(Pictured: the most perfect joke I have ever read from *Devolution by Max Brooks)

We all have reading slumps. Some last months, years, decades, or lifetimes. Reading is one of those activities that requires so much of our attention - we have to find space for quiet engagement and honestly, the world is a fucking nightmare - so that can be really hard to find. My own personally reading slump was years long, with most of my reading diet consisting of things I had to read for school.

I credit Eric Larocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes (2023) with starting to erode the levees holding back my love of reading. I’ve seen mixed things about their work online, but I’m here to tell you that it reminded me that I love to read. Things remained slow, though, with a handful of books across 2024, and only 5 in 2025, with a couple of false starts that I intend to rectify this year.

This year though, 2026, I can confirm that the levees have broken and I’m consuming the absolute fuck out of books right now. So, I thought I would share what I’m reading, and share some overall thoughts I have. I’m certainly not setting out to do literary review, and this is more for self-reflection than anything else.

You’ll see some books that are bolded, to signify a strong recommendation, and others that have *asterisks next to them, to signify that I took that particular book out from my local library. If they’re not bold, they’re not necessarily BAD (unless I say otherwise), but I know people only have so much time. The library reminder is - hopefully - something to remind you that you should be accessing your local library all the time.

(Note: If you’re wondering, the five books I read in 2025 were *Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt, *Repreive by James Han Mattson, *Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, *Maeve Fly by CJ Leede, and *The Trees Grew Because I Bled There by Eric Larocca.)

January:

*Strange Pictures (2022) by Uketsu

*At Dark, I Become Loathsome (2025) by Eric LaRocca

*Hidden Pictures (2022) by Jason Rekulak

*Devolution: A First Hand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (2020) by Max Brooks

*Strange Houses (2021) by Uketsu

*Episode Thirteen (2023) by Craig DiLouie

Thoughts:

If Eric LaRocca started the erosion of my reading slump levees, then its safe to say Uketsu finished the job. I was entranced by both Strange Pictures and Strange Houses. They brought to mind House of Leaves, a reminder that books were not just printed words on paper, they were whatever an author wanted to create. They were art, they were puzzles, they were everything. If you’ve not yet exposed your self to their work, I strongly recommend them. I also became really interested in finding books that read like “found footage” (the literary term I learned later, is epistolary for what it’s worth), though it does seem like people’s definitions vary - searching for that style of book led me to both Devolution and Episode Thirteen, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

A fun note about Devolution, this may be the one book in these two months that actually kind of scared me. For whatever reason, I don’t find horror literature to be scary in the same way as films, but they are captivating. Devolution, however, has a scene involving rocks thrown from the woods that genuinely creeped me out.

February:

*Gone to See the Riverman (2020) by Kristopher Triana

*The Aosawa Murders (2005) by Riku Onada

*Come Close (2003) by Sara Gran

*Out (1997) by Natsuo Kirino

*Spread Me (2025) by Sarah Gailey

8114 (2025) by Joshua Hull

Thoughts:

Well, February marked my first foray into the world of “extreme” horror literature with Gone to See the River Man, and I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back to that particular well anytime soon. I know there are whole communities who love the genre, and I’m not going to say you’re wrong. What I’m going to say is that I found myself unbelievably bored by the “edgy” content and it just did nothing for me. That said, it was a tremendous month for me, stepping into the world of erotic body horror with Sarah Gailey’s Spread Me was a genuine highlight. There is something off-puttingly beautiful about that book, and it also confirms that cis men really have no business writing body horror, controversial though that statement may be. Looking back on February, its interesting that most of the authors I read are women or non-binary.

If you have to choose one of these to read, I strongly recommend Natsuo Kirino’s Out. The book released in 1997 and yet reads like it came out last year. It is stunning and engrossing, for all the times I saw it posted on “50 books that are so fucked up” posts, the book is a really exceptional work of fiction with a feminist bent to it - strongly recommend.

So there you go, that’s what was happening for me, reading wise, in January and February of 2026. I’m currently in the middle of reading my second book for March, *Last Days by Adam Nevill, and I’m sure to have a number more to follow it. I’ll be back in May to share March and April with you (unless I feel compelled to return sooner).

Read. Support your local library. Ban fascists.

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