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Weekly Reading Meme for Sept 24, 2025
Sep. 24th, 2025 04:22 pmWhat I’ve Read
Lent by Jo Walton – “A novel of many returns” – I read this for the first time about three months ago and avoided spoilers – I recommend this book and I also recommend going in without an idea of you’re getting into it. That said, I think some spoilers would help people make up their minds, so I will put them under a cut.
Whose Body by Dorothy Sayers – # 1 in series - Fun to read, really gives Lord Peter’s backstory some oomph, but it’s also a bit convoluted and very very English. I can see the promise of the future but if this were the first book I’d read, I am not sure I would have bothered with the rest of the series .
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - #2 in Series – Wow, this book is just a careful examination, via murder mystery, of all the ways women are trapped in this society in this era. It introduces Peter Wimsey’s noble family, and his brother and sister are both moderately miserable to be caught in a murder investigation. It’s very 1920s England but also does a great job of characterizing a lot of ways a person could be flawed, and how women end up having to make the best of some fairly awful situations.
In news unrelated to reading, I’ve been trying for some time to get off the short form video content sites (mostly TikTok) and spend more time with people whose work feels thoughtful and interesting – so, here’s Technology Connections - https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections Go learn about how pinball machines do math.
The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton – The library has returned this lovely audiobook to me! I am really enjoying, as a counterpoint to Lent, the ways the book really looks at how the specific circumstances and personalities impact the decisions leading up to the breakdown of the French monarchy. I am sure this is all old hat to people who studied this period of French history in any detail, but I was not among them. Even my interest in the History of Napoleon podcast didn’t cover this period in such a pragmatic, on-the-ground, “who knew what when” approach. The little details matter – I had not know that, as the Estates General was meeting to try and figure out how France was to go on, King Louis XVI left for a day to go sit with his dying seven year old son. Like, it’s not the most important detail of the book, but it just sticks with me that all this uproar and confusion and politics, his kid was dying. I finished the book late last night – highly recommend.
What I’m Reading
Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers
Mimesis – Auerbach -Just started this while I was trapped in a long meeting and it was available. Said’s forward is good!
What I’ll Read Next
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin for book club
Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
Lent by Jo Walton – “A novel of many returns” – I read this for the first time about three months ago and avoided spoilers – I recommend this book and I also recommend going in without an idea of you’re getting into it. That said, I think some spoilers would help people make up their minds, so I will put them under a cut.
( Read more... )
After I finished the book, I went looking for any interview where Jo Walton talked about the book, and found nothing – But! She did have this to say in an interview, about the pleasures of re-reading - ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAbUmD3Xs2c )Whose Body by Dorothy Sayers – # 1 in series - Fun to read, really gives Lord Peter’s backstory some oomph, but it’s also a bit convoluted and very very English. I can see the promise of the future but if this were the first book I’d read, I am not sure I would have bothered with the rest of the series .
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - #2 in Series – Wow, this book is just a careful examination, via murder mystery, of all the ways women are trapped in this society in this era. It introduces Peter Wimsey’s noble family, and his brother and sister are both moderately miserable to be caught in a murder investigation. It’s very 1920s England but also does a great job of characterizing a lot of ways a person could be flawed, and how women end up having to make the best of some fairly awful situations.
In news unrelated to reading, I’ve been trying for some time to get off the short form video content sites (mostly TikTok) and spend more time with people whose work feels thoughtful and interesting – so, here’s Technology Connections - https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections Go learn about how pinball machines do math.
The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton – The library has returned this lovely audiobook to me! I am really enjoying, as a counterpoint to Lent, the ways the book really looks at how the specific circumstances and personalities impact the decisions leading up to the breakdown of the French monarchy. I am sure this is all old hat to people who studied this period of French history in any detail, but I was not among them. Even my interest in the History of Napoleon podcast didn’t cover this period in such a pragmatic, on-the-ground, “who knew what when” approach. The little details matter – I had not know that, as the Estates General was meeting to try and figure out how France was to go on, King Louis XVI left for a day to go sit with his dying seven year old son. Like, it’s not the most important detail of the book, but it just sticks with me that all this uproar and confusion and politics, his kid was dying. I finished the book late last night – highly recommend.
What I’m Reading
Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers
Mimesis – Auerbach -Just started this while I was trapped in a long meeting and it was available. Said’s forward is good!
What I’ll Read Next
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin for book club
Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
