it’s on ps5 so I, a responsible adult, bought “my son” (really for me) a ps5 to play crisis core. I just finished it and even though I knew how it ended because of VII, I’m still crying like a little baby. Can’t remember the last book or movie that made me cry like this. Anyone else play?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Not book related but I’ve says been a huge final fantasy fan. When VII came out 15 years ago I was obsessed with it. But I never played crisis core cuz my parents wouldn’t buy me a psp. Well now it..."

Now that you have a PS5, you can start playing the VII remaster, too... they've gotten so carried away, I think it's been split into 3 games...

The first game didn't even make it out of Midgar start area... they expanded it so much...

[Diana Stormblessed]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Not book related but I’ve says been a huge final fantasy fan. When VII came out 15 years ago I was obsessed with it. But I never played crisis core cuz my parents wouldn’..."

That's next on the list. I already bought it but wanted to finish crisis core first before starting it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Not book related but I’ve says been a huge final fantasy fan. When VII came out 15 years ago I was obsessed with it. But I never played crisis core ..."

I/we grew up in a golden era of Final Fantasy (it sounds like we're of an age, anyway... I'm 36)...

That puts me at 11 years old in 1998... and that's around the time they were just churning out Final Fantasy games in the PS1/2 era... FF7/8/9 came out almost yearly... then FFX in 2000ish... then they started doing sequels, and made their first MMORPG (didn't have PC at the time... by the time I did, I'd played WoW and stuff, and it was too clunky to stick with, but I loved reading RP journals of people playing the game in the early 2000s)...

FFX-2, FFXII... I think FFXII was the first one I don't think I ever truly finished... my mom kinda hogged the game, then I went away to college and got busy/distracted, I guess... then WoW came along...

I beat FFXIII on X-Box, but it was a much different game/experience, and kinda like playing a game on rails with less chances to deviate from the storyline, from what I remember... never really played FFXIII-2/3... played the FF14 MMO for a few months (the better reborn version in more recent years, not the earlier failure version)... that MMO I liked, but the buttons get out of control later on, compared to MMOs like wow where you have simple class rotations I think... and you're making setups for every class on a single character... favorite thing there is the AOE visual built directly into the game... but I'm also kinda past group gaming, and just play MMOs for the enormous solo collector possibilities...

Haven't played FF15, haven't really been following FF16 development, and haven't touched many remakes or non-numbered games...

I kinda got lost on my point there, which is that from like 1997-2002 we got 5+ games, and from 2002-2024, we've gotten like a similar amount... and you only reach those numbers when you add in sequels and stuff... game development times these days are enormous...

[Diana Stormblessed]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Not book related but I’ve says been a huge final fantasy fan. When VII came out 15 years ago I was obsessed with it. But ..."

I’m a smidge older than you but yes. I played VII 3 times. Even played Dirge of Cerberus, though never finished it cuz I’m not really into shooter games. Watched Advent Children multiple times. Played VIII through X-2. Tried XIII but couldn’t get into it. Stopped there for a while cuz by then I was an adult with adult responsibilities. Just came back to play Crisis Core. Very happy to be back in the world again.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think I saw Advent Children in an anime club I tried for 6 months in college...

I'm very nostalgic for FF8-12 leveling systems... Sphere Grid, Job Board, gear/materia/etc equips, etc etc etc... I'm a sucker for cool leveling systems in RPGS, to this day, on Steam...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chained Echoes has been on my Steam Wishlist for a year or more, hoping to catch it on sale for $10 or so...

Turn-based RPG with Overdrives/etc... party is very customizable, since anyone can learn any skill, but you need a rare currency to buy skills... gear can be upgraded/enhanced and socketed with crystals in complicated ways, but i think there's guides for being OP with it... selling specific combinations of loot to vendors unlocks deals/items in return that you wouldn't otherwise get... all side quests are dealt with in a Reward Board, giving a reward for collecting items or killing monsters/etc, and chaining together adjacent side quests gives Chain Rewards... alot of good stuff to hook me, basically...

[Diana Stormblessed]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chained Echoes has been on my Steam Wishlist for a year or more, hoping to catch it on sale for $10 or so...

Turn-based RPG with Overdrives/etc... party is very customizable, since anyone can lear..."

I’ll have to look this one up. I have Remake and Rebirth to play next, and Ghost of Tsushima. But will be looking for new games after that.

[Monika]

Youngster you Iain 😁. I was introduced to gaming by my partner sometime around my 30s in 2006 or year later 🤣. Final Fantasy on Gameboy Advance - we still have this handheld 😁. Boys (my partner and our son) are big consoles players, I'm more handheld person, but still prefer books.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I played some handhelds, but not as much as TV consoles... had the original brick gameboy, some gameboy advances, a game gear (sega handheld), DS... that might be it...

For consoles, I had Sega Genesis, PS1, PS2, Xbox 360 and again I think that's it...

Younger brother had Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and XBox before I went away to college...

XBox 360 and DS are the only consoles I bought after college... otherwise stuck to PC...

[Monika]

We have a collection of things, our son has gaming PC since around Xmas, he was saving for it (not so easy task for 11 years old these days 🤣). And for all these devices in our home I'm blaming my man 🤣🤣🤣. He knows I'm book person, but he leaving book shopping for me 🤣🤣🤣.

[Narilka]

I thought this was interesting and a fun share for a group of book lovers... AbeBook's list of most expensive book sales in 2023: https://www.abebooks.com/books/rarebo...

Man I'd love to see that Calvin and Hobbes strip in person.

[Nirkatze]

That was a pretty cool list! I was also surprised that I knew of almost all of those books and authors--except the first and most expensive one.

[Yanique, Thread Master]

So this is our biggest month yet!

Mar 1, 2024 Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel's Legacy #1) by Jacqueline Carey
Mar 1, 2024 The Secret / The Android / The Forgotten / The Reaction (Animorphs #9-12) + Andalite Chronicles (#12.5) by K.A. Applegate
Mar 1, 2024 Priestess of the White (Age of Five #1) by Trudi Canavan
Mar 1, 2024 Ruin (Faithful and the Fallen #3) by John Gwynne
Mar 1, 2024 Scourged (Iron Druid Chronicles #9 by Kevin Hearne
Mar 2, 2024 The Russian Cage (Gunnie Rose #3) by Charlaine Harris
Mar 3, 2024 Traitor's Moon (Nightrunner #3) by Lynn Flewelling
Mar 3, 2024 A Manor of Life & Death (Beaufort Scales #3 by Kim M. Watt
Mar 3, 2024 A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2) by Arkady Martine
Mar 4, 2024 A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by Sarah J. Maas
Mar 4, 2024 Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum #10-13) by Janet Evanovich
Mar 5, 2024 When Sorrows Come (October Daye #15) by Seanan McGuire
Mar 5, 2024 Heir of Novron (Riyria Revelations #5-6) by Michael J Sullivan
Mar 5, 2024 The Humans by Matt Haig
Mar 7, 2024 Everfound (Skinjacker #3) by Neal Shusterman
Mar 7, 2024 The Queen of Blood (Queens of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst
Mar 8, 2024 Sourcery (Discworld #5) by Terry Pratchett
Mar 10, 2024 The Dead Take the A Train (Carrion City #1) by Cassandra Caw
Mar 10, 2024 Bonds of Chaos (Threadlight #3) by Zack Argyle
Mar 10, 2024 The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Mar 10, 2024 Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles #3) by Frank Herbert
Mar 11, 2024 The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2) by Brian Staveley
Mar 12, 2024 Aftermarket Afterlife (InCryptid #13) by Seanan McGuire
Mar 12, 2024 Those Beyond the Wall (The Space Between Worlds #2) by Micaiah Johnson
Mar 13, 2024 The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga #2) by Mary Stewart
Mar 13, 2024 Broken Mirrors (Marla Mason #5) by T.A. Pratt
Mar 13, 2024 Rage (Stormheart #2) by Cora Carmack
Mar 14, 2024 Empire of the Damned (Empire of the Vampire #2) by Jay Kristoff
Mar 15, 2024 Spirit's End (The Legend of Eli Monpress #5) by Rachel Aaron
Mar 15, 2024 Bound (Alex Verus #8) by Benedict Jacka
Mar 15, 2024 Peril's Gate ( Wars of Light and Shadow Series #6) by Janny Wurts
Mar 15, 2024 The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase #1) by Rick Riordan
Mar 15, 2024 The Obelisk Gate (Broken Earth #2) by N.K. Jemisin
Mar 15, 2024 Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth #5) by Terry Goodkind
Mar 16, 2024 The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez
Mar 17, 2024 Rise of the Ranger (Echoes Saga #1) by Philip C. Quaintrell
Mar 17, 2024 The Wicked King (Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black
Mar 18, 2024 The Invisible Ring (Black Jewels Shalador Saga #0) by Anne Bishop
Mar 18, 2024 Titan of Baleros (Wandering Inn #11) by Pirateaba
Mar 19, 2024 Hereticus (Eisenhorn #3) by Dan Abnett
Mar 20, 2024 Dead Silence S.A. Barnes
Mar 20, 2024 The Summer Tree (Fionavar Tapestry #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay
Mar 20, 2024 Rainhorn (Weirkey Chronicles #2) by Sarah Lin
Mar 20, 2024 Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2) by Ann Leckie
Mar 21, 2024 Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1) by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Mar 22, 2024 Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6) by Terry Pratchett
Mar 23, 2024 Old Man's War (Old Man's War #1) by John Scalzi
Mar 24, 2024 Of Blood and Fire (The Bound and the Broken #1) by Ryan Cahill
Mar 25, 2024 The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4) by Matt Dinniman
Mar 26, 2024 House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Mar 27, 2024 Grim Tides (Marla Mason #6) by T.A. Pratt
Mar 27, 2024 The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell
Mar 28, 2024 Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel #3) by T. Kingfisher
Mar 30, 2024 Sunbringer (Fallen Gods #2) by Hannah Kaner

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yanique wrote: "So this is our biggest month yet!

Mar 1, 2024 Kushiel's Dart (Kushiel's Legacy #1) by Jacqueline Carey
Mar 1, 2024 The Secret / The Android / The Forgotten / The Reaction (Animorphs #9-12) + Andal..."

We don't know how to chill...

Never Stop Never Stopping...

[Narilka]

I think the group outdid itself lol

[Saar The Book owl]

Did anyone had issues ordering through Blackwell's today or recently? My card is a Mastercard and it's mentioned on it 'credit'.
When I wanted to pay my books, I've received the message that there was a problem proccessing my credit card and I should check my payment information. But there's nothing wrong with it. I never had a problem on The Book Depository and it's my first time ordering on Blackwell's.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I had a problem with the 2 year Kindle Unlimited subscription through Amazon a few months ago... their automated response said I should check my payment info, but that didn't help... when I called my bank about it, I learned it was being auto-flagged as a fraud risk by the credit card company, and the only way around it was to temporarily disable fraud protections for the day... I did that, disabled my card through my banking website (easy on/off switch), to avoid any fraudulent attempts while the card was unprotected, turned it back on the next day, and everything was sorted...

All that to say, the only option might be to call your bank and see what's going on, if re-inputting your card info doesn't fix anything... they can call Blackwells through backchannels and talk more candidly than anyone will with you... I had my problem sorted in under 15 minutes...

[Saar The Book owl]

Thanks, Iain. I’ll call my bank tomorrow. It’s strange, because yesterday I could use my card without any problem. After trying to order at Blackwell’s, I ordered a book on another site without any problem.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... it's a very specific problem... I waited weeks/months, before opting to go through my bank to solve my Amazon problem... I could by anything except the 2 year subscription, basically, no problem... even other things on Amazon...

[Saar The Book owl]

I called my bank today. They advised to stop my card and get a new one or to call the credit card compagny, exactly like you said. I can't get through the credit card compagny, because the automatic voice asks to put the 12 numbers in on my card, but there are more on it. I'lll try this evening with the other options. It's a bit frustrating...

[Saar The Book owl]

It gets stranger: the universe doesn't want me to buy books on Blackwell's 😅
I've contacted the credit card company this evening and they say it's strange, because I pay, but then my payment gets refused. The reason is, that Blackwell's keeps registering 1€ is the total amount to pay. I see on my laptop the total that I need to pay, then I actually pay and it gets refused. So, the 1€ that is registered is the reason. They advised to email Blackwell's. I've done that and now wait on reply.
To be sure that my credit card is working, I've ordered some manga on another website with no weird problems 😁

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Weird

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

A $1 payment sounds like a test... in the US, gas stations do test payments before letting you draw fuel/petrol into your car, then cancel and do the actual value after... I think the test value is $75, or that's what it used to be... a value for the theoretical limits of a double gas tank, I think, basically... since some bigger vehicles have bigger fuel tanks...

[Saar The Book owl]

Yes, that was what I've received now as an answer from Blackwell's. They answer very quick! But I don't know why I can't see my orders. They ask for payment when the books are being shipped, but I don't have any orders. So, that's the weird part.
Anyway, I've messaged them back and see what they say.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

I've also had a lot of problems using my credit card to order from Blackwells. It's such a pain since I don't have the issue with any other site, so my solution has just been to use my husband's card 🤣

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I cant order new phones online from my cell phone service provider because they complain about my address not matching the USPS database… but it didn’t stop me from setting up autopay, or using my card on any other website…

[Saar The Book owl]

@Jenna: I'm relieved that I'm not the only one! That's an interesting solution, although mine thinks I've got already to many books 😂
@Iain: maybe your cell phone sevice provider is afraid for some competition. Well, I can also use other websites for ordering books, but Blackwells is similar to what The Book Depository was. My physical bookstore has a little English section, but ordering English books takes long.