What have you been reading this January, 2026? > Likes and Comments

Happy New year and welcome to 2026. I've got 3 chapters left in War in 2080 and about 60 pages left in The High Crusade.

Part of my Amazon Music subscription gives me one free Audible audiobook each month. I am using it to listen to The Silmarillion, this being the latest version, narrated by Andy Serkis. While I am quite familiar with The Silmarillion, I feel this version would be very accessible to people who are interested, but put off by its daunting reputation. This can also fill the Alternate Form Bingo slot.

Tony wrote: "Part of my Amazon Music subscription gives me one free Audible audiobook each month. I am using it to listen to The Silmarillion, this being the latest version, narrated by Andy Se..."

That sounds cool!

I read A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death , which is the second book in the series, although the way it ended, it seems like it will be duology. Google gives me no help as to whether the author intends to write a third. It was good and already filled in a Bingo slot!

I have finished The High Crusade. The book has a ridiculous premise that Poul Anderson makes work wonderfully well. Successfully enough, in fact, that it was nominated for the Hugo in 1961. A most enjoyable read.

Had a couple carryovers from my vampire themed year last year.

Finished the second half of Sons of Destiny that wraps up the Cirque du Freak 12 book series. It was an interesting and sad end to the series. Must admit it grew on me over time.

Though I had started a bit on The Portrait of Dorian Gray, I have a library book that I must return on the 6th which seemed far away for some reason, but today is the 2nd, and I'm working the 6th so I will have to return it on the 5th, so that only gives me 3 days to read it! I can't renew it since its already at its limit. So I'm starting on The Radleys by Matt Haig

My first book of the year was an espionage novel, The Summer Guests. Retired CIA agents solving mysteries. Love this series.

I rather enjoyed The Radleys it was a fun take on urban vampires. For those familiar with British fantasy/horror dramedy TV series 'Being Human' it covers similar ground.

I am trying out some light Lit rpgs this year. Starting out with he who fights monsters. seems fun so far. Nice worldbuilding, the first few chapters needed better editing though.

Georgann wrote: "I read A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death , which is the second book in the series, although the way it ended, it ..."

I have the first one on hold.

Starting with Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens and Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians.

Robin wrote: "I rather enjoyed The Radleys it was a fun take on urban vampires. For those familiar with British fantasy/horror dramedy TV series 'Being Human' it covers similar ground."

I'm enjoying it, and blazing through it pretty quick since it has those short chapters. I'm liking the father's POV the most, here he is taking out the garbage and thinking he could be flying across Europe instead :) Glad I decided to read it rather than just return to the library unread.

“Rhapsody” from the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. It’s my second read.

I really enjoyed Garden Spells . I, too, was glad I read it and didn't return to the library unread!

Re-re-re-reading Vorkosigan for the win! Specifically CryoBurn.

I'm re-reading Dune. I haven't read all books in the series and this year I really want remedy that.

Starquest: Scourge of the Spaceways by John C. Wright

Georgann wrote: "I really enjoyed Garden Spells . I, too, was glad I read it and didn't return to the library unread!"

That was good! I was surprised.

Yrret wrote: "“Rhapsody” from the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. It’s my second read."

That series has been on my shelf for ages but I haven't gotten to it yet. As a musician, I'm hoping it will intrigue me.

My review of Daikon by Samuel Hawley

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The Radleys (fun take on vampires) and now I can continue where I had intended to start in the first place, with The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde for my Gothic Reading Month and BINGO slot.

Happy New Years everyone! Currently reading Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clark. Flabbergasted that this is a modern book. The worldbuilding feels trippingly real (I might shyly look up some of the tidbits to see if anything is part of real myths or history…) the writing is very good (so far), and it feels like a very very long and oddly meandering book from another era. 200 pages in and I feel like we should be 80% done with a plot that hasn’t exactly begun yet, though it’s also very intriguing and the narration is magical. I didn’t know you could write a book like this. And a debut novel? No freaking way…

Oh. Last year I also completed The Secret Garden and The Artistic Anatomy of Trees. The secret garden was pretty good, but not substantial enough for me in takeaways. The tree art book was top tier of course, which is why such an old book would still be in print. I will not look at plants the same :)

Peony wrote: "Happy New Years everyone! Currently reading Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clark. Flabbergasted that this is a modern book. The worldbuilding feels trippingly real (I might shyly look u..."

Truly, it's an amazing book for those who like it. There are those who don't like the world-building enough to stick out the opening.

The Rose Field, book 3 of the book of dust by Pullman.

Andy wrote: "The Rose Field, book 3 of the book of dust by Pullman."

Oh! I didn't even know that was out yet! Nice. Does that wrap up the trilogy or is there more to the series?

continuing with the dungeon crawler carl series its split into subsections because there are so many continuing plots and new thing specific to the 6th floor. some chapters where carl and donut met up with a group of elf NPCs from the 3rd floor were a bit slow because the show runners told them to stay out of the main quest and they added a random ware-caterpillar to that party which was weird and added nothing to the plot in my opinion. but so far the other quests are good. vampires, giant mantis things hunting crawlers, swamp creatures, and carl goes to crawl con which is funny. im trying not to read it too fast so i don't run out of books before the next one.
otherwise i want to finish finished first 3 and they were good liked plot characters and world building but i keep putting book 4 down because of a lag in the action one group of MCs is planning a battle and one MC has spent her POV chapters doing nothing but getting shitfaced in a bar away from the action and i think im a 1/4 done so i really hope it picks up again because so far i had enjoyed the series.

Starting Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend.

That wraps up the trilogy. Andrea

Kaladin wrote: "I'm re-reading Dune. I haven't read all books in the series and this year I really want remedy that."

Are you planning to read just the Dune books written by Frank Herbert? Or are you planning to expand it to include all the books written by Brian Herbert / Kevin Anderson (a much bigger reading list)?

I have read The Skull, a short story by Philip K Dick. I enjoyed it, but the plot twist was pretty obvious.

Andy wrote: "That wraps up the trilogy. Andrea"

Nice, was waiting for that before starting a whole re-read from the beginning :)


As for Dune, while Frank's books are the best ones (though they get progressively weirder), however the 6 book series isn't finished, the last one ends with a character flying off into space to try to find safety and you're left hanging.

His son wrote two books, based on Frank's notes, that finish series. Though to really understand what's happening in those two books, you might need to pull in a few more (but by far definitely not all) of the books that Brian wrote. *checks* It would be the Legends of Dune trilogy. It was something Frank has also intended to write but didn't get to, and the final conclusion won't make sense without this background.

I actually ended up reading all the books by the son, but there was definitely a fair amount that I felt didn't need to exist and were just milking the hype around the movies. But it was kind of nice to see where the series was supposed to end, I sorta liked the final twist :)

Audrey wrote: "Starting Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend."

ha ha that's going on my TBR

I have finished War in 2080. It's nicely written and Langford has sensibly kept most of his predictions very general, because on the few occasions where he did get a bit more specific, the passage of even half of his 100-year look ahead has shown his predictive abilities to be not bold enough. There are parts (although not many) that do require a modicum of scientific literacy.

I have started reading Ruled Britannia. This book has an orange (and yellow and brown) cover.

I finished book 2 of Michael Sullivan's Riyria late last night, Avempartha. Another very fun read! The bookstore opens at noon today, so I need to run and grab the next so I can keep reading today!

Finished reading The Portrait of Dorian Gray. It was interesting on many levels, first just the story itself, second knowing some facts about Wilde's biography and how that would have influenced his writing, and though there isn't a lot of action and there's a ton of just talking/thinking/philosophizing, that was all interesting to read as well.

This fills my Gothic Reading slot, and I get the "bonus" points (the imaginary ones anyway) for reading it in January for Gothic Reading Month :)

One thing I found jarring is that nobody seemed to think it strange that Dorian didn't age, they point it out in the movies as the other characters get older, but then I think the movies stretch the time period the story takes place over longer.

Starting on Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire so I can progress on The Wicked Years series.

NekroRider wrote: "I finished book 2 of Michael Sullivan's Riyria late last night, Avempartha. Another very fun read! The bookstore opens at noon today, so I need to run and grab the next so I can keep..."

Excited for you. Keep going and eventually you get to ones I worked on.

Finished Zero Stars -- more social experiment than sci fi, but fun.

Starting The Witchstone -- urban fantasy.

Should be finishing Bastille pretty soon.

Audrey wrote: "NekroRider wrote: "I finished book 2 of Michael Sullivan's Riyria late last night, Avempartha. Another very fun read! The bookstore opens at noon today, so I need to run and grab the..."

Oh! Which ones, if you dont mind my asking?

My review of Godfall by Van Jensen

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hey guys. My first finished book of the year.... (drumrolls please) . It was my first Discworld book... and actually, I didn't like it! I read it to give it a shot, and because it had dragons, and to expand my taste and see if I like something I haven't tried yet. I really liked that it was a funny book, and that it had some clever parts. But I like smart books, and very well written books, and I just don't find that to be the case. A lot of the humor was pretty bad, and not especially witty, and the book just doesn't take itself seriously enough for me. The prose reads like a series of little comedy skits smashed together by a checklist, and I've never liked little comedy skits. I hoped for more substance, which I felt teased about very well, with 0 delivery. I do know I have high standards for books, that's what burns me out--I just don't usually enjoy them or feel better for have finishing them. I gave it a 3. I know, I know, I can see the Discworld lovers coming for me with the pitchforks from a mile away. Why do I still want to give a shot? Maybe my brain still hasn't processed that it ended, and is still living in the dreamy haze of the first half of this book. I have higher hopes for

I am slowly making my way through Discworld. Guards Guards was one of the better ones. They really are a collection of goofy skits. I swear all of Moving Pictures was written to deliver one punchline at the end.

Peony wrote: "Why do I still want to give a shot?"

For what it's worth (as I enjoyed, to a greater or lesser extent, every Discworld book I've read and would probably not recommend against reading any of them), this was one of my favorites. There's also , (Shakespeare on the Discworld), and .
Discworld books can offer something different from one to the next, but if you're looking for serious stuff then you'd be better off moving on to another author altogether.


Peony wrote: "I have higher hopes for "

Now this is a different beast, and you'll get all the beautiful and witty prose you'd want. I still cannot understand how this is a debut novel.

In view of the current state of the world, you might prefer The Truth. A bit more of a satire. Always difficult recommending!

I've only read the first Discworld so can't comment on the one you read. But I've been reading Piers Anthony's Xanth for a while, and its starts off ok (I mean its silly, and pretty juvenile humour, not recommending it per se) but it did an ok job for what it was at the start, but as it went along it went WAY downhill. In fact the author himself wrote

1 - he needs to stop cramming in pun suggestions from fans, thanks for sending them in but it became books of puns instead of plot, so so sorry if he doesn't use your idea in the future

2 - he went back to his original characters, because as he went along he started inventing so many new ones in every book, you stopped caring about any of them, handy for him he has an actual Fountain of Youth in his world that keep his older characters going long after they should have died. Deus Ex Machina, yeah, but its built into the world here.

Could be Discworld suffers same issue by the time it hit book 8? It focused too much on the jokes at the expense of the plot? And maybe a book 30 will bounce back up again, with that many books in a series they can't all be winners ;)

I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell though. Also enjoyed The Ladies of Grace Adieu (short stories set in the same world) and Piranesi was such a wondrously strange world. I haven't read The Wood at Midwinter but I definitely plan to.

A tip - don’t spend money on the wood at midwinter. It’s definitely a library level … hardly a book really

The first couple Discworlds are a collection of novellas. They are pretty random, and I don't think anyone could discern the order they were written if they didn't already know.

I think it helps to follow the characters you like best. Some love the witches and not Rincewind, for instance. Mort is one my favorites because I like Death so much.

Isles of the Emberdark -- so many cosplayers at Dragonsteel, and I haven't read it yet.

This Cursed House -- Southern Gothic horror; 1960s

Finished reading Elphie. As per the other Wicked books I didn't hate it, its quirky, but its also dark and cynical so was also hard to like it. This was a library book.

I'll check the library for the Wood in Midwinter then. I did the same with Beagle's latest Last Unicorn book, because while it had a unicorn short story, the other tale didn't have unicorns in it (though there was a character that carried over from the story)...and it too was pretty dark and cynical. Beagle oddly enough is hit or miss with me. I like the way he writes but I don't always like what he writes.

Almost forgot to add, starting on The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe. I was just poking around the library one day and I already had a bunch of stuff but this was a novella so figured wouldn't take long to get through (though it took a long time for me to get around to it!)

I've gone down a rabbit hole, rereading a bunch of Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Ghost Ship, Dragon Ship, Necessity's Child, Alliance of Equals, and The Gathering Edge. And now I need to read my library books instead!