What are you reading in 2025?

[Reynard]

I started "The 10 Cent Plague." I love comics history, and where it dovetails with postwar paranoia, more the better.

 

[jian]

Have finished Someone to Make a Nest In by John Wiswell, mostly because it was the only Hugo novel nominee this year I hadn’t read, and that never happens (that I’ve read most of the nominees, I mean). And it’s very good. The short version is “shapeshifting monster falls in love with monster hunter”, but it’s much more cosy and life-affirming than any book with that much body horror I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know if it will win (my money is on The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, another debut novel about family) but it’s a very solid contender.

 

[prabe]

Have finished Someone to Make a Nest In by John Wiswell, mostly because it was the only Hugo novel nominee this year I hadn’t read, and that never happens (that I’ve read most of the nominees, I mean). And it’s very good. The short version is “shapeshifting monster falls in love with monster hunter”, but it’s much more cosy and life-affirming than any book with that much body horror I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know if it will win (my money is on The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, another debut novel about family) but it’s a very solid contender.

Yeah, my money's on The Ministry of Time, as well, though my opinion of it was very much at odds with the overall zeitgeist.

 

[jian]

Yeah, my money's on The Ministry of Time, as well, though my opinion of it was very much at odds with the overall zeitgeist.

Really? Did people not like it? Which book would people prefer to win this year, do you think?

My ranking would be:

• The Ministry of Time
• Service Model
• Someone to Build a Nest In
• A Sorceress Comes to Call
• Alien Clay
• The Tainted Cup

 

[prabe]

Really? Did people not like it? Which book would people prefer to win this year, do you think?

My ranking would be:

• The Ministry of Time
• Service Model
• Someone to Build a Nest In
• A Sorceress Comes to Call
• Alien Clay
• The Tainted Cup

Oh, people really really liked it, and I expect it to win. I thought it was a cluttered pile that tried to do and say a lot of things, but never really managed to tell a story. I am aware I am an outlier, here. It's the only nominated novel I've read this year, I have no preferred candidate.

 

[Nellisir]

Just read Once-Was-Willem, by M R Carey (Mike Carey). It's...odd. Surprisingly light for a book that includes a visit to Hell and hanging out in a divine skull.

I like Carey's work a lot, but this is a weaker one. 3/5

It's also pretty much a JLA/Avengers team-building thing, enough to make me wonder if it's based off of a comic pitch.

Have begun to reread Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde, in anticipation of reading the sequel. I forgot how absolutely bonkers his writing is.

 

[overgeeked]

Have begun to reread Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde, in anticipation of reading the sequel. I forgot how absolutely bonkers his writing is

I loved what I’ve read of his. It’s been a minute. I should try a reread at some point, too.

 

[Nellisir]

I loved what I’ve read of his. It’s been a minute. I should try a reread at some point, too.

Shades of Grey is different from the Thursday Next series - it feels very similar at least initially, but I vaguely remember how it ends and there's an absolutely bonkers amount of world-building that must have been going on behind the scenes to get from A to B. I honestly don't think I could do it.

However, I also remember that I absolutely loved it, so....