Consider this a mini-blog.
(Feel free to move along if you're not interested.)
I'd like to share what D&D stuff I'm reading along with any comments I have. Maybe it will inspire you to read the same stuff and it can be a bit like a reading group. Feel free to add any of your own observations.

So now I'm reading the Fiend Folio (1st ed). Before now, I've only ever glanced through it. So far I've read the A's and B's.

What's surprising is that the creatures are actually interesting. But on the other hand, a lot of them are very specific and to my mind are kind of unplayable.

nev wrote:I recently finished reading the original Monster Manual. (It's easy to dip into this kind of book when I've got spare minutes - like when I'm rocking Xander to sleep.)

You do that too, eh.  Which printing of the MM, by the way?  I'd love to join the book club I don't think there's a single monster in the MM I haven't heard of, but anything's possible.

nev wrote:It's a 5th printing MM (the most common) - wizard logo and states 4th edition but has TM. But I also occasionally compared it to my 1st print UK softcover.

Some monsters I hadn't heard of, or couldn't describe if asked, or just odd to see - Masher, Irish Deer, Morkoth, Slithering Tracker

Gotta admit the Masher had me stumped.  Not a very common adversary.

As an aside, I'm currently reading "Night Masks", the third book in the Cleric Quintet series by RA Salvatore. This one's not too bad - the whole thing with the Book of Deneir is interesting. It's not exactly fantastic though. But it does beat the second book. That just felt a bit silly to me - some elven 'kingdom' which only has a few hundred people? What's up with that?

In fact that seems to be a major downfall of Salvatore - he can do the intimate, small group stuff but when it comes to describing large populations/cities/big wars, he's crap. Hmmmm I wonder if Bob's ever visited the acaeum. Sorry Bob!