Whatcha Reading?

Faves, repeats, and diplomatic dislikes of 2026 so far.

You would not have described me as a voracious reader as a child. I saw my parents read a lot, and they also read to me, but left to my own devises, I gravitated towards crafts, imaginary playtime, or making witchy potions in the backyard. But because I knew smart people read and smart people were good and I wanted to be smart and good, I checked out the biggest library books I could find (IYKYK) in elementary school so I would look smart, but I never read them. This complete loser behavior landed me in an advanced reading course in fifth grade where I was quickly in way over my head, but did genuinely enjoy My Brother Sam is Dead and the subsequent spin offs.

American propaganda at its finest.

When I started taking writing more seriously, it became abundantly clear I needed to take my reading more seriously, too. So in 2020 I set a goal to read 12 books. I read 15, so in 2021 I set a goal to read 25 books and I read 21. By 2024 I read a total of 72 books in a single year (it’s hard to overstate how great an impact multiple book clubs, access to a library card, and severe underemployment had on my capacity to read).

This year, I’m tragically employed but I’m still making time to read. I hope to hit 50 books this year and I’m currently sitting at 28. Here are some highlights from the first six months.

Rereads

2026 has brought an unusual amount of rereads. On Writing, Stephen King’s part memoir/part craft book was the first Stephen King I’ve ever read, and I think that guy’s got real potential—really knows his way around some words. I listened to him read the audio book this time and it was delightful.

Interior Chinatown was a book club selection and rereading it affirmed that it slaps. Charles Yu is a prolific writer, but maybe best known in pop culture for having written on the first season of Westworld. Interior Chinatown is a quick read with creative formatting that also delves into challenging subject matter. I highly recommend it if you’re in a reading slump.

I’m good at a lot of things, but beautifying things in canva is not one of them.

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby, Congratulations! The Best is Over! by R. Eric Thomas, and Everybody’s Favorite by Lilian Stone are all comp titles for the book I’m working on, so I re-read them to make sure I didn’t hallucinate their similarities. I love all three of them for different reasons, but I was particularly struck by Congratulations! The Best is Over! This time around. Thomas makes me laugh in such unexpected ways and speaks with such empathy and heart while still being human and a little petty (complimentary). Last time I was in Philadelphia I saw him in Reading Terminal and was completely star struck.

I’m Still Thinking About These

Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor was somehow both anxiety-inducing and so much fun. The premise that a struggling TV writer accidentally pitches notes she didn’t mean to read from one of her husband’s therapy clients and her agents LOVE the idea had me cringe-chuckling throughout.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Beautiful and sad and lovely. It featured a Marina Ambromavic-esq performance artist, a sad, queer poet in recovery, and the darkest occupation of a soldier I’d never heard of.

Carrie. I told you this Stephen King guy was going somewhere! I’d seen the Sissy Spacek/Piper Lorrie classic a couple times, but like many adaptations, the book was better (and the Brian DePalma movie is GREAT). I particularly loved the entries from Sue Snell’s memoir and excerpts from scientific publications about telekinesis.

Actress of a Certain Age. I’d seen Jeff Hiller’s American Express commercial and binged enough 30 Rock in my time that I remembered him with a little memory jogging, but I’d never heard of Somebody Somewhere, the HBO show that earned him an Emmy. The audio book is wonderful—he’s a delight to listen to—but I loved this book so much that I purchased the physical book before I was halfway through the borrowed audio book. Sweet, earnest, hilarious, self aware, and so honest about what it’s like to be a theater kid who tries too hard and cares too much. What a delight. I laughed! I cried! I thought, Jesus, who reads this many celebrity memoirs? (Jeff does).

10/10, would read again.

Not for me

Writing a book looks really hard and I have yet to do so myself, so I’m not one to judge books harshly. When I say something is not for me, I do not mean, “This sucks and shouldn’t exist.” I mean I personally was not the target audience.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was a MISS. I wanted so much more for this depressed lady than a bunch of judgement for being on antidepressants! The magical realism could not save it. That’s a Great Question. I’d Love to Tell You felt both thin and heavy somehow. Elyse Meyers is a delight on the internet, where I continue to follow her and her book was great for other people! The Year of Less by Cait Flanders came out in 2018 and felt a little dated, but I really shut down when she talked negatively about her body and could not relate to the amount of stuff it sounded like she owned pre-experiment, which again, makes me think it was simply not for me.

Favorite of the Year(so far):

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara. I cannot begin to do this book justice in a brief blurb but I will attempt to communicate what it’s about. Vara lost her sister to leukemia when she was young and grew up to become a journalist covering tech widely. This book intermingles her Google search history, facts about the tech industry shaping and exploiting humanity, and attempts to prompt ChatGPT to write an essay about her sister’s death she’s never been able to write herself. I think it should be required reading for everyone with an internet connection. I devoured this and purchased it before I’d finished my borrowed copy.

My favorite of the year so far.

DNF.

My reading time is too brief and my To Be Read pile too large to be reading things that don’t hit. This year only two books have been exiled to my Did Not Finish shelf.

The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore is a nonfiction book my book club was VERY excited to read. I got halfway through when I let it go. My biggest beef was the author’s use of highly illustrative language for it being nonfiction, which makes it feel false, which upsets me because this subject matter is important and I want it to be taken seriously, not dramatized for effect.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I will come back to this one, but I learned the hard way it’s not a good before bed read. I need a little more of my wits about me before I head back to the trenches with Yossarian.

WHAT ARE YOU READING? What’s your favorite read of the last few years? Tell me everything.

Here’s a full list of what I’ve read this year. Want to be friends on Storygraph? Goodreads? In real life?

Carrie by Stephen King

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller

Blood Test by Charles Baxter

Careless People Sarah Wynn-Williams

The House by the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Black Friend by Ziwe

That’s a Great Question. I’d Love to Tell You by Elise Myers

Audition by Katie Kitamura

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Adult Braces by Lindy West

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novack

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Congratulations! The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Everybody’s Favorite: Tales From the World’s Worst Perfectionist by Lillian Stone

The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Like the but Funnier by Hallie Cantor

Raw Dog by Jackie Loftus

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

On Writing by Stephen King

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

Read This to Look Cool by Maeve Dunigan

Doll Parts by Penny Zang

Currently reading:

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans