Wednesday Reading Meme for June 10 2026
Jun. 10th, 2026 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishReading Journal June 10 2026
What I’ve Read
Out of the Dead Land by orphan_account - https://archiveofourown.org/works/1871955 - Really good solid Bucky-centric novel-length fic with creepy robots - the ending landed very well. I love alienation from the self as a theme, I love when it’s weaponized, I love when people are actually allowed to be fucked up by the things that fuck them up.
cast your bitterness into the sea by Kilerkki – Untamed Fanfic, Jiang Cheng/ Original Female Sect Leader - Also an older fic (2021, I guess that’s older) that I was returning to. This is technically unfinished, but seems like it lands in a solid spot for a “for now” ending. Jiang Cheng’s competent in this, solid and reliable in a way that the brilliance of his family can overshadow in the main series. This fic shows him slowly coming into an adult understanding of how, in the right hands, he could be a weapon. Also, morally complex sect leader OFC!
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #3) – I am so glad I went back to this series. This trilogy has the tightness of a single story in satisfying chapters – I was seeing payoffs from the first book come up in this final book. Breq using the cards dealt her to actually break free of the system she so strongly opposed just tickled me to no end – most often it feels like these autocracies in fiction just get a new king. Not how Breq does it! Really enjoyed these characters – kind of happy to know there’s more in front of me!
Inventing the Renaissance – Ada Palmer – An excellent book about history, the study of history, and the history of history, thru the lens of the study of the Renaissance. Palmer is clear-eyed towards the past and tender towards the people living thru it. If you’re a little bit interested in history, this is excellent – if you’re obsessed, you’re probably going to get something out of Palmer’s examination of how history was built. There are some great approaches to history here, including a really excellent set of metaphors (ever-so-much-moreso, history lab, extensive nicknames, the focus on great minds as belonging to extremely normal human beings.) Palmer has an excellent grasp on how strange the past was, and how the people living in it were being humans in a fascinatingly different context than we are.
What I’m Reading
Feet of Clay – Terry Pratchett – My continued read-thru of the Night’s Watch thread of Discworld.
The Raven Scholar – Antonia Hodgson – At almost exactly the 50% mark, I got to an actually interesting twist. A minor complaint – I was able to put this book down (as of yesterday) nearly a month and pick it back up again without missing any of the threads. Fortunate for me, but a sign of a repetitive style of writing that doesn’t really trust the reader to have been paying enough attention to catch all of the hints and apply them to the characters. I wish this book trusted the reader more to follow along on our own attention span – I don’t need THIS MANY reminders about who people are and how they have interacted in the past attend each mention of them. It feels like Hodgson doesn’t trust me to not have my phone out.
The Postman – David Brin – post apocalyptic story, I’m only about 5% in
What I’ll Read Next
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
More Hugos nominees
What I’ve Read
Out of the Dead Land by orphan_account - https://archiveofourown.org/works/1871955 - Really good solid Bucky-centric novel-length fic with creepy robots - the ending landed very well. I love alienation from the self as a theme, I love when it’s weaponized, I love when people are actually allowed to be fucked up by the things that fuck them up.
cast your bitterness into the sea by Kilerkki – Untamed Fanfic, Jiang Cheng/ Original Female Sect Leader - Also an older fic (2021, I guess that’s older) that I was returning to. This is technically unfinished, but seems like it lands in a solid spot for a “for now” ending. Jiang Cheng’s competent in this, solid and reliable in a way that the brilliance of his family can overshadow in the main series. This fic shows him slowly coming into an adult understanding of how, in the right hands, he could be a weapon. Also, morally complex sect leader OFC!
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #3) – I am so glad I went back to this series. This trilogy has the tightness of a single story in satisfying chapters – I was seeing payoffs from the first book come up in this final book. Breq using the cards dealt her to actually break free of the system she so strongly opposed just tickled me to no end – most often it feels like these autocracies in fiction just get a new king. Not how Breq does it! Really enjoyed these characters – kind of happy to know there’s more in front of me!
Inventing the Renaissance – Ada Palmer – An excellent book about history, the study of history, and the history of history, thru the lens of the study of the Renaissance. Palmer is clear-eyed towards the past and tender towards the people living thru it. If you’re a little bit interested in history, this is excellent – if you’re obsessed, you’re probably going to get something out of Palmer’s examination of how history was built. There are some great approaches to history here, including a really excellent set of metaphors (ever-so-much-moreso, history lab, extensive nicknames, the focus on great minds as belonging to extremely normal human beings.) Palmer has an excellent grasp on how strange the past was, and how the people living in it were being humans in a fascinatingly different context than we are.
What I’m Reading
Feet of Clay – Terry Pratchett – My continued read-thru of the Night’s Watch thread of Discworld.
The Raven Scholar – Antonia Hodgson – At almost exactly the 50% mark, I got to an actually interesting twist. A minor complaint – I was able to put this book down (as of yesterday) nearly a month and pick it back up again without missing any of the threads. Fortunate for me, but a sign of a repetitive style of writing that doesn’t really trust the reader to have been paying enough attention to catch all of the hints and apply them to the characters. I wish this book trusted the reader more to follow along on our own attention span – I don’t need THIS MANY reminders about who people are and how they have interacted in the past attend each mention of them. It feels like Hodgson doesn’t trust me to not have my phone out.
The Postman – David Brin – post apocalyptic story, I’m only about 5% in
What I’ll Read Next
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
More Hugos nominees
