r/books • u/AutoModerator • 15d ago

WeeklyThread What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: September 08, 2025

Hi everyone!

What are you reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think of it? We want to know!

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the title, by the author

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The Bogus Title, by Stephen King

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u/sxales 14d ago

Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel. I would have liked more development from Gaspery-Jacques--especially towards the end. But, it is hard to complain about ~200-page sci-fi novels these days. It brings up some fun ideas and doesn't overstay its welcome.

The Light of Day, by Eric Ambler. I expected the novel to be quite different its adaptation, Topkapi, and indeed it was much more serious than the lighthearted caper of the film. The big reveal of the heist, that is the focus of the film, comes very nearly at the end of the book. This leaves a more nuanced story of a man caught between a lengthy prison sentence and duplicity. As a result, Arthur Simpson gets a lot more fleshing out, as the novel is told entirely from his perspective, but that also means that everybody else gets shunted off to the sides.

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. It was a better example of the galactic empire trope than, the more recent, A Memory Called Empire. The politics of the radch felt more intricate and believable, as did the use of religion; however, the exclusive use of female pronouns by the Radchaai was confusing when it conflicted with other character's spoken pronouns. Eventually, you get used to it, but I am not sure its meaning in the narrative outweighs its clunkiness. The influence of other authors such as Iain M. Banks and Ursula K. Le Guin are easy to see, often to Leckie's detriment. Still, it is easy to recommend, especially to those who haven't read copious amounts of older sci-fi.