Bragan vs. the TBR in 2025, Pt. 3

Well, that's half the year over, somehow, so it seems it's time for my new post for the third quarter! Although my first book of the quarter is likely to take me a couple more days to finish, at least.

It's been an interesting, if somewhat mixed, year of reading so far. Here's what it's consisted of:

January

1. James by Percival Everett
2. The Art of Discworld by Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby
3. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 edited by Veronica Roth
4. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
5. Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill
6. Death Valley by Melissa Broder
7. Adulthood is a Gift!: A Celebration of Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen
8. The Book Censor's Library by Bothayana Al-Essa
9. Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon by Jim Paul

February

10. Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
11. Orbital by Samantha Harvey
12. Humans of New York: Stories by Brendan Stanton
13. Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson
14. A Secret of the Universe: A Story of Love, Loss and the Discovery of an Eternal Truth by Stephen L. Gibson
15. The Guide to the Orville by Andre Bormanis
16. Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

March

17. Killshot by Elmore Leonard
18. From Apollo to Artemis: Stories from My 50 Years with NASA by Herb Baker
19. 12 Doctors, 12 Stories by various artists
20. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
21. Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng
22. Looking for Alaska by John Green
23. She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo

April

24. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
25. Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus by David Quammen
26. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
27. Simon's Cat vs. the World by Simon Tofield
28. The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
29. The Memory Palace by Nate DiMeo
30. Monster by A. Lee Martinez

May

31. Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell
32. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
33. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
34. Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events by Brent Spiner
35. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
36. Weyward by Emilia Hart
37. 10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse
38. Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking by Thomas E. Kida

June

39. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
40. Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer
41. Unseen Universe by Caroline Harper
42. Mrs, Presumed Dead by Simon Brett
43. The Pursuit of Grouchiness: Oscar the Grouch's Guide to Life by Oscar the Grouch
44. The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
45. One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America by Gene Weingarten

I have joined you in part 3. I’m ready! Happy new thread

>2 dchaikin: Welcome! And thanks. :)

Hello! Look forward to following your Q2 reading.

>4 wandering_star: Thank you! I look forward to reading it.

Always such an interesting mix of things to be found on your thread. Looking forward to seeing where you go in Q3.

>6 labfs39: Aww, thank you!

Getting the third quarter's reading started with book #46 for the year:

>8 bragan: I loved L’esprit de l’escalier too! I read it in Some of the Best of tor.com 2021.

>9 FlorenceArt: It's a great story, isn't it? It just does everything it's doing so well: the genuinely original take on the myth, the writing, the disturbing imagery, the way it brings into focus how much of a blank Eurydice is in the usual telling. That, along with just a couple of other stories, really earned that collection its 4/5 rating.

>10 bragan: Will you despise me if I say I don’t really remember it? But the title rang a bell, and for a change I did find it in my reading journal, and apparently I loved it 😊

>8 bragan: >9 FlorenceArt: >10 bragan:

Apparently this is now the only best-of-the-year anthology series out there? Remember when there'd usually be at least two competing ones? I just picked up the 2024 version on the idea that if I don't support it, it'll go away.

The Valente story was indeed terrific.

>12 dukedom_enough: As recently as 2021, there were four. But that was the last year for Jonathan Strahan's series, and both the Neil Clarke and Rich Horton series ended two years later. It's a shame. They were all larger books than the Adams series, and Strahan's was the best of the bunch, the natural successor to the magnificent work done by the late Gardner Dozois for so many years.

>13 KeithChaffee: Well, I wasn't buying most of those, so I'm part of the problem.

>11 FlorenceArt: Oh, if I had a nickel for every instance of something I've read but remember only how I felt about it and not what actually happened in it, I would be a very rich person. Ask me about that story in a month, and I'll undoubtedly have only the vaguest things to say. But I for some reason tend to assume other people have better memories than I do. :)

>12 dukedom_enough:, >13 KeithChaffee: I want to say that I really miss the Gardner Dozois ones, except that I only ever read them sporadically and, in fact, I still have several of them sitting on my TBR shelves many, many years later. I was always impressed by them when I did read them, though.

>14 dukedom_enough: I never did, either, and now I feel a bit sorry about it, too.

My library agreed to my request and ordered Unseen Universe, so I'll be getting to that as soon as it's processed into the system. Somehow it's very validating when you ask the library to buy a book and they agree it would be a good addition to the collection.

>16 mabith: That is indeed a satisfying thing! Hope you like it as much as I did.

Book #47:

Book #48:

Great review of a book I’m interested in but won’t read. Thanks for taking the time to be so thorough.

>20 labfs39: Glad to be of service! I ended up having a lot of thoughts.

>19 bragan: so interesting! Great review

>18 bragan: good point about Hawaii!!

>22 dchaikin: Thanks!

Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars does sound interesting, though I feel like I'd want to pair it with something more recent on the subject. With video services as well, when it was really just Netflix and Hulu dominating in the US people using illegal streaming and torrent sites dropped incredibly low, but then as every channel/group wanted their own service, and were acquiring programs only to immediately drop them, illegal streaming got big again and the big companies acted like "We have no idea why this has happened! Probably just because people are bad?"

There are fairly recent shows that there's no legal way to watch or way to watch that gives any residuals to the creators (recent enough that DVDs were never released). There are also 'official' videos on legal services that are clearly using auto generated subtitles which have not been corrected. Depressing state of affairs.

>24 mabith: Yeah, I'd definitely be interested in reading a more recent take on the subject, myself. It really does seem like the same kind of reaction from the companies just keeps playing out over and over again with new technologies, though. Something that apparently goes all the way back the the invention of the player piano.

There are fairly recent shows that there's no legal way to watch or way to watch that gives any residuals to the creators

One thing in the book that hasn't aged well is that the author is pretty optimistic about the internet as a way for people to buy from creators directly, enabling them to keep more of the money. Not that you can't do that in some cases, but it's sure not the main direction things have gone in. Sigh.

For something more recent on the subject, I've heard good things about (though I have not yet read myself) Who Owns This Sentence? by David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu.

>25 bragan: Yeah, buying from creators themselves is largely limited to things that are more individual efforts. Even then, an artist will post work that can be purchased or use it for a t-shirt in their shop and a large well-known company (I believe Anthropologie has had a number of these scandals, among others) or a print on demand site will steal it. It's asking a lot that customers browsing a site of hundreds or thousands of mixed sellers should be able to reverse google search every image they're interested in or be able to follow the threads back to find the original creator who may or may not still actively sell that design.

>26 KeithChaffee: Noted!

>19 bragan: I don't do nostalgia all that much, but if there's one thing I actually am nostalgic for it's that era of the internet before it became just another place for corporations to take over and ruin. It would be interesting to have a more recent book on this topic though. You've reminded me that I think I do have a book on my list somewhere about the Napster era that I might have to get to.

>25 bragan: It would be great to be able to buy directly from creators more. It's sad that not only is it not possible a lot of the time, but even if it was, a lot of people would just refuse to do it anyway. PC gaming is a good example. There's a sizable number of people who just flat out refuse to buy any game that they can't buy on Steam, meaning they're refusing to buy any game unless they can give 30% of the profits to a company that had absolutely nothing to do with making it.

Book #49:

>26 KeithChaffee: I hadn't heard of that one, but it does sound like it might work very well as a more recently published followup to Moral Panics. Will probably add it to the wishlist.

>27 mabith: I hadn't really heard about that particular issue, but it's not remotely surprising. Yeah, somehow copyright laws seem to work really well for companies profiting from the work of artists, and not so much at protecting the artists from the companies.

>28 valkyrdeath: I don't do nostalgia all that much, but if there's one thing I actually am nostalgic for it's that era of the internet before it became just another place for corporations to take over and ruin.

God, you and me both. Well, it's not so much that I feel nostalgia for it, as that, in recent years, I find myself actively mourning it. I know it's a cliche and a trap for people my age to moan about how everything used to be better, but in this case, it really, really was.

There's a sizable number of people who just flat out refuse to buy any game that they can't buy on Steam

Yeah, and while I have bought independent games, I'll admit to being part of the problem here, because there certainly are some I waited for until they showed up on Steam, mostly just because I'm lazy. Which I think is a big part of the problem, really. Buying from giant corporate middlemen is so easy. Buying from anyone else is more difficult, and you might never even realize it's possible. And in the case of digital content, you might also have to worry if you've just bought yourself a virus, if you don't know and trust the source you're getting it from.

Book #50:

Book #51:

Book #52:

Book #53:

>34 bragan: I feel like a friend of mine (who experience a rural childhood slightly similar to mine) was just telling me about an acquaintance who was a total Alix. I think this is definitely one I'll recommend to her and enjoy hearing about more than reading.

>35 mabith: My sympathies to your friend for having to deal with an Alix. :)

Book #54:

Book #55:

Huh, I tried to post this last night, but it's not showing up. Maybe I forgot to hit post? Well, then:

Book #56:

>39 bragan: I haven't read any Lessing. This one sounds frightening, yet intriguing.

>40 labfs39: It's the first one I've read, but it left me wit a favorable impression. I was actually expecting it to be a bit more of a (high-end) thriller or a conventional horror novel, but it's more frightening in a literary, psychological way.

Book #57:

Book #58:

>42 bragan: Ooh, that sounds like a good one. My eldest niece is fascinated by odd bits of history like this too.

>43 bragan: I do have clear memories of reading and enjoying The Boxcar Children as a child. Like you, I had more qualms when reading it with my daughter (gender stereotypes being one bugaboo). There was something very appealing about the book to the child me, however. Like you say, their independence and also the ability to create a home out of next to nothing.

>44 labfs39: Some of Accidental Astronomy feels more like it's about "odd bits of history" than others, but it is a pretty good read, I think, for those with an interest in space stuff.

And, yeah, the gender roles in The Box-Car Children are... well, very much "of their time." It could be a lot worse, mind you. At least there's no explicit lectures about what girls are or aren't good at (or good for), or any of that sort of thing. But, man, is there a set of invisibly baked-in expectations about what's girls' work vs boys' work, and about the boy's role as the head of the family and the "provider" in a way that obviously isn't just about him being the oldest.

It really does seem like it'd be right up my alley as a kid, though, as I had a real love for stories about people eking out happy lives on next to nothing by being cheerful and loving and resourceful. As an adult, I feel a bit more uncomfortable about some of that, which sort of feels like it romanticizes poverty and reinforces the damaging notion that good, smart, hardworking people will always do fine and get by, no matter their circumstances. That may be a bit much to lay at the foot of this particular tale, though, which really is just playing into some standard childhood fantasies.

Book #59:

>46 bragan: I read two book by Scalzi and felt about the same. People just don’t feel real in his books. Entertaining reads though they are, they left me unsatisfied, like you.

>47 FlorenceArt: I know he's very popular, so it's kind of nice to know it's not just entirely me.

Another book bullet for me with Accidental Astronomy, but I'm glad to have your clarification on what to expect. Going back to childhood interest in space might be my new comfort zone as I'm running out of easily accessible ancient history that's not based around the Mediterranean (and where I trust the author).

My memories of reading The Boxcar Children as a child are limited to being absolutely INCENSED that they were in the boxcar for such a short amount of time yet there were all these other books in the series. They clearly weren't boxcar children at all. My childhood dream was essentially to run away and live in a cave or abandoned house or boxcar and be self-sufficient though.

>49 mabith: I never read any of the other boxcar books after the grandfather moved the boxcar to his estate.

>49 mabith: Yay for reviving childhood interests in space!

And I didn't realize until after I read the book and was posting the review here that there were any other books in the series, never mind that many of them. It seems very weird to me. Apparently they solve mysteries? I guess they kept the boxcar around at the end of the first book, so maybe it's, like, their mystery-solving clubhouse, but that doesn't seem like the same thing at all.

Exactly. When I started the first, knowing it was one of many from the library shelf, I assumed all the books were them surviving on their own. I'm not even sure I finished the first book, I might have put it down the second I realized they were going back to being House children.

>52 mabith: I don't know why, but your childhood indignation on the subject really tickles me. I can't say you were wrong, either! Heck, I'm kind of glad I didn't know about that until after I finished it, or maybe I'd have been looking askance, too, supposedly mature adult that I am. :)

Book #60:

Ha, I'm glad my genuine, and still palpable, annoyance about the boxcar children selling out comes though!

It's always amazing how many places we might mean to visit in our area but only get to when we're showing visitors around. I do miss getting to visit New Mexico. One of my aunts lives in the desert, maybe 30 minutes outside Santa Fe, off the grid in a house they built and it was always great fun going out there and hiking all over. We went every summer for a while, usually in the 'rainy' season and my aunt was always apologizing for the high humidity (maybe 20% at most). Hilarious to us, used to 70% humidity most of the summer.

>55 mabith: LOL, it being the late part of the rainy season here now, we've gotten humidity as high as 50% lately, and I've been complaining to myself about it bitterly and constantly. How far I've come from growing up in New Jersey, where I just excepted that in the summer it might be 90%. Although, in fairness, a big part of the problem is that, like a large percentage of us in NM, my air conditioning only works well when it's dry. Swamp coolers being great, until they aren't. Still, I'd never have imagined one day I'd be unironically calling 30% humidity "muggy." And yet, here I am, clearly having lived here far too long. :)

Then again, I'm still laughing about the time I visited my sister in Oregon in July, and the entire time I was there, they kept apologizing for the horrible heat wave and asking if I was sure I didn't want to go and put on some shorts, while I was enjoying the pleasant coolness. I mean, it was barely in the 80s there! Back home it was 107! It was great!

Book #61:

Book #62:

>46 bragan: There's books by Scalzi I've been meaning to read for ages but somehow I've never got to any of them. If I do, then I'll make sure to set my expectations accordingly!

>59 valkyrdeath: There are lots of people who seem to like his stuff just fine, so maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones that doesn't leave feeling unsatisfied. :)

>56 bragan: It's funny to imagine that we were all fine out in the desert in the 1990s with no access to fans even, let alone a swamp cooler (I say fine, we were hot but it wasn't unbearable). I'm not sure we could do that now. It's all comparison though. Coincidentally, when my granddaddy decided teaching college wasn't for him (they kept wanting him to publish things and he just wanted to teach), they were at Texas A&M and he was deciding between a job in New Mexico and New Jersey. The way he decided was 'could he water his lawn whenever he wanted' (he grew up in Virginia so Texas was quite the shift) and obviously New Jersey won out.

>61 mabith: And here I find that having a great excuse not to keep a lawn is one of the things I prefer about New Mexico over New Jersey!

>56 bragan: Ah, swamp coolers. I spent a year and a half in Tucson AZ in a garage converted into a studio apartment, and that was the system. I remember it as fine, but I was in my 20s and I'd be less tolerant now.
>61 mabith: When was your grandfather at Texas A&M? My grandfather taught biology there from early 1930s to early 1970s.

>62 bragan: Yes, a lawn is very annoying to me now if I had to mow it, though as a kid a grass lawn to play on is ideal.

>63 qebo: He was there from 1952 to 1954, just two school years, teaching physics and journalistic photography. Initially they were supposed to guarantee employment in the summers and he was going to work towards his PhD but some policy changes right after they'd arrived nixed all that.

>63 qebo: Most of the time they are fine, even for me, being much older than my 20s, but when they're not, they're really not. Perhaps especially when you're no longer in your 20s. Tuscon is usually even drier than here, though, I think, so perhaps less chance to be non-fine.

Book #63:

>66 bragan: The book is a pass, but loved reading your review.

>67 labfs39: Thanks! :)

Book #64:

Book #65 (which I finished last night):

>69 bragan: Westerns aren't my thing, but this book has been on my tbr for a while, and every review I see just bumps it up a bit more. I've heard the characters are really well written. Nice to see that it doesn't have rose-tinted glasses about the reality of the time, which is what has put me off a lot of historical fiction about the era.

>71 JesseMC: I'd definitely call it a Western for people who aren't into Westerns. :)

And that's it for this quarter and this thread! Join me for the new ones here!

I do keep meaning to read Lonesome Dove, as part of a drive to at least read the big classics of genres I'm not likely to read otherwise. Your review has nudged it a little closer.

>74 mabith: It's a good one to choose for that, I think. And it's one I kept meaning to get to for ages, myself, but only managed, in the end, by setting aside a chunk of time for it, almost as a special project. Which would have sucked if I hated it, I suppose, but fortunately I didn't!

>69 bragan: There are a two books I recommend for readers who don't like Westerns: Lonesome Dove and Doc. Other contenders are The Sisters Brothers and All the Pretty Horses.

>76 labfs39: Every single one of which I've read and liked!