I recently finished reading Babel by R. F. Kuang 📚 and goodness gracious was it a worthwhile ride. It would be impossible to design a book more expertly crafted to pique my interest: a Hogwarts-adjacent school of silvery magic, deep dives into linguistic and translation theory, sharp critiques of academia, explorations of postcolonial political thought, beautiful descriptions of a fantastical university library, and some well-meaning revolutionaries trying to make the world a better place.