Book List

This is my list of books I've read starting in 2025.

I'm using WorldCat links to the specific format (sometimes it's audiobook, and sometimes it's ebook).

I mainly consume books using my library card and Libby app, who have their own BlueSky account.

In Progress

-The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

Read

• More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison: A sci-fi story involving psychic powers, collective consciousness, and the nature of memory. Mostly entertaining, occasionally archaic and dated. Ellison's narration can sometimes grate, but Rudnicki's is inspired. 7 out of 10.
• Tentacles Longer Than Night by Eugene Thacker: The third volume in the Horror of Philosophy series. This text was somewhat stilted and laborious, if rewarding at times. It lacked the discipline of the first two volumes but did not loosen all the way like Infinite Recognition. Overall a disappointment 6.5 out of 10.
• Under the Skin by Michel Faber, narrated by Fiona Hardingham: A book that is almost flawlessly executed: rich in thematic material, with compelling characters and plot. 9.5 out of 10
• Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval (translated by Marjam Idriss; narrated by Brie Jackman): I think I understand why this 2009 novel saw a recent revival: it brilliantly depicts young adulthood in the postindustrial Y2K years without nostalgia or pity. 9 out of 10. Grossout stuff may not be for everyone.
• Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison: Supernatural horror. I always kind of suspected the gate to hell would open in New Jersey. 7 out of 10. Plot is generally well-paced but at times lost on worldbuilding minutiae.
• The Girls in 3-B by Valerie Taylor: Lesbian pulp. By repute, this is one of few books in the genre that comes up with a happy ending for the lesbians. The suffocating world described here is like a survey of what kind of pressures led to Stonewall. 8 out of 10.
• Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (translated by Sam Bett, David Boyd; narrated by Scott Keiji Takeda): Literary fiction. Kawakami effectively describes what is most beautiful in the ugliest side of adolescence. Like reading a medieval martyrology transposed to middle school. 8 out of 10.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson: Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk. Building an entire genre essentially from scratch requires a lot of worldbuilding. In this instance, it is so much worldbuilding that I can't make out much of the plot or characters. 7 out of 10
• Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh: Literary fiction / Fantasy. Game of Thrones as told by the anarchist peasant from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Disgusting and fun. 8 out of 10

These are the books I read before I started using WhiteWind:

Brother by Ania Ahlborn: going to give this a 4 out of 10; splatter-by-numbers horror; tropes arranged and used creatively, but predictable. Strains too hard to establish setting and prone to exposition-by-simile.

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 7:47 PM

Starry Speculative Corpse by Eugene Thacker: 8 out of 10. Fun for the philosophy-literate, maybe too much German Idealism for casual readers. At its most substantial when it dares to talk about Nothing(ness)

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 8:11 PM

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Crash (audiobook): 7.5 out of 10.

Find you someone who loves you like Ballard loves the phrase "hard buttocks."

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) September 15, 2025 at 6:53 PM

Verdict on van der Lugt's Begetting: 8 out 10. This is one of the best books on the ethics of procreation; avoids extremist rhetoric and is grounded in the practical questions rather than edge case hypotheticals.

My sole criticism of the book is its wordiness / repetitive nature.

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) September 15, 2025 at 10:49 AM

"We know too much about ourselves as a species to be truly optimistic."

Infinite Resignation / Eugene Thacker: 8 out of 10. A book of hours for philosophical pessimism. I enjoyed the aphorisms at the beginning. The hagiography is stilted but still useful.

search.worldcat.org/title/100756...

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) September 3, 2025 at 8:07 PM

Done. Verdict: 9/10 thanks to being able to concentrate on a singular character, this was a much better novel than Lapvona.

Also, about that character; but I think the idea of her as "disgusting" or "unlikeable" has been overstated. Maybe the idea of a gruff anti-heroine is just harder to take?

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) August 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM

Finished Tender Is the Flesh.

Part 1 was interesting worldbuilding that gives the stakes; Part 2 was a shift toward set pieces; IMHO several of these added bursts of color while not adding much else.

The male audiobook narrator was less of an issue in this part.

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— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) June 18, 2025 at 9:50 PM

Finished Earthlings. Loved it. I feel like so many of the reviews emphasizing the gross or taboo parts are missing the basic points about issues of social control and bodily autonomy, mortification and enjoyment.

— Asperas Bompar (@asperasbompar.bsky.social) February 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM