Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)] Showing 1,601-1,650 of 2,531

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel like I just watched one of them Umbrella Corporation training videos marketing the next Resident Evil movie...

[Tonari no Emily]

Yeah the marketing was wild xD

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Soo wrote: "I'm pretty sure my neighbors ruined part of my hard work. lol

I think it's a mom & dad with their two grown sons (like 30-20) and maybe daughter in law? It's a full house. Which is kinda crazy to ..."

How rich are these neighbors?... how many snow shovels do they own? ;)

(I'm mostly kidding) :D

[Soo]

Oh man. Just the neighbors across from me, we're both end townhouse units, they have like 6 shovel/snow shovels!!! I only know cause they put them in a row in a snow pile.

🤣

[Soo]

lol Should January be nicknamed Overdue It, Flutter, Toss & Set? XD

Maybe that's more for me than anyone else. What I'm taking in for myself is that if I wanna really dig in & chat in BRs, I need to keep it to only a few a week. Otherwise, it feels like I'm running to get what I wanna do done.

All on me! It's just my own expectations that's creating obstacles.

One of the things I want to stick to for the year & reading is to keep it chill & fun. This is supposed to be the relaxing & not work part of my day.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

when you do alot of BRs, it's easy to feel like you're always behind, or rush to be ahead...

The beauty of only doing a couple BRs, is you can generally just wait and start reading when others do, and not feel like you're neglecting other BRs...

I should know... I do it to myself all the time... I try to just do me, these days, and let the cards fall where they may... people are generally willing to circle back and comment when you do, or vice versa...

I'm just now finishing Wind & Truth today, after lots of procrastination and sidetracking... I started the book back before Christmas... funnily enough, I'm lining up pretty well with a bunch of people who have only been reading a few chapters a day... personally, I spent most of my time sitting at the 30-40% mark, until yesterday...

[Narilka]

It's nice that I feel like I'm finishing WaT at the same time as you Iain :) Your and Nirkatze's comments are helping me stay motivated.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

WOO... I definitely waited awhile to read/finish... felt inspired by free listening time to focus and your comments as well... I love how active the thread has been, with so many pages... reminds me of the previous new release Stormlight Archive threads in 2018 and 2021

[Nirkatze]

I both am looking forward to and am fearing combing through all the pages when I finally finish and can open those spoiler tags. ^_^

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's how you steal first place in the competition, solo and team ;)

Added 45 points in the past 48hrs, nearly doubling my solo points, and giving my team a 5 point lead (of which I contribute over half my team's points right now)...

Checking off Wind & Truth was nearly 20 points... and I read a bunch of shorter books too... and only 1/3 of Wind and Truth was read last year... :D

Of course, things will quickly rebound the other way when Nirkatze finishes Wind & Truth & Count of Monte Cristo...

In the mean time, I have plenty of other BRs I'm slightly behind on... only one tome, tho: Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams, and it's only 30hrs...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm probably gonna be behind on BRs until March... unless I cut something... even reading 2-4 books on days off, there's always more BRs the next day...

Right now I'm 6 books, 2850 pages, and 97hrs of audio behind, including BRs that started today... so 3-4 days behind...

And in the next 7 days I've got 14 more books starting, 5400 pages, 168hrs of audio... (so 9 days of reading at my average speed)...

Week after that is 8 books, 3800 pages, 120hrs audio, so hopefully I can catch up a bit since that's only 6 days of reading worth of BRs...

And the last 9 days of the month brings 7 books, 3100 pages, 90hrs of audio, and the real chance to catch up, with only 5ish days worth of books...

Overall, it's still 23 days and 23-24 days worth of books the rest of the month... better not get distracted with sleep and youtube... and we're only 1 week into the year... and I hope all my BRs are accounted for in the spreadsheet and I didn't forget one / a few...

[Soo]

Yah. I don't know how you guys do it. I want to have time to do other things. XD

There's a part of me that wants 1st place for points. That may or may not happen. It really depends on the progress of my body recovery phases. If I end up ok to go out hiking, I'll get more audiobooks in. If I don't, I'll get more LNs read.

We shall have to see how this year goes!

Personally, I'd rather get back to hiking sooner vs later, but I'm not going to push myself to much. If I learned anything (SUPER DUPER RELUCTANTLY) is that I have to let myself have more time to heal.

[Nirkatze]

The trick is to plan your BRs based on when other people start them. Then you're always reading with people! And the ones you drop are picked by natural selection when no one picks them up.

For me... books are life. I am most happy when reading and multitasking. So I will gobble whatever I can. The hard part for me is commenting... I feel like I don't always have something good to say.

I wish you solid and speedy healing, Soo!

[Soo]

Reading part is easy. Being an active BR poster is hard. Depending on the story and BR, I don't always feel engaged to post. So, I feel like I let my reading buddies down? Or something like that. My own expectations and those of pals. Don't wanna let people down, etc.

Well, at least my hands are better now after a long long long (OMG that was forever) PT.

Things to celebrate: I can type almost as much as I wanna! WOO! Yay healed hands and work in progress wrists!

It's so easy to forget why I took a break from a bunch of stuff. It was basically to make sure I let different parts of my body heal. LOL

The mind is so strange. Like how do we forget that when we're living it? All about being in the moment and not being in the memories. Even if that memory was a day, week or month ago.

[Virginie]

Soo wrote: Things to celebrate: I can type almost as much as I wanna! WOO! Yay healed hands and work in progress wrists!"

WOOHOO! Congrats!
I hope your recovery goes well and smoothly, and that you'll be able to hike as much as you want in time :)

[Virginie]

Re:BRs: Yeah, I agree with Soo, I don't know how you guys do it. It's not even about the sheer volume of books you guys are cranking (I'm including Soo in that group :o), it's about having a huge percentage of those books being buddy reads.

Commenting is hard sometimes; for me, the worst are the 3 stars, "this was fine" books where I didn't have any particularly remarkable thought or insight to share when I read it. The book just is, and I read it.

When BRing a book, I feel somewhat compelled to pay more attention, read more slowly so that I have things to say in the conversation beyond "I liked it/didn't like it"; otherwise, I feel like I'm letting people down (especially when it's a small group BR).

I got a new ereader for Christmas (the Kobo Libra Colour), and I've been trying out annotating in the margins. Don't know if it'll help for the BRs, but I'm having a lot of fun drawing little emojis in color, so there's that x)

[Soo]

Virginie wrote: "Re:BRs: Yeah, I agree with Soo, I don't know how you guys do it. It's not even about the sheer volume of books you guys are cranking (I'm including Soo in that group :o), it's about having a huge p..."

OOOO what do you think of the reader you got?

I'm always tempted by ereaders, but end up preferring my phone and tablets for multi-functionality.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I dunno what to say about my BR tendencies... I definitely think a heavy plan pushes me to read more than having to decide what to read myself from the millions/hundreds of options, every time I finish a book...

The last time I was underbooked was the Covid era, when not many people were around and scheduling things...

[Tonari no Emily]

I'm not the biggest commenter, but I really like having all my books be BRs because I don't have to think about what to read next.. The schedule is nice in that regard. I can always mood read if I wanted to, but most of the time I just have decision fatigue..

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea, that's why most of my non-BR reads are new releases nobody else is reading or some random LitRPG I start binging...

[Narilka]

Soo wrote: "Reading part is easy. Being an active BR poster is hard. Depending on the story and BR, I don't always feel engaged to post. So, I feel like I let my reading buddies down? Or something like that. M..."

YAY! So glad you're hands/wrists are healing :)

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "I'm not the biggest commenter, but I really like having all my books be BRs because I don't have to think about what to read next.. The schedule is nice in that regard. I can always mood read if I ..."

Yup, that's me too. I like have limited options about what I'm going to read next. Else I'd never get over my book hangovers.

I also really appreciate the people who even stop by and just say "I'm starting" or "I'm in Chapter 4, it's interesting"--it makes me feel like it's okay to have just an "I'm here too" response if I don't have much to say.

And really glad to hear your wrists are healed up, @Soo!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Agreed... I'm glad you're healing, and able to be around and talk more often...

And I'm definitely having a bit of a me day / off day, after doing a ton of reading this week... I return to work tomorrow after some extra days off, post-Holidays... back to normal daily reading tomorrow...

At the rate I'm going I might just read The Screaming Staircase today, if I even finish that... abandoned Hollows re-read, and probably not gonna get to Osten Ard / Memory Sorrow and Thorn... if I get to anything else today it'll be Soulstar or Finder, probably...

[Virginie]

Re:BRs: I didn't mean what I said as a critic of people's BR habits or way of commenting on BRs. If anything, I'm kinda jealous; I wish I could join more BRs and have my brain not throw a fit about a reading schedule.

Having a reading schedule to avoid decision paralysis should work for me in theory. In practice, just having more than 3-4 BRs a month pisses me off for no reason, even though no-one can actually force me to uphold it. I work the same way for pretty much everything. I once planned and executed a meal plan for a week, only for my brain to decide it did not want any of the options and that starving was better. I gave up trying to understand, and at this point, I'm kinda winging it all day everyday while pretending I know what I'm doing lol.

[Virginie]

Soo wrote: "OOOO what do you think of the reader you got?

I'm always tempted by ereaders, but end up preferring my phone and tablets for multi-functionality."

I LOVE it 😳

I went for this model in part because I wanted to get out of the Amazon ecosystem, but honestly, it's the little things that make me love this reader:
- the UI is so much better than the Kindle's. I sideload most of my books because I manage my ebook library on my computer with Calibre ('cause I'm a control freak :p). With a simple plugin, I made it so genre/language collections are automatically created, series are managed in a different tab (I would have to create collections by hand on my Kindle...), all metadata are transfered and handled correctly.
- when powered off, the reader show the cover of the book I was last reading, not ads. I can choose to use custom images as well.
- I can change dictionary easily. Maybe it was possible in the newer Kindle, but on the old one I had (10+ years), I had to go deep in the menu. Very nice when you're not reading in your native language like I am.
- compatible with the French library system where Kindle is not
- side buttons. My first reader was the Kindle with the side buttons and the physical keyboard; I loved the buttons so much, and really missed them when it broke and I switched to a newer model. I'm left-handed and have pretty small hands, so I can't hold a reader on my left hand and turn pages by tapping on the right side of the screen or even swipe. Holding a reader with my right hand give me cramps eventually. Physical buttons are the best.
- not specific to this model, but COLORS! It's pretty simple, but seeing the covers in color make me irrationally happy; the model makes it more effective since I can see the cover when it's powered off.
- Pocket integration! THIS was the other reason I wanted a Kobo and nothing else. I read a lot of short stories and articles I find online here and there. Before having this reader, I would have to read them on my phone/computer/tablet (which I try to avoid 'cause I'm already staring at a screen all day with my job as a developer). Alternatively, I would create ebooks and load them on my Kindle (a pain in the ass TBH). Now, I just share->add to pocket, then sync my Kobo and voilà! Short stories and articles on my reader.

The only downside (besides the price) is that the color screen makes it a bit darker and... "grainier" than black&white devices. I tested a colleague's Paperwhite Kindle for 5 minutes, and the super white background (its main selling point given the name) gave me a migraine, so I prefer the darker, not-migraine-inducing e-ink screen xD

[Soo]

Thanks for the well wishes! I'm having a work, chores, building stuff I ordered (standing mirror with cabinet & rack turned out better than I hoped) and reading LN chill day. Maybe pop on Finder re-read later tonight.

If I wasn't as stubborn, my hands and wrists would have healed in 8 months vs the (stupid moi) injury-almost healed-bam injured cycle of 1.5 yr and I put my foot down and took another year. Had to remind myself a lot that I did not have to get all of those to do things done immediately. 🙃

[Soo]

Virginie wrote: "Soo wrote: "OOOO what do you think of the reader you got?

I'm always tempted by ereaders, but end up preferring my phone and tablets for multi-functionality."

I LOVE it 😳

I went for this model i..."

Nice! I used to use 7" Android tablets with higher end processors & screen as my reading tool. That way I can add my ebook or audio library in my organized files system. Have a few go to apps that make it easy to read or listen & control screens for eyecare.

This was the perfect blend for me to have full control, do what I want, lightweight and feel like I'm reading a paperback.

Unfortunately, large screens are the money makers now and not as many 7" tablets are made with the specs I want. That had me trying out 10" screens and Samsung Galaxy S3 Tab and S6 became my default reader/player. That's when I dived back into comix because it's so easy on the larger screen.

10" was great! Like holding a hardback. But now the push for 14-15" large screens are pushed hard. I prefer OLED or AMOLED screens with high resolution. Much better for long term use & eyecare.

The newer 10" have been knocked down in specs. ☠️ Which is how I ended up getting S9U Tab (silly large screen) last year to try out. The tablet is super light, but putting a good case makes it hefty to hold & use. Screen, audio and processors are awesome though and it also works well as an alt work option if I need it. It's basically a laptop. I like it a lot but I'm hoping my S6 will last for another 2 years. 😆 It won't, but I hope it will.

[Virginie]

Ah, I feel you on the super large screens... I mean 14-15" is laptop size. I don't get the trend of having huge devices.

I have a Galaxy Tab S5e. 10.5", AMOLED. I'm mainly using it to read manga/manwhas/comics (+all purpose device when I'm travelling and don't have access to my computer). Like you said, the case is making it pretty heavy, I can't even imagine a bigger tablet 😱

Audiobooks are on my phone, since I always have it on me. I had to buy a new one last summer after I stupidly dealt the finishing blow to my beloved Galaxy S9 by accidentally throwing it into a bucket of water (technically, I threw it at my couch, but it rebounded at a weird angle, hit the side of the bucket, cracking the screen a little bit then fell into it......). Got a Galaxy A35 (yes, I like Samsung). The 6.6" screen is nice for reading stuff and all, but damn the thing is big. Doesn't fit in my pockets anymore. Nor the little case thingy attached to my bicycle. 😒

[Soo]

Yah! As the Galaxy phones get larger, the more I pay attention to jacket pocket size or I use a sling crossbody bag that will hold the phone & a few other things.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Back in the day, my Kindle was the perfect size... fit in the back pocket of my cargo shorts, and made a decent paperweight at work I could carry around at pretty much all times...

I've never been as big a fan of ipads and tablets, that don't fit into pockets... now I mostly live on my ipod/phone and audiobooks...

[Narilka]

I definitely prefer my kindle to my phone or tablet for reading. The e-ink is easier on my eyes and I like the smaller size.

[Narilka]

Iain, I went with Orlando People. It's an interesting start. Only in ch 1. I wasn't expecting a mystery. I didn't read the book blurb at all :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Iain, I went with Orlando People. It's an interesting start. Only in ch 1. I wasn't expecting a mystery. I didn't read the book blurb at all :)"

It's important to note this is a "historical" Urban Fantasy / Science Fiction story... it's set in 2004/2006, I forget which year... whatever year it is, Shaq is still with the Orlando Magic...

[Nirkatze]

Love the conversation about reading tech... I have a Kobo also--have ever since they came out with their H2O lines and I realized I could READ IN THE SHOWER and WHILE WASHING DISHES. Before that I had a Sony... but those died a quiet death. I also buy for control--I get physical copies of all my books just so I can edit my ebooks to match. I also love just how customizable Kobo is in general--if it's not in the settings there's probably a plugin or community discussing a line of code that will do what you want.

[Virginie]

I'm a developer so I really like the ability to customize my Kobo and add plugins (even though I'll probably never code a plugin myself). The Kindle vs Kobo thing is pretty reminiscent of iPhone vs Android honestly (and I'm team Android all the way).

I don't like the way Amazon locks down their device, and it's getting worse and worse. Even Goodreads... If it wasn't for this group, I would have made the switch to Storygraph the moment Amazon killed the Goodreads API.

[Soo]

I dislike Storygraph so much. The whole interface is made to be for touchscreen. It's clunky interface and loading. Doesn't really have a community to back it.

But ya know, if the group moved to Storygraph & Discord, I'd be down. I think convos in Discord would be interesting cause it's easy to see when people post & etc.

[Tonari no Emily]

Soo wrote: "Thanks for the well wishes! I'm having a work, chores, building stuff I ordered (standing mirror with cabinet & rack turned out better than I hoped) and reading LN chill day. Maybe pop on Finder re..."

I understand the impatience, but I'm glad you gave yourself the healing time! <3

[Narilka]

Looks like IA is writing Iron and Magic 2. They're starting to post snippets on their blog.

[Tonari no Emily]

Narilka wrote: "Iain, I went with Orlando People. It's an interesting start. Only in ch 1. I wasn't expecting a mystery. I didn't read the book blurb at all :)"

I hope you enjoy! I LOVED those books and really wish there was more!!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The 2nd book has been screaming for a 3rd for years, now... minimum... it's probably hard coming up with a crazy plot, tho, even if there are questions that need answered still...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Looks like IA is writing Iron and Magic 2. They're starting to post snippets on their blog."

Great to hear... means they're healthy again, and finished the Maggie edits...

Last I checked their blog, they were replacing their $25,000 fridge (they didn't share the price, but that was the price range I saw online for the model type in the images they posted... it's some mega fridge, and they had to replace the one that had been in their house since they moved in, and had to get some contractors to come out and tear out some questionable problem solving from underneath the old fridge...

[Soo]

Woah, I can't ever imagine spending $25k on a frig and I have zero problems spending money on things that I like. XD

Meanwhile, I've gone off my do whatever reading mode and chomping down on a new LN that's caught my eye. This one has an interesting take on being a beautician. The info is actually in line with real cosmetic, styling, design, etc stuff and I find that cool.

I found 2 pirating fake accounts that rip these translated stories and put them on KU before they get reported or whatever. But that makes it so there's a book profile made on GR. The first one had so many random stuff attached to their names, it was a clear sign of a fake.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/the-sa...

It's a SubZero fridge, more like a double fridge:



It's pretty big...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

From what I remember of the story, theirs broke around Thanksgiving, and it was either replace it completely, or get a temporary smaller replacement fridge since it was gonna be month to repair the current model that had been in the house for 25 years...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

And the anticipated Notification Breakdown has started... had to start checking Discussions...

[Soo]

My notifications are still kinda working but I figured they're just wonky in general.

Yah, I'm more likely to spend $25k on a van build. 😆

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I rebounded in my reading today, with Captain Vorpatril's Alliance and Soulstar...

It's easy for me to put off reading epic fantasy, even tho I want to read it on some level... it's just not efficient reading and takes more work on top of being longer... so it gets in the way of all my other Buddy Reads... and that's WITH a Buddy Read on the schedule to push me to read them... if I let it continue iwthout me, it just gets harder to make time for them on my own time...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm definitely, almost cheatingly, prioritizing good pages/hr books right now...

Baddies are slowly piling up:

Stone of Farewell
The Battle of Corrin
Silenced Girls
The Black Company
The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories: A Mage Errant Anthology
Destroyer

Altho I'm excited for Destroyer in the near future, and not against any of these particularly, except knowing I probably won't finish them in a single work day...

[Nirkatze]

I loved Stone of Farewell..

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I don't think there's any BRs I think are gonna be bad... some are just longer and might ruin my momentum...

The one series I was pretty sure wasn't gonna be great to re-read was The Hollows, and I talked myself back out of that BR, and I can just tag along from the sidelines...

The riskiest books on my above list are Silenced Girls (new to me series) and Black Company (tried once 6 years ago, but actually pretty short compared to the others)...

My current plans are to see if I can repeat yesterday, and read Finder Chronicles at work, and Tear Down Heaven at home... then tomorrow I have more time and can read Destroyer at work and Wayward Children at home after I finish... and Monday I can try Conventional Boy & Animorphs 51, then probably start Stone of Farewell & Battle of Corrin on my days off... maybe Silenced Girls, too, and knock out most of my "scary books" for the week :D

That's alot of reading, tho... we'll see how I do...

If I manage all that, tho, I'll be behind by 3 books + the crazy amount of BRs starting on the 15th/16th (6 more unstarted)... but technically ahead for the month, since things slow down after that...

Writing these summation posts makes it seem like I think about my plans alot, but I honestly barely think about them, except when writing posts like this...