Ben - More Words About Books

July 13, 2025

A Theory About Why Ash Harms Fey in ACOTAR

In Sarah J Maas’s books, Ash wood is the only weakness the fey have that humans are able to exploit. Maas has yet to offer an explanation for why this material, of all substances on Earth, can disrupt the fey’s supernatural healing abilities. Anyone who listened to our recent episode on A Court of Mist and Fury will know that...

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July 6, 2025

Review Etiquette: Should You Review a Book You DNF’d?

This is the first in a series about good reviewing etiquette. In the various spheres of book social media there have been many heated debates about how reviewers ought to approach a book. The conversation tends to pit authors against readers, especially readers who engage in review-based content creation (that’s me!). I’d like to explore this conversation and why it...

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June 15, 2025

A Very Special Blog Post (Yaya Sisterhood)

Content Warning: Alcoholism, Child Abuse Younger listeners may not know this, but in the 90’s there was a phenomenon of “Very Special Episodes” where ordinarily funny sitcoms would tackle a very heavy and serious topic. These episodes were gut punches that came out of no where and everyone felt terrible afterward. That got me thinking, for no reason in particular,...

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May 18, 2025

Five Years of Words About Books and Thrawn

I am older than I was 5 years ago. I suppose most of us are. It’s strange to me to remember that there was a time before Words About Books. Believe it or not, working on this has become a part of my daily routine. Literally every day I am either recording, editing, reading, or writing something for this project....

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May 5, 2025

What is a Locked Room Mystery?

This is going to contain major spoilers for You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego (and to a lesser extent And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie). It’s not a bad book and this is a rare case where spoilers will affect how much you’ll enjoy it. If you plan to read it at all, please read the book...

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April 26, 2025

What Would Skeletor Actually Do?

The short answer to this question is: whatever it takes. The long answer requires a more nuanced understanding of the man within the skull. Skeletor is undeniably a villain, but that is not all that he is. In his pursuit of power he has committed many crimes. He has also developed ground breaking new technologies, mastered ancient magicks, lead armies,...

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April 16, 2025

On Tax Policies and Abandoned Epics

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, George R.R. Martin once said the following: Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real...

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April 15, 2025

So I got my first copyright strike…

I don’t think of myself as a YouTuber. From the perspective of Words About Books, YouTube is just one of a dozen directories that this podcast is listed in. Despite this, it is by far the most time consuming directory to engage with. YouTube represents a unique problem and opportunity. It is not well-suited to podcast content, but other platforms...

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January 16, 2025

Ben’s 2024 Year in Books

The overwhelming majority of the books I read in 2024 were covered on Words About Books. There were several books and novel-length manga I read that I did not make podcast content on. I thought it might be fun to go over them here. If the presence of so much manga surprises you, then you might not know that I...

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October 12, 2024

Dune Post Mortem: Zen and the Art of Thinking Machines

As of this month, Words About Books has officially covered all of the Dune books written by Frank Herbert. It’s a strange feeling. Words About Books can often be a sarcasm-filled mess of rants, interruptions, and audio memes. In addition to its being a difficult environment for emotional honesty, it can be difficult to say exactly what you mean, in...

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More Words About Books

Author: Ben

A Theory About Why Ash Harms Fey in ACOTAR

Review Etiquette: Should You Review a Book You DNF’d?

A Very Special Blog Post (Yaya Sisterhood)

Five Years of Words About Books and Thrawn

What is a Locked Room Mystery?

What Would Skeletor Actually Do?

On Tax Policies and Abandoned Epics

So I got my first copyright strike…

Ben’s 2024 Year in Books

Dune Post Mortem: Zen and the Art of Thinking Machines

Ben's bookshelf: currently-reading