January 2026! What are you reading??

[Anonymous]

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, really enjoying it. Makes me feel nostalgic for now, which is a tough thing to pull off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Started “The Correspondent” today. “Theo of Golden” is next. I’m aiming for 84 books this year, double what I read in 2025.

Wow. Do you read them all or do you listen to any? Do you work?

I am trying to increase my reading (I do listen to a lot of audiobooks) but there is no way I'd be able to get through 84 books in a year (although maybe I'm wrong).

How much TV do you watch? How many hours do you spend on your phone each day? Most people would be surprised how much time they have for reading if they put down their phones and turned off the TV.

I don’t watch much TV but I could definitely try harder to swap any phone time at night with reading. One issue is that reading often makes me tired so I don’t want to start at 8 pm or I’m about to pass out by 8:30! Maybe I just need to read more riveting books.

That's definitely part of it, too. There are so many people here (right here in this thread!) who are reading books they don't like. You see them talking about struggling to read something.

Stop reading books you don't like. Don't let someone else tell you a book is good or worthy. Pick something else! Try different genres until you find the books that you can't wait to get back into! Find the books that make you understand the "one more chapter" bookish merch!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am reading Middlemarch. I don't know why I have never read it. I am about 1/3 of the way through and already sad that it has to end.

If you haven’t read Vanity Fair, put it on your list!

[Anonymous]

Just finished Wreck by Catherine Newman - continuation of the family in Sandwich. She is so spot on with her middle aged references that I can get past the overly cutesy stuff in it.

Just started So Far Gone by Jess Walter - so far so good.

[Anonymous]

Tried to read Normal People - i was so excited to dive into three books by that author- but I could not get into it. Seems to be written for teenage girls? So disappointed.

Plowed through Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt- non-fiction about Christopher Marlow and Elizabethan England literary scene. Yes I am a nerd. Picked up his book on Shakespeare next - also good but not much new to me here.
Next I want to get into his book called The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am reading Middlemarch. I don't know why I have never read it. I am about 1/3 of the way through and already sad that it has to end.

One of my favorites!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am reading Middlemarch. I don't know why I have never read it. I am about 1/3 of the way through and already sad that it has to end.

If you haven’t read Vanity Fair, put it on your list!

+1000

It's one of my favorite books of all time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tried to read Normal People - i was so excited to dive into three books by that author- but I could not get into it. Seems to be written for teenage girls? So disappointed.

Plowed through Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt- non-fiction about Christopher Marlow and Elizabethan England literary scene. Yes I am a nerd. Picked up his book on Shakespeare next - also good but not much new to me here.
Next I want to get into his book called The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

This is the next NF on my list. Looking forward to it. I can't wait to read about Marlowe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, really enjoying it. Makes me feel nostalgic for now, which is a tough thing to pull off.

For me it felt slow in the beginning, but it picks up. The ending is very satisfying.

[Anonymous]

Hitting the children's classics right now: Howard Pyle's "Robin Hood". To my surprise, I'm not the only one -- nearly 4000 downloads on Gutenberg this month. Unfortunately, the hard copy version I am reading inexplicably and annoyingly does not have Pyle's original illustrations, but those of some mid-century shlub.

Probably won't read it to the kids, but I will put it on their shelf.

[Anonymous]

Just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Received this as a gift otherwise was not on my reading list. An alternate history told from the POV of a 9 year old Jewish boy in NJ in which Charles Lindbergh was elected President in 1940. Roth is a great story teller , with great characters and love his descriptions of family dynamics. Also interweaves humor throughout. A great book!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Received this as a gift otherwise was not on my reading list. An alternate history told from the POV of a 9 year old Jewish boy in NJ in which Charles Lindbergh was elected President in 1940. Roth is a great story teller , with great characters and love his descriptions of family dynamics. Also interweaves humor throughout. A great book!

I think they made this into a TV series during the pandemic? It was terrific but I haven’t read the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isola by Allegra Goodman. Historical fiction. A little slow, but I don’t mind that.

I really enjoyed this book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Received this as a gift otherwise was not on my reading list. An alternate history told from the POV of a 9 year old Jewish boy in NJ in which Charles Lindbergh was elected President in 1940. Roth is a great story teller , with great characters and love his descriptions of family dynamics. Also interweaves humor throughout. A great book!

I think they made this into a TV series during the pandemic? It was terrific but I haven’t read the book.

Thank you! Will try to find a way to watch it (don’t have HBO)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Received this as a gift otherwise was not on my reading list. An alternate history told from the POV of a 9 year old Jewish boy in NJ in which Charles Lindbergh was elected President in 1940. Roth is a great story teller , with great characters and love his descriptions of family dynamics. Also interweaves humor throughout. A great book!

I think they made this into a TV series during the pandemic? It was terrific but I haven’t read the book.

Its one of few Philip Roth's books noted for having very little sex in comparison to some of his other, more famous and lurid works. He’s overrated.