It's not the kind of thing I do deliberately, but I do enjoy it when I happen to find myself reading a book during the season it takes place. Or even just reading on a stormy day and the book is describing a stormy day. A couple of months ago I started a book where it used the dates at the beginning of each chapter and it just so happened I was starting it on the exact day the book started. Kinda fun coincidence.

The one time I did it deliberately, I listened to the audio book of How Paris Became Paris while I walked around Paris. It was an amazing experience. It's also a really good book. I recommend it even if you aren't planning to go to Paris any time soon.

Sure. It's a long list. Note that I have included the notes that were offered for why a book or story is included.

• The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
• The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
• The Stand (This novel is important as one of the characters from this features heavily in the series)
• Eyes of the Dragon (The same character from The Stand crosses over into this novel as well.)
• The Talisman (Although it is not extremely important, this book introduces a lot of concepts that appear in the The Dark Tower. The sequel to this book is very important (that comes later in the list).)
• The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands
• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (You will see very quickly why it's important that you read this book right after finishing The Waste Lands)
• Salem's Lot (A character from 'Salem's lot appears later in the storyline, and this is a good place to stop and read.)
• Night Shift (Specifically "Night Surf" and "One for the Road". Although not directly important for the tower (why I marked it bonus), they tie into other books that are related.)
• The Mist (Although not extremely important, this novella provides some context for things that occur later in the series. Plus it's a short read, so worth adding in here)
• Insomnia (A very important novel to The Dark Tower series. Multiple characters appear in other books, Roland is mentioned, and concepts appear in the series)
• Everything's Eventual (Specifically the short story "Everything's Eventual". The story introduces a character that will appear later in the series)
• Little Sisters of Eluria (This novella is basically a prequel to the series. Some people think it should go first, but it follows a flashback that occurs in the 4th book. I think it's better to wait on this one until you have more context for the character)
• The Dark Tower IV 1/2: The Wind Through the Keyhole (This book is a Dark Tower novel, but it was published after the last book. Fits in between books 4 and 5. Some people think you should wait until after finishing the series, others feel it belongs between. You can choose whichever you want)
• The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of Calla
• The Dark Tower VI: The Song of Susannah
• Hearts in Atlantis (All of the stories from this book tie together. One of the characters from this collection is important in the last book. Also, similar concepts from the series appear.)
• Black House (This is the sequel to The Talisman. Very important to the series. )
• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
• Desperation (Some argue that this book should be read in the middle of this reading list, but I think it can wait until after the series. Has to concepts that are in the final three books. Definitely read this one before The Regulators.)
• The Regulators (This is the "sister" novel to Desperation. Great combination.)
• Ur (This one is only available as an e-book. Deals with the idea of the multiverse. A very good novel to link in.)
• Gwendy's Button Box (Hasn't been confirmed that there's a connection, but there's definitely a heavy implication that there is.)
• Gwendy's Magic Feather (Although King didn't technically write this one, it is the second book in the Gwendy series.)
• Gwendy's Final Task (Definitely has more of a tie into the Dark Tower series than the previous novels. )
• Fairy Tale (This book hasn't been released yet, but from the description, it will likely have heavy ties to the tower.)
• It (At this point in the list, the following novels don't contain explicit ties to the tower, but have concepts that are similar or related. The idea of a character from this book does appear in the series. )
• Revival
• Rose Madder (Mild connections to book three of the series.)
• Bag of Bones (Connections are kind of there, plus a brief appearance of a character from Insomnia.)
• The Tommyknockers (Vague concepts)
• Needful Things
• The Outsider
• From a Buick 8 (King has said it's related, so that means it's related.)

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I'm about to re-read this book and I have to admit, I've forgotten everything about it. This year I am doing a reading challenge that is The Dark Tower extended reading order. It includes any book where there is an overlapping character or the book in some way contributes to the Dark Tower story. I'm really looking forward to revisiting some King books I haven't read in decades.

Curled into the corner of my couch, one arm on the armrest, cat behind my knees. I use one of those triangle shaped pillows that is sold as a tablet stand. Works both when I read from Kindle on my ipad and for hardbacks books or paperback books. For physical books, I just usually rest my fingers at the bottom of the page to keep pages from flipping.

Sarah J Maas. Her books are so hated here but I think they’re fun

I use StoryGraph and love it. I find the recommendations are decent, but what works even better is I use the feature to find people who have reading tastes similar to mine and then I go look at their 5 star reads. I’ve found some good stuff that way

I would absolutely review those books and offer your opinion based on your stated criteria. When I write a review, I figure someone is trying to figure out if they want to read it. I would find the information you have given here to be relevant for my decision. I'm not sure I would use the criteria of whether or not they were "publication ready", because that's going to be a pretty subjective opinion. Nor would I worry about the state of the genre. I would just state what you thought of it and maybe add why you think that. When I read reviews, I just want to know, is this a book I will probably enjoy.

She’s an absolute beauty!

It was Hannah Gadsby's Ten Steps to Nanette. We all really appreciated the book and took different things away from it. If you plan to read it, I would recommend watching her Netflix special, "Nanette", prior to reading it. It makes the book make more sense.

It really depends on the book club. I am in one with a group of friends. It is always a mix of what did we think of the book and what is going on in our lives. This last week our meeting was almost entirely about the book, just because we read a memoir of someone who faced a lot of challenges and there were a lot of heavy ideas to address. We were all really engaged in the topics addressed in the book. Other times, nobody really has a lot to say about the book, so it's mostly a social occasion. As an individual I find you can say as much or as little as you choose, without dominating the discussion. Like no one will mind that you have notes, but also no one will expect that you have to have them.

I recently went to a silent bookclub that I found through Meetup. In silent bookclub everyone is reading their own book and there is some social time after. Nearly all of the conversations I had in the social time were about books, but not about any specific book.

During the height of the pandemic, I went to two zoom bookclub events (also found through Meetup) and mostly the topic stayed on the book or on books with similar themes. I think when you don't know the people in the club personally, you might be more inclined to stay on the book topic (as opposed to general socializing). I also realized zoom bookclub is not for me. I prefer in person.

That cat is very flattering on him

ETA: don’t conflate focused mode with focus of attention. Yes, by shifting your attention, you are changing your focus (what you are paying attention to) but that does not mean you are in focused mode thinking. If you’re the passenger on the drive, you can change your focus from the road to the sky to the trees and still be in diffuse mode thinking the whole time. Think of focus mode thinking as concentration, thinking hard.

No, when you move to the easy tasks, you are switching your focus, as you say. But because the tasks are easy, your brain is able to shift out of focused mode and into diffuse mode to perform the easier tasks. Imagine being very cold, your body tenses up, curled it into itself. But then you step into a warm shower. You may start the shower cold (focused), but you quickly warm up and your body relaxes (diffuse). You can move between the modes quite quickly. When you have the TV on in the background and are doing other things as well, you’re probably in diffuse mode, but then something you hear on the TV catches your attention and you stop everything else to watch it, you’ve shifted from diffused to focused. Diffuse mode is a lot like “zoning out” and just letting your mind wander, or like when you are performing tasks but aren’t really focusing on the task at hand (because you know it so well you don’t need to). Ever gotten home and realize you can’t remember the drive? That’s because you drove in diffuse mode (assuming you are an experienced driver and know the way home). If you are a new driver, or going somewhere you’ve never been, you’ll drive in focus mode, paying close attention, following the map directions. Anything new to you like driving, playing piano, swimming, will need focus mode when are just learning, but as you become practiced at it or know it well, you can do it in diffuse mode. You can drive home while your brain is focused on what to make for dinner, but you’re still aware of what’s happening in traffic around you. But you can also shift between modes during the drive, as needed. You may start in focus mode because it’s raining, and traffic is heavy, and you have to merge onto the freeway, so you are paying close attention, but then the rain stops and traffic eases up and you have 20 miles before you have to exit, so you’ll shift into diffuse. Don’t get hung up on the transition moments.

moving to easier problems, where you aren’t required to concentrate, is what activates diffuse mode and (hopefully) allows your brain to retrieve the knowledge you need for the harder problem. Most people move through focused diffuse mode through the day. Reading a bus schedule, focused. Washing dishes, (probably) diffuse, unless you are really concentrating on those dishes.

Check out the free class Learning How to Learn on EdX. It’s taught by Barbara Oakley and one of her colleagues. They explain diffuse and focus modes and give illustrated examples. They specifically address your example of the different modes of thinking while taking a test. I think it would clarify the issue for you.

I would consider waiting until it’s your turn again to select the options. Give yourself time to get to know other members and also to build some trust in the group. To have honest and respectful discussions about such a challenging topic can be hard in a group where people have yet to build connection. I’ve been in a book club for a little over a year. It’s made up of people who were connected in a loose social network but none of us were really close. Initially we stuck to fiction choices, usually highly regarded authors or well reviewed titles. After we had been together several months, we started moving towards work that was more challenging or just heavier or controversial topics. We’ve had some great discussion because we took time to get to know each other before tackling some of the harder stuff

I'm listening to Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari right now and I a really enjoying it. I also liked Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehesi Coates. I really enjoy non-fiction narrated by the author. For fiction, a super fun series that I have enjoyed is the Time Police series. It's about...well.. time traveling police. Their job is to protect the timeline. The first one is called Doing Time, by Jodi Taylor. I think there's 4 of them so far.

I haven't seen Olive for a few days. I am so happy to see her sweet little face!

I don't know about free online classes on these titles, but you might find online book clubs that discuss classics or books defined as great works. You could also use google scholar to search for articles and papers (of an academic nature) about these. https://library.shsu.edu/research/guides/tutorials/googlescholar/index.html

Google "tigers swimming". Absolutely terrifying

Wait. Annotated copy of the Voynich Manuscript? How is it annotated if no one knows what it says? Are these your notes or did you purchase it? Has someone made progress on it?

In my reading app (The Storygraph), you can track pages read, not just books read, so you aren't incentivized to choose just shorter books. I also am trying to read more nonfiction. I already read a lot of fiction, so I have set aside time 4 days a week to read something non fiction. For me, that's an hour on Sunday and thirty minutes on two weeknights. I always read a fiction book while I am reading a non-fiction book. I will finish several fiction books before I finish one non-fiction. My distribution is about 90% fiction, 10% non-fiction, but that works for me.

I liked that book, mostly for the writing style. It just felt...pleasant. I don't really have a better way to say it. I agree with you that the plot was weak and the characters were not well developed. It reads almost like allegory. But I did still enjoy the read. So I find myself confused by the number of people who rate this book as one of their all time faves. But here's the thing, I recently read The Starless Sea (by the same author) and I freakin LOVED it. I recommend it to everyone. But I have noticed that there is an insane number of reviews by people who said they loved The Night Circus and couldn't stand The Starless Sea. So now I want all of you don't care for Night Circus to give Starless Sea a try.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll check it out. Although I have no idea why I want to be even more anxious than I am now.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, both in the parallels you draw and your sense of fear. I hate to resort to cliche, but "those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it." You make an interesting point that you believe groups today are intentionally copying the tactics of the Nazis. I suspect you are correct. Interestingly, the Nazis themselves looked to the southern states and their Jim Crow laws for inspiration in creating their own anti-Jewish legislation.

I am curious if you found the book a worthwhile read? It's a beast of a book and that is just part 1 of 3.

Wow! Me too. I think it's time for a reread.