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.
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 …
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 Guin's world.
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 …
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 eventually, likely in hard copy so I can flip back and forth to the appendices and glossary. As a first time reader I chose to read completely linearly on my ereader app, and there was so much illuminating context at the back of the book once I got there.
This book is truly just a kaleidescope of genius, it's incredible. I can see myself living with one foot in this world for years.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 creates long stretches of internal monologue that are the perfect balance of reflective and engaging.
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 …
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 souls.
Now I'm hooked, I just need to find an actual translation of the texts with scholarly commentary!
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 😭
It's truly impressive how deftly Crowley can move between genres and styles while still retaining his signature eloquence and emotional intelligence. I loved the themes of translation/transformation, coming of age, Cold War paranoia, and the sharply written dialogue. Also, I learned so much from the chapters that featured lost children in the USSR.
There was something missing for me, though, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps it's just because I've never found poetry as moving as prose. There were quite a few sections about technical poetry stuff like rhyme schemes, plus several full original poems included in the text. It would probably be much more compelling for a poetry lover.
I went into this totally blind, and when I discovered it was based on real historical events, I had to resist the urge to research the true story to find out what happened. I'm so glad I did, because for me the plotting and suspense was the best part. The prose felt weirdly shallow and not like a good choice for the 16th century, and the characters were also a little two-dimensional, especially the antagonist. I did love the way Goodman created an explanation for why the surviving historical accounts vary pretty drastically. She handled that ambiguity creatively, and it also tied in nicely with some of her themes.
