Herman Melville
There are some Enterprises in Which a careful disorderliness is the true method.
Quote of the Week – October 17, 2025
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#HRCYED Progress Update
It’s been two months since I started working on the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do (HERCYED) 2.0.
While I’ve been putting up reading lists for each prompt, I might not always read exactly as planned. Part of the challenge for myself is trying to do as many of these prompts as possible using the books that I already have on hand. This is my round up of what progress I’ve made so far:
Completed Prompt: Subgenres of Choice (in August)
Completed Prompt: 24 Hour Reading Challenge — Read as many books as you can in one day, from waking to sleeping. Goal is at least 3. I was home sick the day that I did this prompt, so I didn’t get nearly as many done as I’d hoped.
Books Read: (A total of 672 pages)
- Sport for the Baron – John Creasey (I really enjoy all of the Creasey books I’ve read and recommend them as popcorn books)
- Nimona – Noelle Stevenson
- Wolf in the Fold – Simon R Green (Hawk & Fisher are just such fun.)
- STARTED: The World’s 100 Best Short Stories (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, “The Red Room”, and “Kari Aasen in Heaven”
In Progress:
- By the Hundreds: 3/7
- Series Staircase: 4/10
- The Last 10 Years: 3/10 or 11 if you want to earn +5 points
- Adaptations: 4/8
- Around the World: 2/7
- Spooky Creatures: 1/8
- Become the Avatar: 1/4
- Animals: 3/5
- Queer Alphabet: 2/9
- BIPOC Authors: 3/10
- New Releases: 2/12
- Challenge Yourself: 2/??
- Non-Fiction: 3/5
So, I’ve definitely found myself reading a lot more because of this challenge and I am getting through my TBR. All in all, I think this has been a good challenge to take on even if it’s one more piece of stress I probably shouldn’t be taking on.
Anyway, if you’d like to learn more about HRCYED, you can find the announcement here:
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Quote of the Week – October 10, 2025
Abraham Lincoln
I do the very best I know how the very best I can and I mean to keep doing it until the end.
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#HRCYED Award Season
This is what I’m reading for the HRCYED Award Season Prompt. The Bram Stoker Awards don’t put out a longlist or nominee list, so I’ve had to do more than one award to get all of the levels. (As per the FAQ, this is allowed.)
Bram Stoker Award:
- Winner: The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
- Winner: The Daughters of Black Island – Christa Carmen
- Finalist: Black River Orchard – Chuck Wendig
- Finalist: How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix
Women’s Prize:
- Semifinalist: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – VE Schwab
- Semifinalist: Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi
Locus Award:
- Nominee: Space Oddity – Catherynne M Valente
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Quote of the Week – October 3, 2025
Seneca
Reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
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#HRCYED TBR Game
This is what I’m reading for the HRCYED TBR Game Challenge.
I chose to use the Star Hop Challenge from Stephanie’s Bookverse. https://youtu.be/2IcyUiZ5o0Q?si=xNxLUP4VuOx87R4A
- Book I Know Nothing About: Eats of Eden – Tabitha Blankenbiller (I do know that I met the author at AWP a few years ago which is where I got this book. It’s signed and everything! I just got it based on the cute pin-up model on the front cover and the pun. Don’t judge me.)
- Series Continuation: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown – Seanan McGuire
- Most Anticipated: Once in a Blue Moon – Simon R. Green
- Series Continuation: Pirate’s Life for Tea – Rebecca Thorne
- Ends in an Even Page Number: The Black Girl Survives in This One – ed. Desiree S Evans & Saraciea J Fennell
- Series Continuation: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario – Matt Dinniman
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Books to Read- September 2025
- We Sold Our Souls – Grady Hendrix
- Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen – Lois McMaster Bujold
- Cetaganda – Lois McMaster Bujold
- Shards of Honor – Lois McMaster Bujold
- Winterfair Gifts – Lois McMaster Bujold
- The Lord of Stariel – AJ Lancaster
- In the House of Aryaman, a Loney Signal Burns – Elizabeth Bear
- Morgan is my Name – Sophie Keetch
- A Certain Hunger – Chelsea G Summers
- The Grand Hotel – Scott Kenemore
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