Once again, hello book-loving GOGgers and welcome to a new year filled with other lives and worlds to experience, as well as depictions, analyses and commentaries about the one we happen to find ourselves in.

This is the place to list all the books you read in 2026, with as many and as few comments as you want about each. Asking for or offering book recommendations, exchanging impressions about books and having other discussions about books is also welcome.
If you want your list post to be linked to here, make sure to put "include me" in it at least until I'll add it here. After it's added, you may remove those words if you wish.
You may, of course, organize your "central" post as you wish, but if I may make a recommendation, it would be nice if on top of the full list of the books you read this year, for each title there would also be links to your reviews or commentaries posted either in this thread or elsewhere, ratings using whichever system you prefer, and if possible also dates.
In addition, if you want me to also include here a link to your profile on a book-related site, like The StoryGraph, Goodreads or LibraryThing, or even a personal site, or section of a site, dedicated to books, make sure to put "include link" in your list post at least until I'll add it here. Again, after it's added, you may remove those words if you wish. If you want multiple such links to be included, make sure to put "include" before each. If you add any such links without the word "include" first, I'll assume you don't want them added to the OP (though I'll probably ask, to be sure).
If I missed anything or you have any other questions or suggestions, feel free to PM me. And you may also want to do that if you edit your list post in order to add links to other profiles after I already added a link to the post here, so I won't miss the change.

Readers:

andysheets1975
Cavalary (The StoryGraph, Goodreads)
chevkoch
ciemnogrodzianin
InkPanther
matterbandit
Timboli

Previous years:

2025 (11 readers, 186 posts)
2024 (11 readers, 168 posts)
2023 (11 readers, 96 posts)
2022 (9 readers, 121 posts)
2021 (13 readers, 214 posts)
2020 (15 readers, 335 posts)
2019 (14 readers, 177 posts)
2018 (16 readers, 226 posts)
2017 (no centralized list, 107 posts)
2016 (no centralized list, 309 posts)
2015 (no centralized list, 155 posts)
2014 (no centralized list, 208 posts)

And since I mentioned those previous threads, I also want to once again thank the previous managers: ciemnogrodzianin (2018-2021, also bringing the format of the centralized lists from the games threads to the books ones), catpower1980 (2017), madth3 (2015, 2016) and IShoot4lolz (2014).

1. Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen [read Jan '26]
2. All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings [read Nov '25 - Jan '26]
3. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 by David Petersen [read Jan '26]
4. The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard [read Feb '26]
5. The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami [read Feb '26 - Mar '26]
6. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks [read Mar '26]
7. Mouse Guard: The Black Axe by David Petersen [read Feb '26, Apr '26]
8. V. by Thomas Pynchon [read Mar '26 - Apr '26]
9. Significant Zero by Walt Williams [read Apr '26 - May '26]
10. The Pitards by Georges Simenon [read May '26]
11. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer [read May '26 - Jun '26]
12. Heroes of Might and Magic: 30th Anniversary Retrospective by Neal Hallford [read Jun '26]
13. Stack of 40+ issues of Kung-Fu mag [read May '26 - Jun '26]
14. Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer [read Jul '26 - Aug '26]
15. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann [read Aug '26 - Sept '26]
16. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald [read Sept '26]

January:

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol. 1
Freedom of the Mask, by Robert McCammon

February:

I, Vampire
Somebody Owes Me Money, by Donald Westlake

March:

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol. 2

April:

Northwest Smith, by C.L. Moore

May:

Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 5
Dwellers in the Mirage, by A. Merritt
DC Finest: Superboy: The Superdog From Krypton

June:

Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend

July:

Captain Britain: Siege of Camelot
Garth Marenghi's Incarerat

August:

DC Finest: Batman: Red Skies
Captain Britain Omnibus

September:

DC Finest: Western: The Hangman Never Loses

October:

Rom Omnibus vol. 2
Night Force Complete Collection

November:

Cardinal Black, by Robert McCammon

Once again, thanks and please Include Me. :)

2025
78 - DAVID BALDACCI [51] - The Final Play - PCF - 30-DEC-25 --> 02-JAN-26 (Paperwhite) Novella

2026
01 - JAMES PATTERSON & MICHAEL LEDWIDGE [17] & [3] - WORST CASE - PCF - 04-JAN-26 --> 07-JAN-26 (Kobo)
02 - JOE VASICEK [1] - BRINGING STELLA HOME - PCF - 08-JAN-26 --> 14-JAN-26 (Kobo)
03 - KATHY REICHS [25] - A CONSPIRACY OF BONES - PCF - 14-JAN-26 --> 19-JAN-26 (Kobo)
04 - DIANE CAPRI [7] - BLACK JACK - PCF - 20-JAN-26 --> 21-JAN-26 (Kobo)
05 - J. ROBERT KENNEDY [69] - LAKE OF BONES - PCF - 21-JAN-26 --> 24-JAN-26 (Kobo)
06 - TERRY BROOKS [49] - WITCHES' BREW - Pb - 24-JAN-26 --> 28-JAN-26
07 - Various [2] - MARPLE - PCF - 25-JAN-26 --> 01-MAR-26 (Kobo)
.. (1) Evil In Small Places - 25-JAN-26 --> 26-JAN-26 (Lucy Foley)
.. (2) The Second Murder At The Vicarage - 28-JAN-26 --> 28-JAN-26 (Val McDermid)
.. (3) Miss Marple Takes Manhattan - 28-JAN-26 --> 28-JAN-26 (Alyssa Cole)
.. (4) The Unravelling - 29-JAN-26 --> 29-JAN-26 (Natalie Haynes)
.. (5) Miss Marple’s Christmas - 30-JAN-26 --> 30-JAN-26 (Ruth Ware)
.. (6) The Open Mind - 30-JAN-26 --> 30-JAN-26 (Naomi Alderman)
.. (7) The Jade Empress - 31-JAN-26 --> 31-JAN-26 (Jean Kwok)
.. (8) A Deadly Wedding Day - 02-FEB-26 --> 04-FEB-26 (Dreda Say Mitchell)
.. (9) Murder At The Villa Rosa - 10-FEB-26 --> 12-FEB-26 (Elly Griffiths)
.. (10) The Murdering Sort - 25-FEB-26 --> 25-FEB-26 (Karen M. McManus)
.. (11) The Mystery Of The Acid Soil - 28-FEB-26 --> 28-FEB-26 (Kate Mosse)
.. (12) The Disappearance - 28-FEB-26 --> 01-MAR-26 (Leigh Bardugo)
08 - LEE CHILD [27] - The Christmas Scorpion - PCF - 29-JAN-26 --> 29-JAN-26 (Kobo) Short Story
09 - CRAIG A. FALCONER [12] - BEYOND HORIZONS - PCF - 29-JAN-26 --> 20-FEB-26 (Paperwhite)
.. (1) Seedling - 29-JAN-26 --> 29-JAN-26 (Craig A. Falconer)
.. (2) Empty Nesters - 30-JAN-26 --> 30-JAN-26 (Craig A. Falconer)
.. (3) A Savage In The Future - 31-JAN-26 --> 31-JAN-26 (Craig A. Falconer)
.. (4) Saturn For Sale - 05-FEB-26 --> 09-FEB-26 (Craig A. Falconer)
.. (5) Oracle - 14-FEB-26 --> 20-FEB-26 (Craig A. Falconer)
10 - JOE VASICEK [2] - Memoirs Of A Snowflake - PCF - 28-FEB-26 --> 28-FEB-26 (Kobo) Short Story
11 - JOE VASICEK [3] - From The Ice Incarnate - PCF - 28-FEB-26 --> 28-FEB-26 (Kobo)
12 - KARIN SLAUGHTER [2] - GIRL, FORGOTTEN - PCF - 02-MAR-26 --> 07-MAR-26 (Kobo)
13 - RICHARD OSMAN [1] - THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB - PCF - 08-MAR-26 --> 12-MAR-26 (Kobo)
14 - BRAD THOR [9] - THE LAST PATRIOT - PCF - 13-MAR-26 --> 17-MAR-26 (Kobo)
15 - DAVID BALDACCI [52] - DREAM TOWN - PCF - 17-MAR-26 --> 27-MAR-26 (Kobo)
16 - ANDY WEIR [1] - THE MARTIAN - PCF - 27-MAR-26 --> 29-MAR-26 (Paperwhite)
17 - ROBERT THOROGOOD [5] - THE KILLING OF POLLY CARTER - PCF - 30-MAR-26 --> 31-MAR-26 (Kobo)
... Roy Grace: Books 1–10 (Omnibus) - (8) - PETER JAMES - 05-APR-24 -->
18 - PETER JAMES [9] - NOT DEAD YET - PCF - 31-MAR-26 --> 08-APR-26 (Kobo)
19 - JOE TALON [1] - COUNTING CROWS - PCF - 08-APR-26 --> 18-APR-26 (Paperwhite)
20 - RONNIE JAMES DIO, Wendy Dio & Mick Wall [1] & [1] - RAINBOW IN THE DARK - PCF - 18-APR-26 --> 19-APR-26 (Samsung) Biography
21 - ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY [24] - CHILDREN OF TIME - PCF - 19-APR-26 --> 24-APR-26 (Kobo)
22 - DAVID LUDDINGTON [12] - THE FARMHOUSE FIVE GO QUIZZING - PCF - 24-APR-26 --> 30-APR-26 (Paperwhite)
23 - MARGARET HICKEY [2] - AN ILL WIND - PCF - 01-MAY-26 --> 05-MAY-26 (Kobo)
24 - JOE TALON [2] - Forgotten Homeland - PCF - 06-MAY-26 --> 07-MAY-26 (Kobo) Novella
25 - JOE TALON [3] - A Meeting Of Terrors - PCF - 07-MAY-26 --> 10-MAY-26 (Kobo) Novella
26 - MICHAEL CONNELLY [16] - THE CLOSERS - PCF - 11-MAY-26 --> 13-MAY-26 (Kobo)
27 - J. ROBERT KENNEDY [70] - INSIDE THE WIRE - PCF - 13-MAY-26 --> 16-MAY-26 (Kobo)
28 - DIANE CAPRI [8] - TEN TWO JACK - PCF - 17-MAY-26 --> 19-MAY-26 (Kobo)
29 - ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY [25] - CHILDREN OF RUIN - PCF - 19-MAY-26 --> 29-MAY-26 (Kobo)
30 - LEE CHILD [28] - PAST TENSE - PCF - 30-MAY-26 --> 31-MAY-26 (Kobo)
31 - DIANE CAPRI [9] - JACK OF SPADES - PCF - 31-MAY-26 --> 01-JUN-26 (Kobo)
32 - JOE TALON [4] - MONEY FOR OLD BONES - PCF - 01-JUN-26 --> 03-JUN-26 (Paperwhite)
33 - CANDICE FOX [6] - CRIMSON LAKE - PCF - 04-JUN-26 --> 08-JUN-26 (Kobo)
34 - DAN BROWN [1] - THE SECRET OF SECRETS - PCF - 09-JUN-26 --> 15-JUN-26 (Kobo)
35 - BENJAMIN STEVENSON [3] - EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET - PCF - 16-JUN-26 --> 22-JUN-26 (Kobo)
36 - CANDICE FOX [7] - REDEMPTION POINT - PCF - 23-JUN-26 --> 26-JUN-26 (Kobo)
37 - DAVID BALDACCI [53] - THE 6:20 MAN - PCF - 27-JUN-26 --> 02-JUL-26 (Kobo)
... Lorne Turner Supernatural Thrillers Complete Box Set (Omnibus) - (3) - JOE TALON - 06-JUL-26 -->
38 - JOE TALON [5] - DEAD OF THE WINTER SUN - PCF - 05-JUL-26 --> 11-JUL-26 (Paperwhite)
39 - PHILIP PULLMAN [1] - NORTHERN LIGHTS - PCF - 13-JUL-26 --> 22-JUL-26 (Kobo)
40 - PATRICIA CORNWELL [9] - POINT OF ORIGIN - PCF - 22-JUL-26 --> 26-JUL-26 (Kobo)
41 - CANDICE FOX [8] - GONE BY MIDNIGHT - PCF - 27-JUL-26 --> 02-AUG-26 (Kobo)
42 - CAROLINE GRAHAM [5] - WRITTEN IN BLOOD - PCF - 03-AUG-26 --> 08-AUG-26 (Kobo)
43 - J. ROBERT KENNEDY [71] - FATAL REUNION - PCF - 09-AUG-26 --> 11-AUG-26 (Kobo)
... Jason Striker Martial Arts Series - Volume One (Omnibus) - (1) - PIERS ANTHONY & ROBERTO FUENTES - 11-AUG-26 --> 09-SEP-26
44 - PIERS ANTHONY & ROBERTO FUENTES [37] & [2] - KIAI - TRA - 11-AUG-26 --> 14-AUG-26
... Lorne Turner Supernatural Thrillers Complete Box Set (Omnibus) - (4) - JOE TALON - 06-JUL-26 -->
45 - JOE TALON [6] - SALT FOR THE DEVIL'S EYE - PCF - 16-AUG-26 --> 24-AUG-26 (Paperwhite)
46 - DAVID BALDACCI [54] - LONG SHADOWS - PCF - 26-AUG-26 --> 29-AUG-26 (Kobo)
... Jason Striker Martial Arts Series - Volume One (Omnibus) - (2) - PIERS ANTHONY & ROBERTO FUENTES - 11-AUG-26 --> 09-SEP-26
47 - PIERS ANTHONY & ROBERTO FUENTES [38] & [3] - MISTRESS OF DEATH - TRA - 31-AUG-26 --> 09-SEP-26
48 - C.J. BOX [41] - THE CROSSROADS - PCF - 06-SEP-26 --> 08-SEP-26 (Paperwhite)
49 - MICHAEL CONNELLY [17] - The Safe Man - PCF - 10-SEP-26 --> 10-SEP-26 (Kobo) Short Story
50 - LEE CHILD [29] - The Fourth Man - PCF - 10-SEP-26 --> 10-SEP-26 (Kobo) Short Story
51 - PAULA HAWKINS [5] - THE BLUE HOUR - PCF - 11-SEP-26 --> 16-SEP-26 (Kobo)
52 - ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH [45] - THE PERFECT PASSION COMPANY - PCF - 16-SEP-26 --> 20-SEP-26 (Paperwhite)
53 - ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH [46] - LOOKING FOR YOU - PCF - 20-SEP-26 --> 30-SEP-26 (Kobo)
54 - DENNIS L. McKIERNAN [19] - STOLEN CROWN - PCF - 30-SEP-26 --> reading (Paperwhite)

For this year, I'm going to add collected comics editions, since I do spend a lot of time reading them. I happened to finish Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol. 1 on January 1.

I started a re-read of X-Men shortly after I finished Henry Kuttner's Mutant stories. I guess I was in the mood for comics that were derived from that type of sci-fi. Quick summary of the original X-Men run: The early Lee/Kirby run actually holds up really well and I think is quite underrated even by Kirby fans. Although it's nominally a superhero comic, with costumes and big superpower fights, it does do a good job of holding to a sci-fi theme of this new evolution in humanity interacting with the older version. There are still bad guys robbing banks and such, but their reasoning is because they're abusing their powers to take advantage of mere humans. You also get stuff like Xavier mind-wiping the Vanisher like out of Bester's The Demolished Man and such. The Stranger appears to indicate that there are beings in the universe even higher on the evolutionary chain than mutants. After Kirby leaves, though, you get an extended drab era of Roy Thomas basically having no idea or interest in pursuing those sci-fi themes and X-Men becomes very much a standard but now quite uninspired superhero comic. Werner Roth's art is competent but dull. There's an uptick later when Arnold Drake takes over writing and then we get stories by Jim Steranko and Neal Adams has a celebrated run (which Thomas gloms onto probably to make himself look good). Then the series ends for reasons no one seems to fully understand.

Omnibus vol. 1 collects the Claremont/Cockrum on the rebooted X-Men series from the 70s and gets into the early part of John Byrne's run. Between this and his Legion run, I've found a renewed appreciation for Dave Cockrum's work. It was just incredibly lush back then, when he was usually working on a bi-monthly schedule and could take his time for everything, and he's just an all-time great character creator and designer. Claremont's scripting is also pretty fresh and he hadn't fully formed his repertoire of pet phrases and themes that he became notorious for in later years.

The new characters are older and more combustible personalities. Wolverine threatens and sometimes even tries to murder his partners for minor reasons. Cyclops becomes more of a Lee Marvin-style hard-boiled leader. Marvel Girl gets upgraded to a cosmic/Thor-level character but also gets sidelined frequently as the creators figure out how she's supposed to fit in. The series is also very freewheeling in terms of setting, getting into outer space really quick and escalating into space opera (pre-Star Wars), incorporating symbolism from Kabbalah, going back to the Savage Land for an ERB-ish story, and even a swashbuckling adventure in Ireland that literally includes leprechauns. Instead of coming across as forced or divergent, it all feels effortless and natural.

Cockrum leaves because of workload concerns (he was also doing lots of covers and assisting with other books) and Byrne and Terry Austin take over on art. Their work is also very high quality, although there's a certain stiffness to Byrne's art at times in comparison to Cockrum's. Byrne also starts lavishing more attention on Wolverine while Cockrum's favorite, Nightcrawler, begins receding in importance. The book ends on the X-Men battling Proteus in a story that feels very influenced by classic British sci-fi/horror and then starting to get entangled with the Hellfire Club as Phoenix starts to fall under the sway of a subtle mind-control by a mysterious figure.

Books read in 2026:
★★☆☆☆ Modlitwa i życie / Augustyn, Józef, SJ
★★★★☆ Krzywy kościół. Kronika powieściowa utraconego miasta: lata 1894–1921 / Lednická, Karin
★★☆☆☆ Jeden dzień z życia Abeda Salamy. Reportaż / Thrall, Nathan
★★★★☆ Rysie. Historie prawdziwe / Figura, Michał
★★★★☆ Kwantechizm 2.0, czyli klatka na ludzi / Dragan, Andrzej
★★☆☆☆ Dunder albo kot z zaświatu / Rak, Radek
★★★☆☆ Porozmawiajmy o... Żydach. Zapowiedź / Sumliński, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ ADHD. Twój mózg jest OK. / Rosier, Tamara
★★★★☆ Boże igrzysko: Historia Polski / Davies, Norman
★★☆☆☆ Niebezpieczne związki Andrzeja Leppera / Sumliński, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ Chłopcy z ferajny. Największa afera w polskiej polityce / Harłukowicz, Jacek
★★★★☆ Trawa / Tepper, Sheri S.
★★☆☆☆ Zarządzanie czasem / Tracy, Brian
★★☆☆☆ Rozpieszczony umysł. Jak dobre intencje i złe idee skazują pokolenia na porażkę / Haidt, Jonathan
★★☆☆☆ Biznes oparty na danych / Thompson, John K.
★★★★☆ Autostopem przez galaktykę / Adams, Douglas
★★☆☆☆ Gambit lisa / Lee, Yoon Ha
★★☆☆☆ Piaskowy wilk / Lind, Åsa
★★★☆☆ Edek jest zakochany / Brunstrom, Thomas
★★★☆☆ Ronald Reagan. Duchowa biografia / Kengor, Paul
★★☆☆☆ Księga Potworów / Rusinek, Michał
★☆☆☆☆ Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI / Harari, Yuval Noah
★★★☆☆ Zagubieni w dzungli zaglady / Turner, Tracey
★☆☆☆☆ Nauka algorytmów. Poradnik pisania lepszego kodu / Heineman, George
★★★☆☆ Hortensja i cień / O'Hara, Natalia
★☆☆☆☆ Czytam i główkuję. Król Gromoryk i zagadkowy smok / Widłak, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ Wielka Polska / Ziemkiewicz, Rafał A.
★★★☆☆ Nadchodząca fala. Sztuczna inteligencja, władza i najważniejszy dylemat ludzkości w XXI wieku / Suleyman, Mustafa
★★☆☆☆ Era Mileia. Argentyna na nowej ścieżce / Bagus, Philipp
★☆☆☆☆ Wdzięczność / Sacks, Oliver
★☆☆☆☆ Śpij jak jaskiniowiec. I wyśpij się dzięki mądrości sprzed wieków / Laar, Merijn van de
★☆☆☆☆ Strojenie duszy / Buryła, Wacław
★★★★★ Don't Shoot the Dog: The Art of Teaching and Training / Pryor, Karen
★★★☆☆ Tajemnica szkoły / Widmark, Martin
★★★☆☆ O wielości cywilizacji / Koneczny, Feliks
★☆☆☆☆ Dar przywództwa / Chrapko, Mariusz
★★★☆☆ Wolność po Bożemu / Węgrzyniak, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ Atlas chmur / Mitchell, David
★★★★★ Quo vAIdis / Dragan, Andrzej
★★★☆☆ Krótki kurs ekonomii praktycznej / Dzierżawski, Krzysztof
★★☆☆☆ Byłem satanistą / Bąkowski, Paweł Tadeusz
★★★★☆ Z nakazu Boga. Izraelczycy i wojna w Strefie Gazy / Wójcicka, Karolina
★★★★☆ Egipcjanie. Historia do odkrycia / Marx, Jonny
★★★☆☆ List do Świętego Mikołaja / Yarlett, Emma
★★☆☆☆ Rozpal wiarę a będą działy się cuda. Modlitwa o uzdrowienie w autorytecie Jezusa / Zieliński, Marcin
★☆☆☆☆ Lizbona. Miasto, które przytula / Wawrzkowicz-Nasternak, Weronika
★★★☆☆ Portugalia. W objęciach oceanu / Bittner, Anna
★☆☆☆☆ Między dwiema rzekami / Al-Rashid, Moudhy
★☆☆☆☆ 1000 lat Polski według Brauna. Tom 1 / Braun, Grzegorz
★☆☆☆☆ Intentional: How to Finish What You Start / Bailey, Chris
★★★★☆ Muminki szukają domu / Selena, Elena
★★★☆☆ Let’s talk. 60 pomysłów na rozmowy taty z córką / Canfield, Dr Michelle Watson
★☆☆☆☆ Syndrom oszusta. Jak uciszyć wewnętrznego krytyka i wreszcie rozwinąć skrzydła / Hibberd, Jessamy
★★☆☆☆ Od spódnicy do spodni. Historia mody męskiej / Łoszewski, Krzysztof
★★☆☆☆ Jak sobie poczynamy. Historia różnych koncepcji i antykoncepcji / Wierzba, Iwona
★★★☆☆ Mediolan, Bergamo i jeziora / Walczak, Aneta
★★★★☆ IIHF Rule Book / IIHF
★★★☆☆ Kłopot z Zełenskim / Parafianowicz, Zbigniew


Previous years:
• 2025
• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

Include me please, and thank you for hosting this topic once again.

----

Castles of Steel, Robert Massie
★★★★☆ , 11.01.2026 [I read most of it in 2025]

Z floty carskiej do polskiej, Mamert Stankiewicz
★★★☆☆ , 22.01.2026

Lubiąż. Biografia Cudu, Tomasz Bonek
★★★★☆ , 24.01.2026 [I read most of it in 2025]

Limer inferior, Janusz A. Zajdel
★★★☆☆ , 18.03.2026

Polska. Losy państwa i narodu 1939-1989, Andrzej Friszke
★★★★☆ , 31.05.2026

Secret Naval Investigator, F. Ashe Lincoln
★★★☆☆ , 04.06.2026

Ganbare! Warsztaty umierania, Katarzyna Boni
★★★★☆ , 10.06.2026

The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
★★★☆☆ , 04.07.2026

Freedom of the Mask is the sixth installment in Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett series. This picks up on the cliffhanger from the previous book, with Matthew suffering from amnesia and being hauled to London by one of his enemies. He gets over that pretty quick, but then he ends up stuck in Newgate Prison. He has to somehow get out and evade agents of Professor Fell, and there's a masked vigilante named Albion who seems to be targeting Matthew as well.

It's a fun book like all the others are, and it goes to some nasty places. McCammon really sells early 17th century London as a total hellhole and he gets a lot of mileage out of comparing it to early small-town New York. It's also quite violent and some characters with potential come to very sudden and harsh ends.

If I have criticisms, it's mostly that the plot ends up being a series of the heroes getting out of one predicament only to be captured and held someplace else, and the story, which seems to be building to a really intriguing climax (how the hell's he getting out of this one?!), sort of punts a bit in favor of another...not really cliffhanger but there are danglers that set up the following book. So it feels like a portion of a complete story. A substantial portion, but not totally complete/self-contained, which is my preference.

Oh, and as much as I hate to say, it seems like McCammon's historical research has gotten a little sloppy in places. Maybe I'm remembering wrongly, but I feel like the earlier books were more vigorously researched, but I can't help noticing anachronisms creeping in over the last couple of books. People eating foods that weren't invented yet. In one scene, a person plays a musical instrument that wouldn't be invented for another century. Mostly these are minor details that don't really affect the story, but there is one detail that is a bit more major and quite distracting.

The first list of books finished in 2026 (some of them, like a huge "God's playground. A history of Poland" by Norman Davies, started deep in 2025):
★★☆☆☆ Modlitwa i życie / Augustyn, Józef, SJ
★★★★☆ Krzywy kościół. Kronika powieściowa utraconego miasta: lata 1894–1921 / Lednická, Karin
★★☆☆☆ Jeden dzień z życia Abeda Salamy. Reportaż / Thrall, Nathan
★★★★☆ Rysie. Historie prawdziwe / Figura, Michał
★★★★☆ Kwantechizm 2.0, czyli klatka na ludzi / Dragan, Andrzej
★★☆☆☆ Dunder albo kot z zaświatu / Rak, Radek
★★★☆☆ Porozmawiajmy o... Żydach. Zapowiedź / Sumliński, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ ADHD. Twój mózg jest OK. / Rosier, Tamara
★★★★☆ Boże igrzysko: Historia Polski / Davies, Norman
★★☆☆☆ Niebezpieczne związki Andrzeja Leppera / Sumliński, Wojciech
★★☆☆☆ Chłopcy z ferajny. Największa afera w polskiej polityce / Harłukowicz, Jacek

Hello Everyone! I'm back! Please add me to the list, Cavalary. Thanks for hosting this tradition for yet another year. :D Apologies for arriving late to the party. I feel like I've spent most of January in a coma and I'm just snapping out of it.

The year 2025 was a personal triumph. I read a total of 3 books, which is more than I've read in previous years. :) If I may... **patting myself on the back** xD

I'm hoping to break that record in 2026!

There's a book that I've begun reading towards the end of last year, but have not finished in time for New Year. So, naturally, I'll be including this book as my first read of this year. ;)


My current reading list for 2026:

★★★★☆ Dark Matter by Blake Crouch > completed on February 9th

For a minute there I thought I'd have to climb down all those spirally stairs into the bowels of the Cathedral of the Word to coax you to join this new year's thread ;) Welcome back.

Welcome aboard, though you didn't, er, include "include" :p
Nice to see, and especially that you mean to keep it up. Hope it means you're finding it enjoyable, and maybe increasingly so as you learn more about just what you like and what works best :)

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen

Comic about anthropomorphic mice in a fantasy setting with a flavor that's reminiscent of European medieval times (Fall 1152 collects the first six-issue miniseries). The Weasel War of 1149 just past, the Guard patrol the Mouse Territories, dealing with threats to their hidden society from without and within. The story arc works well, dialogue fits the overall tone fine. The art is charming, expectedly whimsical, but doesn't succumb to a cutesy style as it is counterbalanced by Petersen not shying away from giving combat scenes an unapologetic brutal note.

Love the series so far. I've already started with the sequel Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 and am thinking about perhaps getting the Mouse Guard pen & paper RPG.

ROFL! Well, it appears I spared you from that treacherous trek! ;) It took most of January for me to climb that journey to the top of those spirally stairs to announce my return. xD Glad to be back! :) Thanks for thinking of me.

Oh, how embarrassing! In a thread about "reading", I just proved to everyone that I am not an attentive "reader". LOL! ;) Thanks for overlooking my mistake and including me back! :D

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Here's my first read of this year, which is a book I picked up late in 2025, but did not get around to completing it before the year's end. I'm so very close to reaching its final pages!

(text pasted from 2025's thread...)

After having watched and enjoyed the first season of Dark Matter, I purchased this book when it was on sale and now I get to discover if it's better than the series. Often, the original source is considered better, but it's not always the case. The book received good reviews, in general, but I always tend to gravitate towards the negative reviews because I find reading them quite entertaining and occassionally, very funny. The premise of this book is about mutiverses and infinite realities, and one negative review made me burst with laughter with comments such as "Unfortunately, we are the reality in which this awful book got published". LOL! Also stating that the author's premise "is a cheap narrative device, ultimately creating an infinity loop of boredom". LOL! Will these brilliantly negative remarks deter me from reading this book? Absolutely not. I'll keep an open mind and plunge myself into those pages and see if the writing pleases me. Onwards I go!


> Status: my bookmark lay at page 398 of 398 ... completed on February 9th! :)