I'm really proud of myself! I started reading because i felt obliged to(new years resolution), but now, i read just for the sake of reading. It's become a comfort hobby now. Hyperion was my gateway, and House of Leaves is my all time favorite right now. Reading Don Quixote (1 chapter every night, it's like watching an episode of a comedy show before bed!) and fellowship of the ring (really enjoying it) right now.

I'd love to discuss these books in the comments if anyone wants to!

Im a bit behind, but I will catch up, trust.

Currently reading: House of Leaves (~20% through), The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (loving this one! 30% through), and Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Here are some short thoughts about everything that I've read so far.

Dungeon Crawler Carl- this book series is spectacular. I love the character development, and unlike some people, I really think that the first one is my favorite of all of them so far. I love them all for different reasons tho.

Doomsday Scenario- honestly, now that I'm thinking about it, that might be my favorite book. Introducing side quests, and donut getting more flesched out is awesome.

The Hobbit- what's not to love? I had to read this for school, but I ended up really liking it and I think it's one of my favorite books of all time.

Snapshot- can't really say anything without spoiling it, but it's only 70 pages, SO GO READ IT. I read it all in one sitting, and it was probably the best hour of reading of this year.

Finally donovan- this book is here just based off pure enjoyment. I really like Finley and Vero, and I think the plots are zany and fun.

The silent patient- this book I read in 24 hours, and I'm so glad I did. I'm off the group that really likes this book, but I do think there is a tad bit of wasted potential.

The bad beginning- I love lemony Snicket. There's not much to say here, but I just think of this book is fun awesome.

Blood over brighthaven- very interesting book, I really enjoyed the magic system and think that it's an easy fantasy book to read you want to get into it

Gate of the Feral gods- DCC. Yay it's awesome HAHA

The long walk- I really enjoyed this book, and it made me want to read more Stephen King. I thought of that. The book could have had a more interesting ending, but hey that's I guess that's what the movie's for.

Nothing like the movies- Yes, I do have eclectic taste in books 🤣 unlike some people, I think this was a really good sequel, and I think Liz finding herself again is really awesome. Love both the main characters.

Knocks em out- Again, not much to say, just a funny good time

Treasure hunters- some might say this is just a stupid book made for kids, but I personally loved the illustrations and I really like the kid kids 😁

Who could it be this hour- Lemony Snicket, but with a weaker plot in my opinion.

DCC Graphic Novel- it was worth my time, but honestly, I don't think it does the book's Justice. Not at all how I picture most of these things, and so I didn't really like it.

Anarchists cookbook- definitely my least favorite DCC because of how confusing it is, but think it has one of my top three moments in the series, and there's a lot more Katia character development.

Turtles all the way down- I expected more from John Green. I enjoy his pros and the way that he writes things, but this book just had a weak plot, and I feel like nothing really happened except learning about the main character's OCD, which there's nothing wrong with but but I felt that the book was quite slow and didn't have much of a plot.

Bad Asians- the trope of everybody's a terrible person is kind of played out, and to be honest this book was hard to get through and I sort of skimmed the middle 🤣

Red rising- yes I no I will get hate about this, and I do acknowledge it as an objectively good book, I just personally did not enjoy the writing style at all and do not think that it is worth the hype at all. Maybe I will have to try to read the whole series, because I've heard they're very good.

The caddy- I read this book alongside my dad, who didn't like it any more than I did. This book is pretty much only good if you love golf (which I do) but I think the plot is extremely weak and boring.

Operation bounce house- yeah, this was one of my least favorite books of the year. I thought the plot was extremely boring, and everything that made dungeon Crawler Carl good, Matt took away.

Julie Chan is dead- this book was stupid on so many levels, but it had a really good first 100 pages of buildup.

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo- I thought it was an all right plot, and maybe I would rate it a bit higher into the tier above. But no, I really just didn't enjoy this one.

Northwoods- it was doing way too much, and I had no idea what I was getting into. Thought it was going to be really fun and insightful but it was actually really really stupid.

Check out your local Ollie’s for this gem!

Anything similar to this theme?

Will post credits once I’m off work!

Such an incredible interweave of imaginative writing, a visceral overarching design aesthetic AND a delightfully quirky genre-crossing storytelling.
Any other fans out there?

It was engaging, albeit hard to follow at times. It is the story of a boy sent to visit her mother’s home town in search of his father. What he discovers is a town full of ghosts, with Pedro Paramo in the center of it all.

This took me a while. Some new techniques and experimentation.

Marbled paper from Jemma Lewis. Brown leather half binding.
A clamshell box with inlaid label.

I’m currently on chapter 46, and I can’t stop reading this book! So many people told me it was one of the best books they’d ever read, but I put it off for a while because of how long it is.

Now that I’ve started, though, I can’t put it down. If you’ve avoided it because the length feels discouraging, I highly recommend giving it a chance. You won’t regret it!

So I glued my text block and mull (100% cotton fabric) and put it in my press, then left for a trip, came back 2 and half days later and the text block seems solid and the mull is good and on there, but it’s still a bit sticky/tacky, and I am curious what I can do to solve this or what? New to bookbinding so any help is appreciated!

This post asking if toner reactive foil would work on bookcloth - Link HERE - was my first post made here... 3 years ago. And 3 years later, I come back with my findings. This was completely experimental, I am a n00b doing things MacGyver style.

In the original post, people far wiser than myself told me not to do it, that it would most definitively damage the laser printer or that the toner probably would not stick. So I got an old, cheap second hand printer (Epson AL-M400), to prevent myself from losing my mind should this not work and I'd end up ruining a brand new printer. I have no access to a cutting machine (Europe based, our libraries do not carry craft corners) and I really wanted the foiled look on binds I wanted to eventually make.

So I tried it, it did work, as you can see the toner did stick. I used a piece of white bed sheet (cotton with a small % of elastane), backed with Heat'n'Bond and silk paper. My first try got stuck in the printer, so in the second try I taped it to a piece of printer paper and it went through with no problems.

The printer setting were: Paper type: semi-thick; Print Quality Fine; Visibility: For color Graphs and images. The first time I tried max toner output in the best printing quality and it got stuck in the printer (with no extra sheet of paper as backing).

And as you can see in the first two photos, the toner stuck to the fabric. So I ran it through my laminator with some foil. The foil didn't bond in the middle because I had overlapped foil, I guess it didn't get enough heat to stick. I used a clothes iron (temperature set to the lowest it could be on) to make the foil stick in the middle and other places that had gaps.

[Video of Foiled Sheet] The foil stuck at about 90% overall, there were some really small details that probably didn't have enough buildup to stick the foil. I didn't press too much - maybe I should've - but I was afraid to lift the foil in the places it had stuck on already.

So basically yes, it does work, on real fabric even. But not without CONS. My foil is cheap - right out of Aliexpress - but I guess any kind of foil it will rub off eventually. With casing in the book, as you can see in the photos, some of it rubbed off from the spine with my quite rough handling of it. Just holding it leaves shinny flecks on my fingers. I could try some fixative spray, but I am afraid of yellowing the fabric. I guess if you laminate the fabric before casing in the book, the problem is solved?
(Video of the foil after casing and handling. Please, ignore the book's construction flaws, it's my very first finished bind and cutting and gluing things at night in low luminosity is not a good idea, kids).

There is a binder on Instagram that printed and foiled on actual bookcloth, so it will work too that way. If hers rubs off like mine does, I didn't ask, I only watched a couple of stories of her doing it - xkokonati on Instagram -.

So, TL;DR: I tried it and it worked, toner printed on home-made bookcloth made out of a smooth mostly cotton sheet backed with Heat'n'Bond and silk paper. The foil stuck, but will rub off if you handle the book too much.

Would I recommend doing this? Only if you are just getting into the hobby and absolutely have no other option of attaining the foil look, if you're not making something expecting it to last and only if you have no problem in quite possibly damaging your printer. Will work if you want to make a trophy piece that will not be handled much.

Again, this was an experiment and I might have got lucky. The probability of damaging your printer his VERY HIGH, proceed at your own risk if you try it for yourself.

Interesting experiment! one-piece leather lip, handmade marbled paper and engraved bookcloth.

(At some point I'll remake the bookshoes; these here have been test specimens and are a bit tattered)