books_finished_2025 Soma I asked the fellow in the used bookstore for a fantasy book with a good magic system. He handed me a tired paperback with a rather uninspired cover – a heroic elven man in armor, a unicorn, and a human warrior standing together – and said he was sure I would love it. Skeptical, but out of time, I took the novel and he took my $2.99. I never fail to be surprised by the insight of bookshop owners over so few words along with a few judgmental glances. While it wasn't particularly full of original content, the magic system and the lore of the races was very thoughtfully designed. I devoured the book as I flew to yet another funeral, and found the other two tired copies the next state over while I visited family. I'm in the midst of the second book now and still delighted by how the typical fantasy races have been built and used in light of the magic in the world. The first book of the year – the Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey. 250402 ... raze i've only managed a fistful so far. gone are the days of being able to burn through a book in an afternoon. but i'm learning to accept where i'm at and what i have the bandwidth to bite into these_days. of the five i've read cover to cover since the year began, the book that's stayed with me the most is julia armfield's "salt slow". the kid i was who loved "the outer limits" and "tales from the crypt" and the adult i am now who loves lyrical writing with blood and bone behind the music both found a lot to love on those pages. 250402 ... ovenbird I've been reading quite a lot recently. A few stand outs from the first months of 2025: In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart. Exquisite prose and the story was so profound and moving. It requires a slow, focused read. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Engar This book is absolutely suffused with music. A bass beat runs straight through it. The story is vaguely dystopian but rooted in ideas of love, grief, and connection. 250402 ... ovenbird I was completely bowled over by Xylotheque by Yelizaveta P. Renfro. I'm spinning this idea of hers in my head like a record on a turntable: "A fractal is a shape that echoes its own shape at smaller and smaller scales of size. If a tree is a fractal, maybe it's possible, in one sense, to see the whole tree while looking at just a small part of it." This is, I think, something I strive to do every day--to look closely at something small and have it extrapolate into a whole world. 250426 ... ovenbird I pushed myself to read a piece of "classic" literature and finished Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon this year. It was not an easy read as it's shot through with Scottish words and phrases that made the whole text difficult to decipher. But by the half way point I had sunk into the rhythm of it and the Minister's final speech is breath taking. I cried. There is a musical lilt to the writing that seems to spring from the landscape itself. It was worth the effort to push through this one. 250612 what's it to you? who go blather from