What are you reading in 2026?

[Retros_x]

Read Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today by Naomi Alderman, which is an excellent discussion of how social media and the modern information environment are terrible for us. She posits that, as has happened a few times before in human history, we’re in an information crisis and haven’t adapted to it, and suggests various ways to do so (such as regulation of social media and news sources, the Brick app and device to turn off apps, and whitelisting for one’s own feed). I don’t agree entirely with her thesis but it’s a worthwhile read.

Its insane how much better I feel since I strictly limit the addictive social media and my news consumption and other information flooders. Our brains are not made for this overwhelming amounts of incoming information. Australia did the right thing with banning social media for children.

 

[Alzrius]

I just finished The Butcher's Masquerade, book five of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl saga.

This book is a return to form for the series, focused less on the particulars of the dungeon floor itself (though they're still there, just scaled way back) in favor of allowing the characters to bounce off of each other. In this case, it's a mixture of old characters and new, and the issue is how they survive each other more than how they survive the various traps and hazards in the dungeon. The result is some excellent drama and quite a few twists as a lot of hats are left on the ground.

At this point, I've given up on getting the physical books. My local library is still trying to get the third book in print for me, and while I like the bits of the Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret novella, I don't think it's worth the wait. So as much as I prefer print to digital, it's ebooks from here on out as far as this series goes. I can live with that, especially if the books maintain this particular level of quality to them. Here's hoping that this one represents Dinniman finding his groove and not a happy accident.

 

[slobster]

I just finished The Butcher's Masquerade, book five of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl saga.

This book is a return to form for the series, focused less on the particulars of the dungeon floor itself (though they're still there, just scaled way back) in favor of allowing the characters to bounce off of each other. In this case, it's a mixture of old characters and new, and the issue is how they survive each other more than how they survive the various traps and hazards in the dungeon. The result is some excellent drama and quite a few twists as a lot of hats are left on the ground.

At this point, I've given up on getting the physical books. My local library is still trying to get the third book in print for me, and while I like the bits of the Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret novella, I don't think it's worth the wait. So as much as I prefer print to digital, it's ebooks from here on out as far as this series goes. I can live with that, especially if the books maintain this particular level of quality to them. Here's hoping that this one represents Dinniman finding his groove and not a happy accident.

Book five is the last one I finished, I think I go a third of the way through the next one or so and then fell off. Which isn't knock against the book necessarily, as that also coincided with the end of the vacation where I'd been binge reading them, and by the time I found more time to read again I moved on to the next thing and haven't had a chance to go back yet.

Interested to see how the next one goes for you! I had similar reactions to what you've described so far so maybe if you like it I'll end up going back to the series.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

As someone who enjoys, and has at times preferred, shorter fiction, I am always saddened when I think how the market for it has contracted (collapsed? imploded?) even just in my lifetime.

Tor is still pretty consistently releasing novellas, short stories, and short stories collections. The last two are often in digital format, however.

 

[SkidAce]

I prefer trade paperbacks as a physical form factor, but there is (or at least was) a use-case for mass-market paper; I suppose for much of that use-case the replacement is e-books. Oh, well.

My lovingly handcrafted custom bookshelves were made for mass market books. Sadness.

 

[SkidAce]

I read the Annihilation book, and watched the movie back to back.

Might be the unusual case where a movie is as good or better than the book.

 

[jian]

The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa is an intriguing mystery which is a surprisingly early adopter (1995) of the time loop trope. Our protagonist Kyutaro has a condition which causes him to repeat certain days eight times (he has no control over when this happens and it’s always eight times, so the ninth day is the canon one). When his grandfather is murdered on day two of a loop, he is perplexed at how this happens and how to prevent it. There’s no shortage of suspects among Kyutaro’s unpleasant extended family, who are all at grandpa’s house for New Year. It’s fun, but the ending is a little weak.

 

[Voadam]

I read the Annihilation book, and watched the movie back to back.

Might be the unusual case where a movie is as good or better than the book.

I feel the movie The Firm fits there against its John Grisham novel. When I saw the movie I was part way through the novel, coincidentally the point where the two diverge in the plot. Even though it made the novel more fun seeing it go in unexpected ways, I liked the movie direction more.

 

[prabe]

I read the Annihilation book, and watched the movie back to back.

Might be the unusual case where a movie is as good or better than the book.

I don't think it's wildly unusual for (say) a movie adapted from a novel to be a better movie than the novel was a novel. I mean, both Jaws and The Silence of the Lambs are, IMO.

The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa is an intriguing mystery which is a surprisingly early adopter (1995) of the time loop trope. Our protagonist Kyutaro has a condition which causes him to repeat certain days eight times (he has no control over when this happens and it’s always eight times, so the ninth day is the canon one). When his grandfather is murdered on day two of a loop, he is perplexed at how this happens and how to prevent it. There’s no shortage of suspects among Kyutaro’s unpleasant extended family, who are all at grandpa’s house for New Year. It’s fun, but the ending is a little weak.

My wife really enjoyed this book, and I'll probably be reading it at some point. I'll gesture at the main point of this forum and say I think time loops are one of those conceits that will work better in a novel (or a movie) than in a TRPG--it's one of those things where the differences in the media really matter.

 

[Autumnal]

I feel the movie The Firm fits there against its John Grisham novel. When I saw the movie I was part way through the novel, coincidentally the point where the two diverge in the plot. Even though it made the novel more fun seeing it go in unexpected ways, I liked the movie direction more.

This is just about always the first one I think of when people ask about movies better than their sources (followed by Jaws and The Godfather). I really like the movie’s moral core.