What are you reading in 2025?

[Autumnal]

Whoops, duplicate post.

I agree that Doppelgänger is a fascinating and worthwhile read.

 

[Retros_x]

Sanderson himself has talked about how larger books are selling better and better because a lot of readers want that bang for their buck.

That is true and this "bang-for-the-buck" mentality makes me sad and increases my anti-capitalism and cultural-pessimistic tendencies. I think its the wrong mentality for enjoying culture. Because of that we get unedited fantasy tomes, 120+ hours open world video games with tedious grinding gameplay, 3hour movies of superheroes exchanging banalities in dull dialogue etc. Everything today seems to be either optimized to our dying attention span or optimized to block as much of our time as possible. Another aspect of modern society that seems to grow more to binar, polar opposites and losing everything inbetween.

Nooooooo, the hand feel of a giant fat book is so delightful. The heft, the sensation of turning the pages. E-readers are souless, for me.

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.

I love physical books and will continue to make space for a bunch of them in my home.

I love e-readers, the brought back my reading habit, I love having a light e-reader especially for reading on travel, commute or in the dark (to not wake up my partner in bed). I also love to borrow books from my library on my e-reader. But I also love bookshops and actual libraries for browsing and getting inspired, I love the smell of a book, I love taking notes in my books, I love having a physical library in my home where I can enjoy my caveman collector tendency. So I just use both. I use my e-reader to read a lot of the heavy books, on the road, for merely entertaining books (no notekeeping) and for unknown authors I discovered in library or on sale in the shop. But for my beloved authors or surprising 5-star books I always buy a physical copy (hardcover if possible) to enjoy at home.

Path of Daggers might be the book where Jofdan most effectively conveyed the phenomenal experience of being in the military facing combat in Vietnam.

I have to say this is the first sentence I've ever read about WoT that makes me a bit curious. Everything I've read or heard about WoT including this thread makes me think its a boring slog of default Tokien-copies fantasy and the fact that Sanderson wrote the ending also disheartened me, but this made me a bit curious!

Just started Katabasis by R. F. Kuang...already in the first few pages, this may be the smartest book

I've heard also some critics complained that Kuang is too referential and "look-at-me, I am an academic". But I love the premise and I loved "Yellowface" - I already bought a beautiful hardcover and its sitting on my TBR stack. Looking forward for your impressions!

 

[Autumnal]

I’ve been dangerously angry at political stuff today, and Hailey Piper is being, once again, good for helping me focus that feeling and discharge it via fiction. This is some great writing:

Hers was a conditional humanity. Not the sort where she demanded better of herself, but where the world demanded she prove her worth. She could be human if every stranger found she measured up to the right expectations.

Am I nice enough that they’ll let me live?

 

[Parmandur]

That is true and this "bang-for-the-buck" mentality makes me sad and increases my anti-capitalism and cultural-pessimistic tendencies. I think its the wrong mentality for enjoying culture. Because of that we get unedited fantasy tomes, 120+ hours open world video games with tedious grinding gameplay, 3hour movies of superheroes exchanging banalities in dull dialogue etc. Everything today seems to be either optimized to our dying attention span or optimized to block as much of our time as possible. Another aspect of modern society that seems to grow more to binar, polar opposites and losing everything inbetween.

I mean, it is what itbis: I would note that longer books are not necessarily "unedited", because again, length is a virtue and books are not inherently improved by beong shortened.

I have to say this is the first sentence I've ever read about WoT that makes me a bit curious. Everything I've read or heard about WoT including this thread makes me think its a boring slog of default Tokien-copies fantasy and the fact that Sanderson wrote the ending also disheartened me, but this made me a bit curious!

The Wheel of Time starts with some Tolkienian elements, but overall a closer comparison would be Frank Herbert or George R. R. Martin. Jordan did two combat tours in Vietnam as the gunner on an Apache helicopter, before using his GI bill to get an advanced degree in nuclear physics, sooooo he had a few things to say about the world. Really the entire series is an elaborate set-up for a massive wargame scenario, as he was an Old School wargamer. And Sanderson does a very good job getting the ball over the finish line, it is what made his reputation, though you can tell often who h parts were him and not Jordan (he lacks the insane Vietnam vet edge for a few characters).

I've heard also some critics complained that Kuang is too referential and "look-at-me, I am an academic". But I love the premise and I loved "Yellowface" - I already bought a beautiful hardcover and its sitting on my TBR stack. Looking forward for your impressions!

I mean, the book is very smart, I can see some people bounce off of it hard.

 

[LordBP]

Jordan did two combat tours in Vietnam as the gunner on an Apache helicopter

Just a small correction. Apache helicopters weren't used in Vietnam.

Believe he was a door gunner on an Iroquois/Huey helicopter.

 

[SkidAce]

I mean, it is what itbis: I would note that longer books are not necessarily "unedited", because again, length is a virtue and books are not inherently improved by beong shortened.

... And Sanderson does a very good job getting the ball over the finish line, it is what made his reputation, though you can tell often who h parts were him and not Jordan (he lacks the insane Vietnam vet edge for a few characters)...

I strongly disagree (politely) with the bolded part.

It was his reputation that got him the task of finishing the series, and in one of the final books he wrote to end the series, he mentions how thrilled he was was to be able to do it.

I have the preface around here somewhere...ah...

 

[Parmandur]

Just a small correction. Apache helicopters weren't used in Vietnam.

Believe he was a door gunner on an Iroquois/Huey helicopter.

I am sure you are right, thank you.

I strongly disagree (politely) with the bolded part.

It was his reputation that got him the task of finishing the series, and in one of the final books he wrote to end the series, he mentions how thrilled he was was to be able to do it.

I have the preface around here somewhere...ah...

View attachment 421798

Well, I mean, he was a published author already and I am sure would have had a solid career...but delivering on Wheel of Time meant he inherited Jordan's fandom, to the extent that Stormlight Archives follows the same sales patterns held by Wheel of Time. Also doubtful Stormlight Srchives could exist as it does without the blank check he earned for delivering a successful conclusion for Tor. It really supercharged his career.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Finished Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein, which is about how our author (a Canadian who writes about equality and climate change) sometimes gets confused with Naomi Wolf (an American who went from liberal feminist to far-right conspiracy theorist). She cites a poem from Twitter about the confusion:

If your Naomi be Klein
You’re doing just fine
If your Naomi be Wolf
Oh, buddy, woooff.

It’s an interesting and quite personal discussion about identity, branding, social media, how liberals get radicalised to the far-right*, and more far-reaching issues such as capitalism, anti-Semitism (both are Jewish), and autism (Klein has a neurodivergent son). I’d recommend it.

*Klein’s equation is Narcissism + Social Media Addiction + Midlife Crisis + Public Shaming = Right-wing Meltdown. I think that could apply to many famous people who’ve walked the same path as Wolf.

That one's on my tbr list, may need to bump it higher