What are you reading in 2025?

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[jian]

That’s what Goodreads is for.

 

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That’s what Goodreads is for.

"Want to read" is like a hit list

 

[SkidAce]

I love me some short novels, and I love me some long novels.

The Great Gatsby is near perfect, and it weighs in at under 200 pages. Frankenstein is one of the most impactful novels ever written, and it is similarly short. But Lord of the Rings is impossible at that length (though props to Ralph Bakshi for condensing it about as much as possible).

I can't say that I have a discernible taste. My two favourite 2025 novels thus far are James, which is short, and The Devils, which is long. Either it grabs me or it doesn't. I will say that I am more likely to persevere with a shorter novel, even if it isn't great.

The Devils by Ambercrombie? Waiting for paperback here...

 

[overgeeked]

And they make those 1000 page tomes much more enjoyable because you only have the weight of your e-reader!

Yep. Especially when you’re lugging around a few hundred to a few thousand ebooks on your ereader like I do. My wife keeps 2-3 books on hers as she systematically reads what she wants. I just dump them all on my ereader, sort into collections, and read whatever strikes my fancy in the moment. Gone are the days of being bored by a book and being stuck with it until I get home.

This is why they’ve become essential for me, or at least the #1 reason for it. My brain is finicky, and too many fine books on my shelves tsk literally 5-10 times longer to read then the same text in a configured-for-Bruces reader.

My Kindle library runs to several thousand volumes, about half of which are downloaded onto my Paperwhite, sorted into about 30 collections. (A few collections come and go as I work out what sort things my subconscious want to lump and what it wants to split.) my phone has a few hundred downloads st any given moment. I love this power more than I can say.

Ereaders and ebooks are amazing.

 

[overgeeked]

Also, as an aside, this is one of the few consistently positive and enjoyable threads on the site. It would be great if posters here didn't start falling into the general ENWorld culture of endlessly fighting anyone who dares disagree with anything they say. Different people like different things. Let them. Let it go.

 

[prabe]

I find places with physical books easier and more aesthetically pleasing to browse, and I find the experience of reading a physical book to be more engaging. Those are my preferences and needn't be relevant to anyone else, and shouldn't be taken as slagging on e-books and e-readers.

I'm also a person who has packed for a two-week vacation by putting ten big books in a second suitcase ...

 

[Mannahnin]

Jordan was a master of languid, luxurious prose. Having met him and listened to him speak at length in person at a signing, he spoke exactly how he wrote (a trait I have often observed of major writers, like Martin, Sanderson, or Pratchett). Prose is an artform, and enjoyment of the actual words and flavor of the language is a major reason I read, as much as the content itself.

The quality of the prose is one of the reasons I love Tolkien, Vance, Wolfe and Stephenson.

If I derived anywhere near that pleasure from Jordan's, no doubt I would have made the time! I guess I envy you in that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I first sampled Jordon's WoT in a novella included in the 1998 Legends anthology, and it was enough to convince me that his writing was a waste of my time. I've really loved some long works, though, including LotR, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and the entire 20 book series of Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin tales (though most of the individual installments are of short to moderate length). I've read Neil Stephenson's Baroque Cycle twice, and I've lost track of how many times I've read his Cryptonomicon. But length like that is IME infrequently necessary or justified.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is amazing. Her health issues probably mean we'll never get a full sized sequel, although her shorter works have been great as well, including the very odd little Christmas book she put out last year.

 

[jian]

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is amazing. Her health issues probably mean we'll never get a full sized sequel, although her shorter works have been great as well, including the very odd little Christmas book she put out last year.

I quite liked The Ladies of Grace Adieu, even if it is basically The Witches of Eastwick (but that's no bad thing).