since I saw a comment referencing borges and I realized I never did this, here's my favorite borges fiction:
- borges and I
- library of babel
- on exactitude in science
- story of the warrior and the captive
- a weary man's utopia (you can tell borges's politics, but still interesting)

idea factory review: I dislike the prose (it's way too repetitive) but the factuality is good. I've repeatedly run into things I only recognize due to the book, eg: long lines, invention of solar cell. did you know about project echo, where at&t launched a reflective satellite in 1960 to test comms?

a memory called empire review: solid political intrigue, though the rules of the world were very confusing -- possibly never thought through? I guess this is the equivalent of a soft magic world, except the magic is magic words in front of bureaucracy. decent book, but meh.

harrow the ninth review: first majority is confusing (again!?), but act 5 is nice and intriguing. not as engaging as gideon the ninth! but it makes the world much nicer (I found myself involuntarily browsing the wiki!)

probably I'll read nona the ninth, though not excited to wait for alecto :/

good old neon review: very good short (1~2hr) story! hits some emotional notes and I love the analogies, though I think some borges-style could have helped with those. was constantly guessing what would happen next and being incorrect, which is fun!

(I should really put my reviews on my website...)

gideon the ninth review: great 4th quarter, worth the {intentionally confusing, obscure words, very strange} setup. too bad nobody I know IRL would enjoy doomed yuri.

Top 2 best wishes:
- Shizuki Ryouko
- Clarisse van Rossum

The technology behind this seems neat. The UI feels kinda bad though :(