Annie's 2025 Diary - Part 2

Somehow I am still on track with tracking my reading this year so time for the second part of my thread. If you are just finding my thread - I read a lot of short fiction (at least a story a day) and I tend to jump between genres a lot in my reading.

Books (including magazines, Kindle Singles and anything else that is published on its own):

===April===
49. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
50. The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott
51. Robert B. Parker's Buried Secrets by Christopher Farnsworth
52. Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
53. Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
54. Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi
55. Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley
56. Three Witnesses by Rex Stout -- Nero Wolfe (26)
57. The River, The Town by Farah Ali
58. The Repeat Room: A Novel by Jesse Ball

===SEPTEMBER===
59. Countess by Suzan Palumbo

The short forms
* Denotes a story/article/essay that is not included in a book/magazine that is going to end up in >2 AnnieMod:

Stories
===APRIL===
182*. Five Views of the Planet Tartarus by Rachael K. Jones, flash, 549 words, Lightspeed, January 2024
183*. Thursday by Wole Talabi, short story, Kalahari Review, December 2024
184*. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, short story
185*. Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole by Isabel J. Kim, short story, 3190 words, Clarkesworld, February 2024
186*. Wednesday’s Story by Wole Talabi, Lightspeed, May 2016
187. Saturday's Song by Wole Talabi
188. Lights in the Sky by Wole Talabi
189. Blowout by Wole Talabi
190. Gamma (or: Love in the Age of Radiation Poisoning) by Wole Talabi
191. Abeokuta52 by Wole Talabi
192. Ganger by Wole Talabi
193. Tends to Zero by Wole Talabi
194. Nigerian Dreams by Wole Talabi
195.Performance Review by Wole Talabi
196. Silence by Wole Talabi
197. Embers by Wole Talabi
198. The Million Eyes of a Lonely and Fragile God by Wole Talabi
199. Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for an Eternal Spirit Core by Wole Talabi
200. A Dream of Electric Mothers by Wole Talabi
201. The Next Witness by Rex Stout
202. When a Man Murders... by Rex Stout
203. Die Like a Dog by Rex Stout
204*. In the Splinterlands the Crows Fly Blind by Siobhan Carroll, Asimov's, Jan/Feb 2025
205*. Shadow of Shadows by Frank Ward, Asimov's, Jan/Feb 2025
206*. A Girl from Hong Kong by Robert Reed, Asimov's, Jan/Feb 2025
207*. My Biggest Fan by Faith Merino, Asimov's, Jan/Feb 2025
208*. In Tandem by Camden Rose, Flash Point SF, 7 Mar 2025
209*. In His House, Dread Columbus (Ohio) by David Cole, Flash Point SF, 21 Mar 2025
210*. Archive by Lucy Zhang, Flash Point SF, 4 Apr 2025

===SEPTEMBER===

Some stats

The Translators (because they never get enough love!):

Alex Shvartsman (Russian -> English)
     Pollen by Anna Burdenko (Clarkesworld, March 2025)
Alice Menzies (Swedish -> English)
     The Night Singer by Johanna Mo
Anton Hur (Korean -> English)
     Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim
Carmen Yiling Yan (Chinese -> English)
     The Hanging Tower of Babel by Wang Zhenzhen (Clarkesworld, February 2025)
Howard Curtis (French -> English)
     Dogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre
Jack Rockwell (Spanish -> English)
     Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg (co-translator Julia Kornberg)
Jamie Chang (Korean -> English)
     Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo including:
          Under the Plum Tree
          Dead Set
          Runaway
          Miss Kim Knows
          Dear Hyunnam Oppa
          Night of Aurora
          Grown-up Girl
          Puppy Love, 2020
Janet Hong (Korean -> English)
     The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
Jay Zhang (Chinese -> English)
     The Sound of the Star by Ren Zeyu (Clarkesworld, March 2025)
Joel Martinsen (Chinese -> English)
     Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
Josh Pachter (Afrikaans -> English)
     The Wages of Sin by François Bloemhof (EQMM Jan/Feb 2025)
Julia Kornberg (Spanish -> English)
     Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg (co-translator Jack Rockwell)
Julia Sanches (Spanish -> English)
     What Happened to Belén by Ana Elena Correa
Philip Roughton (Icelandic -> English)
     The Girl by the Bridge by Arnaldur Indridason
Ryan Holmberg (Japanese -> English)
     Talk to My Back by Murasaki Yamada
Silvia Perea Labayen (Spanish -> English)
     Castaways by Laura Pérez and Pablo Monforte
Sophie Hughes (Spanish -> English)
     Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán
Stella Jiayue Zhu (Chinese -> English)
     Beyond Everything by Wang Yanzhong (Clarkesworld, January 2025)
Sue Burke (Spanish -> English)
     Bodyhoppers by Rocío Vega (Clarkesworld, February 2025)
Ye Odelia Lu (Chinese -> English)
     Hotel California by Hsin-Hui Lin (Samovar / Strange Horizons, 3 Feb 2025)
Yui Kajita (Japanese-> English)
     Flying in the Dark Night by Mayumi Inaba (Samovar / Strange Horizons, 3 Feb 2025)

>5 AnnieMod: I love this idea!

>6 labfs39: That's the only list I plan on carrying between the iteration of the thread (and possibly across years and clubs) - because I really want to know when I had met a translator before (plus they deserve some love!)

Just catching up on your thread (and the last one) and you have accomplished so much reading! I saved a number of titles to read as well. Thanks for all these great reviews.

So... I finished a book this month. Which is more books than I finished in May, June, July and August combined (I was not posting in April but I was at least reading... at least the first 3 weeks that is). And it is not because I was reading short stories either - I've read exactly zero of these as well. Not sure what was going on but nothing was keeping my attention for more than 2 minutes so by mid-June I've pretty much given up on trying to read for awhile. I'd try a few books now and again, get bored and... not read. Very weird feeling. I ended up reading news and fan fiction and other things online so technically I was reading something but... Oh well. Hopefully whatever that was is now done. It was annoying.

With that being said, I actually did finish a book. :) May even end up reading a story today (well, I am halfway through one so there is a chance there).

>9 AnnieMod: I almost got Countess from the library a few weeks ago but I don't really know anything about The Count of Monte Cristo and though I might get less out of it because of that. I might return to it if and when I finally get round to reading that classic, but from your review it doesn't sound like I'm missing a masterpiece.

Hope your reading is getting back on track now! I've had periods where my reading dropped off and I couldn't get going with anything too. I had a year where I only read seven books in total, and one of those was a picture book.

>10 valkyrdeath: No, not a masterpiece but it is a nice adventure story and if you ignore the somewhat heavy messaging in places, it works. And you do not need the Count - the novella stands on its own (some of the twists may even work better if you do not hear Dumas voice in your head while reading this one). I picked it up because of the Nebula nomination and I found it the weakest of the bunch (I had not read The Dragonfly Gambit yet so we shall see which is the weakest really) but I also can see why it got the nod. And I may have been reading it more critically than usual - the whole "the culture moved to space and stayed unchanged" kinda got to me.

With all of that I am just trying to say that if the description sounds like something you may enjoy, I'd say to try it.

We shall see about my reading. Once can only hope. :)

Ugh, I hear you. I've not been accomplishing much with my reading either. I pick up books, but have the attention span of a cricket. I'm hoping the onset of autumn will bring back my reading mojo.

Waving hello. Hope you're doing OK, though not writing about reading.

Hellllllllo!

Hey guys and gals :)

Sorry for dropping off the face of Earth (again). I am fine... kinda. Not reading much (ugh...) and not in a mood to socialize much and busy with work but I am fine.

Happy holidays!

Same to you, Annie. Glad to hear everything is okay. I haven't been reading much either. This year is taking its toll.

>15 AnnieMod: glad to get an update. Take care

glad you are doing fine. yeah seems like this quarter has been the worst for mw since I started in LT But do take some time to enjoy our winter, phx style. ;ove being able to sit in my yard again without gettung sunburned.my garden is doing great and its so refreshing to be in the cool again. happy holidays to you and yours

>18 cindydavid4: Happy holidays! Awesome about the garden :)

I am just back from a business trip abroad (on the plus side - I got to spend 4 days with Mom between 2 parts of the trip, on the minus side - it was cold and it was crowded everywhere and I got yet another bug from somewhere).

Now I am back and trying to figure out what is wrong with my reading patterns (spoiler alert - still barely reading books but at least I had been reading some magazine articles - still better than nothing I guess).