What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: December 29, 2025

The Life and Redemption of a Ice Addict

By Wesley Cannon Sheets a true success story that I couldn’t put down!

Finished : Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami
Started : Imajica by Clive Barker (dark fantasy)

Continued Reading:

**The Aeneid, by Virgil**. This week I read book 3, and started book 4. I’ve not read The Odyssey nor the Iliad beforehand, other than through adaptations such as Song of Achilles, but books 2 and 3 really makes me feel as though I should have, haha. I’m not exactly lost, and while I am quite enjoying, I feel maybe I could have had an enhanced experience reading all 3, especially seeing that some publishers even publish the three works together in a box set, lol.

Finished reading:

**The Celebrated Cases of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle**. 3.75/5

This week in particular I read: Charles Augustus Milverton, and The Golden Pince-Nez.

Charles Augustus Milverton was more of a character piece than a mystery, again. Milverton is an infamous London blackmailer. Holmes is hired by someone being blackmailed, so Holmes has to work to extract the Blackmail material from Milverton’s possession. At first, this set up seems quite similar to that of the case of the Scandal in Bohemia (and I think intentionally so, given one of the fictional, foreign nobles we see at the end of the story), but instead of repeating those plot beats, it seems like Doyle wanted to finally deliver on an idea he’d been teasing for a while now, that Holmes would be quite the competent criminal if ever that persuasion took his fancy.

We do see him trick a young lady (and staffer of Milverton’s) into engagement, again reminiscent of a previous case, that of A Case of Identity. But, as it would happen, just as Holmes succeeds in obtaining the blackmail material >!he becomes witness to the murder of Milverton by the hands of the aforementioned foreign noble. And with that, one such extraordinary case of murder, the exact sort that Holmes is often recruited to solve, is initiated!<

>!Usually the involvement of a parallel crime adds a great layer of complexity/red herrings to a murder case (see Silver Blaze, for instance), but this isn’t a murder mystery, so we see the wrinkle as it happens, rather than teasing it out from the other end. And though Doyle uses this complications for laughs, and to wrap up his story, it only ever starts creating questions in my mind. Like just how much evidence was left behind (foot prints, ash), and how many witnesses there were to Holmes and Doyle’s escape in the end. I know Holmes is credited as the best criminal mind in London, but surely there’s got to be at least some other detective capable of putting the pieces together, whether it would implicate Holmes and Doyle, or whether they’d find the true identity of the foreign noblewoman!<

On the other hand, The Golden Pince-Nez was much more of a classic murder mystery, of the type that I enjoy. I had even guessed quite a few deductions correctly >!such as the female murderess being known to the Professor, and having gone to him after making the murder, and him hiding her, though I assumed for a shorter course of time!< Some clues I misread, such as >!The Professor’s appetite. When I heard he was having larger meals, I’d assumed it was because he was psychologically unconcerned with the murder, i.e. more signs of his connected guilt, rather than realising he was still keeping his wife and feeding her with his portions!< And that’s kinda odd, because >!even from seeing the floor plan, I felt there must have been more secrets to this house than what was shown, hence Doyle’s reason to show us in the first place!< though that’s more “meta-gaming” than actually reading the clues for what they are. But, it was a strong one to end on, and I’m glad I read it.

**The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green**

Finished. (As an e-book, the local library’s e-book service sucks though.)

**The Dogs of Paradise, by Abel Posse**

Slowly continued. Alternative history of early colonization of America as a biography of the involved people (Isabel I, Cristoforo Colombo, the American rulers). Very poetic, absurd and sometimes hilarious.

**Power of the Powerless, by Václav Havel**

Slowly continued. The analysis of “post-totalitarian” society can be applied to large swaths of neoliberal society almost verbatim; I’m not so sure about the so-called dissent though.

**Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson**

Started. Curious how it has aged. I’m reading a recent release with foreword by David Storch who concludes that some some of Carson’s prescriptions have turned out problematic (e.g., biological pest control), but the framework holds up well..