Six for 2026

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I'm sitting here eating Trader Joe's Sugared Hearts Rice Crackers (better than anticipated) uncertain how to introduce this collection of books, so I guess I just won't I have other thing to do and if you're here, it's probably because you already like books. I'm with you.

015) The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction edited by Andrew Hall and Robert Raleigh, finished March 15

It took me a long time to read this, which is typical of shortstory collections, even ones I'm in, even ones filled with my friends, even ones I'm very excited about. This is all three.

And now I'm nervous to talk about it because of course I remember some well and others not well and I'm deeply unsure how much I can trust any of the things left to say!

Ugh. I'm the worst.

Anyway, I do feel confident calling the collection worthy of your time and money. It'll be the standard for at least another 15 years so you still have time to be hip. But: dally not. 

over two years 

☞

016) Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished March 19

I think I liked the book more this second read. My complaints from the first goround are still valid, but they just don't bother me as much. The book's strengths carry the weight. Although knowing ahead of time that the book ends before the characters reach their goal probably eases the frustration.

Perhaps I would like the second book better as well.

I've since recommended these two to my son who has read them many times and has all four volumes. I really want to go on and read all four, but I'm not sure I will. After all, he suggests there are diminishing returns. And, the reason I reread Hyperion now is because he suggested it to our shared book group. And coming up soon is Moby Dick so it's not like I've got lots of time for three five-hundred paged books. I thought I was going to read some classics casually this year!

Anyway, if you don't recall, Hyperion is basically Canturbury Tales. These distant-future pilgrims are headed to the planet Hyperion to ask questions of its godlike resident the Shrike (who looks nothing like what's on the cover of the book; someone really needs to come out with classier covers for this near-classic scifi series. I would probably buy them for my son.) On route, they each (save one pilgrim who goes missing) tell their story explaining why they suppose they were chosen for this, the final Shrike pilgramage. Each of these six stories is about novella length and is told in a different fashion. They are the volume's greatest strenght, though I would not call them all equally successful. Or, perhaps, it would be better to say that they are not all successful in the same ways.

A couple sentences on each (the bit before each title is a descriptor added by Wikipedia):

The Priest's Tale: "The Man Who Cried God"

Of course one needs to be diaries and/or letters and frankly I'm glad it was first, get it out of the way rather than waiting for it to drop. This has a truly fascinating and horrifying alien concept. Best comparison: if Speaker for the Dead had never stopped being a horror tale.

The Soldier's Tale: "The War Lovers"

Never have sex and violence been more fully entwined. Maybe it's been matched, but ne'er exceeded.

The Poet's Tale: "Hyperion Cantos"

The most annoying character gets to be annoying about his writing. It's kind of perfect for a book so concerned with the literary arts to make the most literate character such a bastard.

The Scholar's Tale: "The River Lethe's Taste Is Bitter"

This is my favorite of the six. It starts with the mundane lives of two people who love each other and the most bizarre event imaginable—the backwards aging of their child—complicates their everything. A moving metaphor for many things, dementia perhaps the most obvious.

The Detective's Tale: "The Long Good-Bye"

I just picked up a copy of The Long Goodbye! We got a lady space detective and it's delightfully noirish and scifiïsh and it's exciting and it's just great.

The Consul's Tale: "Remembering Siri" 

Two in one this time. The initial story I like best—imagine being married to someone, only one of you stays on the planet and the other travels around near the speed of life. When you die of old age, your other is only four years older. The most important relationship of your life and you only spent a hundred-some days together. Over four years. Or, perhaps, over seventy. Heartbreaking. The second half is a small story of politics and betrayal that sets us up for the final act.

But the final act never comes. I love the smart worldbuilding and the interesting characters and their compelling journeys and reasons to risk their lives approaching a god made of blades, but, just as each of their stories ended on a cliffhanger, on the cusp of approaching the Shrike, so does the novel.

So...am I gonna actually read the other three books?

I honestly do not know. 

probably a bit over a month 

☞

017) The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, finished March 21

If you're a Jane Eyre fan, it won't take you long to recognize that this is a spin on that classic. I mean—the title gave it away, which is why I picked this book up in the first place. And you get the sense Hawkins likes Jane Eyre and enjoys playing with the source material. For instance, the main character's name is Jane (as in Jane Eyre) Bell (as in Currer Bell) but no, actually, her name is Helen Burns (as in Helen Burns) only when her best friend Jane Bell died of illness (ala Helen Burns) she stole her name.

I didn't like the book in the opening pages but then the first twist happened and I really liked it then it went on for a lonnnng time and I was getting bored and then there were a bevy of twists all of which I liked and then it ended.

It's funny though. I was a trifly surprised that the author had failed to notice an alternate explanation of her mystery which is to say I was surprised none of the characters had considered that possibility, but each time I felt that way, it ended up being the truth of the matter. I'm not sure if this is what mystery readers enjoy or not. Is it?

Anyway, it played with one of my favorite novels in fun and interesting ways but I honestly don't know if I'll remember having read it a year from now. 

three or four months

☞

018) Visitations by Corey Egbert, finished March 23

I became aware of Corey Egbert almost two years ago, four months before Visitations came out. I spent a year trying to talk my library into buying it (so strange they did not considering the size of their YA comics collection) before just finally buying my own copy (maybe because of this?) which I've now had for months and months. Glad I finally picked it up as it is excellent.

And it makes me think about myself at the same age. His mother went insane. My father went insane. Our stories don't have much else in common (I'm about fifteen years older but also Mormon), but I know the places he talks about (Northern California and Utah and nowhere Nevada) and the whole thing feels like a near miss. His anxieties and doubts and worries are deeply familiar. 

I'm glad he laid all this bare. It was a rough journey but a worthy one.

If I wanted to get more nitpicky I might talk about the third act being less well placed or make some petty complaints about Utah culture, but whatever. The fact is Visitations is a very good book. Thought-provoking and lovely and easy to recommend.

two days 

☞

019–021) After the Blast by Zoe Kazan, finished March 25

It's been a year and a half since I selected After the Blast to be the play I read in class while students are broken into groups reading different novels out of class. So how did it do? Did I select well?

Well.

First, it did not engender great amounts of discussion between scenes, which I was surprised by. Students suggested this is because they understood it and since they didn't need to ask what stuff meant, there was nothing to talk about.

At first, I totally rejected that premise, but I've been thinking about it in the six days since we wrapped up reading and I wonder know if they're onto something. Let's say a piece of literature has three levels of understanding. First is surface. Easy to do with After the Blast. It's a straightforward work in plain English and simple to follow. Third is deeper understanding where you have smart things to say about the book.

Here's what I'm wondering: If level one is too accessible, is there a path to level three? Perhaps the usual path to level three is a failure to reach level one on your own. Discussing level one as a class leads to connection making that might not otherwise occur. Perhaps those connects are level two. If we skip level to because level one came to easy, what path is there to level three?

I'll be interested to see how their essays turn out. 

two days 

☞

022) Accidental Devotions by Kelli Russell Agodon, finished March 30

Loved this collection of poetry. Loved it. As the title suggests, there are many happened-into prayer-like moments, and that angle of attention was a pleasure to read. But also, naturally, her language. What is poetry without language.

Looking around online for a couple of my favorites I find this one and this one but most of them don't seem available. I wish I could point you to more.

Which I guess I have? Click that link to buy the book, after all.

(And, as it doesn't come out till mid-May, it's not too late to be the first on your block with a copy!) 

probably a couple months but maybe more 

☞

previous books

The first five books of 2026

001) Red Harvest by Dachielle Hammett, finished January 3
002) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished January 14
003) Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, finished January 16
004) You Are Too Much, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 19
005) Ice by Anna Kavan, finished January 24

Emotion-of-your-choice Valentine's Day!

006) Midville High: Comic Caper Collection by Matt Blair, finished February 5
007) Guarding the Moon: A Mother's First Year by Francesca Lia Block, finished February 10
008) The Sellout by Paul Beatty, finished February 13 

I don't know much about hats Kafka wore
Or if Bottom's dream sunk in the sea
But I know that George Lucas made a fine film
And that The Shining just isn't for me

009) Where Hats Go by Kurt Wolfgang, finished February 20
010) Kafka's Manuscript, finished February 27
011) Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman and Renaud Roshe, finished February 28
012–014) A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare, finished March 9