I read less books than in January, but they were generally longer than those last month, with a total of 7 books and 2,155 pages. That leaves me on 19 books and 4,788 pages so far this year, which is a solid start. Three novels, two non-fiction and two roleplaying books.
The non-fiction books were Ben Macintyre’s excellent “A Spy Among Friends”, which focuses around the Kim Philby betrayal, and Mark Bray’s “Antifa - The Anti-Fascist Handbook”. The Macintyre book was fascinating; I didn’t really know the details behind Philby and the Cambridge spy ring, and this certainly opened my eyes to the level of betrayal involved, and the deaths that resulted from his actions. The blindness of the SIS establishment was also compellingly told, as “he’s one of us” gave so much leeway. Bray’s book, written in response to the first Trump presidency, describes the techniques and tools that have been used against fascist and far right racists and how they’ve evolved. I learnt a lot, and have deeper respect for those who have risked themselves taking direct action in stopping these deeply unpleasant people.
The roleplaying books started with a re-read of “Comrades - A Revolutionary RPG”, which was also written in response to the first Trump presidency, as preparation for Revelation. I also read “The Laundry Operative’s Guide”, which was an impulse purchase following reading the final Laundry book. I do like how Cubicle 7 have evolved this to a D6 dice pool system rather than a version of Call of Cthulhu. It’s very much its own thing now, and all the better for it. The book looks great too. I was reading the PDF as the print copies aren’t released yet.
On the fiction side, I read Charlie Stross’s “The Regicide Report”, which brought the Laundry Series to an end (The New Management books are after this). It’s a series I’ve long loved and it’s slowly evolved from how do we prevent CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (the rising of the Elder Gods and the end of the world as we know it) to a tale of how the country adapts to living under a living avatar of Nyalathotep as the Prime Minister. The story digs deep into the meaning of the late-Queen to the nation, and drew me through. My favourite book this month.
Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary” came next, which felt much more like the “The Martian” than “Artemis” did. It drew me through but overall it was a bit of a miss for me. It was a rushed pick for the Bookclub, mainly as Elle Cordova and her friends have been caught up in all the unpleasantness in the USA. I’d actually bought this a while back, so it was a good reason to actually read it.
I really enjoyed Antti Tuomainen’s “The Winter Job”, which was an impulse buy. A postman takes a delivery job on the side to earn some cash to buy his daughter a Christmas present. He has to deliver a sofa but as he’s driving along events ensue which reveal that everything is more complicated than it seems. There’s a wry sense of humour in how it’s written, and I could imagine this as fun film to watch.
Happy reading!
1 March 2026