What are you reading in 2025?

[prabe]

He's definitely done some good action scenes, especially in the more recent books but yeah I'd broadly agree.

Personally I think the biggest weakness with RoL in general is that Aaronovitch tries to be critical of the British elites (who, to be clear, do need criticising!), and of imperialism and colonialism, especially from the British empire, but there's a real tension because he's also very keen on the sort of... I don't know quite what the words are, but like "regalia" and "vibes" of the elites and colonialism, maybe? And also, very unfortunately, is extremely keen on the Romans, and has a sort of very common smug-and-shortsighted British "How dare you criticise the Romans!" attitude, which is completely shared with (and indeed originates with) those very elites, and this is severe and relevant enough that it actively damages the plotting of at least two (arguably three) books, and damages the plausibility of a really major character (and makes Peter himself seem like a bit of an airhead, which I dunno maybe that's fine, he never exactly seems like a genius).

My wife has enjoyed the books a lot; I haven't read them, but it seems (from things she's read to me) as though at least some of the expressed attitudes about architecture might be consistent with what you're talking about, here.

 

[the Jester]

Red Rising was great. Don't want to spoil any more of it, so come back when you are done with at least first trilogy (I read up to what was released at that point, and then never got back to it. Happened with the Expanse too) and we can compare notes...

Well, I went to the library this morning, and all the books in the series (which they had two copies of) were checked out, so I guess I am going to have to wait. Got an Honorverse book and Five Broken Blades instead.

 

[Alzrius]

Slowly working my way through some larger works, I was "inspired" by current events to read Federalist Paper no. 29, by Alexander Hamilton.

Without getting too political, this essay shows what the thinking was for the 2nd Amendment, which strikes me as being quite different from contemporary discourse regarding that particular right.

 

[Hriston]

Paracelsus' stuff is wild. There are some great ideas for gaming in it, though.

Yup, it's given me some great insight into LotR, D&D, and fantasy in general. I also really enjoyed hearing the voice of this rather curious individual from the sixteenth century. This wasn't published during his lifetime, so I imagine he wrote it just to put his thoughts down on the subject.

 

[Alzrius]

I just finished reading Linda Rodriguez McRobbie's 2013 book Princesses Behaving Badly.

This book is a collection of (extremely) brief biographies of women who were princesses—some legitimately born into royalty, some of whom faked their title, others who were dubbed "princess" by the press, etc.—but did not, as the book's back cover says, live happily ever after.

In terms of formatting, this book reminded me a lot of Ben Thompson's Badass, which I've spoken of before. Specifically in that this is essentially a biographical anthology, giving a snapshot of people who lived interesting lives. The major difference is that these are princesses rather than warriors (though some of the former were also the latter).

The other major difference is that McRobbie avoids using Thompson's excessive hyperbole, instead favoring a straightforward (albeit still casual) tone. Whereas Thompson would describe a military leader as "the toughest sonuvabitch in a group that regularly ate plutonium and crapped nuclear warheads," McRobbie would say something to the effect of "she proved she was every inch a soldier, often more so than her male counterparts." Which style is more palatable is likely a matter of individual taste.

Also like Thompson, McRobbie's book is divided into several sections with an overall theme, e.g. warrior princesses, princesses who went mad, party princesses, etc. There are even several "mini" thematic groupings, categories where each entry is only a few paragraphs long, rather than pages (such as "princesses who renounced royalty for love," or "princesses who earned their title by marrying into royalty on account of being rich," etc.).

Overall, it's an interesting look at the various ways royalty (or the pretense of it) has shaped the lives of women around the world through the ages. None of these stories are particularly deep, but all are quite interesting.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Ada Palmer fans, apparently there is a new non-fiction book - Inventing the Rennaissance. Interesting "Big Idea" on Scalzi's blog today.

The Big Idea: Ada Palmer

Author and historian Ada Palmer was asked a seemingly simple question and, of course, not only was the answer to the question more complicated than it seemed, but the question itself was more than …

whatever.scalzi.com

 

[Clint_L]

Interesting list:

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

As voted on by 503 book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Alzrius]

I just finished reading Metaphysics, by Aristotle...sort of.

A friend of mine is moving, and is divesting herself of several things that she's decided aren't worth keeping. This includes a set of thirteen Classics Club books that her great-grandmother purchased when they originally came out in the 1940s. I was extremely touched to receive such a gift (she knows I'm a bibliophile), and immediately dug into them, making an arbitrary decision to begin with Metaphysics from the volume entitled On Man in the Universe, which collects several works by Aristotle.

The thing is, the selections themselves are apparently truncated versions of the full works. Or at least, Metaphysics is, which is somewhat disappointing. Of course, that might be for the best, since this one was not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. Having finished what parts were there, I have the distinct impression that I need to go back and read it again in order to develop a better appreciation.

On a tangential note, there's a brief reference to Empedocles in there, a pre-Socratic philosopher whose work is still known today, as he's the one who proposed that matter was composed of air, earth, fire, and water. Less well known is that he also theorized that there were two forces which acted upon those elements; the one that mixed them he termed "Love," and the one that divided them was given the moniker "Strife."

It's almost like he came up with the idea that the Positive and Negative Energy Planes are also part of the Inner Planes!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished reading Effinger's A Fire In the Sun. The second book in the Budayeen Cycle matches the quality of the first book. The series began in 1986, so while some of the language used hasn't aged well, it's still impressively inclusive for the 80s, with multiple trans characters, and a majority Middle Eastern cast of characters.

Now I'm reading Pat Cadigan's Mindplayers.

 

[Reynard]

I just read Black God's Drums. It was a little uneven and felt very much like a first novel, but there was some potential there in its magical steampunk alternate history New Orleans.