Bragan vs. the TBR in 2025, Pt. 4

Geez, have we reached the last quarter of the year already? It seems we have, and so it's time to post my final book log thread for the year.

As usual, I'm just going to just jump right in with the reviews of my reading without a lot of preliminaries, but we should at least have a list of my Year in Reading thus far. So:

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

July

46. The Best American Science Fiction And Fantasy 2022 edited by Rebecca Roanhorse
47. The Truelove by Patrick O'Brian
48. Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars by William Patry
49. The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier
50. The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
51. Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown by Shaun Bythell

August

52. The Body Library by Jeff Noon
53. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
54. They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers by Sarah Scoles
55. The Best of Damon Knight by Damon Knight
56. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
57. Accidental Astronomy: How Random Discoveries Shape the Science of Space by Chris Lintott
58. The Box-Car Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
59. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
60. Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico by David Ryan

September

61. My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan
62. Doctor Who: Harvest of Time by Alastair Reynolds
63. Snow: A Scientific and Cultural Exploration by Giles Whittell
64. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
65. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

Onward into October!

Book #66:

Sounds fascinating!

>3 wandering_star: More so than I expected it to be, to be honest! And I did expect it to be interesting, at least. It's always nice when you go into a book thinking it'll probably be pretty good, and it surprises you by being even better.

>2 bragan: This looks interesting and depressing. I clicked through to the author and his two other books look similarly intriguing.

>2 bragan: Great review

>5 qebo: He talks a bit in the book about his work with Iraqi refugees, including trying, often without much luck, to get people who helped the US during the first Gulf War to safety in the US afterward. Which also sounds interesting and depressing. Much more depressing than the bird-stealing. Looks like that's what one of his other books is about. I'd imagine it's worth reading.

>6 labfs39: Thanks!

Book #67:

>8 bragan: Or maybe SFF has yet to solve the Second Book Problem. I think the author might have been going through her divorce while working on this one. I liked it, but not a match for the first.

>9 dukedom_enough: She talks a bit about writing the book in the afterword, and I don't remember her mentioning a divorce, but she does say she wrote a lot of it while extremely sick with covid, or dealing with its aftereffects. I've read a few books now that were written during the height of the pandemic, and I don't have nearly a large enough sample size to actually draw any conclusions, but I am nevertheless starting to get the impression that authors' pandemic projections aren't likely to be their best work.

And, yeah, there is always the Second Book Problem. The issue here might just be that the first one did not need a follow-up, and trying to do the same thing all over again was never going to be a great idea.

Book #68:

Book #69:

Book #70:

Book #71:

Whoops, I thought I posted this one when I finished it, but maybe I never actually hit "post?" Also, I just realized my numbering was messed up, so I've fixed it.

Anyway, here, book #72:

>15 bragan: I saw him speak, back around 1984. Very abrupt with questions looking for “progress” in evolution.

>16 dukedom_enough: An understandable reaction, I feel. :)

>15 bragan: I read a couple of his essay collections in my twenties. He shaped my understanding of evolution, which probably saved me from most of the popular misconceptions you mention. I’ve been thinking of picking up another of his books.

>18 FlorenceArt: That's definitely doing some good work in the world!

Book #73 (which I've been dipping in and out of for ages):

>20 bragan: Is there any definition as to what age one becomes a senior ? Is there anything beyond being a senior I wonder? - only joking, but I have recently been surfing the net for exercises to increase the flexibility around my knees.

>20 bragan: an exercise set for people who like to travel? and gardeners? Okay, I may have to check this out. I'm 70 and going to Portugal next summer, and I'm told there will be lots of walking on hilly cobblestone streets. I've been trying to increase my walking (not terribly successfully) but as we're heading into winter in Minnesota that becomes even less appealing.

>21 baswood: I suspect the age at which one becomes a senior, as far as I'm concerned, can probably be defined as at least a few years older than the age I am. Well, we'll see how long I can keep that up. :)

>22 WelshBookworm: I do think the patter about how this particular set is good for the things you do when you travel is probably a bit of over-justification, but it does include one that's aimed at helping build walking endurance.

>21 baswood: I think the word is elderly. Best thing for knees is walking..

Book #74:

>20 bragan: some of them are exercises I'll actually do, which are, of course, the most important kind
As a "senior", I am concerned about future mobility. Fortunately I enjoy walking, so that's a decent baseline, but I quickly lose patience with other exercises, and there's so much advice I'm never sure I've chosen wisely. I'm definitely feeling the need to supplement with an exercise routine but...
I sometimes have trouble getting the technique right
Getting technique from a book is difficult.

>26 qebo: I enjoy walking, too, and do it a lot,although my plantar fasciitis would often rather I didn't. It just figures that my body fights me on the one form of exercise I will do happily. Sigh.

Part of the problem is that every other form of exercise is so boring.

Book #75:

>10 bragan: I agree, I have found pandemic novels that I read to be qualitatively a bit poorer and more strained (but like you, my sample size is pretty small and not really indicative of anything general). I may pick up Valente's Space Opera even if the sequel isn't great. I really enjoyed this bit:

Well, somehow, this one felt to me like it was just trying way, way too hard to be wacky and clever and sardonically philosophical and very, very Douglas Adams (except perhaps in the places where it was trying to be very, very Terry Pratchett).

I can't name any off the top of my head, but I've come across so many novels in the genre that do exactly this. You've captured it so well. I can understand why they would want to be Adams or Pratchett, but many can't! It isn't a bad thing - there's still room to do other, equally impressive things, but it is a problem when they try to replicate the style unsuccessfully.

>29 rasdhar: I did really enjoy Space Opera, so I don't think picking it up is a bad idea at all. I just recommend leaving it there. It didn't remotely need a sequel, anyway.

And, yeah, there's a reason Adams and Pratchett are so beloved. They're really, really, really good at their particular brands of humor, in ways that are very difficult to match. Deliberately trying to imitate them is pretty much setting yourself up to suffer from the comparison.

Book #76:

>29 rasdhar: Have you read Camus’s The Plague which is pandemic rather than sci-fi?

>32 kjuliff: I haven't, but it's on my TBR shelves. (Which are dauntingly extensive, so who knows when I'll actually get to it.)

Book #77:

>34 bragan: Great review, and I'm looking forward to reading Replaceable You even more, now!

>35 rasdhar: It's as entertaining as usual for her, and parts of it are really fascinating. I say, maybe just don't the skin grafts chapter first thing in the morning. :)

Glad Replaceable You is up to her usual form! Few people do that sort of book as capably as her.

>37 mabith: Indeed! And I'm not sure anyone does it with quite her delightful attitude. Honestly, I'd say this is even better than her last couple.

Book #78:

Book #79:

Book #80:

>34 bragan: I loved Grunt and have been meaning to read more of her books, have even bought a couple. Need to get with it. This one sounds right up my alley.

>40 bragan: I own six books by McEwan, and have read two, both of which I gave 2.5 stars. One was Sweet Tooth. I haven't been in a hurry to read more, but maybe I didn't start with his best ones.

>42 labfs39: Grunt isn't even Roach's best, IMO, so you've got a lot of great reading ahead of you!

As for McEwan, I can see him not remotely being everybody's cup of tea, but I do love him even when I don't entirely love an individual book by him. I think he's really good at capturing aspects of human psychology that most writers either ignore or don't necessarily handle believably, like the fallibility of human memory and our capacity for self-deception. And while it's not relevant for Sweet Tooth, he also writes scientifically-minded characters better than probably any other literary writer I've seen.

>43 bragan: ...he also writes scientifically-minded characters better than probably any other literary writer I've seen.

That's an intriguing statement.

>43 bragan: >44 labfs39: he also writes scientifically-minded characters better than probably any other literary writer I've seen.

I found that most apparent in Solar, not one of my particular favourites of his writing, and also in Saturday.

Like others, Sweet Tooth was probably my least favourite. I think I like The Children Act the best.

>45 SassyLassy: Definitely apparent in Solar. The main character was intensely unlikable, but he was certainly believable. I know that's not one of his best-regarded, but I think I liked it better than most people.

It's also very apparent in Enduring Love, whose main character is a science journalist.

I still need to read Saturday. I'm pretty sure I have a copy.

Book #81:

Book #82:

Book #83:

>49 bragan: The last part of that book really was heartbreaking. I remember finding the section about the writing of Raising Steam really sad and how they could tell that for the first time the book just wasn't working.

>50 valkyrdeath: Yeah, me too, and I just kept remembering how, reading Raising Steam, I sort of felt the same way. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it didn't feel quite like what a Pratchett novel should be, and you could sort of sense, from the reader's perspective, too, that it was the beginning of the end.

And I just kept wishing, while reading that part of the biography, that I could find myself thinking, yes, but you pulled it off, you pulled it together and managed it beautifully one last time! And I couldn't. :(

Book #84:

Book #85:

Book #86:

>54 bragan: I Think I would find it equally depressing. I am losing count of the people I know who consult Chatgpt on a daily basis and most of them are a lot older than you.

>55 baswood: ChatGPT and its ilk are a whoooooole other source of depression and despair.

>54 bragan: Oh dear, do I want to read this? I kinda do.

>57 qebo: It's worth a read, I think, even if it's a bit slight and doesn't engage as much as I'd hope with the stuff that really bothers me. And even if it has left me depressed.

Book #87:

Book #88:

>59 bragan: I'm a Becky Chambers fan but I have always recognised she's not for everyone. I like her books *because* they're nice, a balm when the world is horrid.

>61 rhian_of_oz: A lot of people feel that way about her stuff, and I'm genuinely happy it works for 'em, because everybody should get some comfort somewhere, but, boy, do I not seem to be wired to get mine from this sort of thing. And the more it's deliberately trying to be cozy and comforting and balm-like, the more my brain just seems to be "Nope, I don't believe this, I'm not feeling it, and I kind of resent the attempt." It's been kind of interesting with Becky Chambers, actually, because I started out really loving her stuff, and at some point as it got cozier and more comfort-y, it crossed a line and started working less well for me. Well, I say "at some point." I can identify it exactly: right between A Closed and Common Orbit and Record of a Spaceborn Few.

I have a lot of complicated thoughts about how I suspect the difference is to some extent generational, because most of the people I've seen who love the cozy SFF stuff are significantly younger than me and grew up in a very different world with a very different kind of media landscape, but I'll spare you the essay. :) No doubt a lot of it's just me, anyway.

>59 bragan: "cozy SFF"
Huh. Doubt it'd be for me either, but I'm interested to learn that such a subgenre exists.

>88 I'm reading this now and I'm enjoying it. Ahmad seems to have found a way to write about wacky concepts while keeping heart and humanity in the stories.

>60 bragan: Sounds fascinating !

>63 qebo: I think it's a subgenre (or maybe less a subgenre and more a mood or something?) that's really grown in recent years. I think there's been a trend towards "coziness" in a lot of areas and genres, really. Not surprising that people are looking for comfort where they can find it these days, I suppose.

>64 RidgewayGirl: I spent a lot of time being unsure whether I was enjoying it or not, but she definitely won me over. I always really enjoy the sort of thing that leaves me going, "I'm not sure how or why this is even working for me, but it kind of is!"

Book #89:

Book #90:

And I suppose that's it for me for 2025, since it's now nearly 10 PM on New Year's Eve (which, yes, I have spent reading a Doctor Who script book rather than out partying,because that's how I roll) and I'm certainly not going to finish any more books before the year is out. I'll set up a new thread in the 2026 group sometime in the next few days. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you too!

I've been meaning to get to Understanding Comics for almost as long as you. In addition to improving my own understanding, I want to read it because I get frustrated with some people's (especially librarians*) attitudes toward the form and would like more ammo for the fight.

*And teachers

>70 labfs39: It's depressing that there are still people, including people who should know better, who get snooty about supposedly "lowbrow" artforms, especially when they don't actually know much about them. McCloud spends a lot of time specifically refuting the equation of comics with simplistic kiddy superhero stuff, so it's probably a great thing to read for that purpose.

>71 bragan: I've known so many teachers and librarians who wouldn't let kids read graphic works until after their "real" reading was done. I've also had many conversations with librarians who think that because it's a graphic work it's de facto for kids. The concept of adult graphic works shouldn't still be a mystery to book people. Gets my hackles up.

>54 bragan: I think what concerns me most about language avoiding algorithm censorship is when it becomes part of everyday speech or used on sites without that issue. The US at least already has troublesome attitudes towards death without the youth saying 'unalive' instead of dead in real life. You got a bark of laughter from me for ending that review with 'chat, am I cooked.' I'm in a fan community with a lot of youth who abbreviate teacher to 'cher' and that makes me feel ancient.

>59 bragan: I think the second book in that duology, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy had a very clear dark underbelly to the running of that society which I never see anyone talk about (to be fair it's not really explored in the book), so all the Cozy Cozy Cozy Omg This Was So Relaxing talk drives me mildly batty.

>72 labfs39: It really, really shouldn't still be a confusing concept for people, but far too many, I suppose, make incredibly simplistic assumptions and then refuse to question them. Which, come to think of it, is one of the biggest problems for humanity in general, not just for the respectability of graphic novels!

>73 mabith: Yeah, I find Aleksic's attitude towards the spread of words like "unalive" even offline frankly baffling. He's all, hey, isn't it cool that we have all these new words being invented with which to talk about this heavy stuff? Which, okay, yes, new words with which to talk about things can be pretty neat, but the ones we're seeing, to me, seem to horrifically trivialize very serious subjects. "Unalive" isn't even all that bad, because it's at least descriptive in its own way, but can you imagine having a discussion about a friend who was sexually assaulted and took her own life afterward using words like "grape" and "kermit sewerslide?" It makes my stomach turn.

And 'cher for teacher is a new one on me! Perhaps not all that different from some people in my generation referring to their parents as "the 'rents," though, I guess.

I'm also in some fan communities with younger folks, and it amuses me that I have one more than one occasion had to research whether something they said to me was a compliment or not. Fortunately, it was. :)

I really don't think I'm going to read the second book in the Monk & Robot series, and you've reinforced that for me, because the only thing worse than the Cozy Cozy Cozy Everything Is So Great We're All So Moral and Kind and Practicing Healthy Emotional Therapy On Each Other All the Time stuff is when you have to actively live in denial of what should be recognized as actually dark elements to do it.

But then, I've been thinking about this a bit, and I've come to the conclusion that fiction that has an actually warm, hopeful, pleasantly cozy effect on me tends more to be the sort that's saying not "here's a world where everything is great and everyone behaves themselves and the world is nothing but hugs whenever you need them," but rather "yes, there's a lot of darkness and unfairness in the world, and some people are just jerks, but there's also so much beauty and kindness and so many people who, while flawed and sometimes ridiculous, are also compassionate and decent, and loving and lovable."

absolutely agree with your final paragraph!

>75 wandering_star: I think I'm maybe just not capable of suspending my disbelief quite enough for the first kind. :)

My new thread for the new year is now up! Hope to see all of you there.