June 2025 Readings
We are back in business ladies, gents and others. I have been gifted a lovely e-reader by my lovelier wife Tetyana, and have begun sailing the seas of ink in Jack Sparrow's fashion (I pirate books). I have also finally joined the Toronto Public Library, and am also acquiring books that way. Obviously, I check Libby for books before obtaining them officially and legally from eastern european sources, to support the TPL. In any case, it is easier than ever for me to read, and I do, as you can see below:
A Storm of Swords – Georges RR Martin
Not much to say here, it's good. It starts out very slow though, and the pace kinda grinded to a halt, but we pick back up a couple hundred pages later. Ngl, I'm reading all the books one after another without stopping, so the events blur in my memory and I can't remember what happens in what book, and therefore cannot really write a proper review of something I've finished at the beginning of the month.
Kill All Normies – Angela Nagles
I had an epub of this lying around (no doubt coming from Spencer), and also have heard it referenced a couple of times from the bookclub peeps, so I thought I would read it. It is also very short, so that helps. I have never been chronically online, and even less now as I have forgone all social media and news apps. I was a bit more online during the period this book about, which is set around the early and mid 2010's during the radicalisation of the online spaces, and the rise of the alt-right. The book was alright. It's surface level and very descriptive in its approach rather than analytical, which is what I was originally expecting. This felt more like the script of a very long video essay/summary than a well-thought-out book. I found that at some points she was giving a bit too much benefit of the doubt/credit to the deranged individuals composing 4-chan and the early new right. The description of what was going on the left side of the aisle is also pretty biased. I have no doubt that Angela Nagles sees herself as the enlightened centrist during those time, not being part of the alt-right; doxing, threatening, harassing, being racist, homophobic and other -ist and -phobic words, while also not being part of the “crazy” left, whose crimes are equal if not worse: “inventing” genders, “faking” oppression and cancelling people online for not being politically correct.
With this book, you at least get the broad strokes of what went down during this time, if through a coloured lens.
A Feast for Crows – Georges RR Martin
This book was goated. Probably my favourite so far. I really liked the Cersei chapters. It is so well written and doesn't hold you by the hand, or think for you. Cersei tells it how she thinks it is, and you are to figure out how much of an unreliable narrator she is. The whole Dornish subplot, if a bit slow to get going, was interesting. The world building is as usual top-tier. I also loved the later Jaime chapters, where he forsakes Cersei and starts his “healing journey”.
This book is missing a lot of perspectives however, and its ending is quite abrupt. Not that there is a cliffhanger, but it just ends at an awkward spot. Brienne's POV does end on a massive cliffhanger though, and considering that the next book, and last since 2011, is supposed to be part 2 of a Feast for Crows with the missing POVs, it might remain a cliffhanger until Georges releases Winds of Winter — which is never.
No Baki this month, I've been quite busy and reading books is easier than mangas. It will be back as soon as I finish ASOIAF, which is pretty soon.
Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie – Award winning author