"Head Over Heels"
Casey MQ
Listening Lately
Reading Lately
All Fours
by Miranda July
July 2025 — Book club read. I'll be thinking about this one a while. Delves into themes of motherhood/marriage, being trapped in those roles vs desiring/needing those roles, trying to define ourselves vs what a perceived society expects, mid-life turning points both biological and psychological, self-imposed limits, depression, self-discovery and a ton more. Plus a lot admittedly not for me and/or over my head. Enjoyed in spite of finding nearly every character absolutely insufferable.
Ancestral Night
by Elizabeth Bear
July 2025 — Space opera adventure that, while felt a little sluggish for me at times, legitimately had me wondering which way of life depicted would come out on top for our narrator. Like a lot of excellent sci-fi, the setting may be futuristic but the big ideas feel universal: who are we outside of our past, what defines our sense of self, how much of ourselves should we give to our peers and community.
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
by Robin Sloan
June 2025 — Picked this up after enjoying Moonbound by Sloan so much. Reading this in 2025 was hard though as so much of it revolved around Google, big tech engineers, and their power to churn through all of human knowledge in a heartbeat. We've seen what these corporations will do with such power -- much of which is presaged by this book -- but the relatively bright-eyed 2010s-era depiction of these companies overshadowed the fun and humanity-focused themes of this book for me.
The Husbands
by Holly Gramazio
June 2025 — Book club read. Lighthearted exploration of the effects of infinite choice. I really liked the straightforward core of magic in this: take reality, add one weird warp, then press play to see what happens. That leads to plenty of setups that escalate into enjoyably tense/cringe-worthy situations, plus a lot to chew on.
Service Model
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
May 2025 — Downright enjoyable sci-fi journey. Devoured this one quickly as it's a delightful read and I found myself picking up as much as I could to find out what comes next. Wonderful exploration of humanity's automations caught in loops with some really memorable set pieces and characters.