Tafadhali goes boldly forward in 2018

After a major shake-up to my category challenge last year (I decided to focus all my energy on Mt. TBR with, so far, good-to-mixed results), I'm ready for a return to form.

I've done music-themed categories in the past, but this year -- inspired by having a new Star Trek show on TV -- I've themed my categories around episodes from the original series. I have 16 main categories (most of which are tried and true favorites) and 2 challenge categories that can overlap with the others.

My categories for the year will be:

I. “And the Children Shall Lead” - Children’s Lit
II. “Charlie X” - Young Adult Lit
III. “Court Martial” - Mysteries
IV. “Shore Leave” - Fantasy
V. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” - Science Fiction
VI. “Return of the Archons" - Podcast-Inspired Reads
VII. “Squire of Gothos” - Historical Fiction / Historical Fact
VIII. “Mudd’s Women” - Books About Gender
IX. “Amok Time” - LGBTQ Books
X. “Assignment: Earth” - Books from Around the World
XI. “The Conscience of the King” - Theatre
XII. “Bread and Circuses” - TV and Film
XIII. “The Children of Eden” - Books on Mt. TBR for 3+ Years
XIV. “Beyond the Farthest Star” - Comic Books
XV. “The Naked Time” - Other Fiction
XVI. “Spock’s Brain” - Other Non-Fiction
XVII. “All Our Yesterdays” - Dewey Challenge
XVIII. “The Enemy Within” - BingoDOG

(Bonus: "The Alternative Factor" - Abandoned Books)

(I'll probably also give myself little bonus episode shout-outs when I read books that tie into ones not named above, like if I read a book with time travel or sex pollen, or set in the '20s or Old West, or with really obvious racism metaphors.) (That one will probably go to X-Men.)

I. “And the Children Shall Lead” - Children’s Lit

1. The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall DONE, 5/26/18 - ★★★ 1/2
2. Rebound by Kwame Alexander DONE, 6/3/18 - ★★★ 1/2
3. Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce DONE, 5/26/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
4. Matilda by Roald Dahl DONE, 12/15/18 - ★★★★★

II. "Charlie X” - Young Adult Lit

1. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman DONE, 5/28/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
2. Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro DONE, 7/2/18 - ★★★★
3. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (re-read) DONE, 9/28/18 - ★★★★
4. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green DONE, 11/9/18 - ★★★ 1/2

III. “Court Martial” - Mystery & Crime
It's more of a courtroom drama, but they do do a fair bit of investigation. Everyone knows TNG is the way to go for Mysteries.

1. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley DONE, 3/9/18 — ★★★ 1/2
2. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers DONE, 4/30/18 — ★★★★
3. The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez DONE, 7/21/18 — ★★★

IV. “Shore Leave” - Fantasy
This was going to be my miscellaneous fiction category, but...Alice.

1. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire DONE, 3/28/18 - ★★★★
2. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire DONE, 4/9/18 - ★★★
3. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (re-read) DONE, 7/28/18 — ★★★★★
4. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (re-read) DONE, 7/31/18 — ★★★★★
5. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (re-read) DONE, 8/5/18 — ★★★★★

V. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” - Science Fiction

1. Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson DONE, 3/21/18 — ★★★★
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King DONE, 3/26/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie DONE, 10/11/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
4. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie DONE, 10/17/18 - ★★★★
5. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie DONE, 10/18/18 - ★★★★

VI. "Return of the Archons" - Reads Inspired by Podcasts I Listen To
I do what the computer tells me

1. It by Stephen King (The Losers Club and, actually, the close reading practices of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text) (re-read) DONE, 9/9/18 - ★★★★★
2. X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor (Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men) DONE, 6/14/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
3. New Mutants Epic Collection: Renewal by Chris Claremont (Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men) DONE, 3/4/18 - ★★★ 1/2

VII. “Squire of Gothos” - Historical Fiction / Historical Fact

1. Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer DONE, 10/3/18 - ★★★ 1/2
2. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters DONE, 12/12/18 - ★★★ 1/2

VIII. “Mudd’s Women” - Books About Gender

1. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman by Anne Helen Petersen DONE, 1/5/18 — ★★★★
2. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor DONE, 5/19/18 — ★★★★
3. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang DONE, 12/12/18 - ★★★★

IX. “Amok Time” - LGBTQ Books

1. Gay New York by George Chauncey DONE, 2/9/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
2. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth DONE, 6/16/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
3. Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann DONE, 3/30/18 - ★★★

X. “Assignment: Earth” - Books from Around the World

1. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (Cambodia) DONE, 9/26 - ★★★★ 1/2
2. Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 1 by CLAMP (Japan) DONE, 8/2 - ★★★

XI. “The Conscience of the King” - Theatre

1. The Lion in Winter by James Goldman DONE, 2/9/18 - ★★★★ 1/2
2. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moisés Kaufman DONE, 4/28/18 - ★★★★ 1/2

XII. “Bread and Circuses” - TV and Film

1. Queer Movie Medievalisms, ed. Kathleen Coyne Kelly and Tison Pugh DONE, 3/8/18 - ★★★ 1/2
2. Screening Stephen King by Simon Brown DONE, 8/2/18 - ★★★★
3. Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes' Hollywood by Karina Longworth

XIII. “The Way to Eden” - Books on Mt. TBR for 3+ Years
The one episode of the original series I've never watched. So I guess, for me, it's been on Mt. TBW for 20+ years.

1. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin DONE, 3/14/18 — ★★★★ 1/2
2. Kindred by Octavia Butler DONE, 9/25/18 — ★★★★★

XIV. “Beyond the Farthest Star” - Comic Books

1. Sex Criminals, Vol. 2 by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky DONE, 5/19/18 — ★★★★
2. The Wicked The Divine Vol. 6 by Kieron Gillen DONE, 1/22/18 — ★★★★
3. Ms. Marvel Vol. 8: Mecca by G. Willow Wilson DONE, 2/13/18 — ★★★★
4. Runaways, Vol. 1: Find Your Way Home by Rainbow Rowell DONE, 5/3/18 — ★★★★★
5. Runaways, Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell DONE, 12/12/18 — ★★★★★

XV. “The Naked Time” - Other Fiction
For when I'm feeling wildly uninhibited in my reading choices.

1. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (re-read) DONE, 11/1/18 - ★★★★★
2. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld DONE, 12/17/18 - ★★ 1/2

XVI. “Spock’s Brain” - Other Non-Fiction
"Brain? What is...brain?"

1. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright DONE, 4/28/18 — ★★★★
2. Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper DONE, 9/12/18 — ★★★★
3. Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe DONE, 11/2/18 - ★★★ 1/2
4. Evicted by Matthew Desmond

XVII. “All Our Yesterdays” - Dewey Challenge
I'd like to read a book from each Dewey 100s category, and who better to represent that than Mr. Atoz?

000s - Library Science, Journalism, Books, Etc.:
100s - Philosophy & Psychology:
200s - Religion: Going Clear by Lawrence Wright (299.936) √
300s - Social Sciences: Gay New York by George Chauncey (305.38) √
400s - Language: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (413.028) √
500s - Science & Math:
600s - Technology: Chariots for Apollo by Joshua Stoff and Charles R. Pellegrino (629.47)
700s - Arts & Leisure: Queer Movie Medievalisms (791.43) √
800s - Literature: Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe (823) √
900s - History:

XVIII. “The Enemy Within” - BingoDOG



1. Fits at least 2 KITS/CATS: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (NF, Dewey Challenge) √
2. Famous Person in Title: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman √
3. Money in the Title:
4. Originally in a Different Language: The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez (Spanish) √
5. Unread 2017 Purchase: Too Loud, Too Fat, Too Slutty: The Rise of the Unruly Woman by Anne Helen Petersen √
6. New to You Author: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth √
7. Auto-biography or Memoir: Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (more or less -- it's based very closely on the first person accounts of Arn Chorn-Pond) √
8. Published in 2018: The Wicked The Divine, Vol. 6 by Kieron Gillen √
9. Longtime TBR: Gay New York by George Chauncey √
10. Beautiful Cover: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (bought a pretty new edition of the series!) √
11. Poetry or Plays: Lion in Winter by James Goldman √
12. LGBTQ Central Character: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (I read many, many books with LGBTQ central characters, but I'll let Seanan McGuire count for this one) √
13. Read a CAT Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, lol √
14. Rank in Title: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (if Justice is a class of ship, above the Mercy class, and ships are sentient beings comprising many troops of bodies, then is Justice a rank? I think so) (maybe I'm just mad that I'm up to one of the only Lymond books WITHOUT a rank in its title and so I don't know where else I'm going to get this one) √
15. Published >100 Years Ago: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
16. Humorous Book: Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer √
17. >500 Pages: Going Clear by Lawrence Wright (560 p.) √
18. X in Title: X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor √
19. Relative Name in Title: Screening Stephen King by Simon Brown (father's first name) √
20. Pacific Ocean Related:
21. Set During a Holiday: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (takes place over Christmas) √
22. Something in the Sky in the Title: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (we count the sky as being in the sky, right?) √
23. 1001 List: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin √
24. Number in the Title: 11/22/63 by Stephen King √
25. Story Involves Travel: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman √

BONUS - "The Alternative Factor" - Abandoned Books
Because I've never managed to stay awake through this episode.

Nobody's Perfect by Anthony Lane (I was really more dipping into it from time to time, but the whole Incredibles 2 situation kind of cooled me on it)
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (I'll come back to it! It was due at the library and I was annoyed about the Robin/Matthew situation still dragging onnnnn in the prologue, so I didn't renew)

Glorious categories, they made me laugh and are so clever!

I love the rationale for picking the "abandoned books" category title! Great setup. Looking forward to following along!

Great categories, looks like you are getting ready for a fun reading year!

Love the BingoDog picture. Those two go together so well!

Good to see old school ST! Good luck with your categories and enjoy your reading.

Fun use of the Star Trek episodes. Hope you have a great reading year!

What a wonderful trip down memory lane. I hope it is filled with great books!

Thanks everyone! This was a fun one to plan. I know I'll enjoy seeing these screencaps whenever I look through the thread. (And how could I resist using "The Enemy Within" unicorn dog for BingoDOG!)

Love your Star Trek theme!

>20 Tafadhali: Funny! They recently had all the original Star Treks and I made it most of the way through. Shatner was so over the top. Have a great year!

Brilliant matches for your categories. Have fun reading!

Episode Pairings:

For each book I read, an episode to go with it.

1. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Peterson = "Elaan of Troyius" (3x13)
Because Elaan defines Too Much.

2. The Wicked The Divine: Imperial Phase II by Kieron Gillen = "Charlie X" (1x04)
Bratty teens with mental powers? A baby-faced naif who isn't what he seems? Hm.

3. Gay New York by George Chauncey = "A Piece of the Action" (2x17)
Due to all the discussion of Prohibition.

4. The Lion in Winter by James Goldman = "Mirror, Mirror" (2x04)
Something about the gender politics and the ruthless ways that people seek power seems to speak to me.

5. Ms. Marvel Vol. 8: Mecca by G. Willow Wilson = "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" (3x15)
This basically is a Star Trek episode (it's about fear of the other, profiling, and neighbors turning on neighbors), so why can't I think of a good pairing....I refuse to do the black-and-white aliens one. ......Okay, for lack of an alternative, I'll do the black-and-white aliens one.

6. New Mutants: Renewal by Chris Claremont = "The Enemy Within" (1x05)
The New Mutants as a whole are a pretty Star Trek team -- a group of ethnically and culturally diverse people with special skills who go on adventures and save the day -- but I'm going to focus on the Magik arc contained in this anthology and the war raging inside Illyana Rasputin between the sweet 6-year-old Russian milkmaid that she was and the monster she fears becoming.

7. Queer Movie Medievalisms = "Shore Leave" (1x15)

If you read the book you'd know what I mean.

8. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley = "The Conscience of the King" (1x13)
It's got actors, it's got poison, it's got fathers taking the blame for their deranged child's crimes; what else do you want from me.

Great idea to pair the books with episodes!

I got bored at work, haha! Seemed like a fun thing to do.

Episode Pairings, Part Deux:

9. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin = "The Cloud Minders" (3x19)
I had paired this with "A Private Little War," but then I remembered that a far better embodiment of a the class struggle -- and contrast between two neighboring groups, one a group of hardworking miners, the other a decadent upper class -- existed in "The Cloud Minders."

10. Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson = "The Menagerie" (1x11/12)
Apparently helpful aliens observe human mating rituals.

11. 11/22/63 by Stephen King = "City on the Edge of Forever" (1x28)
Beautiful time travel romances in the shadow of looming world events!

12. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire = "Catspaw" (2x07)
Spooky castles. Halloweeny.

13. Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann = "Metamorphosis" (2x09)
THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF LOVE. SOMETIMES A FAMILY IS A TIME-DISPLACED INVENTOR AND THE DISEMBODIED MIST CREATURE WITH ROMANTIC FEELINGS FOR HIM. I don't think the beautiful mist creature should have to change herself just because of Cochrane's provincial attitudes. (As a queer ace person it maybe means a lot to me that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy show up and are like "Obviously this is a love situation. It is very natural and very good. Your attitudes are extremely 22nd century.")

14. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire = "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (1x19)
Because it involves having to return someone to the right place and time in order for them to have a child (and for them/that child to do an Important Thing). Also 'cause it's a bunch of nonsense. Slingshot effect. I STG.

15. Going Clear by Lawrence Wright = "The Way to Eden" (3x20)
I was torn on this one, because "Return of the Archons" is really a classic episode about people who give up free will and seek comfort in "scientific" dictates, but "The Way to Eden" captures the weird, hippy-dippy, cult of personality part of Scientology.

16. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman = "The Measure of a Man" (TNG 2x09)
Initially, I paired this with "Court Martial" but then I immediately read a book that was a better fit for that episode, and so breaking my own self-imposed rules, I'm bound to say that this courtroom drama is more a match for "Measure of a Man", one of my favorite TNG epsiodes.

Ah, hey, you know, if I'm doing episode pairings might as well go all out and make it a Star Trek BINGO:

>37 Tafadhali: That is awesome!

>37 Tafadhali: Wow, that is really cool!

Thanks! Obviously I am having fun with my theme.

Oh my goodness, we have a serious fan in our midst! That is awesome!

I've done music themes the past few years, and now that I'm getting so into my TV theme this year, I'll admit I'm already thinking to next year... Buffy, maybe?

(I should do less category brainstorming and more reading!)

Maybe, but planning the challenge is so much fun!

>37 Tafadhali: - Love that!

Episode Pairings, Part 3:

17. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers = "Court Martial" (1x20)
Ugh, I just gave "Court Martial" to a different book! If I were expanding my pairings to include spin-offs, I would pair Gross Indecency with "Measure of a Man" from TNG (a philosophical Civil Rights case about the nature of humanity) and give the romance-tinged, false-accusation-laden courtroom drama to Sayers. Perhaps I will, at that.

18. Runaways, Vol. 1 by Rainbow Rowell = Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
A desperate mission to save a dead loved one? Finding that things are not the same when you get them back? Working to get the old team back together? Everyone is a bit older, (maybe) wiser, and in new and fun romantic configurations? Gotta pair this with my favorite Trek movie.

19. Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop by Matt Fraction = "Wink of an Eye" (3x11)
Every volume of Sex Criminals is just going to be "Wink of an Eye."

20. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor = "The Man Trap" (1x05)
This is SUPREMELY RUDE because Paul is NOT a salt monster, but the creature's ability to change her form to whatever is most seductive to the viewer does have a certain resonance with Paul's shapeshifting, gender-bending erotic adventures.

21. Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce = "Arena" (1x19)
So, I was trying to make some sort of War Bird connection with Ozorne, but had to admit that I couldn't do it and that, anyway, things don't really erupt into outright enmity in the first volume of this series. So instead I went with an episode about ingenuity, and learning to use the elements, and being manipulated by forces outside yourself, and intelligent reptiles, and (of course) arenas.

22. The Penderwicks At Last by Jeanne Birdsall = "Miri" (1x11)
There isn't much in common here, this is just one of the only episodes with enough kids to rival the Penderwick gang.

23. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman = "Devil in the Dark" (1x25)
Tess is seeking out strange new life (specifically, megafauna) in underground tunnels. She learns to communicate with creatures that others discount.

24. Rebound by Kwame Alexander = "Operation - Annihilate!" (1x29)
Has the right themes of family and loss of a father even if "Operation - Annihilate!" is a dumb episode and Vulcans having secondary eyelids is a stupid deus ex machina.

One of my categories felt like it had too much overlap with other categories, so I decided to swap it out with one that lets me track the books I'm reading thanks to recommendations by and interest being spurred on by my recent podcast obsession -- most of the podcasts I love are about books, comics, or movies and they get me excited about those stories.

Episode Pairings, Part 4:

25. X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor = "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1x03)
Aside from the ordinary people developing extraordinary (and somewhat unsettling powers), something about the early-on production design of this episode is vibing with the throw-back style of Grand Design (of course, all of the show feels '60s -- if I really wanted to capture that I'd have to go with "Trials and Tribbleations" from DS9).

26. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth = "Amok Time" (2x01)
Okay, ONE of the gay books I read was going to end up being "Amok Time," so it may as well be Cameron Post. She is frequently overwhelmed by desire, comes from a place whose climate and rites are alien to me (rural Montana), and ultimately breaks free from the forced heterosexuality being imposed by her religious/cultural background.

27. Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

This is a difficult one to match up. It is a challenging book and I don't think any Star Trek episode goes nearly as far in tackling racism or the effects of corrupt policing; its utopian leanings means that the franchise rarely takes as uncompromising a position as the end of this book does. If I were to find an appropriate episode, it would likely be in DS9, a much more morally grey show than TOS, and would deal with Bajor and Cardassia – but I've only seen the first season!

28. The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez = also "Conscience of the King"

Look, I didn't want to do this, but what do you want from me -- it also has pretentious toffs and a father taking responsibility for his child's crimes! I can't help that all the mysteries I've read this year have had the same general topic!

29-31. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman = "The Apple" (2x09)

I have no other choice.

32. Screening Stephen King by Simon Brown = "And the Children Shall Lead" (3x04)

The episode has a bit of a Children of the Corn vibe, which seems only appropriate for a book about film adaptations of Stephen King. They do insist on making more and more Children of the Corn movies.

33. Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 1 by CLAMP = Star Trek: The Motion Picture

If you are excited about the return of Cardcaptor Sakura then I suspect you might like stories about getting the old gang back together again. (Magical girls are thin on the ground in Star Trek.)

34. IT by Stephen King = "The Naked Time" (1x06)

What aspect of this sprawling epic do I even choose to focus on? Gangs of kids? I've already used those episodes. Scary underground creatures that lay eggs? How dare you compare my beloved Horta to that clown. Memory loss and Native American inspiration? Okay, I am not going to equate one of my all-time favorite books to "The Paradise Syndrome." I've already played my "getting the gang back together" card AND invoked Search for Spock. If I wanted to choose something that equalled the emotional richness of the experience of reading IT for me, I would just have to say "the whole damn show."

So, I guess I am just going to go with "The Naked Time" because I love it unreservedly and because it is about an enemy whose weapon is emotion and because Spock's crying and parent issues seem apropos to my reaction to IT and the themes of the book respectively.

NO COMMENTS ON THIS I CYCLED THROUGH ABOUT 12 EPISODES BEFORE I JUST DECIDED "WHATEVER."

35. Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper = "All Our Yesterdays" (3x23)

A book about dictionaries has got to go to Mr. Atoz himself.

36. Kindred by Octavia Butler = "Patterns of Force" (2x23)

I considered "Bread and Circuses" because it deals more specifically with historical slavery (although, in that case, of the Roman variety), but I think this reckoning with the recent Nazi past (or, in the context of the show, the long-ago Nazi past), the examination of control and torture, and the extra resonance given by having two Jewish actors placed into this setting are more reminiscent of this story of a black woman being sent hundreds of years back in time to the Antebellum South.

37. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick = "A Private Little War" (2x16)

For once I wanted to pair "Conscience of the King" with a book not because it was about theatrical murder plots, but because it was about people who experienced horrible trauma, starvation, and violence as children and had to learn to reckon with that as adults, but twice is my limit. So, instead, I will go with one of the Klingon episodes, written to comment on ongoing conflict in Southeast Asia.

38. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson = "The Empath" (3x08)

Suffering. Silence. Abuse of power.

39. Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer = "Space Seed" (1x22)

An apparently sensible woman falls for a captivating older man from India with a dark past (if "nearly eloping" and "working in trade" can be equated with starting a eugenics war)? Idk, there's a lack of ebullient romcoms in TOS; I think I'd have to look to the outrageous Okona of TNG to get near the right kind of rogue.

40. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie = "Obsession" (2x13)

If anyone can identify with obsessing over one hesitation or mistake more than a decade ago, it's Justice of Toren.

41. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie = "The Ultimate Computer" (2x24)

TOS takes a very different tack on what happens when AI begin to captain ships; an interesting counterpoint.

42. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie = "Balance of Terror" (1x14)

I considered "The Corbomite Maneuver," because I think it's the episode that best reflects the kind of gonzo strategizing that Justice of Toren embraces in this book, but "Balance of Terror" is just SO GOOD and captures the real galactic stakes better.

43. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut = "Plato's Stepchildren" (3x10)

44. Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe = "The Corbomite Maneuver" (1x02)

Here, we go, here's some straightforward game theory.

November Progress Report:

I haven't really been doing progress reports this year, but I wanted to check in now that there are only 2 (!!!!) months left of the year.

I: 3/4 (75%)
II: 3/4 (75%)
III: 3/4 (75%)
IV: 4/4 (100%) +1
V: 4/4 (100%) +1
VI: 3/4 (75%) (CR: 1)
VII: 1/4 (25%) (CR: 1)
VIII: 2/4 (50%)
IX: 3/4 (75%) (CR: 1)
X: 2/4 (50%)
XI: 2/4 (50%)
XII: 2/4 (50%)
XIII: 2/4 (50%)
XIV: 4/4 (100%)
XV: 0/4 (0%) (CR: 1)
XVI: 2/4 (50%) (CR: 1)
XVII: 4/10 (40%) (CR: 1)
XVIII: 22/25 (88%)

Total: 40/64 (63%)
Plus CR: 45/64 (70%)

45. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green = "Dagger of the Mind" (1x10)

Because it's one of the few episodes that deals with mental illness and treatment.

46. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang = "Mudd's Women" (1x03)

There's a little bit of glamour, there's a little bit of self-acceptance. *I* don't know.

47. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

I'm still thinking about this one! There are many war-related episodes, but few that focus more on relationships than on battle.

48. Runaways, Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell = "The Deadly Years" (2x11)

For a different twist on an age-related curse.