Another April, another bingo! Compared to last year, I’m feeling a lot more upbeat about reading. Stressed about money (if you’re American, I assume I’m not alone on this), but it’s looking possible that I might hit 200 books read in a year for the first time ever. I’ve been sitting on a lot of books waiting for April 1 to roll around, and now I get to dive in!
For those unfamiliar, r/Fantasy’s Bingo is simple. Over the course of a single year, you are challenged to read books meeting 25 prompts. You can’t repeat authors, and you only get 1 reread. That’s … pretty much it to be honest. To learn more about bingo, here is the official post for this year’s bingo card.
The first few years I did bingo, my goal was to complete a card. Last year, I set out to do an Achillean protagonists card. I succeeded! Then I completed two more (graphic novels, plus a ‘leftovers’ card). I’m reading enough right now that finishing more than one card is probably going to happen. I’m definitely repeating the Achillean card, and likely will also complete one for comics and graphic novels. I’m also considering a novella readathon in July, which would make an all-novellas card make a lot of sense too. However, I’m really trying not to over-plan my reading right now. I’m going to read what I want to read, DNF what isn’t feeling right, and move as the mood takes me. What happens, happens. Once January rolls around I’ll start reading for specific squares to fill out cards.
With that, let’s take a look at this year’s card!
Right away, this feels like a great year to not plan out my reading. Most squares seem like things I’ll stumble across naturally or don’t make a lot of sense to plan for (Feast Your Eyes on This calls out food as an important plot point, and most books aren’t going to advertise that). Similarly, this seems like a very genre-neutral card. Most things can work equally well for Science Fiction and Fantasy, with Horror having plenty of options as well.
Easy Squares (For Me)
- Trans/Nonbinary Protagonist: at least for my Achillean card. I can think of a few books that fit this on my bookshelf right now which I was going to read anyways
- Politics and Court Intrigue: seems more or less like a free square based on my current reading habits. I love political maneuvering.
- Self Published/Small Press: my favorite books last year weren’t put out by major publishers, and I’ve got a small army of possibilities
- Judge a Book by It’s Title: I’m ashamed to say that this is a major way I find books I’m interested in (other than recommendations from real humans).
Squares I’m Most Excited For
- Unusual Transportation: No current ideas for what’ll come up for this in any of my cards, but it’s already got me jittery with anticipation
- Game Changer: I love games, but I love tournaments even more. It scratches that power fantasy itch for me.
- Duology: Do I want to read complete duologies instead of two seperate series? Yes I do. Do I have any ideas yet? No I don’t.
- Vacation Spot: Just let me reread Floating Hotel and go on a space Yacht please!
Anticipated Challenges
- Duology: as I said, I don’t have any ideas for this for any of my card ideas. Do graphic novel duologies even exist? What are some good duologies with Gay dudes? They’re out there, but I’m probably going to have to look for them
- 1970s: Other than Interview with a Vampire, I’m not sure what I’ll do here. Any good comics recommendations from the 70s? Maybe some Manga. I need to read more Manga.
- Cat Squasher: How on earth will this fit into a novellas card? I could replace it, but I’m wondering if I can find a large anthology that has some novellas in it perhaps.
Promises to Myself
- Finishing a Bingo card is NOT worth reading bad books. DNF anything that you wouldn’t give 3 stars to. Stop pushing through things you’re not having a good time with.
- You don’t need to complete every card you set out to do. Be willing to let things go.
- Read a lot of gay shit. You deserve it.
- Post an update of my progress in the Monthly Wrap up Posts!
Marked for Plot 