What are you reading in 2026?

[jian]

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Koto string.

Ah, that is helpful. So they can come in spools or long coils and be cut as needed? That seems weird (and not mentioned in the book, but I guess he thought everyone would know).

 

[Retros_x]

Read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Vampires by Grady Hendrix, as recommended by this thread. It was great, delightful in places, horrible in others. The husbands’ collective betrayal halfway through the book was probably my favourite bit, it made me exclaim out loud (“Of course you did, you complete pieces of sh*t,”) which I almost never do when reading.

I am also reading it right now (thx to @Whizbang Dustyboots ) and this part got my blood boiling. The unfairness and helplesness felt real. I am right before the finale starts I think (Patricia just left... the attic), and I hope some of these husbands meet their end. I am definitely emotionally invested now - which took a bit time. The writing style felt oddly distanced for most part of the novel and I was a bit unsure what to expect, especially pacing-wise. Multiple times I thought - "oh, now the action starts" only for the author to stop the tempo again to a halt.

Many reviewers compare it to King, especially to Salems Lot - which interestingly enough I also started reading in Octobre but have paused for now. But I think the similarities are only superficial. Kings character work feels much stronger and his horror also gets more under my skin. Hendrix rarely gets a spook out of me, although the events happening are gruesome. Not sure why exactly.

 

[jian]

I am also reading it right now (thx to @Whizbang Dustyboots ) and this part got my blood boiling. The unfairness and helplesness felt real. I am right before the finale starts I think (Patricia just left... the attic), and I hope some of these husbands meet their end. I am definitely emotionally invested now - which took a bit time. The writing style felt oddly distanced for most part of the novel and I was a bit unsure what to expect, especially pacing-wise. Multiple times I thought - "oh, now the action starts" only for the author to stop the tempo again to a halt.

Many reviewers compare it to King, especially to Salems Lot - which interestingly enough I also started reading in Octobre but have paused for now. But I think the similarities are only superficial. Kings character work feels much stronger and his horror also gets more under my skin. Hendrix rarely gets a spook out of me, although the events happening are gruesome. Not sure why exactly.

The way it covers actually quite a long period of time (five years or so?) with occasional long breaks is quite realistic in a certain sort of way. The vampire isn’t a one-month terror, he infiltrates an entire community and gains their trust without cheating (as in, without any obvious mind control powers) and that would take time, including at last a long fallow period where everyone just gets used to him.

It makes the jump scares more scary, and the whole idea that the protagonists decide to accept him despite (in some cases) the evidence of their own eyes is both true to life and horrifying, as well as making them complicit in the betrayal of Mrs Greene and her community. It’s just a much better metaphor for how evil enters and becomes incorporated into a community and people’s lives than a short horror film. You’d definitely have to do it as a series.

I loved every single member of the book group and their friendship, and how it develops over time - it’s genuine and sparkling. It reminds me of Sky Castle, a Korean drama about a group of families who come through something not entirely dissimilar (but not at all supernatural) in that a certain sort of evil infiltrates their lives and becomes overwhelming until they reject it, and the women at least are stronger and more united for it.

 

[prabe]

Many reviewers compare it to King, especially to Salems Lot - which interestingly enough I also started reading in Octobre but have paused for now. But I think the similarities are only superficial. Kings character work feels much stronger and his horror also gets more under my skin. Hendrix rarely gets a spook out of me, although the events happening are gruesome. Not sure why exactly.

I haven't read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Vampires, but based on the other Hendrix I've read, the difference might be that Hendrix often seems to be laughing at his characters, mocking them; King almost never does this, especially his mains.

(I'll admit I have gotten tired of Grady Hendrix and am not reading him at the moment, so my thoughts might be ... skewed.)