Reading in 2025
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Another year, another recap post! Here is a quick overview of the books I read and enjoyed in 2025.
I don’t read a lot, so don’t expect a big post. I read a bit every night, to disconnect my brain and fall asleep. For this reason, you will only find fiction novels on my reading list. I also enjoy book series most of all, because they allow you to go deep into a story.
In 2025, I read 5 different book series:
The Captive’s War
The Captive’s War is a trilogy of books by The Expanse’s authors James S. A. Corey. I enjoyed their writing style in The Expanse and was happy to see them start a new story. So far they’ve only released one book and one novella, but book 2 is scheduled to be released in the spring and you can already pre-order it. I enjoyed the beginning of the story, it sets up a really interesting world.
Children of Time
The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read all 3 books and pre-ordered the fourth, also scheduled to be released in the spring. It’s a unique take on the future of humanity / alien life stories / artificial intelligence. The main story follows life as it involves on a terraformed planet. Instead of the monkeys that were supposed to evolve on the planet to pave the way for humans to get there, it’s spiders that end up evolving on that world. We follow their evolution, and in parallel we follow what’s left of the human race as they search for a planet to live.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.This was my surprise of the year. I was looking for a lighter read after Children of time, and stumbled across the first book of the series (there are currently 7 books in the series, with more on the way). I wasn’t familiar with the litRPG genre and didn’t know what to expect. Turns out, this is exactly what I needed. Picture this: a man (Carl) and his ex-girlfriend’s cat (Princess Donut) get thrown into a televised dungeon crawler gameshow, run by aliens on what’s left of planet Earth. If that sounds crazy, you’re getting the idea. 🙂 The 7 books are easy reads, original, entertaining, and definitely a good way to disconnect after a long day. I would definitely recommend the series. The first book in particular was interesting because I was discovering the story and the genre.
Silo
Following that, I read the trilogy that inspired the TV series on Apple TV+: Silo, by Hugh Howey. I watched the show before to read the books, and I was surprised by how well the show had followed the original story. It’s a dark series about the future if humanity, but one one that I would recommend as well.
He Who Fights with Monsters
This was my last series of the year. He Who Fights With Monsters, by Shirtaloon, is comprised of 12 books. I’m not sure if the series is over, I’m at book 10 right now. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s an interesting story and idea, again in the litRPG genre. I’m just not a fan of the writing, it’s very repetitive, and I often wonder how this was published as it often feels like I’m reading something that I already read in the last chapter. The books for sure could be a lot shorter. The main character is also not very likable, and his growth over the books is overly explained, again and again, instead of letting us feel his growth for ourselves. At this point you must wonder why I read 10 books of this! I’d love to give you a good reason, but I think it’s just sunk cost fallacy 🙂
If I had to recommend only one book series, it would be Dungeon Crawler Carl. I’m looking forward to the next book!
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If you liked Hermanos Gutiérrez, you’ll like this one too!
The rhythms, base, radio voice samples, guitar, and latin style seem to be sending me towards Manu Chao‘s Clandestino as a future album on repeat 🙂
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Another year, another recap post! Here is a quick overview of the books I read and enjoyed in 2025.
I don’t read a lot, so don’t expect a big post. I read a bit every night, to disconnect my brain and fall asleep. For this reason, you will only find fiction novels on my reading list. I also enjoy book series most of all, because they allow you to go deep into a story.
In 2025, I read 5 different book series:
The Captive’s WarThe Captive’s War is a trilogy of books by The Expanse’s authors James S. A. Corey. I enjoyed their writing style in The Expanse and was happy to see them start a new story. So far they’ve only released one book and one novella, but book 2 is scheduled to be released in the spring and you can already pre-order it. I enjoyed the beginning of the story, it sets up a really interesting world.
Children of TimeThe Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read all 3 books and pre-ordered the fourth, also scheduled to be released in the spring. It’s a unique take on the future of humanity / alien life stories / artificial intelligence. The main story follows life as it involves on a terraformed planet. Instead of the monkeys that were supposed to evolve on the planet to pave the way for humans to get there, it’s spiders that end up evolving on that world. We follow their evolution, and in parallel we follow what’s left of the human race as they search for a planet to live.
Dungeon Crawler CarlDungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.This was my surprise of the year. I was looking for a lighter read after Children of time, and stumbled across the first book of the series (there are currently 7 books in the series, with more on the way). I wasn’t familiar with the litRPG genre and didn’t know what to expect. Turns out, this is exactly what I needed. Picture this: a man (Carl) and his ex-girlfriend’s cat (Princess Donut) get thrown into a televised dungeon crawler gameshow, run by aliens on what’s left of planet Earth. If that sounds crazy, you’re getting the idea. 🙂 The 7 books are easy reads, original, entertaining, and definitely a good way to disconnect after a long day. I would definitely recommend the series. The first book in particular was interesting because I was discovering the story and the genre.
SiloFollowing that, I read the trilogy that inspired the TV series on Apple TV+: Silo, by Hugh Howey. I watched the show before to read the books, and I was surprised by how well the show had followed the original story. It’s a dark series about the future if humanity, but one one that I would recommend as well.
He Who Fights with MonstersThis was my last series of the year. He Who Fights With Monsters, by Shirtaloon, is comprised of 12 books. I’m not sure if the series is over, I’m at book 10 right now. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s an interesting story and idea, again in the litRPG genre. I’m just not a fan of the writing, it’s very repetitive, and I often wonder how this was published as it often feels like I’m reading something that I already read in the last chapter. The books for sure could be a lot shorter. The main character is also not very likable, and his growth over the books is overly explained, again and again, instead of letting us feel his growth for ourselves. At this point you must wonder why I read 10 books of this! I’d love to give you a good reason, but I think it’s just sunk cost fallacy 🙂
If I had to recommend only one book series, it would be Dungeon Crawler Carl. I’m looking forward to the next book!
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I discovered this song in the last episode of Pluribus. It’s perfect. Just the right combination of dreaminess and nostalgia. Listening to more songs from Hermanos Gutiérrez, that seems to be a common theme. I’ll definitely be listening to that next week!
“My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.”
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It looks like the ESTA application process is about to get quite a bit more complicated. Check this proposal for changes to the process:
Among the changes, here is what jumps out to me:
CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application. The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years.
[…]
CBP will add several “high value data fields” to the ESTA application, when feasible
Email addresses used in the last ten years;Family number telephone numbers used in the last five years;I’m not sure if those fields will be optional, or if omitting or forgetting some of that data can result in not getting an authorization of entry.
I’m honestly not quite sure how I would provide such data. I use unique email addresses for most services out there. Do they accept wildcards as email addresses? 🙂
In any case, comments are open so I would encourage everyone to send your feedback, maybe that will help make that process clearer.
Written comments and/or suggestions regarding the item(s) contained in this notice must include the OMB Control Number 1651-0111 in the subject line and the agency name. Please submit written comments and/or suggestions in English. Please use the following method to submit comments:
Email: Submit comments to: CBP_PRA@cbp.dhs.gov.It seems pretty clear at this point that the US administration does not want foreigners visiting the country anymore 🙂
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I thought about starting a blog as a Fediverse account
The good news is, you’ve already enabled the Fediverse option for your WordPress site so it’s already done for you. All you have to do is blog! Arguably that’s the hardest part 😉
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I like the general idea. This is definitely a problem in WordPress today.
I wonder if the solution could be to better surface the command palette? The palette already allows you to quickly find what you’re looking for, without having to look through many menus. It’s also extensible so plugins can hook into and add their own menus.
It does miss 3 things though:
The default view remains cluttered with all the available menus.One needs to know an obscure keyboard shortcut (Cmd+K) to access the palette.It’s not available on mobile.Maybe we could have a better, clutter-free default view of the dashboard, with only the command palette’s main input field. What do you think?
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It’s hard to believe but after 14 years, the Stargate franchise is back. It won’t be a reboot, it’s backed by Amazon and folks from the original series (Brad Wright, Joe Mallozzi, Martin Gero) are involved in the project. I probably shouldn’t get too excited, but… It sounds promising?
It’s funny how they’re completely ignoring the Stargate Origins miniseries in their announcement. It looks like everyone agrees it’s better to forget about it. 🙂
