I have descended from my ivory tower and read a fiction book that was written in the 2000s…and I had such a fun time doing it! Andy Weir weaves science into his stories so well, and I loved the relationship between Grace and Rocky. Finally, as far as tropes go, humans and aliens trying to teach each other their respective languages is one of my favorites.
I said the same thing about a year ago on a post about project hail Mary. People recommended I try again and a week later I was through the entire bobiverse series. It starts very slow but is amazing by the end of the first book.