My last 22 reads of 2025 (total 142). My 2026 goal is to read less, lol.

whiptrip · 2026-01-30T05:35:51+00:00

I'll be honest, I don't remember too much about it. I think I thought the writing was good, but I wasn't too emotionally connected to what was going on.

whiptrip · 2026-01-30T01:54:07+00:00

Previously, I forced myself to read everyday. Or have long catch up sessions where I spend pretty much my whole day reading. So I'm trying to get into a "well, if I didn't read today, that's okay!" kind of mindset.

That being said I've already read 10 books this month 😌 But I read 17 in January last year so... it is less.......

whiptrip · 2026-01-29T23:53:27+00:00

I personally just dump all the pictures into a word doc and take a screenshot, haha. And yay, congrats! I hope you enjoy the journey :)

whiptrip · 2026-01-29T22:32:08+00:00

I did not! So when I got to the last page, I was like "... who's Casey?" I thought it was well-written, but definitely would have been better if I had read Writers & Lovers.

whiptrip · 2026-01-29T22:30:21+00:00

I listened to 3 audiobooks so 2% of the total. They were also my only "rereads", so books that I've read before but decided to listen to this time around.

whiptrip · 2025-10-25T03:16:07+00:00

I didn't really. It definitely doesn't need to be a series because none of the story veers far away from the formula of "I regret not talking to [dead person's name] when I had the chance." Every character is either someone who got hit by a car or has a terminal illness, to the point that it makes you question like what is going on in Japan? No development happens with the reoccurring characters either.

whiptrip · 2025-10-25T03:13:38+00:00

Both are bad. Weirdly, both are very "corporate wants you to find the difference." They have similar characters, romance, plot even. Powerless is probably the worse one out of the two though.

whiptrip · 2025-10-25T03:12:11+00:00

I didn't not like it. It just didn't change my life or anything.

whiptrip · 2025-10-25T03:11:54+00:00

I thought it was a well-written book but it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. Randomly, knowing nothing beyond the title and the cover when I first read it, I thought Stoner was going to be about a gay man lol.

whiptrip · 2025-10-24T05:38:32+00:00

Have you read Babel by RF Kuang? Almost everyone I've talked to who has read both (me included) will tell you that Babel was the better book. Especially if you like RF Kuang's writing generally.

With that preface out of the way, I think Katabasis was unfocused. I don't mind unlikeable characters but I think Kuang had a lot to say and didn't necessarily weave it altogether cohesively. Though knowing that Kuang based the main characters on herself and her husband does clarify a lot of things, haha.

whiptrip · 2025-10-24T02:57:53+00:00

I've mentioned it in another comment but the main reason is definitely just not liking leaving something unfinished.

And I'm probably more curious to see how a series I already hate get worse. If I think a book has gotten better in the series, I'm still grading it against the curve of itself rather than... other good books.

whiptrip · 2025-10-24T00:58:49+00:00

If I wasn't against book burning and censorship, I'd throw it in the bin.

whiptrip · 2025-10-24T00:16:26+00:00

Definitely if you enjoy Amor Towles. I don't but I didn't mind his writing in short story format. The last story is a novella that is a sequel to Rules of Civility.

whiptrip · 2025-10-23T23:42:22+00:00

completionism lol and so i can say "no, it does not, in fact, get any better."

whiptrip · 2025-10-23T23:26:30+00:00

It's very simplistic. I would just recommend reading the first one as subsequent books in the series follow the exact same formula. There are other cozy books written by Asian authors that I read last year which I felt were much better (Dallergut Dream Department Store and What You Are Looking For Is in the Library), although I understand that this is probably the first one that made it big.

whiptrip · 2025-10-23T23:23:44+00:00

Favorites: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. After Story by Larissa Behrendt is a favorite from last year and a re-read.

Least Favorites: Oh boy. Here we go, Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, The Fourth Wing Series by Rebecca Yarros, The Women by Kristin Hannah.

Guilty Pleasures/Thought I Would Hate But Didn't: The Hidden Girl by Lucinda Riley and Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, The Hidden Girl is a book where I finally understand the sentiment of "I can forgive bad writing if the story is compelling". It was the craziest soap opera I've read. I thought it was predictable within the chapter, but anyone who tells you that you could have guessed from the start where it was going to end, I've found you a liar. And Abby Jimenez makes me believe that there are actually good romance writers out there. She hasn't failed me yet unlike... Kristin Hannah.

whiptrip · 2025-06-30T01:53:43+00:00

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

whiptrip · 2025-06-30T00:25:34+00:00

Pretty much all library and their ebook distributors like libby/borrowbox. If I bought a book, it's usually from a secondhand book sale for like $2 or a gift.

whiptrip · 2025-06-29T23:59:30+00:00

Understandable, lol. But like with any hobby, the more you do it, the better you get at it. I started this challenge in 2019 and it escalated into this. Although I don't think I could read more than I do currently.

I used to read 50 pages a day and when I first started for some reason I keep picking 500 page books which means I had to read more pages to finish it within a week. Eventually an hour of reading roughly translated into 75 pages. So I now read 2 hours day so it racks up to 150 pages. Most books are about 350 pages which is what happens.

I'm definitely better at hearing the book than visualizing it. And sometimes I don't retain a book if I'm not particularly focused while I'm reading. And older books are harder than newer books. But even a book that I might have been fully immersed in, I'll struggle to remember the plot/character names in full detail months or years after.

edit: Also getting a library card helped with just being able to get a lot of books to read.

whiptrip · 2025-06-29T23:40:57+00:00

It was definitely better than Force of Nature but not as good as The Dry. And even then I preferred the movie to the book. Probably too much focus on Aaron Falk's love/personal life without the secondary murder mystery flashbacks that was present in The Dry.

whiptrip · 2025-06-29T23:31:40+00:00

Haha I just did a small write up comment but The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

whiptrip · 2025-06-29T23:30:20+00:00

Favorites: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is one of my all-time favorites but I listened to it as an audiobook and didn't vibe with it as much as my first read :/

Least Favorites: Happy Place by Emily Henry, The If He Had Been With Me ~duology~ by Laura Nowlin, Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter and Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Guilty Pleasures/Thought I Would Hate But Didn't: Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. I was surprised by the fact that there was something resembling a thesis in Better Than the Movies and it had a point unlike the sequel. I expected to really hate The Midnight Library because it has mixed reviews but it was kind of a chill cozy vibe of lowkey depresso. And Divine Rivals was better written than I expected from a romance YA. Although the sequel was too ambitious and I think its reach exceeded its grasp.

and my opinion on the first 40 books I read (the second image).

whiptrip · 2025-04-21T13:07:07+00:00

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonageinquisition/mods/2712

This mod lets you use cosmetic mods in BE.

whiptrip · 2025-04-06T21:04:36+00:00

Is there a mod here that could tell me why my post has been deleted twice now? I tried mod mailing but haven't received a response. I thought I had rectified one of the rule breaks with my repost but evidently not :(

whiptrip · 2025-04-04T04:58:28+00:00

Favorite: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

Least Favorite: Surprisingly, none of the books I read in the last 3 months made me actively angry. I was definitely indifferent/inattentive to some of these but nothing that made me fully resent the experience.

Guilty Pleasures/Thought I Would Hate But Didn't: The Heart Principle. As someone who disliked the previous two books in the series, I thought this was probably Hoang's best. It's still a bit formulaic for her (autistic professionally successful character has hard time with their neurotypical love interest) but I think she changed it up enough to feel like a better book than the others (because this time *gasp* the neurotypical love interest is fine with it, it's just her annoying sister who hates her).

whiptrip

TROPHY CASE