Ron Reads in 2026

Just dropping a marker here for when I start reading in 2026. I'm taking a book pause at the moment. Just doing a short story here and there. I've been on LT since 2009 which doesn't seem so long ago but it is. Been with the 75 group since 2013. I have some ideas of what I'll be reading in 2026 but generally I let the books take me where they want to. I took in more books to the house than I read last year. BAD trend at my age. I will be reading heavily off my shelf this year.

I am an active volunteer with a Friends of the Library group and enjoy it immensely. We raise a lot of money for the library each year through our book sales and I enjoy the people I work with a lot. Lots of book talk! I always appreciated the book sales when I was younger and now I get to pay back.

My 2025 thread is here with a list of my favorite books of the year at the end: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367468#

As a board member of our public library, I don't know what we'd do without the Friends of the Library group---they raise so much money, and awareness of our programs. Especially important these days. Keep up the good work, Ron!

Welcome back, Ron! I'm hearing that read-off-my-shelves message a lot this year... 😀

>2 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda. The side effect of it was that I wound down my findagrave hunting several years ago (altho I stepped back in this month and added about 120 to our local cemeteries). I appreciate both but volunteering at the library has become something of a passion in recent years.

>3 drneutron: Thanks Jim. When LT put out the year in review and it told me I had added 104 books in a year I had tried to be restrained (and only read 60some) I gave myself a talking to. To be fair, half a dozen at least were books I had somehow missed adding to my LT library over the years, but still ... definitely going to be a books off the shelf year.

Welcome back for 2026, Ron. I'll be along often as always.

I usually start each year with a picture. This is Teardrop this New Year's morning on our bed. He was one of 4 feral kittens in the neighborhood that my daughter worked on socializing in 2018. He came to visit us after a time and although still a wildthing in some ways, he thinks of us as home.

My general idea for reading in the new year is to read books that I have wanted to read for a long time but manage to get pushed aside on the shelf as time goes by. Many are old "classics", many are books in a series that I want to get back to. Although I added a lot of books to my library last year I belatedly realized that a fair number of them were library books. I also donated a great many books to our friends of the library for resale. So the shelves are no longer overcrowded and my plan is to make them less so this year. The first book I am reading I started yesterday evening that I had some hopes for. The start of the book was pretty good but some aspects are bothering me. I will have more to say when I finish it in a few days.

>6 RBeffa: What a handsome fella...even if he is hiding his face!

Dropping by for New Year's and a star. Happy New Year Ron!

>5 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. That building of yours is pretty impressive.
>7 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda. He is very handsome.
>8 swynn: Thanks for the star Steve.
>9 Berly: Thanks Kim. Hope we all have a good reading year.

LT tells me today is E M Forster's birthday (in 1879). Very coincidently I have already chosen A Passage to India to be my first serious "classic" read this year from my shelf as soon as I finish my library book. Rumer Godden's Black Narcissus which I read very recently has tweaked my pre-war interest in India. I may read more by Godden before long. I almost might take on Talbot Mundy's King of the Khyber Rifles and other books by Mundy.

1. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal, DNF January 2, 2026, no stars



I started my first read of 2026 on New Year's Eve with a book from the library. It was the first novel of 4 books that are prequels to the Lady Astronaut that I finished 2025 with. I enjoyed that story a lot. This novel won the Hugo Award in 2019 for best novel and it reminds me of why I have been strongly pushed away from recent science fiction and fantasy. They've become social science fiction, emo, romantasy and whatever romantic science fiction (like in this book is called). I don't quite hate it but it just does not appeal to me. I had hopes, dashed. I am not crazy about the writing style I guess and characters and character interplay failed me. The story starts very well. There are a number of appealing elements to this alternate history story which many people obviously liked. Not everyone tho. There is a rather damning 1 star review from 2018 on Goodreads by "Heather Reads Books" that really hits it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33080122-the-calculating-stars

I asked an AI for a summary opinion and here you go, and I think the AI was being kind:

" The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is an award-winning alternate history science fiction novel set in the 1950s, featuring an emo (emotional, character-driven) focus as it follows mathematician and former WASP pilot Elma York fighting to become an astronaut after a meteorite strike forces humanity to colonize space, tackling themes of misogyny, racism, mental health (anxiety/trauma), and climate change through a deeply human, empathetic lens. It's known for its historical detail, relatable protagonist, and powerful exploration of resilience against systemic barriers, making it both nostalgic for classic sci-fi and a modern critique.

Key Aspects:
Genre: Alternate History, Science Fiction, Character-Driven/Emotional (Emo) Sci-Fi.
Plot: A 1952 meteorite strike accelerates the space race, but Elma York, a skilled pilot and mathematician, faces societal barriers and personal struggles (including anxiety) as she pushes to be included in the space program alongside men.
Themes: Gender inequality, racism, mental health (anxiety, PTSD), climate change, family, and the fight for inclusion.
"Emo" Elements: Focuses heavily on Elma's internal struggles, emotional responses, grief, and personal growth, contrasting with typical Golden Age sci-fi.
Style: A blend of meticulous historical research and classic sci-fi tropes, offering both tribute and critique of mid-century attitudes, notes Reddit users.
Significance: Won Hugo and Nebula awards; praised for its deeply human characters and relevance.

In essence, it's a story where personal feelings and societal prejudice are just as critical as rocket science in the race to the stars, explains Space and Sorcery and Natrona County Library. "

Me, I don't recommend this (unless you like this sort of social "preaching" fiction). The actual writing bothered me too. I could not make it to the halfway point. Which made me sad.

I keep a list of my favorite books by publication year in my lifetime. Here is the latest version I have

1953 Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
1954 The Searchers by Alan Le May
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata (Japanese publication)
1955 The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
The Sixth of June by Lionel Shapiro
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (prefer 1978 revised one)
1956 The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
1957 Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
1959 Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
1960 Trustee From the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
1961 Hombre by Elmore Leonard
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
Sackett by Louis L'Amour
1962 King Rat by James Clavell
R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
1963 Way Station by Clifford Simak
1964 A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
1965 Dune by Frank Herbert
My Sweet Charlie by David Westheimer
1966 Silence by Shusaku Endo
Grass For My Pillow by Saiichi Maruya
The Fatal Impact : The Invasion of the South Pacific, 1767-1840 by Alan Moorehead
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
1967 Dumarest series (Winds of Gath is the first) by E C Tubb 33 book series
1968 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Once an Eagle by Anton Meyer
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg
1969 Pavane by Keith Roberts
Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Conagher by Louis L'Amour
1970 Time and Again by Jack Finney
1971 The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Rich Man, Poor Man by Irwin Shaw
1972 Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
1973 Protector by Larry Niven
1974 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
1975 Shogun by James Clavell
Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
Black Sunday by Thomas Harris
1976 Trinity by Leon Uris
Roots by Alex Haley
The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov
1977 The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Gameplayers of Zan by M A Foster
1978 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
1979 The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Legends of the Fall: 3 novellas by Jim Harrison
Sandkings by George R.R. Martin
The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper
1980 The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward
1981 Cujo by Stephen King
1982 Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan by Vonda N. McIntyre
1983 The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan by Alfred Coppel
Yesterday's Son by A C Crispin
1984 Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
West of Eden by Harry Harrison
1985 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Ishmael by Barbara Hambly
1986 Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
1987 Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
1988 Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
On Parole by Akira Yoshimura
1989 The Girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks
1990 The Lies of Silence by Brian Moore
Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang
1991 Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
1992 Brave Companions: Portraits In History by David McCullough
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
1993 The Giver by Lois Lowry
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry
The Hedge, the Ribbon by Carol Orlock
1994 The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
1995 Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Polish Officer by Alan Furst
1996 Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
California Fault by Thurston Clarke
1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
1998 Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
1999 Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
2000 The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
2001 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan
Jackdaws by Ken Follett
Tales from Earthsea Ursula K LeGuin
Wish You Well by David Baldacci
Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst
2002 Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Train Dreams: A Novella by Denis Johnson
2003 The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Pompeii by Robert Harris
2004 March by Geraldine Brooks
Dark Voyage by Alan Furst
2005 A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Seeker by Jack McDevitt
Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow
2006 The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
2007 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead
Zoo Station by David Downing (US publication)
2008 Dreamers of the Day: A Novel by Mary Doria Russell
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking bk. 1) by Patrick Ness
Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton: An Autobiography by J G Ballard
Escape From The Deep by Alex Kershaw
2009 Homer and Langley by E L Doctorow
Shannon by Robert Delaney
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
Love and Summer by William Trevor
The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking bk 2) by Patrick Ness
2010 Potsdam Station by David Downing
Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking bk 3) by Patrick Ness
2011 Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Martian by Andy Weir
2012 Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Sutton by J.R. Moehringer
Son by Lois Lowry
Coming of Age on Barsoom by Catherynne M. Valente
The Death Song of Dwar Guntha by Jonathan Maberry
2013 Transatlantic by Colum McCann
2014 All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sentinels of Fire by P. T. Deutermann
2015 Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
2016 Beyond the Ice Limit by Preston and Child
A Hero of France by Alan Furst
Good Morning, Midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
2017 Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami
The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
2018 Once Upon A River by Dianne Setterfield
Munich by Robert Harris
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
2019 A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
Diary of A Dead Man on Leave by David Downing
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
2020 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World by Lesley M M Blume
The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
Coo by Kaela Noel
2021 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
We Run The Tides by Vendela Vida
The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
2022 The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
Gwendy's Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar (3rd of a trilogy)
2024 My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr

>12 RBeffa: Happy Belated New Year, Ron:). I did finish this, but there were several hugely (scientifically) unrealistic aspects to it that bugged me.

>14 karspeak: Hi Karen, thanks for visiting. I hope you have a good reading year!

Ron! Good To see you, Sir! I'm back, and hopefully to participate more fully this year. Happy New Year! I'm presently reader a banger of a book called Crooks by Lou Berney. So good!

Teardrop is such a great name for your kitty.

>13 RBeffa: I remember we had fun compiling our favourite books per year of our lives, Ron. I need to revisit and update my own.
I start from 1966 but I would definitely pick four of your as my best of year:

1972 Watership Down
1975 Ragtime
1999 Plainsong
2007 The Gift of Rain

but plenty of other great books listed above too.

>17 PaulCranswick: Paul, I wonder sometimes how some of these books would hold up on a reread. I am sure I would drop a few as no longer favorites... and I still think I may have missed a few. But the list was fun to make years ago and I want to keep it going.

>16 brodiew2: I am glad you are back Brodie. I have not read any Star Trek probably since you were last here but I do still have a few on the shelf I would like to get to. Crooks looks intriguing. You were good at finding those sorts of books. I am reading crime of a different sort, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a little at a time and I am really enjoying the several so far. I think I only read hound of the baskervilles when I was young and never tackled the other books despite good intentions now and then. You turned me on to Charlie Chan if I remember right and that is another series I want to get back to.

I have 5 or 6 books in various stages of unread that I am reading, but this one told me to read it after a mention by Karen (karpseak) on her thread in Club Read

2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, finished January 13, 2026, 3 1/2 stars, almost 4 stars



I don't feel like I can write a proper review without being very spoilery. This is a highly rated recent novel. It is a book of letters and a few postcards and emails that an aging woman has kept.

It piqued my curiosity as a bit of synchronicity or something like it because I had been thinking this past week or so how we (me) don't write letters anymore. I thought I should write a few this past Christmas and yet I still haven't. Here is a book about a woman who wrote letters her entire life. I thought I must read it.

There are 2 1/2 star review and 4 plus star reviews here on LT that cover most of my thoughts on the book. In the end I will say that at various points I was confused because all these names are thrown on the page and although we do learn who they were they meant next to nothing at the start. And I would flip back to read things again numerous times to find where the person was previously mentioned. There were also letters and notes that rather charmed me.

I would easily recommend this to my friends who like "women's fiction"

There are several dozen (at the very least) books I picked up in 2021 and never bothered to enter in my LT. I do that sometimes when I want to sample a work, but sometimes it is an accident. Covid times too, grabbing a bunch of books and not getting to them all. I have a small stack of H P Lovecraft. I have several David Lake books and I cannot remember what prompted me to get them. Must have been a mention here on LT, or real life. I have a bunch of ebooks from Humble Bundles as well and I have only put a few titles in my library. Well, here we go. I have started on a counterpoint to the Virginia Evans book with Travelling in a Strange Land: Winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year by David Lake

There are some good books in that Irish novel award list of winners and nominees. I have read a few. Here's the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Group_Irish_Novel_of_the_Year_Award

3. Travelling in a Strange Land: Winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year by David Park, finished January 15, 2026, 3+ stars



A short almost impressive novel here. I liked it but wanted to like it more. It is a bit too much - trying real hard to be something. The zigzag flashback and forth storytelling bothers me. I keep thinking pages are missing from the book. My prior book was about a woman dealing with the loss of a son and this is about a man dealing with the loss of a son and hoping he doesn't lose another. Done very different than the Virginia Evans novel. Both about parents seeming to hide some secret however. Lots of flashback going on as did The Correspondent and it kept jilting me off the story and where we were in it. But there are also some deep introspective moments that help redeem this story for me. There is also a core of sadness and loss.

NN. The Doom That Came to Sarnath and Other Stories by H. P. Lovecraft, DNF January 2026

This month I only read three of the 20 stories contained in this book, including the title story and also an essay at the start of the book by Lin Carter. I have read very little in the way of horror stories over the years and as much as I can remember, only one H P Lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror - so long ago I don't recall a thing about it. I just have no interest in this style of storytelling.

>23 RBeffa: a long time ago I decided to stay away from HP Lovecraft. It made me uneasy. I'm glad you're underway for 2026. I can't wait for your first glowing review. I finally finished Crooks and picked up Dungeon Crawler Carl, which had been recommended by more than one friend.

I'm sorry the previous book was a little frenetic. What's on tap?

>24 brodiew2: I am reading the adventures of Sherlock Holmes! It has the first 12 stories and they are quite enjoyable as of the first 3.

>21 RBeffa: You confused me a little with your reference to 'DAVID LAKE", Ron, but I realised it is a typo and you meant David Park.

You are right on the Irish Novel of Year Award which I look out for too.

So far though I have only read 5 of the winners.

>26 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Fixed the typo.

Well, I wanted to read some classics this year.

4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Tor Classics) by Arthur Conan Doyle, finished January 30, 2026, 4+ stars





The first twelve Sherlock Holmes shorter stories are collected here and this collection was first published in 1892. They were a delight to read, one a day. I've read a bit of Sherlock years and years ago but never as far as I know these early short adventures. I really warmed to this storytelling and I see more Sherlock in my future.

eta: The characters here are quite different from what I have happened upon in films and television.

5. The last thing he told me : a novel by Laura Dave, finished January 31, 2026, 3 - 3 1/2 stars



Picked up this library book. Not my usual read. But there was a mystery here, and I liked the story and characters.

eta: I didn't rate this higher because of a couple of bothers. My biggest bother is what wasn't said at the end which became more pronounced because the ebook I had from the library had the first chapter of a followup novel as a preview. That first chapter of the new book should have been the last chapter of the book I just read. Or maybe the second to last because there is more to the story missing. I was also bothered throughout the read by the countless flashbacks - this story is not told in a straight narrative. So, although I liked the story, I could have liked it more ... and I have no plans to read the followup novel.

2/2/2026 Tonight's movie was the 2006 Bluray of Casino Royale starring Eva Green and Daniel Craig. I read the novel in 2024 and it was the very first James Bond novel that Ian Fleming wrote. The film was excellent. Saw it once before when it was new, probably in the theater. I've got an idea to watch all of the Bond films this year, or at least as many as I can track down. I have seen virtually every one at some time or another but I think there are a couple I have missed. Some I watched many times. Would be fun to read some of the novels along the way as well. Casino Royale was a surprisingly good novel. So next, do I go to 1962's Dr NO with Sean Connery, or the second Daniel Craig picture, Quantum of Solace from 2008. My first thought was to read them in publication order of the Ian Fleming stories, which seems to be :
Casino Royale: (1953)
Live and Let Die: (1954)
Moonraker: (1955)
Diamonds Are Forever: (1956)
From Russia, with Love: (1957)
Doctor No: (1958)
Goldfinger: (1959)
For Your Eyes Only: (Short Stories) (1959)
Thunderball: (1961)
The Spy Who Loved Me: (1962)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: (1963)
You Only Live Twice: (1964)
The Man with the Golden Gun: (1965)
Octopussy and The Living Daylights: (Short Stories) (1966)

That means the next movie would be Live and Let Die which stars Roger Moore.

Or do I go with the order the movies were made. Or do I do the Daniel Craig movies and then go back to the start with Dr No? decisions decisions

6. Nevil Shute’s Most Secret (finished February 6, 2026, 3 stars) is a dive into the darker and desperate days early in World War II, focusing on a specialized commando mission using a converted French fishing vessel. This story is driven by personal loss, revenge, and the realities of war. A French priest opines that the only way to kill the Germans is a cleansing fire. An Anglo-French soldier takes this to heart when he hears of something being developed in England. There is an early chapter that is heartbreaking and depressing and sets the tone for much of the story.

Shute's novels can be a bit overtechnical - part of their charm most times. I had a hard time keeping the four or more main characters straight, each with their own detailed subplots and history, because the viewpoint shifts in the story are frequent. The character shifts include seeing the same events through different eyes and feelings, and were good, but partly what was confusing to me as a reader.

Of the 10 or 12 Shute novels I have read over the years this one is probably my least favorite. It is the first book by the author I thought of abandoning. Not recommended even though I gave it 3 stars. There are much better novels by the author.

For the second time I have pearl ruled Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry For the Future. I just cannot seem to read this despite the reputation it has. Passing it on ...

7. The Magician's Assistant by Anne Patchett, finished February 10, 2026, 3 stars



I love Anne Patchett's writing and at the start of this I was enchanted and entranced with her way with words. This was her 3rd novel, published in 1997. I can't really talk about why this book eventually disappointed me without spoilers and being a little over critical. I enjoyed a lot of this book though so I am giving it 3 stars but at the end of it I was unsatisfied, both with the end itself (although it was understandable) and never understanding the main character, the magician's assistant, despite spending most of the book inside her head and dreams. Some of the dream sequences at the beginning were wonderful.

eta: One of the big problems for me is that the first third or so of the novel I was as I said, enchanted. Then the novel takes an odd turn and we head into a history, past and present, of domestic violence. I did not need any of that.

8. The Cabinet of Curiosities Pendergast book 3 by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, finished February 15, 2026, 3 1/2 stars



This was a fat paperback - well over 600 pages but relatively quick reading. Parts were a real page turner. However, a bit too much wasn't. The story was uneven to me. I did not realize this was about a serial killer(s) until I fell right into it. I had one night of nightmares and considered dumping the book - it was very frightening - but the mystery of this plus time spent in the museum of natural history in New York from prior books in the series drew me back in. Plus Pendergast is a fascinating character.

>31 RBeffa: Of Nevil Shute's novels I've only read On the Beach. Sounds like that is not the one to expand my familiarity.

>35 swynn: No, I'd hold Most Secret until you have read better Shute. Try Pied Piper, or Landfall or An Old Captivity. Most of his books have two titles, one for the commonwealth and one for the US. In the Wet was also pretty good and a bit scifi. Trustee From the Toolroom is another pretty good one. I read A Town Like Alice so long ago (when the TV version with Bryan Brown was out) and loved it back then. I'm planning to read that one again. I'm partway through one of his earliest novels written in 1938 - What Happened To The Corbetts - good but not great so far - until I realized it wasn't an historical fiction but rather a dystopian preview of the world war to come and I appreciated it a bit more.

This week I've bailed on several novels that aren't worth mentioning, although I was more than 100 pages into James Rollins Excavation. Thought a thriller might be what I needed, but that was not it. I started on a Sherlock Holmes novel before bed last night. I will see that through. Still working on a Nevil Shute novel.

9. The adventure of the peculiar protocols : adapted from the journals of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer, finished February 24, 2026, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



Nicholas Meyer goes to a lot of trouble to give us the atmosphere of an Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story. However, the story for me was rather boring and strung out too long including a couple suspect historical interactions with real historic people. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I will give another of Meyer's pastiches a try though. Also more of the original stories before too long.

>37 RBeffa: I have a couple of books by James Rollins on the shelves but somehow I have never been impelled enough to crack it open. Your review comments are not encouraging me too much, Ron!

>39 PaulCranswick: Paul, we have quite a few of his books because my wife enjoyed his stories a lot. The one I bailed on was one of his very first ones if not the first. Rather Indiana Jones but with weird bits. I read one or two of his later books years ago that I enjoyed in his Sigma Force series. We have not read any of his more recent books.

10. The Guns of Heaven by Pete Hamill, finished March 2, 2026, 3 1/2+ stars



A better than average read, but not quite 4 stars. This "Hard Case Crime" novel was originally published in 1983 and drops the reader into the world of that time, both in Belfast and Greater New York, as well as a bit of Switzerland. I read very little in the way of crime novels so I am no expert, but I thought this was done pretty well. It was a hard to put down book. Fair number of twists and surprises kept me turning the pages.

Huh. I've read a fair bit of Pete Hamill...did not know he wrote any straight-up crime fiction.

>42 laytonwoman3rd: The review posted on LT by DaveWilde really nails the story. He gave it 5 stars. No one mentions the female characters. There are several including the one on the cover, Sheila Rafferty.

I definitely will seek it out and give it a try myself. I've enjoyed Adrian McKinty's novels about a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary set in the 1980s, but written this century. It will be interesting to compare.

I listened to an audiobook by Adrian McKinty 10 or 15 years ago and had trouble with it because of accents so to speak of the narration and never finished it. I always meant to get hold of a real book.

Meanwhile I spent 3 and 1/2 days on a very large biography of author Jim Harrison (from the library) that is just out and despite liking the start eventually gave up. I think one needs to #1 really enjoy biographies and #2 be a very knowledgeable fan of Harrison's books and maybe #3 be from Michigan. I like some of Jim Harrison's books and have bailed on others. I didn't find the book interesting.

So I started Still LIfe With Crows last night before bed and found myself loving it. whew.

I did a little searching about, and discovered that the main character in The Guns of Heaven, Sam Briscoe, reappears as the editor of a tabloid about to shut down the presses in Tabloid City, which I did read. So now I'm eager to get to the earlier work, which --wonder of wonders--my library has a copy of.

>46 laytonwoman3rd: yay!

11. Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, finished March 13, 2026, 4 - 4 1/2 stars



This was the 4th novel in the Pendergast series and my favorite read of the series so far. I have read the first four plus some of the more recent ones. Some of the books are just a bit too gruesome for my tastes - these are horror mysteries for the most past. This one has some nasty bits but the overall story in many ways is just very very good. We mostly leave New York behind although there is a bit of touchback to the preceding novel 'The Cabinet of Curiosities', but this is primarily set in rural Kansas. There are also several references to the novel 'Beyond the Ice Limit' which was not yet published until years later, AFAIK. (That book is my favorite of all the Preston and Child books I have read).

The reader learns more about Special Agent Pendergast character and also we solve the mystery (well most of it) as Pendergast gathers clues and the astute reader might be a bit ahead of the game here. This is the book where we meet Corrie Swanson who is a main character in some later books by Preston and Child. The actual twisty ending came as a surprise to me. There has to be some surprise left!

I do need to say that the body count by gruesome means gets pretty high in this book and I rather wish it wasn't. The one real downer for the book.

12. Cheating At Canasta by William Trevor, finished March 18, 2026, 3 1/2 stars



Twelve unrelated short stories, most of which were first published in the New Yorker Magazine, were put together for this collection in 2007. Despite the general excellence of Trevor's writing the stories didn't always please me. Partly I think this was because the topics bounced around. Still, very much worth the read and a reminder to me to read more by this author.

I should mention that these are all sad melancholic stories mostly about people with unhappy lives or parts of life. So there is a theme of sorts. The first story in the book was my favorite and set the tone for the book. It has been a while since I have read William Trevor but I think I like his stories written earlier in life.

Reading Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction. Wow

13. The sixth extinction : an unnatural history by Elizabeth Kolbert, finished March 27, 2026, 4 1/2 - 5 stars



On Earth Day 1970 Pogo told it like it was, only now we can see especially if you read this book that it is far worse. We have met the enemy and he is us. This book is 12 years old now.

Not a perfect book and quite interesting as a travelogue but one chapter after another we follow the path to extinction, faster than ever. I can see why this was awarded the Pulitzer prize.

I think every person should read this book. We are already at the start of a mass extinction and the way the world is now it is probably far too late to stop it. This isn't a preachy global warming book, by the way.

14. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, DNF March 31 2026, unrated



A 1955 paperback that I think I had stashed away long ago - I may even have another old copy somewhere, but I could never remember having read it. 1984 I could remember. This one, nada. So I gave it a go and I so wish I had not. This satire of an anti-utopia is nearly 100 years old and tho I read and skimmed through almost all of it, this book repelled me in every way. I am sure it was supposed to - but hit me with a sledgehammer please. That might be more effective.

15. Enshittification : why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it by Cory Doctorow, finished April 1, 2026, 3 stars



Too bad this is not an April Fool's joke. If, like me, probably like many people, you find the things you once enjoyed, lost their way or just got plain shitty, like Facebook for example, or Microsoft, or google or Ancestry, even newspaper subscriptions, television, music, just about everything, even a game I used to play a lot Candy Crush Friends have been shit on, or they shit on you - well, you are not alone.

I'm not a big fan of the author but you can learn some things here that you may or may not already know about what businesses (and the gov't) are up to. What disappoints me is the proposed solution (not completely however). We need something other than what Doctorow proposes. I don't know what the solution is other than things that are obvious to me but are unlikely to ever happen. Not that they would fix things either, but we need a very big reset in America.

For a long time I just blamed covid and Big Tech, especially where I live. Now I just call it greed. My suggestion is to try and find a happy place in your life and avoid the enshittification as much as you can.

Been reading this for a week and it is very disturbing

16. Red notice : a true story of high finance, murder, and one man's fight for justice by Bill Browder, finished April 11, 2026, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



This book was strongly recommended to me by a friend who loaned me her book to have a look inside Russia and the oligarchs. This book gets a lot of high praise but I was increasingly bothered by the author's story (this is a memoir). So I took a look at reviews on the web, esp goodreads which has many thousands of reviews and ratings for this book. This gets a lot of high ratings but a fair number of people seem to react like I felt. I have no sympathy for the man and I am repulsed that he seems to have thought it perfectly fine and "fair" to rip off the incredibly poor people of Eastern Europe and later Russia when the Iron Curtain fell apart to quickly amass many millions, maybe billions, who knows and then when the Russian oligarchs start to put the screws to him and his company and "steal" money back it is so not fair. Hypocrite?

ETA: I think what bothers me most is the entitled sense I get from the author. This after all is someone who was born in America, renounced his citizenship to become British, and then thought he had the right to make as much money as possible from first Eastern Europe and then Russia. Salomon Bros was high on my list of ugly manipulative money grubbers, and the author mingled with some questionable people in Britain. To be fair, what eventually transpired when the secret police and Putin went after him and his associates should not have happened to anyone.

I found the book and story depressing, but also enlightening and informative. I will think about this for a long time.

I have been saving this book for when I wanted an awesome read

17. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, DNF April 17, 2026, unrated



This is a beautifully constructed first edition with marbled endpapers and a look and feel that will appeal to booklovers. As far as I can tell, the author has written three novels and the Thirteenth Tale from 2006 was her first and most popular. I read Setterfield's most recent novel, Once Upon A River in 2022. I really liked it. It was my favorite book read that year and I gave it a rare 5 stars.

I took a look at Bellman and Black and decided I didn't want to read a horror novel and gave it a pass, but The Thirteenth Tale looked like it would be a delight to a booklover so I have kept it on the shelf the last three years for when I wanted a really good read.

My favorite time to read is an hour or two (sometime more) before bedtime. When I started to read this I settled right in and felt like I was really going to like this. On my second night I realized the author was going for a strange gothic horror vibe. My third night I read maybe 25 pages and declared myself done with the book. I do not want to read about self-mutilation, a sibling that tortures another incessantly, children who terrorize a large neighborhood and steal an infant, children who destroy a family garden that a gardener and his forefathers have lovingly cared for for several generations. This is simply ugly and I am done with it.

Got this one from the library

18. Frog: And Other Essays by Anne Fadiman, finished April 20, 2026, 3 1/2 stars



Two years ago I read Fadiman's collection of essays/memoir "Ex-Libris" and was rather smitten. This new release, to me, was uneven in interest. I liked some of the essays and some not. A few are very good. I'm not giving it a bad rating but this was not a wowser.

There are seven essays which I will list but not try to rate, as well as an excellent introduction (a Foreword) to the collection by Sam Anderson. I have this sense in my head that the things I liked in this collection are not necessarily what other readers will be drawn to. I discovered here, or rediscovered maybe, that the author and I shared an interest in books about polar exploration when we were younger, so I liked her essay "South Polar Times" which other readers might dismiss with a why?

Here are the essay titles:

Frog
The Oakling and the Oak (My least favorite but sure to be the favorite of many)
My Old Printer (My co-least favorite)
All My Pronouns
Screen Share (A covid story that was one of my most likes here)
South Polar Times
Yes To Everything

>56 RBeffa: " I liked some of the essays and some not. " That's my usual reaction to any collection---essays, poetry, short fiction. I have read Ex Libris and two other Anne Fadiman works, so I'll probably see if my library has this one too.

>57 laytonwoman3rd: It is a brand new book. I guess my reaction, like you say, is rather typical of most collections. There is a certain uniqueness to Fadiman's writing that I like, but it felt like a few of the essays went on a bit too long, too wandering. There is also no common thread to the essays, which can be either a plus or a minus. If you have read and liked her before you will likely enjoy her again. ( I told a friend that since Fadiman and I were born on the same day in the same year I was destined to like her.) Her love of the English language is rather more extreme than mine though! But when she talks about things they resonate with me. In one of the essays she talks at extreme length about grammar and pronouns etc, and she mentions learning to diagram sentences in the 6th grade and when she showed an example to her husband he gave her a WTF. I'm thinking, why so late?, I learned to diagram sentences in the 5th grade and I thought it was quite interesting then. I'm going to add the titles of the essays to my comments above.

Last month I picked up a beautiful hardback edition of this novel from 2013. I am a fan of Robert Harris's novels, my wife probably moreso, and we have quite a few of his books. I looked forward to reading this. I was pleased to see that the book had been autographed by the author.

19. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, finished April 29, 2026, 5 stars



This past week+ I have been carefully reading (and sometimes re-reading whole sections) this novel about "The Dreyfus Affair". Let me confess here and now that prior to opening the book I had zero knowledge of the Affair and had only heard the term as a historical reference to some scandal in France before the first world war. An Officer and a Spy is one of those rare historical novels that behaves like a time machine with a conscience. It doesn’t just recreate the Dreyfus Affair, it invites you to live inside it.

The author tells us that although this is a fictional novel, it is also an entirely true story. It is very rare for me to become entirely, I'm not sure what words describe it, but to become immersed in a time and place I was unfamiliar with - Paris and individuals from about 1894 and some years that follow. I have heard of Devil's Island, probably from the film Papillon. Dreyfus is sent there. I vaguely thought it was in the South Atlantic, but looking it up as I did more than a few things while reading this, I discovered it to be just off the coast of South America, French Guiana.

The story is dense with military procedure, coded memos, and the slow drip of revelation. Harris trusts the reader to keep up, but he also rewards that effort by gradually tightening the screws. The result is immersion that feels earned rather than handed over.

One of the novel’s most effective choices is its focus on Georges Picquart, the officer who uncovers the miscarriage of justice. Through him, the book becomes a study of conscience under pressure. Picquart isn’t initially heroic; in fact, he shares some of the prejudices of his milieu. Watching him evolve—slowly, reluctantly—makes the moral stakes feel real rather than staged.

If there’s a critique to make, some readers (myself included) will find the pacing heavy in the middle sections, where documents and counter-documents pile up. But even that density mirrors the suffocating machinery Picquart is trying to navigate.

There is one very brief moment when I wish I could have travelled back in time for ten minutes to 1890s Paris, to the scene: "Duty done, I ran out into the rue Saint-Dominique and managed, by the skin of my teeth, to hail a taxi. By eight-thirty I was slipping into my seat beside Blanche de Comminges at the Salle d'Harcourt. I looked around for Debussy but couldn't see him. The conductor tapped his baton, the flautist raised his instrument to his lips, and those first few exquisite, plangent bars - which some say are the birth of modern music - washed Dreyfus clean from my mind."

That would be "Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune"

This is a political scandal and tragedy that is brought to life. I am very glad to have read this.

Several years back I really enjoyed Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome", but this time the melodrama didn't work

20. Summer by Edith Wharton, finished May 2, 2026, 2 1/2 stars



I don't think there is any part of this short novel that I liked. Probably on purpose a lot of stuff, characters and history included is sketchily drawn. This may have worked more effectively 110 years ago when it was written. For lack of a better term I'll call this social incest, a betrayal and violation of trust. Charity Royall is left with no options but to marry her much much older 'guardian'. Yuck.

For the time being at least I am not going to rate this. I would probably give it 2 1/2 stars. It was an interesting book that I think required more attention to detail than I gave it. I kind of read it too fast. I was intrigued but felt a little bit disoriented with this book that takes place over a couple of months in 1610 France but includes flashbacks and includes at least a couple people who use different names as it suits them. I couldn't keep up with all the characters.

21. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris, finished May 5, 2026

22. 2182 kilohertz : a novel by David Masiel, finished May 18, 2026, 3 1/2+ stars



Recommended by a friend, I got caught up in this story of loss, survival and redemption.

The story is told in three main parts and begins with Henry Seine near rock bottom. His wife is abandoning him with a series of "Dear John" letters, which I don't think are ever read after the first one, but the loss is sealed by a phone call home and a later visit home. His career on the chaotic and unforgiving Arctic seas is spiraling downward. When Seine's first tugboat capsizes under a mad captain, Julia, a cook-deckhand who is monitoring aboard a nearby ship literally saves Seine with a coast guard call. She is the siren of the novel I suppose.

The story is more than that but I think is really defined by the first third and last third of the story as a sort of arctic terror novel. It is fueled by alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and ghosts which got a little tiresome. The middle is more than a bit of a mush as the arctic station is taken down. Then back to the arctic seas and a rescue operation which becomes another terror. I did like the end of the story. Recommended for those who like action-adventure novels of the sea, with something extra.

23. Burmese Days by George Orwell, finished May 22, 2026, 4 1/2 - 5 stars



24. Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin, finished May 22, 2026, 4 1/2 - 5 stars



Wow, did this pack a punch. I read 'Burmese Days' written and set a hundred years ago, slowly, along with 'George Orwell in Burma', a 2004 book and I cannot praise them highly enough. Might be my two favorite reads of the year, certainly strong contenders.

I think I will have to re-read 1984 once again.

>63 RBeffa: I have been re-reading parts of Emma Larkin's book "Finding George Orwell in Burma" and still find myself at something of a loss as to how to best describe it. I gave an outline with detailed comments to google AI to flesh out and then I reworked it some more till I found something to reflect something of what I feel about this wonderful book. I am going to reread part of "Burmese Days" also.

Emma Larkin’s Finding George Orwell in Burma is a captivating, immersive travelogue that retraces Orwell's formative years as a British Imperial policeman in the 1920s. Larkin weaves her physical journey through the country with the literary echoes of Burmese Days, as well as Animal Farm and 1984. Orwell is referred to as "The Prophet" by the Burmese literary crowd. Larkin highlights the resilience and endurance of the Burmese people.

The book is much more than a literary biography; it is a vivid, boots-on-the-ground travelogue. Larkin—an American journalist writing under a pseudonym—journeys across the diverse, lush landscapes of Burma, from the bustling streets of Rangoon to the decaying colonial architecture of remote northern towns like Katha, where Burmese Days is set. Katha comes at the end of the book and it is a little haunting to me as the author spends some time there. At the heart of Larkin's narrative are the Burmese people themselves. She paints a moving portrait of a population enduring restrictive circumstances. Instead of just focusing on the rigid systems of control (although we see and feel plenty of that), Larkin sensitively highlights the ingenuity and humanity of the locals. From underground "book club" meetings in cramped cafes where people discuss Orwell's work under the cover of loud televisions, to the quiet hospitality shown Larkin, the book champions the warmth of Burma's citizens.

Larkin uses Orwell's first novel, Burmese Days, as her primary guide. The novel—which masterfully skewered the hypocrisies of British colonialism in Asia—serves as a mirror for Larkin as she documents the region's subsequent shifts. Reading the two books in tandem provides a unique, layered view of the country's history. It seamlessly connects the colonial past depicted in Burmese Days with Larkin's modern-day encounters, allowing the reader to see how the landscape and the struggles of its people have evolved over the decades. Ultimately, Finding George Orwell in Burma is an inspiring journey. It pairs an adventurous, atmospheric travelogue with a deep appreciation for the country's residents, offering a deeply humanistic look at the everyday realities of Burmese life, the good and the mostly bad.

I tried several books and had no interest. I realized I needed to go back to the 1920s. So here is a poem:

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

By Gerard Manley Hopkins
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I will be reading Rumer Godden's book, set in 1920's India. Kingfishers Catch Fire. I also discovered there is a new novel out by Paul Theroux which I will pick up soon from the library: Burma Sahib

I hope you enjoy Kingfishers Catch Fire, Ron. It was a very good read for me.

Way behind but trying to get back to LT. Hi!

>63 RBeffa: Brilliant pair to read together!!

>67 Berly: I find it hard to keep up with everything myself Kim. Thanks for dropping by.

>66 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, your review years ago may have inspired me to get the book. I have a lovely 1953 first edition which I picked up quite a while ago. I have not read very far but I am enjoying the strangeness of it. I checked out the new Theroux book from the library and read a bit of it also. Not sure I'm going to love it.

25. Kingfishers catch fire, a novel by Rumer Godden, finished June 5, 2026, 3 1/2+ stars



As a reader, Rumer Godden has been a little hit and miss with me. I have abandoned, rightly or wrongly, several of her novels over the years and and liked others like Black Narcissus and A Breath of Air and The Greengage Summer. There are several well written and positive reviews here on LT that I refer prospective readers to. What I liked about this novel is that I am back to British India (well, close to Burma) and I don't know if atmospheric is the right word but the descriptions in the book let me travel a hundred years back in time. I didn't really get sucked into the life of the main characters but I enjoyed the novel as a whole.