Hey everyone, we’re now halfway through our third annual community book bingo challenge!
What is book bingo, you ask? Basically, read something for each of five squares in a line on this year’s card, and you’re done! (That’s five works total, or more if you want to.) You don’t even have read books: any type or length of literary work, including comics, audiobooks, poems, short-form nonfiction, etc., will do.
There’s still plenty of time (six whole months, in fact). Plus, anything you’ve read since May is eligible, so if you haven’t joined in yet, you may have already made progress by accident! If you’d like help finding bingo reads, the community is always happy to offer recommendations based on what you enjoy; alternatively, check out the challenge on Storygraph for hundreds of (mostly fiction) suggestions.
If you’re already working on bingo, how’s it going so far? (This is also the perfect time to give constructive feedback we can incorporate into next year’s challenge.)
The last day of bingo is April 30th! A turn-in post will go up in the latter half of April. Even if you don’t end up finishing the challenge, we’d love to hear that you gave it a shot!
–
On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thanks for being here, and happy reading!
I could trace a few bingos by now (depending on where I track specific books), but I’m not yet happy with any of those. Still waiting for those full hard mode bingos (the big circles). But especially for E5 that’s hard (pun intended).
Right now I’m reading The Dispossessed alongside an indie title that will fit two of the remaining three blank squares, so we’re getting there.
Grats on the progress! Good luck on E5 HM!
I’ve got 10 squares left to fill, which I think I should easily be able to do by the deadline.
Somehow I’ve ended up with a bingo card that is very close to a checkerboard pattern at the moment lol. And so no bingo yet! The book I’m currently reading should fit the ‘Late, Great’ theme however.
(light green is regular completion, dark green is hard mode)
There are a few books that I’ve read since May which don’t fall into any categories. These tend to be books that I’ve read as part of a book club. Everything else I’ve been trying to choose specifically to fit a theme, which has been a fun challenge :)
Oh, we’re bingo square twins! I also read In Praise of Shadows for the author from a different continent square, cool.
Oh wow, that’s an interesting coincidence! I read it as part of a presentation I was doing earlier this year on wabi-sabi. What did you make of it?
Whoa lovely, would genuinely appreciate reading or watching that presentation, if you’re able to share!
I read it purely out my own interest of design, and working to appreciate aesthetics more. Honestly it was a neat read; in that of getting a perspective of looking at the world in way I didn’t grow up with (left me with things to ponder as I observe the world), also appreciating the author’s contrarian stance of change as by the end of the book he moved on from the dark space and shadow motif (as described in the interaction with the architect, which made me chuckle). What about yourself? How’d you find it in relation to your wabi-sabi presentation?
Thanks for sharing! Yes I agree that it was a really interesting perspective on how the change in architecture and lighting at that time took away from the beauty of certain aspects of the home and objects within it. I liked his explanation for how the low roofs and deep eaves of Japanese houses (whilst unique and beautiful to a Western viewer) were in fact a necessity of the climate and building materials available. And the resulting darker houses affected Japanese aesthetics accordingly. In my presentation I linked kintsugi (mending old pottery with gold lacquer - which nowadays might seem a bit garish and not in keeping with the ideas of wabi sabi) back to his ideas of light and shadow. I think he mentions how gold accents have a lot more of a subtle beauty in candlelight and shadow.
Unfortunately I’m not sure if I have a copy of the presentation but if I find my notes I’ll let you know!
Well done so far! And yeah, it’s weird how easy it is to not get a bingo lol.
At least it means I’ll get lots of back-to-back lines in the coming months!
Got into my library’s summer reading around the same time I found this bingo. So I’ve got several squares filled, but still a way to go. I’ve dropped off with my reading habit, so glad there’s still time.
So far, going for the second column.
Supplemental material - Dragon’s Teeth and Thunderstones, a book I didn’t especially like about how past civilizations perceived and used fossils. OR, Professor and the Madman, a fun narrative history of the creation of the Oxford dictionary. TBH, I’m not 100% that they both had extra material, but I believe they did. Non-fiction will usually have a bibliography or something.
Author from a different continent (+translated) - Ogawa’s Memory Police. Author is Japanese. Haunting, near sureal atmosphere in a dystopian novel. One of my favorite books actually.
Group forms for a reason - Nothing yet, but I saw The Hobbit as a suggestion for it, and I’ve been meaning to read that for a while.
Prominent nature aspect - Hatchet. I remember always seeing the cover in school libraries and the bookshelf in my old house. But I never tried to read it. Picked it up since my niece was trying to read it. It’s all about a kid stranded and trying to survive in nature.
Author deceased - I, Robot by Asimov felt like a good thing to read in today’s world, and I rather enjoyed my time with it.
Awesome!
Btw, I’m sure either of your supplemental material choices is fine; if you think they count, then that’s good enough for us.
Yeah, I remember seeing that there’s no bingo police, it’s just kinda whatever. So I’m not sweating it! Just glad I have the extra bit of motivation to read.
I have 11/25 squares complete so far, with two bingos: top row and middle column. Hoping to be able to finish the board again this year!
Grats! Good luck on the rest of the card!
I’m at 13/25 in an attempt at an all hard mode, all TBR blackout (close to finishing book 14!). No bingo yet, unless I shuffle something to a different square. A number of the books I have left are on the longer side (for me), so hopefully I keep pace.
The new release square may be tricky as HM TBR: my original self-imposed rule was that anything I read had to be on my pile before we started putting the 2026 card together, but I may have to relax that if I don’t gel with anything I’d earmarked. We’ll see.
Here’s how I’ve scored my card so far:
Not claiming bingo yet, but could drop one quickly, especially if I reclassify a few things. Currently reading something by an Australian lady and intend to mark B2 next.
Looking good! Grats on the progress.
Time to go through my reading log and fill this in.
Beginning of May I was finishing up the last of the Revelation Space universe with Machine Vendetta. That checks off a bunch of the bottom. It’s a sci-fi mystery novel with multiple perspective characters, one of which is nearing retirement. I’ve marked this purple.
May to July, I read the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. As a series, they cover a lot of the missing cells on the right and finish columns D and E. I’ve marked this yellow.
I then read The Faith of Beasts, James S. A. Corey’s new book. Doesn’t really hit any cells I haven’t already.
In August, I re-read the Bartimaeus series, one I loved as a child. Delightful little series. Importantly for this, it has footnotes. This is marked dark green.
At the end of August, I read John Scalzi’s Android’s Dream, which was excellent. At the beginning of September, I read Alastair Reynolds’ House of Suns, which was also excellent. Neither hits anything new, so not marking for them.
Next, I read Sanderson’s Isles of the Emberdark, which has a prominent nature component. I concluded September and spent the first half of October on Robert Jackson Bennett’s latest series, starting with The Tainted Cup. This also has a strong nature focus. Emberdark in black, Corruption series in light green.
In early October, I went on a road trip with my wife. On the trip, we listened to two audiobooks. The first was Tusks, Tails & Teacakes, the best part of which was that it had punctuation in the title. I kid, it was a cute fantasy romance with enough other stuff going on to keep it interesting. Marking this one red. The other one we listened to was the latest Bobiverse book, but that hits so many of the same cells that I’m skipping it.
I’m currently reading the Old Man’s War series by Scalzi. Very good. Doesn’t hit anything new, but I marked it in pink anyway.
Still haven’t completed any Bingos since Dungeon Crawler Carl. That center space is hard.
That’s quite a full card already, nice work! (And your color choices are gorgeous, too.) I have faith you can figure out something for that center square in the next six months. ;)
Oh, what a fun and neat idea! I hope everyone’s making good progress and enjoying themselves! :)
