What are you reading in 2025?

[Eyes of Nine]

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is a lovely little sci-fi novella about authenticity, prejudice, identity, and robots. There’s just a lot there, set in SF in the near future after California has successfully seceded from the US and given rights to robots, some of whom decide to try running a biang biang noodle shop. Thoroughly recommended.

big fan of Newitz's non-fiction

 

[Autumnal]

Great opening sentences, today featuring Peter H. Wilson’s Europe’s Tragedy: The Thirty Years War—

Shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday 23 May 1618, Vilém Slavata found himself hanging from a window of the Hradschin castle in Prague. This was not a predicament the 46-year-old aristocrat had encountered before.

 

[overgeeked]

Great opening sentences, today featuring Peter H. Wilson’s Europe’s Tragedy: The Thirty Years War—

It really, really is.

The Defenestration of Prague.

Defenestrations of Prague - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Autumnal]

The goddess of defenestration never closes a door without opening a window.

 

[overgeeked]

I started reading Perry Rhodan #1 for the third or fourth time. The English translations only go up to #150 or so. Here's to hoping my German dramatically improves in the next few years or someone decides to buy the English rights to the...checks notes...about 3341 novels published so far...just for the main series.

 

[Cadence]

Finished Nicola Upson's "Angel with Two Faces", the second in her mystery series starring a fictionalized version of Josephine Tey. I really, really like Upson's writing, but the topic of this one ended up being one I'm not a huge fan of - incest, suspicions of incest, and rape-incest. Saying I hope for a more pleasant murder in the next volume seems odd, but its true.

Started Wesley Chu's "Art of Legend" (#3 and final volume in his "War Arts Saga"). I loved the first book of this fantasy martial arts trilogy, the second was good but felt a bit rushed at times, and this one is off to a great start. The first two volumes of the series have me looking forward to playing a shadow monk, and wishing someone would make a 5e sourcebook for the setting.

 

[overgeeked]

Finished Nicola Upson's "Angel with Two Faces", the second in her mystery series starring a fictionalized version of Josephine Tey. I really, really like Upson's writing, but the topic of this one ended up being one incest, suspicions of incest, and rape-incest. Saying I hope for a more pleasant murder in the next volume seems odd, but its true.

Yeah. There are definitely subgenres and styles of murder mysteries that are too much for me despite being a fan of the genre generally. The more gritty and horror-themed murder mysteries are too much. Some of the Nordic Noirs go right up to that line, others cross it before the opening scene is finished.

 

[Cadence]

Yeah. There are definitely subgenres and styles of murder mysteries that are too much for me despite being a fan of the genre generally. The more gritty and horror-themed murder mysteries are too much. Some of the Nordic Noirs go right up to that line, others cross it before the opening scene is finished.

This one wasn't graphic about it, but it seems to be a theme that a lot of the British mysteries on TV (for example) hit for at least one episode. I'm assuming it doesn't repeat and I'll be trying the third in the series.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

This one wasn't graphic about it, but it seems to be a theme that a lot of the British mysteries on TV (for example) hit for at least one episode
I'm assuming it doesn't repeat and I'll be trying the third in the series.

I stick with cozies as much as possible... Or Rex Stout.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

The goddess of defenestration never closes a door without opening a window.