What are you reading now?: February 14, 2026

Still working on Queen Demon. Propeller Twilight and Countdown to D-Day will follow.

Also finished The Book of Doors.

I'm listening to Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and about to start reading The Occupation Trilogy by Patrick Modiano.

Still reading The Ninefold Key between books and plan to start reading Seduction by M.J. Rose

Busy week, so I didn't do much reading. I'm halfway through The Myths of Enki, The Crafty God by Samuel Noah Kramer.

I started re-reading a book to fit a couple of challenges, called The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne. And also reading a very dystopian book by Sherri S. Tepper called The Companions.

I'm still reading Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan.

I'm ready Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, Christopher Marlowe by Stephen Greenblatt which is quite good.

I'm reading The Toymaker's Case by GJ Bellamy.

I'm at New Orleans airport awaiting our flight home. We've been here--and at Mardi Gras--for the last 9 days, so there's been very little reading time. I must sadly report, however, that I had to DNF Orbital despite the fact that it's the selection of my monthly reading group. I even voted for it, based on its big award and its brevity. However, I couldn't get past page 11. The writing style made me impatient, even resentful. I know lots of people loved it, obviously, and I'm glad they all had rewarding reading experiences. But, no, I couldn't.

Also, sadly and surprisingly, I couldn't get engaged in The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs. The subject matter seemed fascinating, but again, the writing was such that I just never wanted to return to the book. The sentence-level writing was fine, but the opening chapter was unfocused and rambling. Perhaps the succeeding chapters honed in on the subject matter more sharply. I'd be very interested to read other folks' impressions of the book. I really did have high hopes. Possibly I was too impatient.

At any rate, on the flight home I am planning on starting How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South, a memoir by Esau McCaulley.

The new thread is up over here.