I'm reading Beatrice's Last Smile by Mark Gregory Pegg. It's a history of the Middle Ages through the concept of holiness. Really interesting, and it's written in small chunks with short histories of specific people or events that makes it a lot easier to read than some more academic looking books

My favourite book this year was Children of Time (I read the whole trilogy!) so I definitely need to check out Shards of Earth

Nice, I remember reading it and Homo Deus when I was in school and enjoying it a lot

Coincidentally, I'm reading Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow which is somewhat critical of Sapiens