Thanks for that excellent list! Thanks and regards
Narendra Shenoy On Wed, Dec 17, 2025, 5:19 AM Thaths via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > For many years we have had a tradition here in Silklist of sharing book > recommendations around this time of the year. This is the 2025 edition. > > What are some good books you read in 2025 that you recommend? > > I quit my podcast habit (cold turkey) at the end of last year. So I find > myself with more time to read and to listen to audio books.Here are the top > memorable books I read this year (in no particular order): > > Japanese crime fiction. That's right, I am recommending an entire genre. > This year I discovered this entire genre, the master of which is Keigo > Higashino. I recommend anything by him. Maybe start with [Detective Kaga > series > <https://www.goodreads.com/series/253297-detective-kaga-english-translation>], > followed by the [Detective Galileo > <https://www.goodreads.com/series/99164-detective-galileo>] series. > > > The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson). An alternate History of > the last 600+ years if the Black Death had wiped out 99% of Europe's > population (as opposed to the 50% it did). The history is told by a handful > of "beings" that transmigrate through different milieus through the > millenia. Fascinating breadth and depth. The Chinese equivalent of San > Francisco develops (with it's own Japan Town) across the Golden gate in > Marin in this imagined past. > > > Mother Mary Comes to Me (Arundathi Roy): Equal parts memoir, biography, > score settling, and elegy > > > Bhang Journeys: Stories, Histories, Trips and Travels (Akshaya Bahibala). > A former addict writes comprehensively, though a bit piecemeal, about the > weird legal/illegal limbo of Bhang (and Ganja) in India, and approaches it > from several different angles (that of an addict, that of a "certified to > use" addict, that of bureaucrats who administer the sale in the > Government-system, that of enforcers in the Excise department trying to > control illegal farming, ....) > > > Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI (Karen Hao). > Excellent book. For those looking askance at the author's post-modernist > post-colonial look at the field it is good to remember that Hao used to > write for such communist rags as the MIT Technology Review and the Wall > Street Journal. A good look into the moral vacuum that lies in the heart of > the race to the bottom in Generative AI generally, and Open AI specifically. > > > Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth (Audrey Truschke). A slim volume that > presents the Historian's understanding of the life of Aurangzeb, not what > you would find posted by Nationalists in India or Pakistan. Trushke focuses > on what we can say with confidence, and what we can only guess from the > sources. > > > Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture (Gaiutra Bahadur). I thought I knew > about the experience of Girmityas before. This book - from the perspective > of women (and a woman - the author's great-grandmother) "coolies" - opened > my eyes to many new things. > > > The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (Shehan Karunatilaka). Fun read (despite > the dark subject). But a little too long. > > > Sky Daddy (Kate Folk). Hilarious, dark, heart-warming. I am surprised I am > stringing those words together to describe this work, but they are all > appropriate. The local details of life in and around San Francisco brought > this alive for me. > > > To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban (Jon Lee Anderson). A > collection of essays that the author wrote for The New Yorker magazine on > Afghanistan over the years: from the anti-Soviet fight in the 80's to the > American departure (and the aftermath of the resurgence of Taliban) in the > 2020s. Reading these pieces with the benefit of hindsight the tragedy of > Afghanistan becomes clearer. The failure of the American project was there > from the seeds. > > > The Message (Ta-Nehisi Coates). Powerful. Searing. Bookended nicely in the > beginning with Coates' trip to Senegal - a "return" to a supposed place of > origin and by comparing in the end what such "return" has wrought in > Israel-Palestine. > > > Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler). Prescient (up to including the > phrase "Make America Great Again"), scary. A candle of hope in these stormy > times. I am glad to say it left me hopeful (but immensely sad) at the end. > > > Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social Order (Yuan Yang). > Tracing the lives of 4 extraordinary women in contemporary China as they > deal with the vagaries of the government and the patriarchy. > > Thaths > -- > Homer: Hey, what does this job pay? > Carl: Nuthin'. > Homer: D'oh! > Carl: Unless you're crooked. > Homer: Woo-hoo! > -- > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >
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