Books of 2026

Fun short werewolf story. Month by month account of a werewolf terrorizing a small New England town and the few people who understand what's really happening.

Where to start? This book and the game within the book are both very compelling. The opening is poetically gruesome but not indicative of the book as a whole - which IMO is good because I started and stopped several times because I just wasn't feeling the Cultural Revolution brutalities the first few times I tried it. A super ambitious sci-fi I can't really compare it to anything else I've read. However it's very worthy of the accolades and I can't wait to get around to the sequels.

Pair this with some Jeff VanderMeer and you'll really begin to rethink the modern world and its foundations and future.

First book of the Southern Reach series. Weird things are happening in Area X and the twelfth expedition will try to survive long enough to figure them out.

Revisiting this as my son has begun reading it at school and I wanted to follow along. I forgot that it was narrated to the degree it is with a fair bit of breaking through the fourth wall. Still has a lot of charm and the encounter between Bilbo and Gollum is a really interesting moment with a lot of depth. Looking forward to continuing and then moving on to the Lord of the Rings at some point to see how they compare.

Really enjoyed the scenes at Bilbo's home, always makes me hungry and ready to smoke a pipe. Very cozy.

Really enjoyed revisiting this. Read it in undergrad back in the day (2000s) and maybe rushed it at the time. Sam Spade is a real solid bastard for good and ill and the ending is pretty brutal and sudden. I think I'll read Red Harvest (again - though I barely remember it) next if I'm going for more hard-boiled; if I recall correctly it's substantially more intense.

The Maltese Falcon stands the test of time for the most part - odious stereotypes notwithstanding) - and you can see why it became a standard. Quite a dingus!

Yes, I read this because the movie was a hit. My brother read it and recommended it a few years back but to be honest his summary sounded too out there but I should have listened more closely. This is a really fun book with a great ending. I really enjoyed it. Rocky and Grace are a great duo. Very similar to The Martian but because it's a bro-mance it's stronger overall. Can't wait to see the movie.