February 2026 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

What is everyone reading this month?
What is it about?
What do you think about it?

[Anonymous]

I'm still working on three books I started in January -- Dark Renaissance, 1929, and My Brilliant Friend.

I don't normally have three books going at once, but at the moment I do.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Wild Dark Shores. I enjoyed all the writing about the island/wildlife/ocean. I didn't think that all of the relationships between the characters were believable, but it was still interesting enough to keep me engaged and I read the whole thing in a weekend.

[Anonymous]

I’m about 25 percent into The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave and it’s ok. I’m not having any trouble putting it down, despite the Whodunnit aspect. I’m finding anything not written by Daniel Mason to be hard to get into at this point.

I’m also rereading one of my favorite collections of short stories called Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu which is every bit as amazing as I remember it being.

[Anonymous]

The Mad Wife, by Meagan Church

1950s housewife struggles to keep up with expectations and life in general after the birth of her second child. But what’s really going on?

I’m about halfway through. The main character is interesting, as is the window into suburban life at that time. It’s an easy read, yet there’s a darkness to it, too. Gothic/horror or just domestic suspense? Not sure yet, but I like it.

[Anonymous]

I read Small Things Like These yesterday and it was so, so beautiful. It's about one man's response to the Magdalene houses in Ireland in the 80s, about the journey of a good person who finds out bad things are happening. Very relevant.

Next finishing up a few books I started in January: Children of God and Demon Copperhead.

[Anonymous]

I just finished Death Valley by Melissa Broder. She’s such a fun writer. A woman goes to the desert to process the impending death of her father and discovers a giant cactus where she can go and relive moments with him. It’s very well done despite the very speculative part about the cactus.

Just starting Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh.

[Anonymous]

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Two Indian young adults in the US, their parents set them up. So far I like it but I’ve just started.

I recently finished The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and didn’t enjoy it. It is told in reverse chronological order and the first section is over long and dull. I LOVED Fingersmith so I kept at it, but I don’t recommend it.

[Anonymous]

(I don’t recommend Night Watch- DO recommend Fingersmith, I meant to say!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Two Indian young adults in the US, their parents set them up. So far I like it but I’ve just started.

I recently finished The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and didn’t enjoy it. It is told in reverse chronological order and the first section is over long and dull. I LOVED Fingersmith so I kept at it, but I don’t recommend it.

Oh, I love Sarah Waters…the Little Stranger is my favorite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Mad Wife, by Meagan Church

1950s housewife struggles to keep up with expectations and life in general after the birth of her second child. But what’s really going on?

I’m about halfway through. The main character is interesting, as is the window into suburban life at that time. It’s an easy read, yet there’s a darkness to it, too. Gothic/horror or just domestic suspense? Not sure yet, but I like it.

I finished it last night. Good but not great. I’d give it 3/5 stars.

The good news is there was enough to keep me interested without veering into a ton of over-the-top twists and turns like a lot of “domestic thrillers” do these days.

But the last phase was just too much narrating/telling by the main character about her thoughts and refections about what she had just experienced. None of it was especially insightful or novel.

I would have at least preferred more “show” and less “tell” there - like if we could listen in as the main character talked through these things with her girlfriends during their weekly card games. At least that way it would have been broken up with other personalities and perspectives. Just felt blah at the end.

[Anonymous]

Finishing The Golem and the Jinn, which I’m loving.
Just started Hamnet for my book club. Only a dozen pages in, but Inreally like O’Farrell’s writing so far.

[Anonymous]

Late to the game but I just started The Frozen River while I wait for my holds to come available (The Mad Wife, The Correspondent). I have My Dark Vanessa on standby in case I finish or DNF TFR before Libby releases my holds.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin, and I just got off the hold list for the Correspondent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finishing The Golem and the Jinn, which I’m loving.
Just started Hamnet for my book club. Only a dozen pages in, but Inreally like O’Farrell’s writing so far.

This is one of my fave books.