In this week's P.O. Box:

This fall I’ve been trying to ride the wave of reading momentum that we started this offseason with the PO Box Book Club.

A lot of the habits I built up—no phone in the bedroom, reading before bed—have fully stuck, but I do miss some of the accountability aspects. It was nice to have my feet to the fire with weekly check-ins to finish books and stay on pace to meet our goal.

On the flip side, I have appreciated being able to bail on a book I wasn’t enjoying. That was something I wanted to do once or twice during our book club, but the nature of the club meant I would be rugging everyone after selecting it as a group read.

I had forgotten how freeing it is to ditch a book you aren’t enjoying. For years, not having this “skill” made it hard to get in a groove reading. My completionist tendencies resulted in me stubbornly staring at a half-finished book that I was no longer enjoying but wouldn’t let myself abandon. And then my reading would stall out altogether.

These days I’m quick to give a book the hook if I’m not enjoying it. I’m not sure I required “permission” to get to this point, but reading some of Naval’s thoughts on this dynamic five or so years ago gave me the push I needed in this department:

The most recent book that abandoned (and pained me to do so) was the new novel by Sally Rooney, Intermezzo. I’ve loved a lot of her earlier stuff (Conversations With Friends & Normal People are my favorites), but this newest one alienated me right from the get go.

In this book, her writing takes on an entirely different style. It’s all rapid-fire, stream of consciousness and choppy sentences. I saw someone describe it as a “told by Yoda” vibe that was spot on.

Anyways, the point isn’t to bag on Rooney, but just remind myself that it’s okay to ditch a book—even one you had high expectations for.

We’ve moved on to Erik Larson’s new book—The Demon Of Unrest—about the dawn of the Civil War. His book Devil In The White City was one of our favorites from the Book Club, so I was excited to dive in and I’m already pretty hooked.

I’ll let ya know if I ditch or not, though.

💎 Week 12 hidden gems (5 DFS sleepers & 3 draft angles). We got five DFS sleepers, a couple pick 'ems, and three angles to attack in Battle Royale drafts. Check it out on the Deposit Kingdom channel.

🏆Fantasy Life roundup. Five newsletters and my Week 12 DFS column, which features three unique stacks for tournaments.

🤯 BLOCK PARTY: Week 12 DFS Strategy & Top GPP Plays w/ JMToWin. A good week to be picky.

⏰ OOTC: Week 12 Battle Royale Strategy, Sleepers & Pick ‘Ems. The one where Jon tries to get us to play Adam Thielen.

☣ LOLZ w/ Pat Mayo. We tried to get inside the minds of America’s youth when it comes to DFS and sports betting.

🚢 SHIPCAST: The Wild Snow Game w/ Nez. We finally broke the curse and hit some pick ‘ems.

💪 THE SWOLECAST: Week 12 first look. Lots of offensive line talk in this one.

📈 STAT CHASING: Usage, Trends & Week 12 DFS Plays. Jauan Jennings, league winner.

☕ POURTFOLIO REVIEW: Lions & Taysom Go Nuclear (Week 11 DFS Recap). We got another bink.

Here is a Week 12 Pick ‘Em round up if you’d like to tail:

Deposit Kingdom:

Off & On The Clock:

2 shows on tap this weekend, both available for Youtube members:

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