What are you reading in 2026?

[jian]

Blitzed is fascinating, and seems likely to help explain behavior in modern groups like high finance and politics.

It’s also invaluable when you need to know what cocktail of drugs a supervillain organisation would give to someone who has to pilot a kamikaze midget submarine.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I finished up Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen this morning. It's my first Hiaasen, and I did enjoy it -- a brisk read with some nice character work and a strong sense of place. My only real complaint was I wasn't sure how to feel about his efforts to represent Bahamian dialect or the Dragon Queen stuff. For the former, sometimes it felt like it undercut the development of Neville and the other characters on Andros, making them seem cartoonish (also attempts to render the dialect as readable sometimes led me to what I was certain was the wrong accent -- there's no way that Neville should have sounded like a 1930s gangster). The latter, with its detour into voodoo, played with stereotypes in ways that I couldn't really parse. Like, I don't know enough about the Caribbean generally or the Bahamas specifically or the people that live there to decide how I felt about it. Ultimately, my sense was that these were artistic and narrative choices that didn't quite work for me that I don't think were ill intentioned even if they might have been better off reconsidered. Anyhow, a fun read, though I'm not sure if I'll read more of his stuff. Maybe Razor Girl, which has some of the same characters?

 

[prabe]

I finished up Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen this morning. It's my first Hiaasen, and I did enjoy it -- a brisk read with some nice character work and a strong sense of place. My only real complaint was I wasn't sure how to feel about his efforts to represent Bahamian dialect or the Dragon Queen stuff. For the former, sometimes it felt like it undercut the development of Neville and the other characters on Andros, making them seem cartoonish (also attempts to render the dialect as readable sometimes led me to what I was certain was the wrong accent -- there's no way that Neville should have sounded like a 1930s gangster). The latter, with its detour into voodoo, played with stereotypes in ways that I couldn't really parse. Like, I don't know enough about the Caribbean generally or the Bahamas specifically or the people that live there to decide how I felt about it. Ultimately, my sense was that these were artistic and narrative choices that didn't quite work for me that I don't think were ill intentioned even if they might have been better off reconsidered. Anyhow, a fun read, though I'm not sure if I'll read more of his stuff. Maybe Razor Girl, which has some of the same characters?

Razor Girl is hilarious, and doesn't have anything like the same vaguely problematic elements as Bad Monkey. It's plausible there are some characters overlapping--if no one else, Skink seems likely. Squeeze Me and Fever Beach are his most-recent, and they both play at satire more than at least most of his earlier novels, and I can recommend those, as well.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Razor Girl is hilarious, and doesn't have anything like the same vaguely problematic elements as Bad Monkey. It's plausible there are some characters overlapping--if no one else, Skink seems likely. Squeeze Me and Fever Beach are his most-recent, and they both play at satire more than at least most of his earlier novels, and I can recommend those, as well.

Oh, that's good to hear. Neville was a really strong, sympathetic character, so the attempt at dialect really was jarring to me (and it was a little weird that Clasper's final vignette in Colombia let Donna speak in standard English, IIRC).

 

[prabe]

Oh, that's good to hear. Neville was a really strong, sympathetic character, so the attempt at dialect really was jarring to me (and it was a little weird that Clasper's final vignette in Colombia let Donna speak in standard English, IIRC).

Yeah. There's some stuff in Bad Monkey that's probably not super-awesome and won't get better with age--though the POV scenes from the monkey are fricking brilliant, IIRC. Most of the time Hiaasen sticks in Miami, and at least mostly with Anglos (at least as far as whom he makes fun of).

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Yeah. There's some stuff in Bad Monkey that's probably not super-awesome and won't get better with age--though the POV scenes from the monkey are fricking brilliant, IIRC. Most of the time Hiaasen sticks in Miami, and at least mostly with Anglos (at least as far as whom he makes fun of).

The Bonnie subplot had a lot going on.

 

[Autumnal]

So here’s something helpful for us old farts.

New Fantasy Subgenres Explained

A handy guide: Romantasy: fantasy in which there is at least one nation based on the Roman Empire. Mantasea: A sea full of manta rays. Spamtasy: an intermable series of fantasy books with a pile of…

camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com

• Romantasy: fantasy in which there is at least one nation based on the Roman Empire.
• Mantasea: A sea full of manta rays.
• Spamtasy: an intermable series of fantasy books with a pile of spin-offs and prequels that proliferates uncontrollably.
• Scamtasy: for as little as $50 a week, I will teach you how to write your own bestselling fantasy series and help you publish it on Kindle Unlimited. See also Spamtasy.
• Grantasy: Fantasy featuring grannies.
• Flantasy: Fantasy featuring flans, quiches, and other dishes cooked in shallow pastry shells.

And so on at some length. (Camestros is good at this.)

 

[Retros_x]

I just finished "Salems Lot" by Stephen King. It took me a bit I started it last year in november I think got bored by the slow start but after finishing "The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires" I wanted to continue it to have the comparison - and I liked it! This time I could lean more into the cozy small town vibes and once the vampire horror starts going, it really gets going. There are some scenes in this book and King is not pulling punches. Also sometimes he just gets weird in a literal sense, like this one chapter from the POV of the telephone pole, buzzing with all the gossiping and talks that flow through it? Loved that naughty word.

Also right now the new Dimension 20 campaign started, and its basically Salems Lot from the perspective of the vampires and as a comedy? Perfect timing haha

 

[prabe]

I just finished "Salems Lot" by Stephen King. It took me a bit I started it last year in november I think got bored by the slow start but after finishing "The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires" I wanted to continue it to have the comparison - and I liked it! This time I could lean more into the cozy small town vibes and once the vampire horror starts going, it really gets going. There are some scenes in this book and King is not pulling punches. Also sometimes he just gets weird in a literal sense, like this one chapter from the POV of the telephone pole, buzzing with all the gossiping and talks that flow through it? Loved that naughty word.

Also right now the new Dimension 20 campaign started, and its basically Salems Lot from the perspective of the vampires and as a comedy? Perfect timing haha

It's been decades since I've read that novel, but I remember it as being a very good one. I'm in a place where I am (by choice) mostly not rereading books, but I should see if I can locate my copy. If nothing else, it'd be nice to confirm I still have a copy.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I finished Robert Caro's Working last night. Like Stephen King's On Writing, it's kind of part memoir, part manifesto on the craft, though the latter part here is subtler and humbler. (To be clear, this is not a crack on King, as I think On Writing is fantastic.) Caro is, I think, primarily working through a justification of his works and his approach, and the gestures towards other writers are not overt at all, though I do think he is implicitly advocating for an approach to biography and popular history (and, really, to living in the world). All in all, I really enjoyed it. Caro's a lovely writer.