Blog: #recent-reads

Nonfiction

• The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement, by Sharon McMahon, published 2024. Quite good. Lots of inspiring, hopeful stories from history, which was just what I needed when I read this. Speaking of the challenges these people overcame, by the way, it’s awful how America has been (and clearly often still is) so sexist and racist. Human tribalism is a hard thing to overcome. I feel like the gospel of Jesus Christ is an effective countermeasure, though.
• The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, by Roland Allen, published 2023. I heard about this from the newsletters of Austin Kleon and Ryan Holiday. Really liked it. For the past few years (I’ve mentioned this before), I’ve been using pretty much exclusively digital notes, but reading this got me itching to return to paper at least some of the time. The little that I’ve done so far has been satisfying. I didn’t know it took five hundred years for Florence to return to pre-plague population levels. I also hadn’t really thought about paper being so critical in the development of art, but it makes a lot of sense (having an affordable way to do lots of sketches and studies). In the part about the Dutch album amicorum, I suddenly remembered that when I was on my mission, the younger Thais (and missionaries, including me) had friendship books, which I had totally forgotten about. Two other parts that stood out to me and that I’m still thinking about: the idea of notebooks containing rough notes that later get transcribed into journals and then get refined and processed until they’re ready for publication, and the idea of notebooks as an actual extension of one’s mind — an SD card for the brain, basically. Oh, I also enjoyed the history of double-entry accounting.

Fiction

• Still Alice, by Lisa Genova, published 2007, fiction. I read this for book group. It’s from the perspective of a woman who gets early-onset Alzheimer’s and shows what that’s like. Whew, it’s tragic. Fiction is a great vehicle for this type of thing, though — letting you experience something you probably haven’t (similar to Kindred). Looking forward to reading Genova’s ALS book at some point down the road.
• The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman, published 2020, mystery. Quite liked it. Fun, delightful characters (Joyce especially), and twisty, too. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and then Osman’s newer series after that.
• The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett, published 2024, fantasy. A twisty Holmes/Watson-style murder mystery, with big monsters in the background for flavor. Other than a few small parts I didn’t care for, I liked it. Especially the interesting worldbuilding. I still need to finish Bennett’s Founders trilogy, which also had interesting worldbuilding (magic ala programming).

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Though I’ve been reading a lot (as you can see on the reading log), I’ve been rather slow writing these up. Hoping to get back on track soon.

Nonfiction

• Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use, volume 1, by Daniel Berkeley Updike, published 1937. This first volume looks at typefaces designed early on (1500–1800) in a few different European countries (Germany, Italy, England, etc.) and also examines how they were used. I read it primarily for the type specimens and sample pages and less for the commentary, which turned out to be a bit dry and snobby. Fun to see the variety of typefaces. Also, I learned that “out of sorts” meant the printer was missing some characters in the typeface.
• A Life of My Own, by Claire Tomalin, published 2017. While I haven’t read any of Tomalin’s biographies yet, my wife has read her Jane Austen, and I figured I may as well start with Tomalin’s autobiography in the hope that there would be a lot about the biographies she’s written. There was some (less than I wanted), and those were the parts I enjoyed most. In her own life, there was a fair amount of cheating and tragedy. (Her husband! Her daughter! And that story her teacher told her about the child in India whose toes got cut off while crossing a road and who just picked up the toes and kept running! Whew.) Fun fact: Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys had the same banker, and said banker’s financial records for both are still available for research (or were when Tomalin wrote the Austen and Pepys biographies, anyway).

Fiction

• The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, published 1883, fantasy. What a weird little book. I’ve only seen the original Disney movie, and that was a long, long time ago. The morals of the story are laid on a bit thick. I suppose in hindsight that that shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. Also a surprise: the Talking Cricket’s fate early in the book. Whoa. Not a surprise: people being kind of violent back then. (Wait, what? You’re telling me that human nature has not in fact changed all that much since the 1800s? Oh snap.) The scene where Pinocchio refuses to take his medicine was funny. Overall, glad I read it.
• Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler, published 1979, science fiction. Family history time travel, basically. For some reason I was expecting it to be boring, but it was compelling from the first page. And whew, that was a brutal, violent, and uncomfortable book. Slavery is insanely awful. Ugh. (This book reminded me, by the way, how effective fiction is in mentally simulating conditions one hasn’t experienced oneself — like what it might have felt like to be a slave.) A good book and well worth reading.

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Nonfiction

• Books in Chains: And Other Bibliographic Papers, by William Blades, published 1890. An interesting little collection of essays about book history — chained books, signatures, the Great Controversy regarding whether the Germans (Gutenberg) or the Dutch (Coster) were first to invent movable type. Very nerdy and I enjoyed it, especially the bit where a printer was marking signatures and after getting through the double alphabet they started using the sequence of Latin words from the Lord’s Prayer. Ha! I also didn’t realize chained books were a thing for so long (three hundred years or so).
• First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process, by Robert D. Richardson, published 2009. A short book about Emerson on reading and writing. I’ll admit this didn’t resonate with me as much as I was hoping it would, and I don’t know why. (I do plan to read both Richardson’s Emerson biography and Emerson’s essays down the road and should have a better idea then if Emerson just isn’t for me or if it was this particular book.) The idea that language is rooted in nature — and that even abstract words often started out as references to concrete things — intrigues me, though I don’t know how broadly true it actually is. This quote got lodged in my head: “Always that work is more pleasant to the imagination which is not now required.”

Fiction

• Walking to Aldebaran, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published 2019, science fiction. Enjoyed this, particularly the core concept and setting (bleak though it was). I did not see the twist coming until it was twisting.
• My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein), published 2011 (translation published 2012), fiction. The first of Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. This felt like it paired surprisingly well with Benvenuto Cellini’s autobiography, though it’s around four hundred years later and it’s fiction. Sure seems like there was a lot of fighting and violence in Italy during both times. Whew. The book itself was good, though maybe not really my thing. Not planning to continue with the series, sadly.

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Nonfiction

• The Facemaker, by Lindsey Fitzharris, published 2022. Book group read. A harrowing but fascinating history of plastic surgery during World War I. Not for the weak of stomach. (Might not want to read it while eating anything squishy.) Back in 2020 I read Fitzharris’s The Butchering Art, which I think I liked a little more, but both are good and worth reading. I particularly enjoyed reading about innovations like the tubed pedicle and the discovery of blood types. Also crazy to learn about Violet Jessop, who was on the Olympic when it hit a ship, then the next year was on its sister ship Titanic when it sank (she survived), and then four years later was on the third sister ship Britannic when it too sank (she survived). Whew.
• The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, by Benvenuto Cellini (huge surprise there), translated by John Addington Symonds, originally published 1563ish, translation published 1887. Far more entertaining and readable than I expected it to be. There’s lots about Cellini being a goldsmith and a sculptor, brown-nosing popes and kings and dukes, getting into fights and, uh, murdering people, and getting into, um, short-term age-gap relationships, let’s call them. Leonardo and Michelangelo are mentioned. There’s plague. Jail time makes a cameo. There’s probably a significant amount of exaggeration throughout, and there’s definitely an inflated ego. Not to mention Italy in the 1500s is a crazy time, at least for Cellini. Glad I read this. (Not least because I have Italian ancestors and it felt kind of like reading about a batty old uncle.)

Fiction

• Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson, published 2013, historical fiction / alternate history. I heard about the book (and Atkinson, for that matter) in Lev Grossman’s newsletter. (Looking forward to reading The Bright Sword, by the way.) Loved the writing, concrete and vivid. And whew, this story was kind of brutal (and a bit earthy), which is understandable given its core time loop conceit but still a punch in the gut at the end of each loop. Reminded me a bit of The Edge of Tomorrow in some ways, though this takes place during World War I and II and there are no aliens. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was good, too. Ah, I love time loops.
• Firewalkers, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published 2020, science fiction. Post-apocalypses don’t appeal to me all that much (as I’ve mentioned before ad nauseam), but this one had interesting ideas and was compelling enough that I’d be down to read more stories set in this world.

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Nonfiction

• Pure Invention, by Matt Alt, published 2020. A fairly quick read about Japanese pop culture and its influence throughout the world via exports like anime, Hello Kitty, Nintendo, and emoji. (Speaking of which, I didn’t know that the iPhone initially flopped in Japan because it lacked emoji at first.) Alt also has a related newsletter which I just discovered while writing this up. I’m not hugely into Japanese pop culture myself, but this was anthropologically interesting and worth it, I felt.

Fiction

• Witches of Lychford, by Paul Cornell, published 2015, fantasy. Rather liked it. Dark, atmospheric (British village), and good writing to boot. A while back I got the first novella for free somewhere, then forgot about it until recently when I saw someone mention it (I think on r/fantasy) and decided to give it a go. Looking forward to the other Lychford novellas.
• The Boys, by Katie Hafner, published 2022, fiction. I heard about this via Eliot Peper’s review, which said it had “the best plot twist I’ve experienced in a long time.” Color me intrigued. I’m happy to report that yes, that was indeed a heck of a plot twist, one I did not see coming at all. Wow. I felt like the book ended well, too. And then I got to the author bio at the very end and realized that Hafner also wrote Where Wizards Stay Up Late (a history of the Internet) some thirty years ago. I haven’t read it yet but have been meaning to for years. Small world!
• Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold, published 2016, fantasy. Part of the Penric & Desdemona series. Enjoyed it, though I was admittedly also using it as the testbed for my new ebook reader (more on that soon) so I wasn’t fully focused on the story.

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Nonfiction

• The Cause, by Joseph J. Ellis, published 2021. Fascinating history of the American Revolution (specifically 1773–1783), warts and all. I haven’t read enough other books about the topic to know how it fares in comparison, but I learned a lot. The main two things that struck me were a) the precariousness of the Revolution all along the way and b) the hypocrisy of seeking freedom from Britain while still holding slaves.
• Shift Happens, by Marcin Wichary, published 2023. A fascinating deep dive into the history of keyboards (typewriters, computers, phones, etc.). It took me five months to read this (it’s just over 1,200 pages), but it’s good and worth it. Lovely typesetting, too. And some fun Easter eggs.

Fiction

• Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher, published 2022, fantasy. A fairy tale with some dark elements, but it never felt particularly dangerous. Enjoyed it.
• The Butcher of the Forest, by Premee Mohamed, published 2024, horror/fantasy. A dark fairy tale that did in fact feel dangerous (which I think I prefer, at least in fairy tales). Quite liked it. The ending was great, too. Looking forward to reading Mohamed’s other books.
• Komarr, by Lois McMaster Bujold, published 1998, science fiction. Part of the Vorkosigan series. Loved it as usual, and Bujold continues to be one of my favorite authors. I’ve been metering these out so I don’t finish the series too quickly (one a year or so, as I believe I’ve mentioned before), but I think I’m going to shift strategies and read them every few months instead so I can finish (and then reread them down the road, along with Bujold’s other books).

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Nonfiction

• Sick Societies, by Robert B. Edgerton, published 1992. An anthropological critique of cultural relativism, detailing how some folk societies develop maladaptive behaviors that harm themselves or others. Fascinating book with lots of interesting (and often sad and disturbing) anecdotes. From the Psmiths’ review, which is where I heard about the book in the first place: “That’s the case the late UCLA anthropologist Robert Edgerton set out to make in Sick Societies: that some primitive societies are not actually happy and fulfilled, that some of their beliefs and institutions are inadequate or actively harmful to their people, and that some of them are frankly on their way to cultural suicide. The mere fact that people keep doing something doesn’t mean it’s actually working well for them, but just as the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent, your society can stay dysfunctional longer than you can stay alive.”

Fiction

• Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon, published 1992, mystery. Murder mystery set in Venice. It was okay, though I don’t think I liked the writing enough to continue the series.
• The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul, by Victoria Goddard, published 2022, fantasy. Quite liked it. The first part of the book retells events from The Hands of the Emperor and The Return of Fitzroy Angursell from Pali’s perspective, which was interesting. (I probably should have read the rest of the Greenwing & Dart books before this one, by the way. I’m planning to read the rest of Goddard’s books in publication order, which I find is usually the best way to read an author’s works.)
• The Midas Rain, by Adam Roberts, published 2023, science fiction. Heist story. Stylistically interesting. Liked it. Looking forward to trying one of Roberts’ novels.
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, volume 7, by Beth Brower, published 2022, fiction. Loved it as usual. And now I’m finally caught up! Just in time, apparently — my wife tells me Brower is announcing the volume 8 release date in a few weeks.

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Nonfiction

• An Immense World, by Ed Yong, published 2022. One of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read. It’s about the different ways animals sense the world (smell, sight, electric fields, etc.) and is chock-full of facts and scientific discovery stories that lit up my brain, like this one, to take an example at random: “Octopuses are different. Unlike squid, they can touch every part of their bodies. They can even reach inside themselves to groom their own gills—the equivalent of a human putting a hand down their throat to scratch their lungs.” While reading the book I wanted to switch careers and become a scientist. Definitely planning to read it again someday. (Which is saying something; I’m not much of a rereader.)
• Medieval Horizons, by Ian Mortimer, published 2023. Also fascinating, about the large-scale changes that happened in different parts of life during the Middle Ages (travel, literacy, warfare, sense of self, etc.), and how those changes set the stage for modernity, in some ways more importantly than the technological changes of the Industrial Revolution. A compelling antidote to the idea that medieval times were static and boring.

Fiction

• The Witness for the Dead, by Katherine Addison, published 2021, fantasy. Cemeteries of Amalo book 1. Really liked it. I think I even liked it as much as The Goblin Emperor, different though it was. The worldbuilding really works for me, even (and perhaps especially) the long, complicated names and the traditions and protocols. Looking forward to the rest of the series and to trying out Addison’s earlier books.
• The Wolf of Oren-Yaro, by K. S. Villoso, published 2017, fantasy. More action-packed and less of a character study than I expected from what I’d heard about it.
• High, by Adam Roberts, published 2024, science fiction. Interesting ideas, decent prose, generally liked it. I feel like I haven’t read nearly enough of this sort of idea-driven science fiction in a while, though that may say more about my memory (or lack thereof) than anything. Looking forward to reading more of Roberts’ work.

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Nonfiction

• Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, published 2007. Quite good. For me — who didn’t know much about Stalin beyond a vague “leader of Russia during WWII who killed a lot of people” and who also didn’t know much about the October Revolution beyond it taking place in 1917 — this filled in a lot of details. Fascinating (and tragic) to see where single-minded devotion to revolution can take a man. Stalin feels like a real person in my head now, human and all (surprisingly human, really), no longer just a vague supervillain. Also, I had no idea about all the exiles. Or all the many girlfriends. Or the disturbing age gaps with some of them. That part was gross. (Different times? Sure, to some degree. But still.)

Fiction

• Hidden, by Benedict Jacka, published 2014, fantasy. Alex Verus book 5. Liked it. The overarching story continues to be interesting. (I don’t want to spoil anything with these reviews, which makes it hard to say much of anything about books later in a series like this. Apologies.)
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, volume 6, by Beth Brower, published 2022, fiction. Good as usual. Delightful and witty and fun. I’m debating whether to hurry up and read volume 7 so I can finally get caught up with my wife (and be ready for volume 8, which hopefully drops sometime this year) or wait a bit first since volume 8 isn’t ready quite yet and I don’t want to run out of Emma M. Lion books yet.
• Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire, published 2020, fantasy. Wayward Children book 5. Dark and imaginative and somewhat uncomfortable. I don’t know that this one worked quite as well for me, but I still plan to continue reading the series.

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Nonfiction

• Turning Pages, by John Sargent, published 2023. Ah, I love books about publishing. Several good bookmaking stories in here, though perhaps not as many as I would have liked. I somehow went into this book thinking Sargent was a mid-level editor or something; it wasn’t until at least halfway through that I realized he was the CEO (of Macmillan). And…CEOs are quite a bit less interesting to me than the people who actually work on the books. But this was still a good book.
• Breaking Bread with the Dead, by Alan Jacobs, published 2020. I’ve been reading Jacobs’ blog for a while and it’s good, as was this book — in particular, I liked the temporal bandwidth idea and the acknowledgment that the past is strange. “These are the writers who help us to encounter our ancestors not as anthropological curiosities whom we observe from a critical distance, but as those with whom we can, and should, break bread.” I need to read more old books, and study more history.
• Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport, published 2024. Some good ideas and anecdotes in here. The core message — do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality — resonated with me.

Fiction

• The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes, published 2019, historical fiction. I read this for book group. Enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. (Until recently, my interest levels in historical fiction have been fairly low.)
• Penric’s Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold, published 2015, fantasy. Liked it a lot, as with pretty much all her books and especially the World of the Five Gods series. Looking forward to the rest of the Penric stories.
• Broken Homes, by Ben Aaronovitch, published 2013, fantasy. Rivers of London book 4. A bit earthy as usual, but other than that, liked it as usual. And that twist at the end!

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