What are you reading in 2025?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Finished Tehanu. I definitely understand why people were thrown by this entry in the Earthsea series; we knew that the setting would change at the end of The Farther Shore, but Le Guin is making some big swings for the second set of three books of the (eventual) six-book series. I liked the revelations about the world and seeing what happened to Ged and Tenar, but it's definitely different than what's come so far.

Le Guin had some pretty sharp words in the afterword for people who were upset at the book. It's not a surprise that the author of The Left Hand of Darkness had more to say about gender roles, especially later in her life, after living several more decades as a woman.

Looking forward to the last two books, as I have no idea where she's going with this, which is always exciting for me.

 

[jian]

Just finished Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a truly harrowing autobiography which goes into significant detail abouf her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew, and many others, as well as her long journey through depositions, lawsuits, online abuse, and media focus, all to be heard and believed. It’s not an easy read by any means but if you can face it, I recommend it.

A bizarre and horrifying detail is that she didn’t believe that Epstein was buried in an unmarked grave as is generally believed - he apparently planned for his body to be cryogenically preserved to be revived in the future when technology permitted.