Optional's Blog
Last posted on the 21st of January, 2026.
Currently at 144 posts total.
Go to a specific section (/misc, /books, /fiction), or check out the full feed below.
-
From /books
All Systems Red | Martha Wells
Go to review… -
From /books
Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket | Hilma Wolitzer
Go to review… -
From /books
Der Belgische Konsul (orig. Premier sang) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /books
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics | Olivia Waite
Go to review… -
From /books
Das Meer der Aswang | Allan N. Derain
Go to review… -
From /books
BLAME! | written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei
Go to review… -
From /books
Audition | Katie Kitamura
Go to review… -
From /books
Awkwardness: A Theory | Alexandra Plakias
Go to review… -
From /misc
"AI" is like…
Go to post… -
From /misc
Obsidian Bases Tips and Tricks
Go to post… -
From /books
Permutation City | Greg Egan
Go to review… -
From /books
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept | Elizabeth Smart
Go to review… -
From /books
Prophet Song | Paul Lynch
Go to review… -
From /books
Lebensgeister (orig. "Sweet Hereafter") | Banana Yoshimoto
Go to review… -
From /books
Creation of the Gods (often also "Investiture of the Gods," orig. 封神演義) | translation by Gu Zhizhong
Go to review… -
From /books
Claimed! | Gertrude Barrows Bennett
Go to review… -
From /books
Seven Sons | Robert Windom, Kelvin Mao, illustrated by Jae Lee
Go to review… -
From /misc
Building A Better Keyboard
Go to post… -
From /books
21C Human | Arch Hades
Go to review… -
From /books
Happy End (orig. Riquet à la houppe) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /misc
Keyboards Are Terrible
Go to post… -
From /misc
You Need An Email Aliasing Service
Go to post… -
From /misc
Why You Should Give Kagi A Try
Go to post… -
From /fiction
Leave A Like
Go to story… -
From /misc
That Study About AI is Making People Dumber
Go to post… -
From /books
All About Love: New Visions | bell hooks
Go to review… -
From /misc
Why I switched from writefreely to zola
Go to post… -
From /books
The Light Fantastic | Terry Pratchett
Go to review… -
From /books
The Colour of Magic | Terry Pratchett
Go to review… -
From /books
Starship Troopers | Robert A. Heinlein
Go to review… -
From /books
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Susanna Clarke
Go to review… -
From /books
Ambivalenz (orig. Les prénoms épicènes) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /books
Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction | Michael Tanner
Go to review… -
From /books
Thirst (orig. Soif) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /books
The Wave | Todd Strasser
Go to review… -
From /books
The Eyes Are The Best Part | Monika Kim
Go to review… -
From /books
Notes on Complexity | Neil Thiese
Go to review… -
From /books
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England | Brandon Sanderson
Go to review… -
From /fiction
November 2023 Overview and eBook
Go to story… -
From /books
Gods of Want | K-Ming Chang
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 12: Allianz der Hoffnung | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 11: Das Blaue vom Himmel | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 10: Die Bio-Bombe | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 9: Karawane der Verlorenen | Sylke Brandt
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 8: Reise ins Blaue | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 7: Krötenrebellion | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 6: Blutige Erkenntnis | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Zombies in Western Culture | John Vervaeke, Filip Miscevic, Christopher Mastropietro
Go to review… -
From /misc
Some Thoughts on Managing Personal Projects
Go to post… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 5: Das Ende Der Gewissheit | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 4: Fabrik der Zahlen | Sylke Brandt
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 3: Herr des Meeres, Herr des Blutes | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Die Scareman-Saga 2: Der Eine | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /books
Ein Scareman erwacht | Dirk van den Boom
Go to review… -
From /misc
What's so Great About «the forest jar»?
Go to post… -
From /books
Torture The Artist | Joey Goebel
Go to review… -
From /books
Bluebeard's Castle | Anna Biller
Go to review… -
From /books
Wintersmith | Terry Pratchett
Go to review… -
From /books
Victory City | Salman Rushdie
Go to review… -
From /books
Veronika Decides to Die (orig. Veronika Decide Morrer) | Paulo Coelho
Go to review… -
From /books
Tokyo Fiancée (orig. Ni d’Ève, ni d’Adam) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /books
The Vegetarian (orig. 채식주의자) | Han Kang
Go to review… -
From /books
The Stepford Wives | Ira Levin
Go to review… -
From /books
The Enemy's Cosmetique (orig. Cosmétique de l'ennemi) | Amelie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /books
No One Is Talking About This | Patricia Lookwood
Go to review… -
From /books
Antichista (orig. Antéchrista) | Amélie Nothomb
Go to review… -
From /fiction
Escaping Neo Crete
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Carry On
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Rainy Days
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Theme Park
Go to story… -
From /books
Extremely Online | Taylor Lorenz
Go to review… -
From /fiction
No Loose Ends
Go to story… -
From /fiction
A Night In Vegas
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Quartz' First Theory
Go to story… -
From /books
The Listening Society | Hanzi Freinacht
Go to review… -
From /books
Kassandra | Christa Wolf
Go to review… -
From /fiction
Escaping Crete
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Father's Workshop
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Long Way Home
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Martha
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Fenco
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Cracked Egg
Go to story… -
From /fiction
At The Café
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Sweet Like Honey
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Talent Show
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Egg
Go to story… -
From /fiction
A Dance With The Prince
Go to story… -
From /fiction
A Metamorphosis
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Abandoned House
Go to story… -
From /misc
Installing Castopod 1.6.5 w/ MySQL and behind Caddy
Go to post… -
From /fiction
Hello Spring
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Dead Lord
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Buddy Programme
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Tea Party
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Mike
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Woodcarver
Go to story… -
From /fiction
The Woodcarver's Daughter
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Respite
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Bean Speech
Go to story… -
From /fiction
Clara
Go to story… -
From /books
Treacle Walker | Alan Garner
Go to review… -
From /misc
Optional's Guide to Custom Emoji in Obsidian
Go to post… -
From /books
Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare
Go to review… -
From /books
Pick me Girls | Sophie Passmann
Go to review… -
From /books
Alte Sorten | Ewald Arenz
Go to review… -
From /books
Diary of An Oxygen Thief | Anonymous
Go to review… -
From /books
Men Without Women | Haruki Murakami
Go to review… -
From /books
The Princess Bride | S. Morgenstern (Abridgement by William Goldman)
Go to review… -
From /misc
New Sub-Blog for Book Reviews
Go to post… -
From /books
The Dispossessed | Ursula K. Le Guin
Go to review… -
From /books
The Cockroach | Ian McEwan
Go to review… -
From /books
Paper Romance | Arch Hades
Go to review… -
From /books
Metamorphoses | Ovid, translation by Charles Martin
Go to review… -
From /books
Magdalenas Sünde | Romana Ganzoni
Go to review… -
From /books
How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports | Valerie Aurora, Mary Gardiner
Go to review… -
From /books
Digitale Bildkulturen | Annekathrin Kohout, Wolfgang Ullrich, Tilman Baumgärtel, Dirk von Gehlen, Diana Weis, Jörg Scheller, Roland Meyer
Go to review… -
From /books
Dies ist mein Letztes Lied | Lena Richter
Go to review… -
From /books
Desire | Haruki Murakami
Go to review… -
From /books
Der Triumph der Waldrebe in Europa | Clemens J. Setz
Go to review… -
From /books
Der Sprung | Simone Lappert
Go to review… -
From /books
Der Process | Franz Kafka
Go to review… -
From /books
Arcadia | Arch Hades
Go to review… -
From /books
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland | Lewis Carroll
Go to review… -
From /books
A Room of One's Own | Virginia Woolf
Go to review… -
From /books
A Philosophy of Loneliness | Lars Svendsen
Go to review… -
From /books
A Hat Full of Sky | Terry Pratchett
Go to review… -
From /misc
An Optional selection of Calibration Tools for Pen and Paper Sessions
Go to post… -
From /misc
Only Bad Posts From Now On
Go to post… -
From /misc
You Can't Learn From Outlier Events
Go to post… -
From /misc
AI-Assisted Learning
Go to post… -
From /misc
Lasers & Feelings Game Wrap
Go to post… -
From /misc
That Username Is Taken
Go to post… -
From /misc
The Unlikable "Heroes" of «Belle» (2021)
Go to post… -
From /misc
An Optional Intro to Pen and Paper
Go to post… -
From /misc
Learning in Life, as Seen in «Boss Level» (2021)
Go to post… -
From /misc
An diesem Film ist nichts «Wunderschön» (2022)
Go to post… -
From /misc
"Immoral Behaviour Is Good, Actually," Says Professional Ethicist
Go to post… -
From /misc
Meeting Up At Your Password
Go to post… -
From /misc
Experiencing Personal Progress
Go to post… -
From /misc
A Critique Of The New Pokémon Short
Go to post… -
From /misc
What Is This Blog?
Go to post… -
From /misc
How do you experience progress in your life?
Go to post…