What book(s) are you currently reading?

[Lagduf]

Started reading Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Get Your Gun. It’s a book I’ve had for a number of years but never got around to. I knew it was on my bookshelf and felt like it was time to read it while I waited for some lighter fare to arrive in the mail.

Anyway I’m looking for where I put the book on my bookshelves and can’t find. I check everywhere, even the small section dedicated to Tolkien/Middle Earth. I see in the middle earth section a book called “The Nine” and I don’t recognize it. I don’t recall ever getting a piece of literary analysis on the Nazgûl. I’m sort of wondering how I could not remember reading this book. So I pull the book off the shelf and realize it’s a not a book about the nine Nazgûl but a book about the nine Supreme Court justices and the history of the court.

At some point years back I was clearly much funnier, anyway I put the book back in the same spot.

 

[Lagduf]

@Average Joe and other Dresden Files fans, it’s confirmed the next Dresden book “12 Months” will release in January.

 

[Average Joe]

@Average Joe and other Dresden Files fans, it’s confirmed the next Dresden book “12 Months” will release in January.

Hell yeah.

I still need to read the currently last book as well.

 

[Average Joe]

I have a stack of books to read, but I think I'm hooked on these so I picked up the next one.

 

[Taiso]

Just found out this exists so of course, I ordered it. Both volumes.

Amazon.com: A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Volume 1): 9781614981862: Lovecraft, H P, Howard, Robert E, Joshi, Author S T: Books

Amazon.com: A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Volume 1): 9781614981862: Lovecraft, H P, Howard, Robert E, Joshi, Author S T: Books

www.amazon.com

 

[Average Joe]

Dungeon Crawler Carl

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Getting stuck on a sadistic alien gameshow with her cat. Join Carl and Princess Donut as they try to survive the end of the world — or just get to the next level of a trap-filled fantasy dungeon.

www.webtoons.com

So I guess they made this into a web-comic.

I'd suggest reading the book(s) first, but I can honestly see this working quite well as a comic. I haven't checked it out yet, but after I finish this second book I likely will.

 

[Lagduf]

Dungeon Crawler Carl

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Getting stuck on a sadistic alien gameshow with her cat. Join Carl and Princess Donut as they try to survive the end of the world — or just get to the next level of a trap-filled fantasy dungeon.

www.webtoons.com

So I guess they made this into a web-comic.

I'd suggest reading the book(s) first, but I can honestly see this working quite well as a comic. I haven't checked it out yet, but after I finish this second book I likely will.

Did you also happen to see this bit of news:

Renegade Game Studios brings Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl to a Tabletop Near You!

San Diego, CA – July 29, 2025 — Renegade Game Studios is excited to announce a new partnership with Matt Dinniman, author of the wildly popular book series Dungeon Crawler Carl. This collaboration, which was facilitated by Lenny Herbert of Maximum Orbit on behalf of Matt Dinniman, will result in...

renegadegamestudios.com

 

[Average Joe]

Did you also happen to see this bit of news:

Renegade Game Studios brings Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl to a Tabletop Near You!

San Diego, CA – July 29, 2025 — Renegade Game Studios is excited to announce a new partnership with Matt Dinniman, author of the wildly popular book series Dungeon Crawler Carl. This collaboration, which was facilitated by Lenny Herbert of Maximum Orbit on behalf of Matt Dinniman, will result in...

renegadegamestudios.com

The world keeps finding ways to get me to spend the money I am trying to save.

 

[Lagduf]

Haha.

The idea of an actual rpg where the book is already a spoof on the genre seems silly to me but could make for good fun as a dungeon crawler board game. Or maybe an adventure for an existing rpg, something like Dungeon Crawl Classics which is already bonkers.

Amazon series when?

 

[yagamikun]

Bull Shit Jobs by David Graeber

Following Graeber's work Debt: The First 5000 Years, he explores the modern world of jobs that our society not only could do without, but also we wouldn't miss. Not to be confused with hating your job, bullshit jobs are often identified by the job holder to be bull shit and having no benefit to society other than to bloat a company (or a single person's status) to make them look more important than they are.

If you're into looking at our modern society through an anthropological lens, this book is for sure worth a look for some interesting perspective (same with Debt - fascinating study on trade). It's dry stuff, sure, but Graeber's style is full of snark and sass to make the topic digestible and interesting.

 

[Lagduf]

I have read Debt: The First 5000 years.

I have wondered of late about jobs that really produce no value to society.

 

[yagamikun]

I have read Debt: The First 5000 years.

I have wondered of late about jobs that really produce no value to society.

It's a fascinating read, imo. About half way through it, right now. Graeber breaks the list down into six different categories of bullshit jobs all with allegory from the past and how that relates to the present. There have always been bullshit jobs, but I think what surpises me least is a clear target on white collar jobs - which after over a decade in HR - I clearly see. (To be clear there are some bullshit HR professions as well, but not all functions).

 

[Lagduf]

I finished The Light Fantastic (dis world book 2.) Really enjoyed it and while it had the same fun, irreverent take on the fantasy genre as the first book, I felt like this one took itself a bit more seriously which yielded a more satisfying story (or at least conclusion to the story of the first book.)

Looking forward to meeting new characters in Discworld and hopefully seeing some ones I know again.

Right now im back to reading the Barsoom/John Carter of Mars series.

 

[fake]

Currently on Dorian Gray. This book is gay as fuck. @Taiso would hate it.

 

[Taiso]

Currently on Dorian Gray.

Uh huh

 

[Gentlegamer]

Just found out this exists so of course, I ordered it. Both volumes.

Amazon.com: A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Volume 1): 9781614981862: Lovecraft, H P, Howard, Robert E, Joshi, Author S T: Books

Amazon.com: A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Volume 1): 9781614981862: Lovecraft, H P, Howard, Robert E, Joshi, Author S T: Books

www.amazon.com

HPL wrote a volume of letters that dwarfs his fiction work.

Basically the equivalent of posting on messageboards all day every day.

 

[Average Joe]

HPL wrote a volume of letters that dwarfs his fiction work.

Basically the equivalent of posting on messageboards all day every day.

He corresponded with a lot of authors of his time--I remember reading that a library in Milwaukee inherited a lot of these from Lovecraft's estate at the time of his death.

 

[Taiso]

At Robert E. Howard's home in Cross Plains, TX, on the dinner table, there is a framed postcard sent by Lovecraft to Howard.

The author Alan Dean Foster was in possession of it for many years. Then one year, when he visited the home, he decided the postcard was better off in the REH Foundation's hands than his own so he gave it to them.

I've seen the card on both of my visits there. Very fucking cool.

The HPL society denies its authenticity, but the REH Foundation says that's only because it's not in their possession and that, by their estimation, it's the real deal.

Tangential: the REH Foundation recently discovered Howard's writing desk. They traced the auction after much hardship and found out who had it in their possession. It's now, I believe, in Howard's room in the home.

Now they just need to find the typewriter. Some dude in CA claimed to have it but after examining it, the REH Foundation determined it to be a spurious claim and continue to refute it as fraudulent. Of course, the owner of the typewriter in question continues to claim its authenticity.

Howard and Lovecraft never met in person but they still considered one another great friends. Lovecraft was very saddened when he heard Howard had taken his own life. Howard was instrumental, along with other authors, in helping to establish the Cthulhu mythos, and a lot of it shows up in many of his stories, Conan and otherwise.

 

[yagamikun]

This was surprisingly excellent. Very much looking forward to Vol 2.

I'll let the author's own words speak for themselves.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

I have a stack of books to read, but I think I'm hooked on these so I picked up the next one.

Just finished the first one last night. God these are incredible. Ive heard number two is the weakest in the series but i dont give a shit, im devouring every page so fast ill be to book 3 by next week.
I kept asking myself while I read the first one “how did this even get made?? Its got no censorship” then i looked it up and of course it was self published. So fucking excellent.

 

[Average Joe]

Just finished the first one last night. God these are incredible. Ive heard number two is the weakest in the series but i dont give a shit, im devouring every page so fast ill be to book 3 by next week.
I kept asking myself while I read the first one “how did this even get made?? Its got no censorship” then i looked it up and of course it was self published. So fucking excellent.

Goddamnit, Donut!

 

[Lagduf]

Finished two more Barsoom/John Carter of Mars books and I can definitely say I absolutely love this series.

Book 4, Thuvia Maid of Mars wasn’t that great of an adventure (fortunately short) but I appreciated the story pivoted away from John Carter to focus on other characters. It did have a really interesting concept regarding mental powers and questions of what was real and what was not…unfortunately it didn’t get enough screen time. I hope we see these characters again.

Book 5, The Chessman of Mars, was an absolute banger.

Again, focusing on new characters it also featured some bizarre and awesome aliens. ERB was really cooking in the 1920s.

I can only imagine what it would have been like to read this stuff as it came out. Wild to think the first book appeared before voice could be transmitted by radio.

 

[Taiso]

For Cimmerian September, I'll be reading Howard's essay The Hyborian Age and Tower of the Elephant.

Cimmerian September, for those that don't know, is when Howard and Conan fans read Conan related fiction in the month of September. A wonderful time to read wonderful fiction.

 

[Lagduf]

I’m currently reading SWORDS OF MARS by ERB, I hope that counts.

I’m becoming gay for the Barsoom series.

 

[Taiso]

It doesn't count, but it's still good readin'. You have 17.5 more days to get some Howard in.