I was pretty lucky with my choice of books in February 2025.
I am starting with the last book I read in February, because it was by far the best:
Wow. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence by Rebecca R Kuang. I don't really even know where the begin with this one. Historical fiction meets fantasy fiction - set in an alternate 19th-century England, where the power of empire is fuelled by the magic of translation. This is literal - with silver bars that harness the lost meaning between words in different languages to produce extraordinary effects. Placed in a carriage they can increase the speed and comfort of the drive. Placed on a ship they can improve the quality of the journey and increase speed. The magic of the silver bars is created through the work of Babel’s translators, who inscribe them with paired words from different languages, capturing the untranslatable gaps in meaning to unleash powerful effects that only those fluent in both languages can activate.
The story centres on Robin Swift, a Chinese orphan brought to England, is trained at Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation (Babel), where linguistic magic enhances colonial domination. Robin and his group of close friends, all immigrants to England and treated as second class citizens even when their skills are required by the empire, slowly become aware to the moral contradictions of the system that saved then in many cases from poverty, but at the same time has enslaved them through dependence on the system. They are each faced with a decision about whether they continue to serve the British Empire or fight it.
Although one of the books main themes was undoubtedly the power of language and how it can be used as a tool of colonialism and imperial control, for me what forcefully struck me was the question contained in the title - the necessity of violence. Can meaningful change ever come without violence?
I will try to write a fuller review of this book - but I really enjoyed it, if enjoy is the right word for such a deep and thought-provoking book.
I also read Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. This was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, the winner of which was Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Having read Orbital last month, and having somewhat of a mixed reaction to it, I was keen to read another contender for the prize. This one wasn't quite as I expected. Much like Orbital, Stoneyard Devotional was another moment in time novel that explored a period in the life of the unnamed narrator who has left her husband and life to become a nun in a regional religious community. Although an atheist, she is drawn to the opportunity to devote her life to service and introspection. The nuns of the community find value in this life of quiet seclusion, while three significant events that occur in the community ultimately give rise to question about whether one can contribute to society without taking positive steps for change. I enjoyed the story a lot but having read the description of the books I almost expected to be reading a mystery of some kind. I think I would like to try another of Wood's novels.
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yokohama Ogawa. While the maths involved in this story completely lost me, I don't doubt that there were probably a few meaningly metaphors in there that went over my head. Fortunately, this heartwarming story of three individuals brought together by chance but who have a meaningful and long-lasting impact on one another. It felt very intimate, and I applaud the ways that Ogawa was able to convey the complexities of the characters and their relationships in such a small book. I highly recommend.
I also read The Ruin by Dervla Tiernan. I am a bit of a sucker for piece of detective fiction / mystery and this one came with good reviews. I did enjoy it - it was a quick easy read despite its page count but it's nothing to write home about it. I felt like it built for such a long time that when the solution to the mystery was revealed and the end game played out, it felt like an anticlimax for me.
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