Before anything else I have to say a HUGE thank you for reading, reviewing, and supporting me with your kind comments and messages during Hexes Fly’s release week. You are awesome!
I indulged in some re-reading in July including Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn, and Rihasi by Rachel Neumeier.
I hit a few books that were just … almost worth finishing. I finished them, but I was underwhelmed. Some books I DNF’d. Hence my happy dive back into old favorites.
Fortunately, my non-fiction read was awesome. I thoroughly recommend Inventing the Renaissance: Myths of a Golden Age by Ada Palmer. It’s a long book, meticulously researched, and written with passion and humor. It’s setting me rethinking a lot of my historical assumptions—and some of my current day ones, too. Excellent book!
What did you read in July?
Comments
6 responses to “Recent Reads – July 2025”
Congrats on Hexes Fly … I was so sucked in that I couldn’t put it down and was utterly sleep-deprived Saturday. 😀
My July reads were Wen Spencer’s Elfhome series (it was fun, I loved the world-building … sciencey-magic was cool), and the last book in Suzanne Wright’s Dark in You series (Legion). Wright isn’t for everyone, but when I’m in the mood for that broody alpha hero, she hits the spot.
I’m glad you enjoyed Hexes Fly! Wen Spencer has a new book out in September, the sequel to The Black Wolves of Boston, and I haven’t read book 1 yet (I wasn’t sure of the multi-POVs the blurb hints at) but I think I may have to!!
I haven’t read that one yet either. The blurb left me feeling like it likely wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I’m in my mid-40s, and after growing up inhaling stories where the main characters were always men – from Luke Skywalker (yes, while I can appreciate Leia as an adult, somewhat, it doesn’t change the fact that she was a damsel and I wanted to be the Jedi) and Indiana Jones to books by Tolkien, Piers Anthony and David Eddings – I now rarely find myself interested in reading books where men are the main character. I also rarely find myself reading books written by men, because most men don’t write strong women characters (there are exceptions, of course). Most of what I read now puts a woman in the center, with a male co-lead that is just outside of the center, and I love it.
It’s a tangent, but I have a pet theory. Society accepts that women are the more empathetic gender. I personally believe that is partially because women grew up having to learn to see themselves as the hero when the hero was nearly always a male. Empathy is a muscle, and we have had to use it from our very earliest childhood. Men never did, particularly white men. I think that’s why there’s such a dearth of empathy in the white males of modern western society. Not All Men, and all that … I’m obviously speaking in generalities. But the backlash about representation in society right now, most of it is coming from these men. And the truth is, I think the young generation will be better people because of representation – we have little boys imagining themselves as Wonder Woman right now, and it is amazing.
I love that little boys imagine themselves as Wonder Woman these days.
I have so many thoughts on empathy that I can’t get them organised! Empathy, storytelling, growing into ourselves, trying out other selves (ancient traces of shamanism fascinate me – the idea of imagining ourselves as animals and spirits – as part of being human and creating identity and community). In the end I’m not sure if we can teach empathy only model it, but if we can teach it then all the stories we tell (video games, movies, sports reporting, literally everything) needs to promote empathy, and that comes back to my fear/hope that the storytellers have to be empathetic to pass it on.
I did say my thoughts are jumbled!
I have the immense privilege of telling stories for a living – I work in animation – and I truly believe that growing empathy is one of the primary purposes of stories. A good story allows a person to live as someone else for a while – to laugh, cry, fall in love, survive devastation, triumph over adversity. Learning to emotionally connect outside of ourselves is so critical. It is the gift that storytellers give to humanity – empathy and learning to see perspectives outside our own lived experience.
Yes! I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for expressing the power of stories so well.