Wolfy's wanderings with the written word (2026 edition)

After another sparsely updated thread from last year I still (at the very least) want somewhere to keep track of my reading so let's go again and maybe I'll do better (but probably not).

Will still be picking at ongoing series as well as trying to get my tbr shelves thinned out a little (yeah, right!) though I'm sure the odd shiny new addition will make it's way into the rotation too (those xmas book tokens need to get spent after all).

Quick links to previous year's reading adventures just in case I (or anyone else) want to look back.
2011 Edition
2012 Edition
2013 Edition
2014 Edition
2015 Edition
2016 Edition
2017 Edition
2018 Edition
2019 Edition
2020 Edition
2022 Edition
2023 Edition
2025 Edition

As usual, comments, discussion, recommendations and general ramblings all welcomed.

Reading list for 2026
1. Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross
2. Treble Triumph: My Inside Story of Manchester City's Greatest-ever Season by Vincent Kompany
3. All Human Wisdom by Pierre Lemaitre
4. The October Man & The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch
5. Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick by David Wong
6. The Reapers by John Connolly
7. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
8. The Gate of Gods by Martha Wells
9. The Final Game by Caimh McDonnell
10. Stray Souls by Kate Griffin
11. Leading from the Back by Steph Houghton
12. Quantum of Nightmares by Charles Stross
13. Silverview by John Le Carré
14. Starter Villain by John Scalzi
15. Deccie Must Die by Caimh McDonnell
16. The Glass God by Kate Griffin
17. Outlaw Planet by M. R. Carey
18. Stone & Sky by Ben Aaronovitch

>1 AHS-Wolfy: Happy New Thread! Looking forward to your commentary.

Happy new year and happy new thread! Good luck with your reading goals!

Happy new year, and happy new thread!

Happy New Year; happy new thread!

>1 AHS-Wolfy: Happy new thread (and new year) and I look forward to the ramblings.

>1 AHS-Wolfy:
Happy New Thread and Happy Reading!

Happy New Year, Happy New Thread! I hope you will meet many great books 😊

Happy New Year and new thread!

Happy New Year and Happy New thread!

There was a post recently by @haydninvienna saying how much Brisbane had changed over the years. I came across the following picture on another forum I frequent to show how much Manchester has changed over just the last 10 years.

>13 AHS-Wolfy: Wow, what a huge difference! Looks very future-istic.

>13 AHS-Wolfy: Wow. If it wasn't for that Atlas building in front I'd swear it was a completely different city.

>13 AHS-Wolfy:
I love the contrasting pictures. The changes obviously make you feel the same way I do when I see soulless steel, glass and concrete monstrosities juxtaposed with charming old edifices full of character. I refer to modern office blocks as Temples to Cheap. John Ruskin must be turning in his grave.

>13 AHS-Wolfy: Wow - such a difference!

It had such charm in the 2015 view! There's a completely different feeling to the cityscape now.

>16 pgmcc: I take issue with you somewhat, Peter. I'll give you that many modern office blocks are ugly, and many of them are uncomfortable to work in. I'll even give you that many of them are Temples to Cheap. It's not necessarily a completely fair comparison though. A lot of old buildings were just as nasty (see my example of the industrial buildings on what is now South Bank), but what we are seeing now is the survivors, which probably include a disproportionate number of good examples, because many of the old bad examples are gone.

I know nothing about the revolutionary possibilities of John Ruskin.

Having said which, I like the old building in @AHS-Wolfy's pictures. I assume it's still there because it's serving a useful purpose rather than just being handsome.

>16 pgmcc: >18 haydninvienna: Not only Temples to Cheap, but Temples of Design Failure. One thinks of the doubtless very expensive, glass-clad "diamond-faceted" one in central Johannesburg that reflects such intense sunshine that it fries cars stopped across the street and blinds much of Witwatersrand University with its searchlight beams (nobody thought of ray tracing before it went up), or the tall buildings on Cape Town's Foreshore cunningly placed to create a series of wind tunnels (Yes the CSIR could have tested models, but they're at the other end of the country in Pretoria).

>16 pgmcc: Most of the new builings are actually residential. Manchester city centre has had a huge upsurge in population (somewhere around 20% in the last 15-20 years) as well as being a big student hub so the demand is there. The construction is very much ongoing (as evidenced by the cranes visible in the lower picture) and we're even getting a Nobu tower wich will incorporate restaurant, hotel and residential apartments (De Niro even visited for the ground breaking ceremony).

>18 haydninvienna: The Atlas building has been a bar for so long I had to look up what it used to be (a car parts shop) prior to that. Situated in the railway arches with one of the 3 major stations serving the city right next door.

>20 AHS-Wolfy:
Dublin's dockland has been a massive rebuilding location for some time. It is a mixture of office blocks, apartment blocks and hotels. I have taken photos there during the day and it is like walking along deserted canyons with the sides being buildings with beautifully geometric alignments but no character or soul. One could be in any business centre in any city in any country. Where they have tried to retain some of the buildings with nice features they have juxtaposed modern blocks the almost defeat the purpose of their retaining the original buildings.

One of the things that gets me is the way investors look at these buildings. They look for a return on investment in five years. Once they have that they lose interest and sell the building to another party that will then think of redeveloping. I worked in a brand new building from 2001 to 2004. The company I worked for moved in around the time the building was completed. I remember all the building work. It is now being called the old building and has been marked for demolition and rebuilding. I keep hearing about more buildings that I regard as new being torn down to provide space for a new development.

>13 AHS-Wolfy: Holy moly! That's a lot of construction in a short period of time. Unlike others in this thread I actually think it looks good. My only issue with those kinds of buildings is that they usually take a big toll on the migrating bird population.

Here's something I've not done for a while. Provide a review of a book I've just read.

Caught up on a couple of the Rivers of London novellas by reading The October Man & The Masquerades of Spring. Preferred the former to the latter as I didn't much care for the Jeeves & Wooster mashup even if it was a look into an earlier incarnation of Nightingale.

Nice haul from the book/charity shops yesterday.

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
Illuminations by Alan Moore
The Great When by Alan Moore
84K by Claire North
Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick by David Wong

Only paid full price for one as the rest were reduced or charity shop finds.

>25 AHS-Wolfy: That's a great haul! There must be a lot of people donating F & SF in your area.

>25 AHS-Wolfy:
An interesting list of books. Happy reading.

>25 AHS-Wolfy: Lovely! Have fun with your book haul 😊