Reading on Og Maciel's Journal

November 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

November 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

Another month in the books—though it’s funny to say that, because for most of November I felt like I should have read more. I tried to read more. But the first two weeks dragged, and reading felt like a slog. I’ve written elsewhere about why this month was unusually tough, so I won’t rehash all that here. The short version: work was heavy, stress was high, and my mind was everywhere except on the page.

A Reader's Take on The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Reader’s Take on The Subtle Art Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

It’s been a while since I’ve written any kind of book review, and mostly it’s because I often feel that when I try, I don’t have the right framework to offer a solid commentary on what I liked, what I didn’t, and why I would—or wouldn’t—recommend a book. When I talk about books that mattered to me or touched me in some way, I usually end up describing them through how they made me feel. I don’t always know how to break things down in a more “literary” way—structure, motifs, themes, and all that—so I tend to refrain from reviewing books at all.

Confessions of a Horror Lover Who's Scared of Horror

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Confessions of a Horror Lover Who’s Afraid of Horror

Photo by m wrona on Unsplash

Okay, I have a confession to make. Maybe it’s a confession and a fact. I’ll start with the fact first: I probably own around a hundred or more books that fall into the category of horror or weird fiction.

That’s mostly because, years ago, a good friend of mine was transitioning from married life to single life and moving to a smaller place. He needed to downsize, and very reluctantly decided to part with some of his books. He sent me a message with a long list of titles and asked if I might be interested in buying a few to help him out.

Crunching the Numbers of a Slow Reading Month

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Crunching the Numbers of a “Slow” Reading Month

]Photo by Aaron Lefler on Unsplash

I got curious. The other day I mentioned that I haven’t really been reading a lot lately, and I tried to pin it on being too busy and too exhausted by the end of the day. Yes, there’s some truth to that — I havebeen very busy — but I still wanted to figure out whether this was an unusual reading year for me or not.

Trying to Read While Life Happens

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Trying to Read While Life Happens

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Yesterday, after the long day I had, my wife, one of my daughters, and I went to a jazz concert at UNC, something my daughter needed to attend for one of her classes. It was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with the UNC Jazz Band performing alongside special guest Alex Graham. Turns out the North Carolina Symphony was also in town performing in the larger, more modern adjacent theater, which meant it took us extra time to get there. Finding parking was especially hard, but thanks to the kindness of one attendant protecting the neighborhood lots from concert-goers, we managed to find a spot only a few minutes’ walk from the Moeser Auditorium.

I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading Habits. My Wallet Almost Didn’t Survive.

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading Habits. My Wallet Almost Didn’t Survive.

Okay, I confess—I was bored, somewhere between watching an episode of Such Brave Girls and reading, so I opened ChatGPT and asked:

Based on the titles below representing the last digital books I purchased from Amazon, what could be inferred about my reading style and preferences?

Skinbreaker #1
Alchemised
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

October Reading Wrap-Up: A Month of Chaos, Comics & Quiet Pages

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Thalia Ruiz on Unsplash

This month of October has been… a very busy one at work, and as a result, I didn’t spend nearly as much time reading as I usually do. Between all the additional stress and prep work required to handle some unexpected complications, I also managed to do a fair amount of writing, so something had to give.

When I wrapped up September, I said I wanted to read some scary books, maybe lean more into sci-fi and less into non-fiction, mostly because I felt like I needed a break from the real world. And if that was true in September, oh boy was it even more true in October.

Too Much Spanglish, Not Enough Story

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Call it a pet peeve of mine, but I see absolutely no point in writing paragraph after paragraph sprinkled with words from another language—liberally, even proudly—when it adds nothing to the story or style. A word or two here and there, especially terms of endearment, sure.

But when every paragraph has a handful of non-English words dropped in—say, five to ten per page—that’s hundreds of instances across a typical 300-page novel. It starts to feel less like creative flair and more like a recurring speed bump, pulling you out of the story every few lines just to reorient yourself. The constant code-switching becomes the story’s background noise, making you aware of the language instead of the emotion, pacing, or plot.

Because Reading Counts as Self-Care

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Busy day at work, so naturally I had to “blow off some steam” and buy new books, purely for balance, of course ;)

“Alchemised” by SenLinYu
“The Cemetery of Untold Stories” by Julia Alvarez
“Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work” by Melissa Valentine, Michael Bernstein (publishes tomorrow)

And as if that weren’t enough temptation, I just got notified that my library hold, “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver, is ready for pick up.

Week in Review — Week 40 of 2025

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This was a pretty intense week at work, but I managed to balance it out with intentional time at home with my family. I maintained my gym routine every morning and continued my reading streak, now at 2,134 days.

Monday

Monday was packed with meetings, including a scheduling mishap where two meetings with the same invite list were double-booked. “We joined one for 15 minutes, then dropped into the other while everyone else waited for us.”

The Books That Carried Me Through September 2025

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I had told my wife and kids that this September was going to be the month where I’d read all of Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Comedies, Histories, and Romances, starting with “The Tempest” which I’ve read a few times before. It started out slow, as I reacquainted myself with the “thous,” “wonders” and “wherefores,” but after a few pages I was back in the swing of things.

An Unexpected Detour

Instead of moving to “Hamlet” as planned, my wife suggested I read “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell. She didn’t like it much, but I gave it 5 stars. The novel’s exploration of Shakespeare’s family life and the death of his son Hamnet was deeply moving.

Don't Break the Chain

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t remember exactly when I first heard of the Don’t Break the Chain method (or technique, if that’s even what it is), but I remember that it was something people said would help me establish a habit that would stick and also keep me motivated to keep going.

The Origin Story

I asked ChatGPT–who still uses search engines these days?–to show me when it was first mentioned anywhere and it claimed that it was in an article by Brad Isaac for Lifehacker from 2007. I can tell you that I definitely did not read that article and it must’ve been in a book or maybe another article online? I don’t remember.

On Reading and writing

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This week I started reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, a book that has been mentioned a few times by people I usually interview for my weekly podcast as something that is both inspiring and has had a major impact on their lives and careers. After the third or forth time someone mentioned I finally broke down and got myself a copy at the local bookstore.