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2025 Talking Time Book Club Reading Nominations

Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
The endless of churn of time never ends. And we find ourselves near the end of the year with 2025 looming just on the horizon. No one knows what the future holds but I look forward to filling some of that time reading with all of you!

But what books?! Any books, you decide! So, if you would please submit to me four book recommendations. I will generate some lists and we will vote on them. Remember it can be any sort of genre, fiction or non-fiction. We have only one rule: No repeat authors from the previous year. And, one consideration: new books tend to be hard to source from the local library and many of our readers use theirs for copies.

2024 Authors:
Mark Haddon
R. F. Kuang
Rebecca Solnit
G. K. Chesteron
Arkady Martine
Tom McCarthy
Travis Baldree
Vladimir Nabokov
Benedict Jacka
Catherynne M. Valente

Past years readings: 2021 here. 2022 here. 2023 here. And 2024 here.

I also wanted to ask people how the would feel about trying to do a zoom virtual meetup some time during 2025? Get on-line and discuss the reading if possible? Thoughts? Is this something you would enjoy or just additional stress you don't need in your life?
 
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lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Commenting so I remember to come back and actually make recommendations this time. I have one book that I know for sure I want to put on the list, but I gotta think about the other three.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Yay, always fun! You have the title instead of the author for Palefire though FYI. I'm also going to take a bit of time. My other book club is supposed to have our picks locked in by the end of the month so I'd like to see how that list comes out.

Falselogic said:
I also wanted to ask people how the would feel about trying to do a zoom virtual meetup some time during 2025? Get on-line and discuss the reading if possible? Thoughts? Is this something you would enjoy or just additional stress you don't need in your life?
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Hmm. I'd be interested, but I also enjoy posting bits throughout the month and wouldn't want to hold off posting to save it for the call. Maybe if this was one call a quarter and we do an overview of a few in one call?

Beowulf said:
Dreadful, by Caitlin Rozakis
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Violentvixen said:
@Beowulf when we do 2025 TT book club nominations (Nov/Dec, not super formal) you should submit this!
Click to expand...
 
Baudshaw

Baudshaw

Unfortunate doesn't begin to describe...
(he/him)
I guess I'll choose books that I have at my local library, so I can assume other people have them as well.

I also want to choose books that have a lot going on, even if I dislike them personally. It makes for a more interesting discussion.

The Unpopular Vote by Jasper Sanchez (perhaps too political for this)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (very old, but classic)
The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak (an interesting old required reading book of mine)


These are really not good, use them only as a last resort. They probably won't fit this well.

I would be quite interested for a book club zoom meeting.
 
Baudshaw

Baudshaw

Unfortunate doesn't begin to describe...
(he/him)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir might be the most interesting of all my picks. It was suggested previously, but I'd like to bring it back 4 years later
 
Olli

Olli

(he/him)
* Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren: How to Read a Book
* Mick Herron: Slow Horses
* Yume Kitasei: The Deep Sky
* Arto Paasilinna: The Year of the Hare
 
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Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Alright. One reread, two that have been on my list to read for a while, and a more recent one that I'm curious about and has good availability at the library.

- If On Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Overstory by Richard Powers
- The Black Girl Survives in This One by Desiree Evans
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Baudshaw said:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (very old, but classic)
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I missed this in your list earlier. I've always wanted to read this, I feel like it was going to be assigned in a few classes I took but either the curriculum changed or maybe it was one of many books and I picked others? I don't think your picks are bad, our reading lists every year are all of the place and I absolutely love it, every year there's multiple books I'm unfamiliar with and never would have picked up myself.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Play Nice by Jason Schreier
The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Mieville
The Book of George by Kate Greathead
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
 
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Beowulf

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
Yes, please, read Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis (aka, my wife's book).

Also, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler is a hoot and absolutely aimed at our demographic.
 
Paul le Fou

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
These are mostly just taken shamelessly from my personal to-read list. Also some of them may have been nominated or even included before, sorry if so (I'll switch in something else)

Lessons in Birdwatching by Honey Watson
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
 
Paul le Fou

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I would consider recommending The Gray House by Maryam Petrosyan but I think putting that into a one-month reading period would be pretty tough. It's long and it's very dense.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Autumn by Ali Smith

Still thinking about my final two picks, but I wanted to make sure I got these written down.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Olli said:
Parking a comment here for future suggestions.
Click to expand...

lincolnic said:
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Autumn by Ali Smith

Still thinking about my final two picks, but I wanted to make sure I got these written down.
Click to expand...

Please have your nominations in by December 7th. That way I can generate the lists and we can vote on our readings before the true madness of December begins!
 
Baudshaw

Baudshaw

Unfortunate doesn't begin to describe...
(he/him)
I suppose I'll nominate a few others now that I've read them. I'm not sure if the books I've read would be interesting here.

Star Wars: Convergence
 
Olli

Olli

(he/him)
Falselogic said:
Please have your nominations in by December 7th. That way I can generate the lists and we can vote on our readings before the true madness of December begins!
Click to expand...
Fuck. Ok.
* Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren: How to Read a Book
* Mick Herron: Slow Horses
* Yume Kitasei: The Deep Sky
* Arto Paasilinna: The Year of the Hare

Any live discussion is probably going to be out of the question for me because of time zones.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
lincolnic said:
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Autumn by Ali Smith

Still thinking about my final two picks, but I wanted to make sure I got these written down.
Click to expand...
Adding on I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante as a third. I'll come up with a final pick by the deadline!
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
I mentioned that I needed a fourth book to my girlfriend and she said I'd probably like What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher, so that's my last pick.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Noms close tonight and I'm hoping to have the voting polls tomorrow or Monday. Thanks as always to everyone!
 
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