I think I might give up on King Sorrow. I left it at my uncles house, so I'm not sure when I'll get it back anyway.

But I got to about page 400 and man, the airplane scene with the caricature white supremacist villain was such a drag. Could've been half the length.

Thanks for the reply! It seems like it's not going to get any better than what I already read. But odds are I'm gonna push through and finish the series at some point out of pure stubbornness and bc the books are on my shelf staring at me. Gotta check it off the list. But it definitely won't be reading one after another like I did with GOT.

DCC, on the other hand, is off to a great start. I'm already 100 pages in. Any time I pick it up, I have to force myself to put it down. Excited for the series!

I DNF'd it. Not badly written, just did not engage me. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

trying to get into a habit of reading more this year.

started easy, i read Nick Offerman's Where the Deer and the Antelope Play. it was enjoyable, he's a good story teller but if his politics trigger you probably best to avoid it.

next, i was gifted Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Part 1 of the book was really intense, reading about his experiences in the concentration camps. Part 2 i found less interesting, but it wasn't bad.

next on my list are Anxious Generation and Nobody's Girl.

Finders Keepers(Bill Hodges trilogy book 2) by Stephen King

Do we count plays on here? I'm going to try to start reading and re-reading some Shakespeare since I'm ashamed to say it's been some years since I've read any of the Bard's works.

Very cool! I have this same version, minus the cool Shakespeare stamp of course.

Finished Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K Massie (audiobook).

Like most Westerners, I find Russia unusual and difficult to understand. Through this book I feel I have a greater understanding of who Russians are and the long standing inner division in the country between old east and west.

Looking forward to listening to Massie's next book - Catherine the Great, Peter's next successor who lasted a significant period of time.

But, a break now from Russia, as I turn instead to The Life of David Brainerd, edited by Jonathan Edwards.

The Marksman said:

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Do we count plays on here? I'm going to try to start reading and re-reading some Shakespeare since I'm ashamed to say it's been some years since I've read any of the Bard's works.

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If you want some silliness after that read Christopher Moore's Shakespeare trilogy: Fool, The Serpent of Venice, and Shakespeare for Squirrels

New contributor to this thread. I read a lot, and I'm thankful for the participants here for a few really good suggestions. Just finished my latest, so I thought I'd give a quick grade on the books I've read so far in 2026.

January
The Martian, Andy Weir - A+
The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave - B
Telegraph Days, Larry McMurtry - B
The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel - B+

February
The Outsmarting of Criminals, Steven Rigolosi - D
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir - A+
Sand, Hugh Howey - A

March
Across the Sand, Hugh Howey - A
Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel - B+
Circle of Days, Ken Follett - B-

If anyone's interested in more detail on the rating, just ask.
I've been reading The Odyssey all year. It's pretty cool to take a bit at a time.
Next up is some John Grisham, the new Dan Brown, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

This one of my favorite books I've ever read. Beautifully written.

Have not seen the movie (didn't know it was one). so no worries. Thanks for the head's up.
I love seeing adaptations after I've read the books though.

Finished The Martian. Apparently purchased it a while back then forgot to read it and it sank down the list on the Kindle. Definitely my favorite of Weir's three books. Pretty cool story of how he got started with it as well at the end of the version I have.

I just finished The Fellowship of the Ring. I think I'm going to put a pause on The Two Towers since so many people are raving about The Martian and Project Hail Mary. Just placed a hold on those two at the library.

I saw two people at a brewery last night reading PHM

Quick Update - finished Mistborn: Hero of Ages. That was an incredible series - i cannot wait to see what Apple does to put this on the big screen.

Jumping back into Stormlight Archives with Oathbringer. Still working through Percy Jackson with my oldest, but we are both loving it so far.

2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages

Shadows Upon Time - Christopher Roucchio

Really enjoyed the suneater series. Different "path" than i thought but enjoyed the unique way it happened. Fun journey.


For fans of both this and red rising , this guy did "a meeting between the reaper and Hadrian" and I thought it was hilarious. Starts at the 40 min mark.




Now starting Death's Head by David Gunn, stumbled upon it by reading a sample and kept on going. fun start so far.

htownag08 said:

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Quick Update - finished Mistborn: Hero of Ages. That was an incredible series - i cannot wait to see what Apple does to put this on the big screen.

Jumping back into Stormlight Archives with Oathbringer. Still working through Percy Jackson with my oldest, but we are both loving it so far.

2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages

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Oathbringer is my favorite Stormlight book. And if you loved Mistborn, just wait until you start Era 2. Wax and Wayne have some of the best character interactions in the Cosmere.

The Blue Goose said:

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New contributor to this thread. I read a lot, and I'm thankful for the participants here for a few really good suggestions. Just finished my latest, so I thought I'd give a quick grade on the books I've read so far in 2026.


February

Sand, Hugh Howey - A

March
Across the Sand, Hugh Howey - A

If anyone's interested in more detail on the rating, just ask.
I've been reading The Odyssey all year. It's pretty cool to take a bit at a time.
Next up is some John Grisham, the new Dan Brown, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

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It's good to see others that have read and enjoyed Sand and Across the Sand. If you haven't read the Silo series by him, they are also worth the time. Also, if you haven't read much of Michael Chrichton, they are great reads also.

I'm excited that book 3 of the sand series is supposedly coming out in 2026.

I read the Silo series in 2025. A+ series. Book 2 was a total mind blower.

Our reading tastes are aligned. I've read everything Crichton wrote - even the cheesy late ones that were completed posthumously like Pirate Latitudes.

Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy.

It's a good novella. Beautifully written and sad. Pretty simple story about a dying man. How it affects him and the people around him.

This is a far cry from War & Peace or Anna Karenina. They are masterpieces.

The Marksman said:

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Do we count plays on here? I'm going to try to start reading and re-reading some Shakespeare since I'm ashamed to say it's been some years since I've read any of the Bard's works.

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What a gift. I wish I could read Shakespeare for the first time again.

The Blue Goose said:

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Circle of Days, Ken Follett - B-

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I had never read anything from Ken Follett until last year when I stumbled upon "A Dangerous Fortune." I enjoyed it way more than I would have expected for what it was.

Quote:

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I had never read anything from Ken Follett

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I've probably read a half dozen of his books, he's excellent.
Pillars of the Earth is one of my top 10 books.
Eye of the Needle is another great one.

After watching the series I started reading the Bosch books. I thought the first couple were so so, but after that I have enjoyed them a lot more. If you enjoy the series I would check them out.

maverick2076 said:

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htownag08 said:

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Quick Update - finished Mistborn: Hero of Ages. That was an incredible series - i cannot wait to see what Apple does to put this on the big screen.

Jumping back into Stormlight Archives with Oathbringer. Still working through Percy Jackson with my oldest, but we are both loving it so far.

2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages

---

Oathbringer is my favorite Stormlight book. And if you loved Mistborn, just wait until you start Era 2. Wax and Wayne have some of the best character interactions in the Cosmere.

---

Exciting to hear on both fronts. I really thought about jumping to Mistborn Era 2 because I loved the style of the story so much, but decided to get there in due time after finishing the Stormlight books.

JDUB08AG said:

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The Blue Goose said:

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Circle of Days, Ken Follett - B-

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I had never read anything from Ken Follett until last year when I stumbled upon "A Dangerous Fortune." I enjoyed it way more than I would have expected for what it was.

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Circle of Days is probably the weakest Ken Follett I've read...which is nearly all of them.

As Apache mentioned, Pillars of the Earth is the most notable of his, but he has tons of great books. I would put Night Over Water as my favorite non-series book of his.

Just finished Ringworld by Larry Niven

Was kind of disappointed in this one given that it was a dual award (Hugo and Nebula) winner. The characters were pretty flat and the action wasn't all that engrossing, to be honest. I guess the novel thing that earned it the recognition was the conceptualization or "engineering" of the Ringworld itself. I see there are multiple additional books in the series, but I'm not hot and bothered to jump into them. Has anyone read any of those and do you recommend them?

So far in 2026:

The Algebraist by Iain Banks (started in 2025)
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
* The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
* Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (HeeChee Saga book 2) by Frederik Pohl
* Ringworld by Larry Niven

* = dual winners of both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award

Wrapped up Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. This one was a bit of a slog for the first half of the novel for me. I guess I was just not enthralled by the religious power struggle and some of the characters. It started to pick up midway through as we got more into the changes going on within the city of Elantris. The final 20% of the story was great and the action picked up. Overall I gave it a B+.

I'm open to suggestions for a new sci-fi/fantasy series to start. I have seen several Instagram channels recently with some reviews/recommendations and a few I am considering are Red Rising, Malice by John Gwynne or The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington.