Field notes · Latest
Should You Buy a Book or Borrow It? I Earn 10% on Buy.
Every buy button here pays me 10%. So here's the honest rule — what's worth owning, what to borrow, and where a library hold is the wrong call.
Start reading →
Hey, I'm Tim — a carpenter from Regina and a dad of two. I spend my winters reading by the ocean, and I rate a book by how well it survives a rum buzz and a kid yelling "Dad, watch this!" More about Tim →
More from the beach chair
Reads by mood
Books Like The Hunger Games, Sorted by the Part You Loved
Arena, propaganda, kid-in-the-machine, or romance under duress — four shelves, not one flat list. Plus the book everyone recommends that only fits one.
litRPG
I Push litRPG on Everyone. Here's What's Wrong With It.
Six posts on this site sell litRPG. Not this one. The four real complaints, which three of them are fair, and who should skip the genre entirely.
Reading life
Finishing Books With Two Kids and a Full Workday (What It Actually Costs)
Nobody is going to hand you a free hour. Here's the honest math of reading with a job and two kids — where the minutes really are, why a chopped-up week kills some books, and the four things I gave up to make room.
Gear
Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It? Check Your Own Last Ten
The catalogue size is the wrong number. A ten-minute test on your own shelf, why indie litRPG lives there and trad thrillers don't, plus break-even math.
Reading life
How to Remember What Happened in the Last Book (Without Rereading It)
Every answer to this is either "reread it" or "go read a wiki." One costs you three weeks of evenings, the other spoils you. Here's the two-minute note I write when I finish a book instead — and the 20-page trick for when I forgot to.
Gear
Kindle vs. Kobo for the Beach: The Cheapest Kindle Isn't Waterproof
Judged on sun, sand, and water only — using the specs both companies publish. Which models are actually waterproof, why buttons beat glass with sunscreen hands, and the battery number that's measured at 10% brightness.
Sci-Fi
Books Like Project Hail Mary, Sorted by What You Loved
Every list hands you the same nine titles. Three readers loved three different books inside that one book — answer one question, take your own shelf.
litRPG
Where to Start With Brandon Sanderson (litRPG Readers)
Every start-here list opens with a 1,280-page book, because they rank by best. Here's the one to read first, the one that's free and legal, one to save.
Reads by mood
Michael Connelly Reading Order: Start With Three Books
Bosch, Lincoln Lawyer, Ballard — you don't need all twenty-five. Three you can read in any order, the one that's genuinely great, and permission to stop.
litRPG
litRPG vs. Progression Fantasy vs. Cultivation: One Test
Three labels people use like they mean the same thing. They don't. What each promises, the one-question test that splits them, and a first book for each.
Reads by mood
Where to Start With Stephen King If You Don't Do Scary
Every Stephen King start-here list is written by horror fans. This one isn't. Four books with no monster (or barely one), an honest scare rating on each, and the famous one you should not start with.
litRPG
How to Get a Gamer Kid to Read: Books Built Like Games
My nine-year-old plays Minecraft till his eyes dry out and won't read ten minutes. Books that run on the same loop, by age — including ones to avoid.
Reads by mood
The Hunger Games Holds Up. It's Also Hungrier Than the Movie Let On.
Everyone's seen the films. Almost nobody goes back to the book. I reread The Hunger Games before deciding whether to hand it to my nine-year-old — here's what still lands, what the movies quietly cut, who it's really for now, and where to stop.
Gear
What Wrecks a Book at the Beach: It Isn't the Sand
Your waterproof Kindle is rated for three minutes of ocean, and sand doesn't kill books — the spine does. What goes wrong, and the kit that stops it.
Field notes
How to Read More When You're Wiped After Work
You're not lazy and you don't need more discipline. Your goal is just too big for the brain you've got left at 9pm. Here's what actually got me reading again.
litRPG
Dungeon Crawler Carl: Where to Start, and Who'll Bounce
The book I hand anyone who says litRPG isn't for them. A guy, his ex's show cat, the end of the world — plus an honest read on who won't finish book one.
Sci-Fi
Project Hail Mary: Sci-Fi for People Who Hate Sci-Fi
A survival thriller wearing a science coat — no lore homework, no politics, just a guy solving problems with a friend. Who'll love it, who'll bounce off.
Field notes
The 50-Page Rule: How I Decide to Quit a Book
You're allowed to give up on a book. Here's the rule I use to decide — plus the one question to ask first, so you don't quit a good book on a bad night.
Mysteries
5 Cozy Mysteries, Rated by How Gentle They Actually Are
The cozy shelf makes a promise it doesn't always keep. Five mysteries for readers who don't want a body count — with an honest read on how soft each one really is.
Field notes
Does Listening Count as Reading? A Carpenter's Ruling
A guy on my crew told me audiobooks don't count. I listen on the drive and read on the balcony — here's my honest ruling on whether the two are really that different.
Reads by mood
Ready Player One: The Book Does the Stuff the Movie Couldn't Afford
If you only saw the Ready Player One movie, you got the highlight reel. The book is a different beast — denser, nerdier, and free to name-drop every old game it wants. Here's who'll love it and who'll roll their eyes.
Family Reading
A Series of Unfortunate Events as a Read-Aloud: Worth It?
The rare kids' book where the gloom is the joke, so a 9-year-old, a 7-year-old and a tired dad laugh at the same page. Where to start, how far to commit.
Gear
E-Reader vs. Paperback by the Water: My Honest Take
The glare, the sand, the greasy sunscreen thumbs, the pool splash — the stuff the spec sheets skip. Here's how a paperback and an e-reader really hold up by the water, and the one I'd hand a beginner.
Sci-Fi
Starter Villain: A Volcano Lair, Spy Cats, a Union Problem
Scalzi's comedy about a broke substitute teacher who inherits his uncle's business — which is not the business he was told. Who it's for, who should skip.
The Martian: Why Mark Watney Ruined Dinner for Me
Reading The Martian on the balcony got me thinking about Watney's endless potatoes — and how good real dinner tastes when you've watched someone eat none.
litRPG
The litRPG Starter Pack: 3 Book-Ones, and What You're Actually Signing Up For
Everybody hands you a litRPG recommendation. Nobody tells you the series is twelve books long. Here are three book-ones worth auditioning, with the real numbers on each shelf — how many books, how many hours, and whether it's even finished.
Thrillers
5 Thrillers That Survive a Noisy Pool Deck
A vacation thriller has one job: grab you and not let go, even with kids yelling and a drink sweating on the armrest. Here are five that pass the test.
Gear
The Book Light That Won't Wake Your Spouse — Buy It on Colour, Not Brightness
Reading in bed next to someone who's asleep is a lighting problem, and brightness is the wrong dial. Here's what colour temperature actually does, what the clamp has to survive, and the clip-on book lights I'd buy.
litRPG
What the Heck Is litRPG? A Carpenter's Plain-English Guide
Someone asked what I was reading on the balcony. 'litRPG.' Blank stare. Here's the simple version — what it is, why it's a blast, and two books to start.
Field notes
Why I Read at 5am (and Why the Balcony Beats the Beach Chair)
The best reading hour on any trip is the one before everyone else wakes up. Here's why I trade the beach chair for a quiet balcony and a 5am coffee.