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 thought - he apparently planned for his body to be cryogenically preserved to be revived in the future when technology permitted.

 

[jian]

Just read Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - it’s a short read (60 pages) but damn if it doesn’t hit right in the feels, like a distilled modern version of A Christmas Carol. The writing is incredible, low-key and gentle but fierce. It’s about the Magdalene laundries and I thoroughly recommend it.

 

[Vael]

Just got Book 6 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series The Eye of the Bedlam Bride and Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis from the library.

 

[overgeeked]

Still reading, but ever so slowly in fits and starts. A house full of kittens in not conducive to my ADHD-addled brain being able to concentrate. Surprise. Also reading a few books that would elicit red text just by mentioning the titles.

In a now ironic twist, I started reading Gothic: A Very Short Introduction a few days ago to fill out some background info I didn’t already have before diving into a stack of Victorian Gothic novels. Turns out there were waves of gothic literature in 1790 and 1890. A 100 year gap or cycle. Looking at the next 100-year mark seems to confirm this with the absolute mayhem that was Anne Rice vampire novels and Vampire: The Masquerade in the 1990s. Stuff absolutely was produced in between, but those are the high-water marks.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Finished Batman: The Ultimate Evil yesterday, and while I don't think I'd call it a good book it was certainly an interesting one. I think even if I hadn't glanced at Andrew Vachss wikipedia page I'd have been able to tell he worked with abused children because this book is not subtle at all about what kind of story it is. There were times that felt too hamfisted, and there are plenty of descriptions of Batman's kit that felt unnecessary, and the prose was not really anything to write home about. But there were bits of dialogue that felt very realistic, and watching Bruce wrestle with whether Batman is even useful and the limitations of his personal code had enough appeal to keep me going.

 

[Parmandur]

I have the same starting point with Stephenson, but I had the opposite reaction to Anathem -- I loved the beginning, and it turned out that I liked the back half significantly less. Hopefully, if you stick with it, you'll continue to have a different experience than I did -- things do pick up, I just didn't find how they did particularly compelling.

I loved Anathem from start to finish, and love the pay-off at the end.

Might have been more fun having studied philosophy and theology at a graduate level? It is a crazy smart book.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I loved Anarhem from start to finish, and love the pay-off at the end.

Might have been more fun having studied philosophy and theology at a graduate level? It is a crazy smart book.

It's more than possible that I just didn't have the right background to connect with it. I liked it, but it's probably my least favorite of his books, so I'm absolutely willing to concede that it could be me and/or the moment I read it at.

 

[Parmandur]

It's more than possible that I just didn't have the right background to connect with it. I liked it, but it's probably my least favorite of his books, so I'm absolutely willing to concede that it could be me and/or the moment I read it at.

It was a great game seeing which historical philosophical viewpoints and philosophers he recreated for the secondary world, and then what he does with all that work...chefs kiss

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Trying a thing this week - 10 pages in each my graphic novel, fiction, non-ficiton, and game books before picking up computer