February 2026 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Just started I Who Have Not Known Men last night!

[Anonymous]

just started Buckeye and liking it so far but hoping things pick up a bit given the length.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just started Buckeye and liking it so far but hoping things pick up a bit given the length.

Same - agree with both parts of your sentence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just started Buckeye and liking it so far but hoping things pick up a bit given the length.

NP. For me, they didn’t pick up. DNF at maybe 30%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I finished The Night We Lost Him. It was not very good. I cannot understand what I was supposed to be invested in and I didnt find any of the characters or their relationships the least biut compelling. Just a basic pedestrian read.

[Anonymous]

Listening to Crime and Punishment (which is annoyingly read by someone who doesn't have a Russian accent....) and reading Flashlight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strangers by Belle Burden
A memoir of a marriage
She’s an incredible writer - it sucked me right it. NYC Mom of 3, former lawyer turned SAHM whose finance bro husband walks out on her during COVID. Fascinating and not bitter.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I read a long article about the author and the book and found it really interesting. Less the basic story and more the bigger questions of how well we can really know another person . . . or even ourselves until external events force us to dig deeper. Safe to assume there's more of that in the book itself?

Also glad to hear she's an incredible writer. I definiely have a soft spot for former BigLaw lawyers who write well in other contexts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I finished The Night We Lost Him. It was not very good. I cannot understand what I was supposed to be invested in and I didnt find any of the characters or their relationships the least biut compelling. Just a basic pedestrian read.

I find all of Laura Dave's books to be similar. I kind of liked the first one I read but then DNF the others I tried. As you said, I just wasn't invested enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I Who Have Never Known Men - a post-apocalyptic novel by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman, first published in French in 1995. It tells the story of a group of women imprisoned in an underground bunker by silent male guards, narrated by the youngest woman who has no memory of the world before the cage.

I like it so far. It's more philosophical than event driven.

You're speaking my language here! What other books that fit this description have you enjoyed?

[Anonymous]

Skylark. I am about 1/3 in. Normally, I don't like WWII novels. I find them repetitive. The two timelines make the book more interesting.

[Anonymous]

Finished Dark Renaissance, the Stephen Greenblatt book about Christopher Marlowe. If you know anything about Marlowe, you know it doesn't end well. It's a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in the Early Modern playwrights, in Elizabethan England, etc. Well, actually, it's good enough that it is probably a fascinating read for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just started Buckeye and liking it so far but hoping things pick up a bit given the length.

NP. For me, they didn’t pick up. DNF at maybe 30%.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Strangers by Belle Burden
A memoir of a marriage
She’s an incredible writer - it sucked me right it. NYC Mom of 3, former lawyer turned SAHM whose finance bro husband walks out on her during COVID. Fascinating and not bitter.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I read a long article about the author and the book and found it really interesting. Less the basic story and more the bigger questions of how well we can really know another person . . . or even ourselves until external events force us to dig deeper. Safe to assume there's more of that in the book itself?

Also glad to hear she's an incredible writer. I definiely have a soft spot for former BigLaw lawyers who write well in other contexts!

She’s just so privileged though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just started Buckeye and liking it so far but hoping things pick up a bit given the length.

NP. For me, they didn’t pick up. DNF at maybe 30%.

Same.

I'm a PP. I DNF yesterday at about 20%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I Who Have Never Known Men - a post-apocalyptic novel by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman, first published in French in 1995. It tells the story of a group of women imprisoned in an underground bunker by silent male guards, narrated by the youngest woman who has no memory of the world before the cage.

I like it so far. It's more philosophical than event driven.

You're speaking my language here! What other books that fit this description have you enjoyed?

DP, but I consider the following “philosophical vs event driven” and enjoyed them all: Orbital, Audition, the Dutch House, and On the Calculation of Volume (I). Curious to hear other thoughts and additions!