February 2026 - What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a noncommittal phase so partway through several:

Story of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang. I’m about 1/2way and may DNF because I don’t enjoy short stories or the genre, but I’ve read enough to understand why people praise him so highly. By coincidence, I read somewhere this week that he’s a technical writer in his “day job,” and I can see the influence. The stories show vivid imagination but combine that with a clarity and simplicity of language that I really appreciate.

Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar. This was passed on by my high schooler, who said several teachers saw her reading it and commented on how much they liked it. I’ve barely started and have no idea where the plot will go (I like it that way so don’t read blurbs if the book came well-recommended) but the narrative voice sucked me right in.

Astonish Me, by Maggie Shipstead. Kindle says I’ve read this before but I SWEAR that’s not true!!! Only a few chapters in, but I suspect it will be good. Her book Great Circle was one of my favorite reads last year.

Garments Against Women, by Anne Boyer. This is a small book of prose-poems. Very much NOT my usual thing, but I read an excerpt on “not writing” in Celine Nguyen’s Substack and loved it so much I had to read more. And I’m loving this one so much that today I also ordered her more recent book. (Side note: Celine Nguyen is much more highbrow than I will ever be, but I adore her posts and highly recommend her Substack to any readers who are highbrow or highbrow-curious. Come to think of it, her most recent article may be where I read about Ted Chiang’s day job.)

And because that all sounds fancier than my usual, I just finished Murderbot #3 (my favorite so far!) and Katherine Center’s The RomCommers, which was sweet and fun.

I just read “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang. I agree - he writes very well, and has very interesting ideas, but the lack of emotional investment you can develop in the characters makes it hard going.

[Anonymous]

Labrynths by Jorge Luis Borges. I had never read anything by him but I found some of the short stories very thought-provoking. They really stay with you…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Labrynths by Jorge Luis Borges. I had never read anything by him but I found some of the short stories very thought-provoking. They really stay with you…

An amazing writer.

[Anonymous]

I'm finally getting around to Kristin Hannah's The Women.
I'm getting close to the top of the hold list for The Black Wolf as well, and am looking forward to reading that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wild Dark Shores sounds interesting. I'll look that up.

Currently reading Ghost Cities by Siang Lu and enjoying it.

Next on the list is Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee because I've had it out of the library six weeks already. I really enjoyed his trilogy, but I just read another three books about dragons and riders fighting bad governments so I haven't felt as motivated to start this one.

I posted about Wild Dark Shores. This week I read "Migrations," also by Charlotte McConaghy. It had all the same beautiful writing about the ocean and wildlife but I found the characters more compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It's one of my next in line reads 😍

I read The House in the Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune. About magical children and rules around how magical people live, being true to yourself, accepting yourself, etc. LOVED both. Had them in my shelves for a while and really enjoyed both!! Can't wait for a possible third.

Also just finished Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. A little meh. About generational wealth, privilege etc. Was supposed to be funny but didn't land it. At first thought I might dnf, then ended up enjoying it a bit, (mostly just Sasha) then the ending/last few sentences kind of ruined any positive feelings I had about the book, just seemed so unnecessary and didn't belong.

[Anonymous]

The best books I've read recently are by Lily King: Heart the Lover and and Writers & Lovers. Loved them both so much. Also really liked The Rest of our Lives by Ben Markovits. It's a man who drives his daughter to college and then just keeps driving. It's great.

[Anonymous]

Just finished Wuthering Heights; it felt very YA/soap opera to me—so much drama stemming from immaturity. I kept wondering why there were no grown-ups in their sphere, and the complete isolation of both families at the start of the story seemed unrealistic. Surely the elder Lintons would have had some sort of social circle? Jane Eyre was far more layered and nuanced.

I’m ~20% into Fruit of the Dead (Persephone/Demeter/Hades retelling set in modern day). It’s an easy read, but struggling because the age/power dynamic feels especially “ick” right now; it’s for book club and our last selection was a DNF for me, so will keep going.

Dark Renaissance is my NF book, which is interesting but hasn’t totally gripped me the way it has other readers.

Up next for me will be either Marriage Portrait (Maggie O’Farrell) or the Mirror and the Light (final book in the Wolf Hall trilogy).

[Anonymous]

The Boyfriend ny Michelle Frances
Domestic suspense.
Great!

[Anonymous]

The Lies they Told by Ellen Wisemam. Historical fiction about a young german immigrant mother who settles in Appalachia

[Anonymous]

Vera Wang's Unsolicited Advice for Murderer by Jesse Q. Sutanto. A cute, funny murder mystery that gave me the warm and fuzzies.

That being said, I have read many explanations of NFTs and they still make no sense to me, but that didn't significantly mar my understanding of the plot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished Flashlight by Susan Choi. It was 4.5/5 stars. It’s a great story but it was a slow read for me.

I’m now reading Wellness which im not sure I will finish. It’s a very long book and I’m skimming for now to see if it eventually catches my interest.

Flashlight is in my stack of books to read but maybe I'll pick something else. I crave books I just can't put down ATM (maybe it's the extra time cooped up with the snow).

[Anonymous]

The Poet Empress. It is dark fantasy that i think is going to become very popular by word of mouth. Such an emotional journey.

[Anonymous]

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The main character dies at birth but then lives the “next” time she’s born and then she keeps dying and then coming back to life again. Or something like that.

I’m getting that she kills Hitler, which has either some or no effect on WWII.

I’m 11% in and I’m bored. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters, even the main one (who is still just a kid at this point). I had a recollection of people loving this book but then it only has a 3.79 on Goodreads (I generally won’t read below a 4.0) and now I’m thinking of giving it up. There are just too many good books out there and I keep not wanting to pick up my Kindle, which isn’t how I am with books I love.

Thoughts? Should I give up or keep going?

[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.

Did you read The Last Thing He Told Me? I did and didn’t like it so I figured I’d just give up on that author. I tried two Colleen Hoover books and three Frieda McFadden books before I acknowledged that I just do not like them so now I usually don’t go back after one bad read.