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Book 11 of 2025

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

I had no idea Susanna Clarke had a new story out (though I later learned it was originally a radio broadcast). Piranesi is one of my favorite books, so I was absolutely delighted when I spotted this in a local bookstore.

It's as delightfully strange and lovingly crafted as Clarke's other books. Victoria Sawdon's illustrations are stunning and complement the text very well. The plot itself is good but too short to have truly compelling characters. I found Clarke's afterword about her unintentional influences and themes almost more interesting than the story itself.

Also, I agree with her that there should be more pigs in fiction. Apple the pig was the standout star for me. 🐷

@bookstodon

Cover of The Wood at Midwinter. White and gold text on an indigo blue background. Beneath the title and author is a stylized illustration of a fox. On either side of the fox and text are holly and ivy intertwining with branches and songbirds.

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Book 12 of 2025

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

4.5 stars

I was excited to read an alternative retelling of Cortés's first meeting with Moctezuma, and it ended up being completely different from what I expected in the best way. Well-researched and immersive like traditional historical fiction, but modern in prose and postmodern in construction. What surprised me most was how funny it was. In some ways it felt more like a 21st century dark satirical comedy film than a book set in the 16th century. (I couldn't get The Death of Stalin out of my head as I was reading).

It wasn't what I expected, but it was a psychedelic delight from start to finish. The prose is so unique and the jokes are so subtle that I'd love to test out my Spanish skills by reading Enrigue's original text. Maybe a goal to work up to. …

The cover of You Dreamed of Empires. Neon green and blue swirls in a psychedelic circular pattern. At the middle of the central circle is the front half of a brown horse in motion.

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Book 13 of 2025

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

4 stars

A lushly written, thought-provoking meditation on life and humanity from the perspective of astronauts who orbit the earth 16 times in a single 24 hour period.

I really enjoyed this, though the last couple chapters dragged for me. Being unmoored from time, gravity, and breathable atmosphere prompted some really lovely passages about what it means to be alive, to be human, to be of the Earth even when you're away from it.

@bookstodon

Cover of Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Several planets in bright shades of pink, orange, and purple on the background of a nebula.

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Book 14 of 2025

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin (graphic novel adapted by Fred Fordham)

4.75 stars

Earthsea is such a masterpiece that means so much to me, so I was skeptical at first. But it was an immediate green flag that Le Guin's son initially reached out to Fordham because he loved his work and wanted to see his mother's works adapted as a graphic novel.

This is so gorgeous, absolutely stunning illustrations with soft, cinematic lighting and sparse text. It's basically long sequences of evocative, painterly images with an occasional direct quotation lifted from the original book. I loved it so much more than I thought I would.

It genuinely made me view and love this story in a new way. I really hope Fordham keeps adapting the rest of the Earthsea books, because I want to keep returning to his version of Le …

The cover of A Wizard of Earthsea, the graphic novel adapted by Fred Fordham. A small human figure standing on a beautiful beach casts a long, large, misshapen shadow that extends into the aqua of the ocean. The title appears in large white font with a lot of flourishes (traditional fantasy font for sure).
The cover of A Wizard of Earthsea, the graphic novel adapted by Fred Fordham. A small human figure standing on a beautiful beach casts a long, large, misshapen shadow that extends into the aqua of the ocean. The title appears in large white font with a lot of flourishes (traditional fantasy font for sure).

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Book 15 of 2025

Always Coming Home by Ursula K Le Guin

5 stars

How to describe this book? An ethnography of a society that doesn't yet exist in post-climate collapse northern California. A collection of imagined cultural artifacts shaped by the long shadow of our current polluting, wasteful, extractive capitalist hellscape. A total rejection of the plot-driven narrative structure and the ideologies underpinning it. Instead, a meandering spiral of related stories that give the reader the tools to imagine a deindustrialized, anarchic future. I agree with Shruti Swamy (who wrote the introduction) that Le Guin is essentially making the case that humans need to reindigenize, devolve into smaller communities, and mindfully scale down our industry and environmental impact in order to weather the coming years of climate change.

This took me months to read and I'll still be digesting it for a long time. I'll definitely be revisiting this …

Cover of Always Coming Home by Ursula K Le Guin with an introduction by Shruti Swamy. Illustration of a barn own flying on a blue sky over a white cloud. Below the owl and title, a highly stylized grassy hill with small houses to the left and a mountain in the distance.

Book 16 of 2025

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

4 stars

Suzanne Collins really will just keep writing darker and darker books until people stop misunderstanding them. This one explores deep fakes, media propaganda, coercive control, and the importance of resistance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

I liked this one much better than the previous prequel; it felt more integrated with the existing world and added some really fascinating context to a few things in the original trilogy. Haymitch also makes a compelling protagonist.

I share Donald Sutherland's hope that young people reading these books and watching these films will give them the tools and imagination they need to rise up and keep resisting for as long as it takes.

@bookstodon

Cover of Sunrise on the Reaping. A golden snake and Mockingjay face each other, joined at the tail (quite reminiscent of an ouroboros). The title is in large white text on a deep purple background.

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Book 17 of 2025

Snake's-Hands: The Fiction of John Crowley edited by Alice K. Turner and Michael Andre-Driussi

4 stars

An eclectic collection of critical essays on one of my favorite authors. As usual with these things, the pieces can be hit or miss depending on the contributor. But overall I thought it was very good and insightful. It was really fascinating to see scholars' different opinions and interpretations of the same books and scenes, sometimes pretty diametrically opposed to each other.

I particularly appreciated the essays on the art of memory and temporality. Reading a little more about Gnosticism has also made me feel more equipped to revisit Crowley's more impenetrable works. I foresee a Crowley deep dive in my future.

@bookstodon

The cover of Snake's-Hands. A portrait of a youngish white man with long brown hair and a brown beard on a deep purple background. The title is in purple text on a white square above the portrait.

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Book 18 of 2025

Open Throat by Henry Hoke

5 stars

A prose poem about a queer mountain lion living in Griffith Park in LA based on a true story. It sounded fun and wacky when a friend recommended it. I trust her taste, so I dove right in and read it in one sitting.

It ended up being deeply riveting and surprisingly devastating. I have a soft spot for this type of fiction that dares to imagine an animal protagonist and really commits to fragmented prose and capturing an entirely non-human world view and way of being. It reminded me of Children of Time and The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore in that way.

@bookstodon

The cover of Open Throat. The black and white silhouette of a mountain lion's face with brightly colored eyes.

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Book 19 of 2025

Atonement by Ian McEwan (reread)

4 stars

I first read this back in high school and remember really liking it, but I wouldn't have called it an all-time favorite. On a reread, I had the startling realization that this book has been much more influential on my writing style (and relationship with my own creativity) than I ever realized. Several passages had been deeply embedded in my brain, like I realized I thought about them on a semi-regular basis without remembering the source.

I can appreciate the technical skill and mechanics of the structure as a more mature reader, even though the prose was sometimes cloying. I also appreciated the metafictional aspects more on a reread. Above all, reading this made me aware of a few flaws in my own recent prose choices. Genuinely going to be meditating on what I can learn from McEwan; he …

Cover of Atonement. A black and white photograph of a young girl sitting barefoot in an old-fashioned white dress. She looks away to the left, her cheek rested on a fist. She sits on a set of stone steps in a stately garden with large stone ornaments in the background. One gets the impression of a stately but dilapidated English country house.

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Book 20 of 2025

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

4 stars

Most of the so-called heretical gnostic writings were widely considered to be lost until a cache was discovered in an Egyptian cave in the 1940s. I was expecting this to be a scholarly translation of the texts with Pagels's commentary, but it was more a narrative history of the early church, with particular attention to the political implications of the struggle between orthodoxy and Gnosticism. Still very engaging, just not what I was expecting.

Some fun facts about Gnostics: women were on the whole much more involved in religious life, including preaching. They were much less hierarchical in structure; some communities drew straws at the beginning of every service to determine who would preach, be deacon, etc. Pagels suggests a potential Buddhist influence (via Alexandria) because of the gnostics' focus on introspection and the inner divinity of all …

Cover of the Gnostic Gospels. The top half contains a close-up portrait of a Biblical-looking figure, perhaps Jesus, Paul, or John. The bottom half has the title and author name.

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Book 21 of 2025

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman

4 stars

A very enjoyable sequel! I particularly appreciated the real historical people and events this time around; they felt a little more integrated into the story (and I love me some ladies of Llangollen no matter the context). Some of the mystery elements got a bit convoluted but I am fully committed to the main and secondary romances and very excited about the setup of the next book. Devastating that I'll probably have to wait a year until I find out what happens next 😭

@bookstodon

Cover of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman. An illustration of two white women, one with curly brown hair and one curly red hair. They wear colorful pink and purple dresses and sit in an open carriage on two large teal wheels. One of them holds the reins.