Books Reading

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis — Finished
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of my favorites in the series. A great standalone adventure set in the Narnia world with Shasta and Aravis. Lewis nails the sense of journey and discovery here.

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis — Finished
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Solid return to Narnia. The Pevensie kids come back to find everything changed. Good stuff.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis — Finished
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Loved this one. The island-hopping adventure format is perfect, and Reepicheep sailing to the edge of the world is one of the best endings in the whole series.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis — Finished
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The classic. Read it in order after The Magician’s Nephew. Holds up well.

Five Narnia books down — taking a break before The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. The Magician’s Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were my favorites.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky — Listening
Rating: TBD
Been listening to this on audiobook for months — it’s something like 80 hours. It’s an up and down experience. There are moments of genuine insight where I feel like I’m working through something internally, and then there are these incredibly long solo monologues that just exhaust you. One character will go on for what feels like forever with no interruption from anyone else, almost like they’re just talking out loud to nobody. I get that it was groundbreaking for its time, but honestly, the long diatribes get repetitive and break you out of the story. It doesn’t feel like something that would happen in real life — morally gray moments hit harder when they come through action, not endless speeches.

I keep going back and forth on whether I actually like it. Some parts are genuinely great, but it’s a very tough listen. Compared to something like Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series or Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun — books that deliver moral complexity through engaging storytelling — this one feels like a slog at times. Maybe it’s a taste thing. Maybe it’s just that it’s traveled so far from its era. I’ll probably take a break from Dostoevsky after this one. Crime and Punishment can wait.

Games Playing

Mewgenics — Obsessed. I love strategy RPGs and this one has its hooks in me deep.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge — Playing through this with the family. Classic beat-em-up fun.

Life Updates

Zeke is moving around a ton now. We think he finally has a tooth coming in. He’s been shuffling while standing — walking soon!

Solomon is in Krav Maga now.