### Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky's book is a solid mix of a space opera, a truly 'alien' biology and culture (despite evolving from Earth life-forms), and a thriller. I looked forward to the anthropological sections involving the spiders throughout the book (the alien-ness mixed with analogues to human society, the technological advancements, the social structure), and the ending was satisfying. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) * Date: 2026 * _science fiction, space opera, anthropological fiction, thriller_ * :liked: ### Foundryside As an experiment, I tried giving an LLM a list of the books and my opinions on them, and asked it to generate me a to-read list. As with most things AI, there was a lot of chaff mixed with the wheat; after a fair bit of culling, this was the only book I wanted to read. This book by Robert Jackson Bennett is a heist story with a fun magic system and interesting characters. The pacing was fair, and I enjoyed the twists. It is a good standalone read, though it is a part of a trilogy. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37173847-foundryside) * Date: 2025 * _fantasy, coming-of-age, heist, thriller_ * :liked: ### Gallant This book by VE Schwab is a horror/mystery story from the perspective of a a mute orphan girl with a mysterious past. The atmosphere for each of the locations is created well, and the mystery is revealed slowly. I enjoyed the writing, but it is far _too_ slow for my taste, and I decided not to finish it after reading over half the book and feeling as if it was going nowhere. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58064046-gallant) * Date: 2025 * _horror, mystery, fantasy, coming-of-age_ * :dnf: ### Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software Steven Johnson writes about how complex and seemingly "intelligent" systems emerge from smaller components which follow regular rules. Anthills and cities are taken as examples. The idea is extremely interesting, and the examples are well-chosen, but I found the book too repetitive for a fun pop-sci read, and too light to be technical. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that I have partly read "Godel, Escher, Bach", which covers similar ideas in a far more interesting manner. * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2296.Emergence) * Date: 2025 * _science, complexity_ * :dnf: ### Babel This is an alternate-history novel set in colonial Britain, where a translation-based magic system is used to explain the British empire's dominance. The magic is the least interesting part of the book, despite there being fun asides for etymology and the lost meaning in translation. The book is more about individual characters and the horrible effects of colonialism, and, most impactful for me, the complicity of people of oppressed classes who work with the oppressors because it benefits them as individuals. R.F. Kuang captures the dilemma well, and the book is thrilling until the very end. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57945316-babel) * Date: 2025 * _historical, fantasy, colonialism, british_ * :liked: ### First of Tudors This is the story of Jasper Tudor, uncle of Henry VII (the first Tudor king), and his historically-unconfirmed partner, Jane Hywel. It's a mix of historical fiction and romance. Joanna Hickson's book, despite being broadly accurate, doesn't drag. The romance is bittersweet and humanizes the characters. The book has a tendency to make major events happen off-screen, which I did not like. The ending is a little abrupt for my taste, but maybe that is a limitation of needing to be historically accurate. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28963797-first-of-the-tudors) * Date: 2025 * _historical, romance, british_ * :liked: ### A Fire Upon the Deep This is a *proper* space opera by Vernor Vinge, with different species of aliens which aren't just humans in different colours, different kinds of intelligence, and what I think is a unique premise with the 'Zones of Thought' (which is relevant to the story, and not just world-building). I was a little unhappy with the ending and how it just worked out, but I enjoyed both Ravna's arc, and the Tines-World arc, both of which were paced well. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77711.A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep) * Date: 2025 * _sci-fi, thriller, space opera_ * :liked: ### The Andromeda Strain In this novel, Michael Crichton talks about a hypothetical situation where a "space-bug" has entered Earth, and is causing a new sort of disease. It's quite technically minded, and I liked the explanations provided for the various phenomena. It was also quite thrilling, despite being narrated in a very dry and factual tone. I did not enjoy the characterization, nor the ending, however. I felt quite letdown. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7670.The_Andromeda_Strain) * Date: 2025 * _sci-fi, thriller, biology_ ### Diary of an Ordinary Woman In this novel (in a diary format), Margaret Forster writes from the viewpoint of a woman, Millicent King, born in 1901, from her pre-teens, to when she is approaching ninety. I liked how the diary interperses the mundane (washing machines), the emotional (romance and death), and the grand (wars). The diary does not drag because the author liberally summarizes repetitive entries. Perhaps _too_ liberally, and certain emotionally important events are simply written in summary. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/880759.Diary_of_an_Ordinary_Woman) * Date: 2025 * _historical, british, world-war_ * :liked: ### The Afterlife of Data I liked the premise of the book (as well as the typography), but I found the language too long-winded and decided not to read it quite early into the book. * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199805729-the-afterlife-of-data) * Date: 2025 * _technology, social media_ * :dnf: ### English, August In this book, Upamanyu Chatterjee writes about the titular character's initial year in the Indian civil services. Agastya (August) is reprehensible and relatable all at once. The story isn't fast paced or tightly plotted. It's more a slice-of-life, introspective look at Agastya's new surroundings. Agastya's irreverance made me chuckle every few pages. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75703.English_August) * Date: 2025 * _humour, indian_ * :liked: ### The Palace of Illusions I know and love the _Mahabharata_ as a story, so it was a great exercise to read this book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It is the epic from Draupadi's perspective. Besides the alternate viewpoint, I quite like the dialogue. It is neither as ridiculous sounding as I find Amish's dialogue when he writes Indian-mythology inspired books, nor as dry and dispassionate as C. Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1774836.The_Palace_of_Illusions) * Date: 2025 * _mythology, literary fiction, mahabharata_ * :liked: ### Yellowface A not-so-popular author "steals" unfinished work from her dead friend, a famous author, and publishes it under her name. This book by R.F. Kuang is about the consequences and the fallout. It offers (presumably) an inside view of what the publishing industry (and social media) is like, and leaves it to the reader to form their own thoughts about the main character. Is she completely guilty, or partly justified? * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62047984-yellowface) * Date: 2025 * _literary fiction, thriller_. * :liked: ### Butter This book by Asako Yuzuki promised to be a murder mystery, with a woman who cooked for her victims, and a journalist who pieces it together. It was nothing like that: instead, it is social commentary on Japanese culture, the role of women and men within it, and how the interactions with the (already convicted) murderess change the journalist's way of looking at her life. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200776812-butter) * Date: 2025 * _fiction, mystery, literary_ * :liked: ### Project Hail Mary This is the second book I've read by Andy Weir after _The Martian_, and I was every bit as satisfied. The book combines "hard" science concepts, a tight storyline, and emotional, tense situations. The different sort of creatures (species?) described in the book are strange enough to seem... well, alien, rather than just being humans dyed green or blue. The protagonist is relatable. This is a great book. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary) * Date: 2025 * _scifi, hard scifi, thriller_ * :liked: ### The Wedding People Alison Espach writes about a woman, horribly sad for various reasons, intending to do away with herself at a hotel. However, that hotel is full of the "wedding people", as a wedding will be taking place there. I could not make it past the initial tenth of the book, and I'm unsure of the reason why. I may give this another chance at a later point. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198902277-the-wedding-people) * Date: 2025 * _literary fiction_ * :dnf: ### The Magician's Land (The Magicians #3) This is the final book by Lev Grossman in this series. It brings to conclusion several loose ends in the series, and there are parallels with Narnia's _The Last Battle_ (though it's neither moralistic nor are there evil Calormenes about). The book starts, unexpectedly, with a "heist", and culminates with topics like divinity and creation (which isn't uncommon when it comes to endings of fantasy books). Similar to the second book, it is satisfying as a standalone "gritty fantasy", but for me, nothing comes close to the first book. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19103097-the-magician-s-land) * Date: 2025 * _fantasy, urban fantasy, high fantasy_ * :liked: ### The Magicians King (The Magicians #2) This is the second book by Lev Grossman that tracks the journey of Quentin. The book, for the most part, loses the philosophical commentary about happiness and ennui that made the first book special in my perspective. However, when considered separately, the book serves as a great standalone adventure, partly set in a land of gritty high fantasy, partly set in the real-world. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10079321-the-magician-king) * Date: 2025 * _fantasy, adventure, urban fantasy_ * :liked: ### The Magicians (The Magicians #1) In this book, Lev Grossman writes about a character who gets to go to faux-Hogwarts (Brakebills), followed by faux-Narnia (Fillory). The book has a grittier, more realistic viewpoint of both these places, and it's a refreshing take, since I have read all the seven books of both the Harry Potter and Narnia series. It almost reads like satire at points. However, the best part about this book are the experiences of the protagonist, Quentin. He's thoroughly unlikeable. His journey is an unsuccessful exploration of the fact that happiness comes from within, not without. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6101718-the-magicians) * Date: 2025 * _fantasy, coming-of-age, urban fantasy_ * :liked: ### Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation Dr. Jen Gunter writes about menstruation, the science behind it, and common myths that are perpetuated by people. I read relevant parts in detail, while skimming those I did not think had any applicability at the moment. * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75496481-blood) * Date: 2025 * _learning, biology, medicine_ * :liked: * :skim: ### The Ministry of Time Seemingly, this book is about time-travel, more specifically, transporting people about to die into the future, but in truth focuses far more on the interpersonal relationships and the adjustment between the people from the past, and their caretakers (termed "bridges"). The author, Kaliane Bradley, writes from the perspective of one such bridge. The slice-of-life and the romance part of the novel does justice to the awkwardness between the new and the old. However, the resolution (which is more akin to a mystery/thriller) is lacking. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199798179-the-ministry-of-time) * Date: 2025 * _scifi, romance, mystery_ ### Recursion Blake Crouch comes up with a seemingly new way of "time-travel". While the book unravels the mechanics far better than I could, one of the results of this method is a condition called false-memory syndrome: when a time traveller returns to the moment they travelled back from, everyone close to them gets a memory of _both_ the timelines. This creates emotional confusion and the first part of the book, which focused on this and the creation of the time travel device, were a treat to read. The rest of the book a thriller focusing on the world ending, was less interesting for me. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42046112-recursion) * Date: 2025 * _scifi, thriller, time-travel_ * :liked: ### The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August In this book, Claire North writes about a special sort of time travel: rather than going back in time, some people relive their lives again and again, but carry memories of the past ones. This novel writes about the confusion of being reborn, the unique relationships between such people, and an end-of-the-world plot which has a rather emotional aspect. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35066358-the-first-fifteen-lives-of-harry-august) * Date: 2025 * _sci-fi, thriller, time-travel_ * :liked: ### Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) The first book (of _many_) in Jim Butcher's urban fantasy series. It talks of the titular character's misadventures as a "magical detective" of sorts. I like the characters and how the book was paced. However, I found the magic system a little too vague, which might not have been a problem but for the fact that it was heavily involved in how the story was resolved. A nice, easy read on a flight, but I will not be reading the subsequent books in the series. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47212.Storm_Front) * Date: 2025 * _modern fantasy, thriller, mystery_ ### All Systems Red The main character in Martha Wells' novella is a security android who calls itself Murderbot. The android is "rogue", in the sense of having overcome the circuitry which compels obedience (or something similar). I like the worldbuilding, and take on the "AI becomes sentient" trope, but I found the characterization and plot lacking. Given the length of the book, it's not a bad read. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32758901-all-systems-red) * Date: 2025 * _sci-fi, space_ ### Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) The second book in Leigh Bardugo's duology. This picks up right where the first one left off. Rather than the books addressing significantly different themes, they read like two acts of the same story. This isn't a bad thing — this book was a very satisfying ending to the story. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22299763-crooked-kingdom) * Date: 2024 * _thriller, fantasy, adventure, young adult_ * :liked: ### Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) The first book in Leigh Bardugo's duology. This details a heist that a set of characters set to make, against all odds, and with significance that goes beyond monetary rewards for the heist. I like the pacing and the worldbuilding, but what made this book great was the characterization, the interpersonal relationships between the character, and the bits of backstory that the author provided. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/series/131836-six-of-crows) * Date: 2024 * _thriller, fantasy, adventure, young adult_ * :liked: ### Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke writes about yet _another_ world where magic is real, set in the 19th century. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed how magicians were portrayed (more accurately, magic historians), as well as Mr Norell's character. However, the humour in the book is a little hard to understand for me, as it relies a lot on cultural cues. I think there is also a significant amount of historical context from a period I know nothing about. Combined with the length of the book, I decided not to finish it, quitting before Jonathan Strange was introduced. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell) * Date: 2024 * _historical fiction, fantasy_ * :dnf: ### Death's End (Remembrance of Earth's Past #3) This is the last part of the trilogy by Cixin Liu. The invasion of Earth by the Trisolarians restarts, but that is no longer the main "fear" in the story. It isn't just the Trisolarians anymore, but several different elements threatening Earth and beyond. The thriller-like nature of the story of the "escape" ships contrasts quite a bit against the more philosophical nature of the main story. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25451264-death-s-end) * Date: 2024 * :sci-fi, space, thriller_ * :liked: ### The Dark Forest (Remembrance of Earth's Past #2) Cixin Liu continues his story about the Trisolarian invasion of Earth, and how the people of Earth address it in light of the fact that the Trisolarians can see and hear everything except what goes on inside a person's mind (through the Wallfacer program). This book is far more character focused than the previous one, given the individualistic nature of the Wallfacers program. This is a thrilling read, and in my view, the best book of the series, with no purely expositionary passages, nor excessive philosophy. The scifi concepts are also a treat in how they are incorporated into the story (while the Three-Body problem is entertaining, it isn't exactly thrilling the way the dark forest concept is). * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168817-the-dark-forest) * Date: 2024 * _sci-fi, space, thriller_ * :liked: ### The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past #1) While I owned Cixin Liu's book before I watched the TV series, I only started reading it afterwards. The first part in the triology details how the alien race of Trisolarians came to know about Earth's existence. There are several parallel storylines in the book. Rather than focusing on the characters, the book focuses on the plot, which, admittedly, is quite exciting. I liked the book, though I found the series to be better paced. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem) * Date: 2024 * _sci-fi, space_ * :liked: ### Types and Programming Languages In this book Benjamin C. Pierce defines what type is, and tells how types are useful, in the context of computer science and math. This is followed by instructions of how to define the syntax and semantics of languages, and how to type languages. I only read this upto 7-8 chapters — most of the content has already been covered in my undergraduate courses. * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112252.Types_and_Programming_Languages) * Date: 2022 * _types, programming-languages_. * :liked: ### Ten Years of Logging My Life An interesting blog post on recording day-to-day patterns and analyzing them. * :article: * [Link](https://chaidarun.com/ten-years-of-logging-my-life) * Date: 2022 * _self-improvement, logging_ ### Lua: Good, bad, and ugly parts A blog post on various aspects of Lua — I don't know the language yet, but I read it to see if I want to learn it, or not. I think I do. * :article: * [Link](http://notebook.kulchenko.com/programming/lua-good-different-bad-and-ugly-parts) * Date: 2022 * _programming-languages, lua, learning_ * :skim: ### Why git is so fast Some of the optimizations git makes. Has special focus on why C is the language of choice (rather than, say, Java). * :article: * [Link](https://marc.info/?l=git&m=124111702609723&w=2) * Date: 2022 * _programming-languages, optimization, git, learning_ * :skim: ### Why no one should use the AT&T syntax ever, for any reason, under any circumstances An opinion piece on why AT&T assembly syntax is confusing and poorly designed. A fun read. * :article: * [Link](https://outerproduct.net/2021-02-13_att-asm.html) * Date: 2022 * _assembly, rant_ ### Prisoners of Geography A book I received as a gift - on geopolitics. Tim Marshall explains, in layperson terms, the complex political situations of various countries. Of course, as you might have figured out, there's special focus on how geography plays a part in influencing the actions of every nation. This book was a great read, and a great gift from [Santwana](https://github.com/santwanav/). * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25135194-prisoners-of-geography) * Date: 2022 * _geography, politics, learning, non-fiction_ * :liked: ### Introduction to the A* Algorithm An interactive blog post about A* pathfinding algorithm, and comparing it to BFS and Djikstra's algorithm. This is specifically in relation to making games, maybe why I enjoyed so much. * :article: * [Link](https://www.redblobgames.com/pathfinding/a-star/introduction.html) * Date: 2022 * _game-making, algorithms, learning_ ### Map representations A blog post about how to split up maps into nodes and edges, and navmeshing - so the above algorithms can be applied. Tradeoffs between path quality, speed are discussed. Again, this was sprcifically in relation to making games. * :article: * [Link](http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/GameProgramming/MapRepresentations.html) * Date: 2022 * _game-making, learning, algorithms_ * :skim: ### How To Read A Textbook An article describing a way to read textbooks for maximum retention - this was specifically focused on tests, not just reading for the sake of reading. The article derives from a very old 1941 paper, and it seemed a bit _too_ test focused for me. * :article: * [Link](https://www.cuesta.edu/student/resources/ssc/study_guides/reading_comp/305_read_text.html) * Date: 2022 * _learning, self-improvement_ ### The 5-hour CDN An article describing how CDNs work by way of instructing the reader of a simple way to make one. I was introduced to several concepts in this article - traffic direction to nearby servers, layered CDN, etc. * :article: * [Link](https://fly.io/blog/the-5-hour-content-delivery-network/) * Date: 2022 * _learning, cdn, web-server_ ### Practical Web Cache Poisoning A /very/ in-depth look at cache poisoning with several exploits detailed along with the basic idea of cache poisoning. I read it to get a basic idea of what a cache poisoning attack looks like - and I also enjoyed skimming through the more complex exploits, though I did not understand them all. * :article: * [Link](https://portswigger.net/research/practical-web-cache-poisoning) * Date: 2022 * _learning, security, cache-poisoning_ * :skim: ### In defense of complicated programming languages An article on why languages evolve to have "complex" abstractions - because if we didn't have these abstractions, it leads to ad-hoc versions of these abstractions coming up in code anyway. Complex abstractions also help in increasing the ratio of issues found at compile time, to issues found at run time. * :article: * [Link](https://viralinstruction.com/posts/defense/) * Date: 2022 * _programming, learning, complexity_ ### How to Build a Car An autobiography of Adrian Newey - the man behind the design of many, _many_ championship winning Formula 1 cars. He provides an insider's view of the F1 circus, stories from his life, and easily digestible bits of many of his innovative designs. * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35657708-how-to-build-a-car) * Date: 2022 * _autobiography, formula-1, non-fiction_ * :liked: ### The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency A fun read about Botswana's only detective agency run by women, by Alexander McCall Smith. It is set in Botswana of I don't know what era: I can't make out whether it's the 1960s, or the 1990s, but the book is an engaging read, and the characters drew me in. * :fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7061.The_No_1_Ladies_Detective_Agency) * Date: 2022 * _fiction, detective_ * :liked: ### The Guide to Lucknow A book over 100 years old detailing the notable locations in and around Lucknow, providing a blow-by-blow narration of the effects and events of 1857 sepoy mutiny in Lucknow, and recent history (recent, from the perspective of the book. So from the 1600s or so). I skimmed through a large part of it because it was like reading a fact-sheet, and quite repetitive. Also, it really puts into perspective how much the time and environment of publication influences who literature portrays as the "good guys" (in this case, the colonial government are portrayed as "good" and "brave"). * :non-fiction: * [Link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50805762-the-guide-to-lucknow) * Date: 2022 * _history, non-fiction, lucknow_ * :skim: