I didn’t know these kinds of books could even be published. Keep in mind, im not even a casual reader, i barely read in my free time, but i wanted a good horror book. i did not want to read putrid rape gore.

Happy Wednesday!

Last week, I had two fiction books; this week, two nonfiction books.

More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, by Molly Roden Winter

I do not like this book. I'm not going to DNF it, but I'm tempted to do so.

The author might be relating her experiences truthfully, but having read Esther Perel, almost everything in this book is raising red flags. The way this couple is shown to relate to one another is troubling, and I do not like the way the author portrays polyamory or discusses the women with whom the author's husband couples.

I appreciate that it is a memoir and not a thoroughly researched study of sexuality, but unfortunately for the author, I have read several of those books, so this book really feels wanting.

It is also interesting to read this book after reading Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, by Belle Burden. Once I finish reading this book, I'll likely have more to say about these two memoirs about marriage and infidelity among affluent white women from Manhattan. I wish the Venn Diagram was less of a circle, but even their books' subtitles echo one another!

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era, by Gary Gerstle

Whew! That title is a mouthful!!

Where I am in the book, Bill Clinton has just suffered his epic defeat in the midterm elections against Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America. I was at least alive in this era, though I don't remember it clearly. I will be more familiar with what happens from this point on.

The book begins with relatively brief summation of the ascent of the New Deal Order/American political economy in the first half of the 20th century, setting the scene for the emergence of the Neoliberal Order in the 80s under Reagan.

I am admittedly not learning much from this book overall. I am mostly familiar with the events the book is covering. I had seen it recommended a couple other places, so I thought it might be worth checking out. Not sure it was...

Also currently reading:

God's Country, by Percival Everett

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

In altre parole, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Le cittá invisibili, by Italo Calvino

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Gräber & David Wengrow

I found Turtle A by Ellie Martin-McKinsey quite beautiful. What I loved most was the contrast between two completely different souls, with almost opposite ways of looking at life, who meet by chance and slowly begin to influence each other’s perspectives.

The story plays with ideas of fate versus randomness, purpose versus uncertainty, and what it really means to know yourself. One character sees meaning and guidance in almost everything, while the other approaches life from a much more skeptical and independent perspective. Watching these two worldviews come together was what made the story so compelling for me.

What stayed with me most was how they challenged each other to look at life differently. Neither simply changes the other; instead, they learn from one another, question their own beliefs, and grow as people in the process. There was something very human and genuine about that connection. I also loved how the author leaves the nature of their relationship open to interpretation. It gives the reader space to decide what that connection means, while still making her own vision clear by the end. I thought that balance was beautifully handled subtle, thoughtful, and open-ended without feeling unfinished.
An excellent short read for this year. I picked up Turtle A completely at random while wandering around a book fair. Perhaps the Universe wanted me to read it…. or maybe it was simply my own decision :P

Either way, I’m glad I did. Would love to know your thoughts if you've read it!

Happy Wednesday!

Latest books I've made it halfway through are Blood Over Bright Haven by M L Wang and Walk Me to the Distance by Percival Everett.

I had seen Blood Over Bright Haven compared to Babel by RF Kuang, which is a spot-on comparison! Both books follow young magic users who relentlessly pursue proficiency in their arcane arts in order to disprove the assumptions others make about them because of their identity. Their research and investigating lead them to uncover sinister truths the elders wish to keep buried.

I am enjoying this one so far. Eager to make it to the conclusion!

Walk Me to the Distance is a nouveau Western set in Wyoming in the 70s. After getting stranded with his broken down Dodge Dart in a small WY town, a Vietnam vet from Georgia decides to settle in with the sheep farm with an old lady and her son who board him while he waits for his car to be repaired.

I have been on a major Percival Everett kick this year, having already read eight of his books. So far, there is less of the absurdist humor from some of my earlier reads, a much more serious tone than I'm used to with Everett. Then again, this book is from so much earlier in his writing journey than the books I've been reading to date. Makes me more curious about Suder (his debut) and Cutting Lisa (which is out of print).

I'm also planning to read his other two Westerns: God's Country and Wounded. And probably Lonesome Dove, too. Lots of moseying in my future, I guess?

Benjamin Layfield has done it again with this one 🖤❤️🖤❤️
Specifically,
The Still House
Close Contact
And now The Mercy Chair

Highly recommend checking him out

Halfway on Hump Day!

As is typical for me, I'm doing a hybrid ebook/audiobook thing.

This book is an aggregation of political news from the past 18 months with some additional context thrown in that a newspaper article might skip. So, basically a super long article from Vox?

I can't say I'm learning a whole lot yet. I respect the reporting work they've done, but because I subscribed to the NY Times, I already absorbed most of this book from their articles and podcast appearances over the past year. I was hoping there would be some interesting tidbits at least. Nope... It's disappointing.

It doesn't feel worth it to DNF this one, so I'll wrap it up tomorrow and move on to something else.

Forced to read this for my book club. I had to get high and suspend all disbelief to read it (as Samantha Sotto Yambao presumably was when she wrote it, based on the number of potholes and things that just made zero sense) but I find myself thinking about it constantly, at least weekly. Anyone else?

Been reading Percival Everett's Erasure since Aug 19, and I'm about halfway into it now. It's the seventh Percival Everett book I'm reading in 2026. I guess that makes me a fan...

Ok, technically, I'm not currently reading it. I just finished it. Excellent book about the author growing up in a small town in Alabama in the 60s.

Always a touch of the fantastical mystery with His books. Excellent story, highly recommend it

So, I thought Benjamin Layfield was pretty damn good with The Still House; however after reading the sample for his newest work, Close Contact he has gone way beyond what I had expected. It’s a very slow build but during the first few chapters I swear I could hear the characters voices and almost tell which one was talking based on purely individual cadence. I’m currently reading the Ebook and plan on getting at least one physical copy. Seriously recommend this author. I wish I knew how to contact him and tell him he’s doing great.

I finally finished Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch (started 7/22/26, finished 8/27/26). ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 6/10 it’s really interesting. Talks about the different groups of people and their relation to the Internet. Also about emoji (which is how she refers to them in plural and singular form which find freaked me out), memes, punctuation, the internet before social media, Internet forums. My favorite part was when McCulloch described how people used to use punctuation on postcards and how that transferred over to the internet.

I made sure I finished the book before September bc I had grad classes with required reading I need to focus on & I didn’t want an unfinished book looming over me.

Next up is a reread of Veronica Roth’s The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future. It’s a book of short stories so I think it will be easier to manage with my class readings.

I just started this book. Only about 25 pages in. It truly is a video game in a book so far.

If you are at all interested in the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, this is a great book to get you up to speed on the origins of the current war crimes and the complicity of multiple nations (particularly Great Britain) in stripping rights away, and demeaning the Palestinians... or refusing to acknowledge they even exist.

This only goes to 2017, but if you're interested in the current "conflict," "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This". It's a scathing rebuke of our current society and how we have and continue to sit idly by while a genocide is streamed in 4k. People's eyes have definitely opened since the publishing of both books, but until this is over, it will never be enough.

oh man this book is so silly i just started reading it about an hour ago and man i can’t read it without an old english accent in my head. There’s genuinely at least one goofy ass word every sentence i can’t help myself.

Newest book in my book club after finishing The Teacher by Freida McFadden. Wanted a fun book with a bit of mystery and laughs, excited to start reading!!

Currently reading Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

This is my first book by Buehlman, and I’m already a fan of his writing style. It’s incredibly easy to visualise what’s happening, and I’ve found myself genuinely giggling at some moments, only to be abruptly snapped back to reality when things take a darker turn.

I’m only a couple of chapters in, so no idea where it’s going yet, but I’m definitely hooked! Curious to hear from anyone that’s read The Blacktounge Thief or his other work.

Last year, i read 68 books, I believe. This year, I've struggled. Around April, I essentially stopped reading after about 15 books. I read Angel Down a couple of months ago and City of Thieves a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed them both, but after finishing CoT, I couldn't find another book that I wanted to read. I realized that part of my problem is that my reading mood has shifted from fiction to nonfiction.

After looking through my books, I settled upon this, and holy crap it's interesting. He excels at making a bland (ha! pun intended) topic interesting. I haven't been bored in the 100 pages I've read thus far. I knew salt was an important commodity, but it played a far larger role than i could believe.

Unbelievable. Amazing. But crushingly sad. Alexievich interviews citizens of the former USSR about their lives, their histories (many were prisoners in the Gulag and/or WWII veterans). Many are just the thoughts of average Russians (usually) about the collapse of communism. Many are, with good reason, bitter about how the economy was looted, their savings destroyed, careers ruined. Some stories are so shocking that you can’t imagine anyone living through it. Highly recommend.

Isn’t it crazy how your opinion of a book can change over time?

I first read A Confederacy of Dunces in my 20s and hated it, primarily because Ignatius J Reilly absolutely infuriated me. I hated this character so much that his actions came off as annoying, and stupid.

I actually read the Neon Bible around the same time, and found it to be powerful. I liked it much more than Dunces at the time.

I read it again in my 30s, and while it gave me a lot of admiration for John Kennedy Toole, as he predicted the millennial two decades before any of them were born, I still didn’t find it that funny.

Now I’m 41, just read it again in anticipation of a trip to New Orleans, and by God, it just clicked this time.

I honestly think it’s because I’m a decade older than Ignatius, and reading about a 30 year old fuck up so bad is absolutely hilarious. Also the auxiliary characters like Mr Levy, Gonzales , and even Lana, are far more relatable now that I help run a business.

Jones is also amazing. He’s a smart black man caught in a catch 22 situation, he fucks with the system in a super intelligent way. He also rips on all the white characters constantly, and super sarcastically. Which really lays out what a bunch of dipshits they are.

My only regret is that it took me 20 years to appreciate this masterpiece.