books

WELCOME TO THE 2nd ANNUAL !BOOKS@LEMMY.WORLD BINGO 2025! - Lemmy.World Want to read more, but need motivation or direction? Want to gamify or expand your reading? Try book bingo! Our hope with this challenge is to provide a fun way for you to keep up with your recreational reading goals throughout the next 12 months. #### How Does It Work? The goal is to read something that fits the theme for each bingo square in any single row, column, or corner diagonal of your choice (one work per square). You’re welcome to complete the entire card (or multiple cards) for an additional challenge goal, but you only need to check off a single line of 5 squares to complete the challenge. So what can you read? Well, anything you enjoy, really. There’s no requirement to consume any particular kind of work, so any length, format, subject, or genre is totally fine. Want to read graphic novels, audiobooks, poetry, 10-page memoirs, or works in other languages? No problem. There’s no bingo police, either! If you think you can make a well-reasoned argument for why something fits the spirit of a square, go for it. There’s even a process for substituting a square if it doesn’t quite fit your preferences. We hope you’ll participate in the community throughout the year by posting what you’re reading in the weekly “What are you reading?” thread, and by helping others with recommendations. In mid-April, 2026, we’ll put up a turn-in post to collect everyone’s cards. After the thread closes at the end of April, we’ll use the submissions to put together a summary of the results, and to determine eligibility for community flair (currently not possible, but maybe in the future!) or some other recognition. If you want to be included, please make sure to contribute to that post, even if you’ve made other bingo posts or comments during the year. #### Rules - You must read a different work for every square you complete, even across multiple cards. There’s no problem, however, with overlapping other reading challenges that aren’t associated with c/Books. - Repeating authors on the same card isn’t forbidden, but we encourage you to read different authors for every square on a card. - Likewise, we encourage you to primarily read things you haven’t read before. - If you’re having trouble filling a certain square, you are welcome to substitute any non-duplicate square from last year’s card [https://lemmy.world/post/14905693]. The center square (C3) is the one exception, and is not eligible for substitution. Please limit your substitutions to one per card. - The 2025 challenge runs May 1st, 2025 – April 30th, 2026. Anything you finish during that time period is eligible, as long as you were no more than halfway through on May 1st, 2025. #### Upping the Difficulty Want an additional challenge? Try one of these, or come up with a variation of your own (and share them!). - Hard Mode: This is just a stretch goal for those interested – it does not convey any greater achievement. Most square descriptions include an optional extra restriction, which you can do or ignore on a square-by-square basis. It’s up to you! - Genre Mode: Read only one genre. - Review Mode: Write a review (ratings alone don’t count) for the books you read for bingo, either here on c/Books, a personal blog, Bookwyrm, The Storygraph, Hardcover.app, or elsewhere. ### The Card 2025 Bingo Card [https://literature.cafe/pictrs/image/ea4bea0b-e2d9-43de-b3db-63848d5f1a39.png] Full Size Card [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fc2sWiaEvXutTcD90TGX-_l9oysTo-hj/view?usp=drivesdk] ### Squares in List Form ### The Squares #### Row 1 - 1A Number in the Title: The work must have a number in the title that’s not a just a volume/version number. Example: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. HARD MODE: Only numbers in the title. - 1B Author from a Different Continent: The author(s) resides on a different continent than you do. HARD MODE: The work required translation to be published in your native language. - 1C Featured Creature: A sentient non-humanoid is the primary PoV, or a non-humanoid creature holds such a prominent role that the work would be completely different without them. Examples: Call of the Wild by Jack London or Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. HARD MODE: Not a sci-fi/fantasy creature. - 1D Minority Author: The author is a member of a generally underrepresented or marginalized demographic where you live, such as LGBTQIA+ or BIPOC. HARD MODE: Belongs to more than one minority group. - 1E Now a Major Motion Picture: The work has been adapted into a show or single episode, movie, play, audio drama, or other format. HARD MODE: Watch or listen to the adaptation as well (rewatches are ok!). #### Row 2 - 2A Independent Author: Read a work self-published by the author. Any work later published though a conventional publishing house doesn’t count unless you are reading it before the switch, and its rerelease date is after April 30th, 2026. HARD MODE: Not published via Amazon Kindle Direct. - 2B Set in War: The work takes place with an active war in the foreground or background. The characters do not need to be directly involved in combat, but the war’s presence must be a primary driver of the narrative. HARD MODE: There are more than 2 factions in the war. - 2C Orange Crush: The title, a prominent element of the cover, or the narrative involves some form of orange (color, word, or fruit). HARD MODE: The work you chose uses multiple types of orange features. - 2D Short and Sweet: Read a individual piece of work under 170 pages or 40,000 words. HARD MODE: Read a collection of this type of short work. - 2E Banned Book: Read a work from the ALA’s (American Library Association’s) list of the top 100 banned books in the US 2010-2019 [https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019]. If you are a non-American and there is a similar list for your region, that is also a valid source for comparable information. Additionally, you can use the content from the Wikipedia post on banned books [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_banned_books]. HARD MODE: One of the top 50 (or equivalent). #### Row 3 - 3A Based on Folklore: The narrative must be based on a real world piece of folklore. Folklore encompasses fairy tales, fables, myths, and legends. HARD MODE: Non-European folklore. - 3B Title: [X] of [Y] - The title of the book must feature the format described, such as A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. HARD MODE: [X] of [Y] and [Z] (the conjunctions can be flexible). - 3C FREE SPACE - Off Your TBR Pile: A book that’s been on your TBR list for a long time. HARD MODE: Overlaps with at least one other bingo square theme. - 3D LGBTQIA+ Lead: A main character identifies as LGBTQIA+. HARD MODE: Includes a significant romantic relationship between characters that identify as LGBTQIA+. - 3E Saddle Up: The narrative revolves around someone whose identity is tied to being a rider of something, such as a horse, dragon, or motorcycle. HARD MODE: The ridden creature/object is treated as a character in its own right. #### Row 4 - 4A New Release: New for 2025/2026 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: This is the first work you’ve read by this author. - 4B Alliterative Title: Many books boldly boast alliteration to attract audience attention. HARD MODE: More than 2 alliterative words in the title, excluding definite articles or conjunctions. - 4C Judge a Book by Its Cover: Chosen because you like its cover (or cover analogue). HARD MODE: Picked using only the information available on the front cover. - 4D Award Winner: Has won a notable and widely regarded literature award. HARD MODE: More than one award. - 4E Gamble, Game, or Contest: Features an organized gamble, game, or contest (life-and-death or otherwise). HARD MODE: Take a gamble on a style or genre of work you don’t typically read, as well. #### Row 5 - 5A Steppin’ Up!: Challenges can come at you quickly, especially for those least prepared. Whether it’s a major leadership position or suddenly being gifted a baby dragon, life is about to get a whole lot harder and more complicated. HARD MODE: The primary PoV does not assume the throne of a monarchy/empire. - 5B Political: Political movements are a major driver of the work. HARD MODE: From the perspective of machinations in the background, outside the typical positions of power or major government. - 5C Late to the Party: Apparently this is a really popular work, you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Read a book that you have seen recommended over and over. HARD MODE: Not Harry Potter. - 5D Cozy Read: Cozies generally feature a smaller cast of characters in a smaller location, emphasize community, highlight successes and inspirational moments, and have a more optimistic and upbeat tone. Above all, they have to have a satisfyingly happy ending. They offer comfort to their readers and a safe escape from the realities of daily life. HARD MODE: There is no hard mode, hard mode defeats the purpose of the cozy task. - 5E Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A significant figure may be rude, gruff, or even insufferable; however, beneath all that, a surprising kindness shows in the right moments. Maybe they are bad at the whole feelings thing, are doing it to hide a deep pain or maintain a position of responsibility, or maybe it’s just all a façade, but their actions ultimately reveal a core of genuine caring. HARD MODE: Not A Man Called Ove/Otto. ### Resources If you make or find any bingo-related resources, ping or DM me so I can add them here. Thanks! - 2025 Bingo Recommendations List [https://threadiverse.link/lemmy.world/post/28953205] - The Storygraph Reading Challenge [https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/ece752f3-9139-4eb3-89ee-8c5401674d8f] ### Appreciation - This challenge is inspired by, but totally separate from, the one run by r/Fantasy on Reddit. We deeply appreciate the past organizers and the work they did that we are now benefitting from. - 2025 bingo card font credits: Parchment [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/parchment], by Photo-Lettering, Inc.; Noto Sans [https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans], by the Noto Project authors [https://github.com/notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic]. ::: spoiler MarkDown Card (click to expand) --------------------------------- | | A | B | C | D | E | |:—:|:—:|:—:|:—:|:—:|:—:| | 1 | Number in the Title | Author from a Different Continent | Featured Creature | Minority Author | Now a Major Motion Picture | | 2 | Independent Author | Set in War | Orange Crush | Short and Sweet | Banned Book | | 3 | Based on Folklore | Title: X of Y | FREE SPACE - Off Your TBR Pile | LGBTQIA+ Lead | Saddle Up | | 4 | New Release | Alliterative Title | Judge a Book by Its Cover | Award Winner | Gamble, Game, or Contest | | 5 | Steppin’ Up! | Political | Late to the Party | Cozy Read | Jerk with a Heart of Gold | ::: Page · lemmy.world <p>Congratulations, and thank you for participating in the 2^nd^ Annual Book Bingo for c/Books@Lemmy.World!</p><p>If the existence of this bingo is a surprise to you, or you want to revisit the guide, <a href="https://lemmy.world/post/28953205" rel="nofollow">see this link</a>.</p><p>If you would like to join us for 2026 bingo, we’ll be posting information on the morning of May 1^st^, US Central Time (UTC -5)!</p><p>There are 2 official ways to submit your card and be recognized:</p><p>Fill out <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the web form we made using Tally</a>, which will organize the data for us. Completing the form will also give you a Markdown-friendly list to copy and post in this thread if you would like.<br>Or, if you would prefer, comment in this thread with your list of completed squares, including the titles/authors you read. Here is a list of squares for reference/copypaste:<br>Please provide information ao all squares you completed a work for, even if it didn;t result in a completed bingo for that line.</p>2025 Bingo Squares (click to expand)<p>* 1A: Number in the Title - * 1B: Author from a Different Continent - * 1C: Featured Creature - * 1D: Minority Author - * 1E: Now a Major Motion Picture - * 2A: Independent Author - * 2B: Set in War - * 2C: Orange Crush - * 2D: Short and Sweet - * 2E: Banned Book - * 3A: Mythology or Legend as Important to Plot - * 3B: Title: [X] of [Y] - * 3C: FREE SPACE - Off Your TBR Pile - * 3D: LGBTQIA+ Lead - * 3E: Saddle Up - * 4A: New Release - * 4B: Alliterative Title - * 4C: Judge a Book by Its Cover - * 4D: Award Winner - * 4E: Gamble, Game, or Contest - * 5A: Steppin’ Up! - * 5B: Political - * 5C: Late to the Party - * 5D: Cozy Read - * 5E: Jerk with a Heart of Gold - </p><p>ADDITIONAL POINTS TO READ BEFORE TURNING IN YOUR CARDS!</p><p>Questions? Please ask!</p><p>Turn-in Guidance</p><p>Please make an effort to spell titles and author names correctly! For titles with more than one author, please separate author names with a comma. This will help with data compilation for a bingo stats thread coming later!<br>If you didn’t do a square, don’t list it. Please leave incomplete squares completely blank on <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the Tally form</a>.<br>If you did complete a square, even if that one didn;t directly result in a completed bingo, please fill it in. This will help with the bingo statistics page coming soon.<br>You can substitute any square, but please remember: only one substitution per card. On <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the form</a>, there’s a substitution checklist for each square that will trigger a place to fill in the substitution information. If you accidentally choose a substitution for the wrong square, please de-select the substitution to clear it.<br>Please make a note if you did a square on hard mode. On <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the form</a>, there is a hard mode checkbox for each square.<br>Only turn in your card(s) once you have finished with bingo; do not submit a card still in progress. If you’re using <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the Tally form</a>, there is a review page before submission; please make sure that you click submit after double-checking your entries! You cannot edit your card once submitted, so if you realize you’ve made a mistake, please post in this thread to notify us. You can also copy and pase the submission review page to place it in the thread to share with other participants.<br>The feedback questions at the end aren’t required, but will help us with improving Bingo for all of you in the future.</p><p>More than one card?</p><p>If you did more than one card, and are submitting <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">via Tally</a>, please differentiate your username for each additional card. For example, I would list my first card under “JaymesRS@literature.cafe” and my second under “JaymesRS@literature.cafe - 2”.</p><p>Timeline</p><p>Submit your finished card(s) by May 1st, 2025! This thread and <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">the Tally submission form</a> will remain open until 12 noon, US Central Time (UTC -5) on May 1^st^ as a courtesy, so please make sure your cards are turned in by then, so they can be counted.</p><p>Reward</p><p>Any five in a row is considered a win! Your only reward this year (as of the time of posting) is the warm glow of satisfaction and bragging rights. However, our ultimate plan is to recognize bingo participation with a flair-like system in the future, so we plan to calculate completion retroactively whenever that’s available.</p><p>In Closing</p><p>Again… <a href="https://tally.so/r/vGBzDl" rel="nofollow">HERE IS THE LINK TO THE TALLY FORM TO TURN IN YOUR CARD</a> (or you can comment in this thread). The form goes live on April 17^th^, 2025, and both it and this thread close around noon on May 1^st^, US Central Time (UTC -5). Be sure to get your card(s) in before then!</p><p>Thanks to everyone that participated this year! This was a fun challenge to put together for us. If you are interested in helping to coordinate the bingo challenge or related resources, please reach out to the moderators of !books@lemmy.world and let us know!</p>

<p>I love bad books. Popular bad books. Non-fiction bad books. Any bad book is worth a read every once in a while.</p><p>Bad books aren’t objectively bad in my opinion just books that might not be for me or I even disagree with. The best bad books are the books that I want to enjoy because they’re popular or because the premise is fun. And what makes them bad is equally fluid and often just my own bias.</p><p>Why Bad Over Good?</p><p>Good books are good books. What is there to talk about? What do we even do in a Tolkein book club? Make sure everyone has read Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Then divide the room into people who preferred the Hobbit or thought LOTR was too long but still good. Then we share the same fun facts about the extended edition of the movies?</p><p>Boring. We get it. Essential reading for the book lover.</p><p>Now a shlocky Romantasy that very clearly ripped scene from other Young Adult novels and then put the “Fuck” word or act in there (with adults of course). Now we’re talking! How many different books do you recognize? Is this transformative? Are we out of original ideas? Does the sex add anything? Is she a good writer because I felt the intended emotion even if the scene is stupid? Can I do better than this? I should try!</p><p>A proper bad book where the flaws are glaring enough that I, a simpleton, can see them and talk about them is so much fun. There’s a discussion, there’s room for disagreement, there are no stakes! There may even be diamonds in the rough….</p><p>Finding Good ideas in Bad Books</p><p>It’s no secret that I love Slavoj Zizek and his writings, but not because they’re good.</p><p>Zizek is a load of fun to read because it really is a cacaphony of references and jokes interspersed with “And now to contradict myself!” that makes it feel profound. If I was smarter I think I’d call any Zizek book the philosophy equivalent of “Finnegans Wake”. The books are non-sense but there is a hidden idea that you, the reader, must decode. Maybe you disagree with the meaning, maybe you found a different meaning than what was intended, maybe the referenced book sounds interesting so you start reading Judith Butler instead (a good author).</p><p>Bad philosophy books are stimulating in that they triggered the part of your brain that wants to “philosophize” in that you want to express why you feel the way you feel. Be it the author made a good point in a bad way or maybe they made a bad point and you want to really think out a rebuttle they will never read.</p><p>Allowing a transgressive thought to make you reflect and expound upon is the correct way to use offensive content. There are obviously exceptions to this idea in that some people write books explicitly to be useless propaganda.</p><p>Bad Books verses Unreadable Books</p><p>I think the defining feature of a bad book is that it is genuine in it’s attempt to do whatever it is trying to do.</p><p>I love Rebecca Yarros “Fourth Wing” not because it’s good fantasy (or even exceptional porn) but because it feels like she’s trying to write an entertaining book. It feels like a genuine attempt at decent world building. It’s a flawed story and the world doesn’t make any sense when you think about it trying to be anything other than an explanation for why everyone is so horny.</p><p>Zizek is living far too modestly for someone who is simply a political grifter leveraging memes and podcast interviews to sell suplaments to a guilable audience. He’s even said he’d rather write the occastional Ambrocrombe and Fitch ad if it means he’s not married to a publisher or Patreon account. And that makes his work feel more genuine. I am convinced this is how he really feels and thinks.</p><p>Now, on the other end, I’ve read a lot of political writings from people I hard disagree with. I’ve read theological works from people who seemingly just like that they are a “published author”.</p><p>I used to worry that I was easily influenced and that I would just agree with or enjoy any book because I invested the eight-ish hours it takes to read one. Then I read a book I thought was interesting, and the point was one I agreed with, but it was so painfully obvious that this author had nothing new or interesting to add. It read as if they were a high schooler who had Chat GPT write a paper on something controversial, but it was pre-LLMs and I think ChatGPT would have been more interesting.</p><p>This was the first time I found a Liberal leaning grifter since I did find their podcast and heavily pushed merch store. It was embarrassing to see.</p><p>I’ve since given a lot of people I would disagree with a chance. I read Charlie Kirk’s ghost written slog feast, Ben Shapiro’s argument-less book on “Bullies”, and a book by Glenn Beck? I guess he was a Proto-Stephen Crowder.</p><p>“Authors” like that really helped me solidify the difference in my mind between “Transgressive” and “insubstantial but I’m triggered.” They’re so hard to talk about because there is very little to pull from. I was hoping to find a real argument to look into. I was giving them a fair shot and not just be angry monologues and accusatory language without any reflection.</p><p>Every arguments seems to have been “The Libs accuse us of being classist, homophobic, racist, sexists who use slurs and dedicate all our time to making life worse for minorities, poor people, and the Libs. But by calling US fascists, they show that they are the REAL FASCISTS!” And then just a bunch of examples of times someone got punched for saying a slur in public and crying “See, free speech haters!”</p><p>I don’t want to hang on this too long. It’s just the most egregious example of “Unreadable books”.</p><p>Books are Easy to Make</p><p>Yes I know it’s not that easy, especially if you want a good publisher, but book writing is so accessible these days that anyone can be a published author in hours with an Amazon Kindle account and a ChatGPT subscription. Maybe not a Good author or even a defendable Bad Author. You’d be an awful author but an author in the technical sense.</p><p>However, it is this accessibility of writing that I think allows for a diverse range of written works to exist. We no longer have the traditional filters that ensure only good or readable books are available. And I worry that the awful authors have soured the world of reading.</p><p>It is so easy to say any book that even begins to offend is trash and should be abandoned as a “Did Not Finish”. And with authors like the ones mentioned and the AI slop farms poisoning our book supply, I can’t really blame someone for not wasting their precious time on this earth with a Bad Book.</p><p>Yet, even with my bad experiences, I love the things I’ve learned about myself and the world at large because of bad books. I will continue committing way too much time to authors who probably don’t deserve the fame or my money.</p>