Well. Here We Are. 2026. And Books!

Welcome, Friends, to the first words I have written since last year’s book post. This will also be a book post, but we’ll get to that later.

2025 was a year, wasn’t it? It was for me. Some good things happened, some not-so-good things happened (gestures broadly at the fall of our Constitutional democracy and the demolition of meaningful checks on executive power). But, man, was I in a funk the whole year. I didn’t write a single word, and I can’t really explain why except to say that I didn’t feel like it. I crocheted some but not nearly as much as in years past. I only read eight books (I promise more on that is coming!), but that was partially intentional. I scrolled too much Instagram and TikTok (it pains me to admit to that last one). I spent too much time playing dumb games on my iPad and watched the OG Law & Order seasons 1-20. Twice.

Some of that funk was definitely man-related (I forgot how bad being single really sucks), but I don’t want to get too much in the weeds there. Suffice it to say that if my biology allowed it, I might not bother with men at all, which I know is a choice. The bothering with them is the choice, not the attraction thereto, just to clarify. But here we are. Not to insult my male friends, readers and subscribers, but some of you certainly do find interesting ways to fuck shit up. The bar is in hell, gentlemen. Get your shit together.

I spent most of New Year’s Eve pondering the shitshow that was 2025 (as you do), but while scrolling through Facebook a couple of times yesterday (I haven’t been a real regular user of Facebook for some time now), I saw that I was not alone in my 2025 funk. A lot of my friends (when I could see their posts and not all the sponsored shit Facebook feeds me) were also eager to leave 2025 in the rearview mirror. It seemed like it sucked for everyone.

So here’s hoping for a better 2026 for all of us. It seems like our government situation will get worse before it gets better (and I sincerely hope with every fiber of my being that getting better is on the horizon), but it’s a mid-term election year and that might be good? I don’t say anything with certainty anymore, but I live with my fingers crossed. As for everything else, well, I’ve got my fingers crossed for that stuff too. And if you had a shitty 2025, I’m thinking about you and hoping for a better 2026 for you too.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a believer in resolutions, because they are just a way to lie to ourselves. I do try to set some goals for the year, and I’m trying to set that bar pretty low too. Not as low as the Man Bar, but pretty low nonetheless. Progress, not perfection. As a person who likes to receive a paper bill, I’m going to try to switch to paperless. We’ve already switched to reusable shopping bags and silicone zipper bags (I got them last year for Christmas and update: I still love them. Is washing them a pain in the ass? Yes, yes it is, but it beats throwing plastic into the trash). I’d like to keep my house…neat (a challenge with an adult child as a roommate). I’d like to do more self-care. We’ll see how all that goes.

I’m not going to try to make a writing goal, because I was so unmotivated in 2025 that I’m not sure how I’ll feel in 2026. You didn’t get a NaNoWriMo post this year, because I didn’t even try. I didn’t have an idea, and none of my idea fragments took hold in my brain. Plus, I was still saddened at the disintegration of the NaNoWriMo non-profit in the spring/summer of 2025. They had a lot of problems they simply couldn’t overcome and closed their doors for good. What’s the point of trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days if there’s no t-shirt to buy for completing it? I’m only partially kidding. That stupid t-shirt was a real motivator for me. All I can do in 2026 is approach it slowly. Baby steps. Open something and see how I feel. Try not to feel guilty when I close it without doing anything. Sometimes reading something I’ve already written is enough to get the juices flowing, especially if it’s good. But I’m not promising anything. Especially not to myself.

Now, on to the books!

The last two years, my book post has been just a list, but I think 2025 requires a narrative. So here we go!

I started 2025 finishing The Stand by Stephen King (1300ish pages): It gets better every time I read it, though I still think Frannie Goldsmith is annoying, and the deux ex machina that makes up the climax of it bothered me less this time. This was the first time I saw who the real hero of this novel is, and it’s not Stu Redman.

When I finished The Stand, I did so with the thought of how deeply satisfying it is to finish a good, long book, and I made that my 2025 reading goal: I would only read long books over 600 pages. I scoured the contents of my Kindle library for books over 600 pages, and got to work.

The next longest book in my Kindle library was Under the Dome by Stephen King (1000ish pages). This was another reread for me, and what a ride it is. The antagonist is not the dome itself, but some of the most despicable people ever committed to the page. I didn’t like the end again, but for 1000 pages, this book DOES. NOT. STOP.

Did I read IT and make it a Stephen King tome trifecta? No, I did not. I briefly considered IT, and I have read IT a couple of times, and it’s fairly good, and even the scene that is widely discussed and derided doesn’t bother me. But man, I absolutely cannot read IT before bed, which for me is prime reading time. So I skipped that one.

Next, I read We are Water by Wally Lamb (540ish pages). The Kindle description told me this was 940 or so pages. It lied and I wanted it to be longer. The characters were flawed and unlikeable, and were really on their road to redemption from generational trauma, and I wanted that full redemption arc. I did not get it and was disappointed. It could have been that 940 pages and I wouldn’t have complained.

Next, I took a planned break from my long book trek to read Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (419 pages). Yes, this is a Hunger Games novel, and I’ve read them all, most of them as soon as they are released. This book is more about the journey than the destination, because if you are a Hunger Games fan at all, you know how the book ends. But how it gets there is the story, and it didn’t disappoint. An unlikable character was made sympathetic, and I was 100 percent there for it.

My daughter and I drove the 6 hours each way to Boise to visit my son in March, and on our way we listened to the audiobook of Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough (audiobooks count! Fight me). We didn’t quite finish it, so when we got back, I read the rest on my Kindle (I had bought it at some point and just hadn’t gotten to it yet). Friends, this book was WILD. I knew it was setting up something bonkers, and man, was it BONKERS. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you’re interested, there was a fairly faithful Nexflix adaptation. Equally bonkers. Both were thoroughly enjoyable.

Then I started I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb (a reread for me, 912 pages). And The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (774 pages). And Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky (706 pages). And And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts (631 pages). And I didn’t finish any of them. None of them really grabbed me, but by this time it was the middle of the year and my funk had set in deep. All I could think about was The Princess Bride. Not the movie, though it is pretty perfect and wonderful (and RIP Rob Reiner), but the novel by William Goldman. If you love the movie (and I haven’t encountered many people who don’t), I hesitate to recommend the novel, because it’s pretty different. All the bones for the movie are there, but it’s not the same and people often find that disappointing. Because I read the book first, I loved it from the start and it’s one of my favorites.

Reading The Princess Bride brought me so much comfort in this weird time, that I decided to pivot to reading books I knew would bring me joy, even if they were rereads for me. So next I read The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. Yes, my third Stephen King in 2025. Don’t @ me. It’s my favorite Stephen King book and I love it so much.

My plan after finishing The Eyes of the Dragon was to finish A Time to Kill by John Grisham (another book I love), which I had already started, then finish the year with another one of my all-time favorites, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This plan was derailed on October 21.

For those who are familiar with publishing at all, books are usually released on Tuesdays, but pre-orders are a Big Fucking Deal. That’s why every author you enjoy encourages you to pre-order their new book. Well, throughout 2025, I had done exactly as my favorite authors told me and pre-ordered books by Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son, if you didn’t know), Michael Connelly (Lincoln Lawyer) and John Grisham. And they all dropped onto my Kindle at 9 pm October 20 (October 21 EST).

I was highly anticipating each of these books, so I changed my plan YET AGAIN. I finished The Eyes of the Dragon, but set aside A Time to Kill, and beelined to King Sorrow by Joe Hill. And at 887 pages, I was back to my original goal for the year. It always comes full circle, I guess. Anyway, it’s a story about six friends who summon a dragon to take care of a…problem one of them has, without realizing the price they will pay. And I ate it up. So yes, I read a story sort of about a dragon (very much dead) by Stephen King, then read a story that featured a dragon (it wasn’t really about the dragon, but it was very much alive) by his son.

Then I started the John Grisham but haven’t finished it yet. You’ll hear about that one in 2027 (aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh).

So those were the books. For those who read, keep doing it! I heard a scary statistic in 2025: the number of Americans who read for pleasure is six percent. SIX PERCENT. That’s terrifying. I put real effort into raising readers, but I know that number is going to dwindle. I also read kids aren’t being assigned full texts anymore, which could be lending to the problem. I don’t know. It’s not a problem I can fix, but I find it sad.

Thanks for hanging in with me, even though you didn’t get any posts this year. I appreciate you all. It’s going to be a good year (fingers crossed). Do what makes you happy.