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My 2026 Reading List
In 2025, despite a busy year affecting my reading, I read a significant number of pages. I didn't complete my reading list, marking a first since 2007. The year featured enjoyable non-fiction and challenging fiction. As I plan for 2026, I'm considering overlaps and genre…
In 2025, despite a busy year affecting my reading, I read a significant number of pages. I didn't complete my reading list, marking a first since 2007. The year featured enjoyable non-fiction and challenging fiction. As I plan for 2026, I'm considering overlaps and genre…
My 2026 Reading List
In 2025, despite a busy year affecting my reading, I read a significant number of pages. I didn't complete my reading list, marking a first since 2007. The year featured enjoyable non-fiction and challenging fiction. As I plan for 2026, I'm considering overlaps and genre diversification, eager to read a mix of classics and contemporary works.
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM
My 2026 Reading List
In 2025, despite a busy year affecting my reading, I read a significant number of pages. I didn't complete my reading list, marking a first since 2007. The year featured enjoyable non-fiction and challenging fiction. As I plan for 2026, I'm considering overlaps and genre…
In 2025, despite a busy year affecting my reading, I read a significant number of pages. I didn't complete my reading list, marking a first since 2007. The year featured enjoyable non-fiction and challenging fiction. As I plan for 2026, I'm considering overlaps and genre…
I think I am pretty well read, but then you learn something that shows just how ignorant you are. Just learned today that the title of Gabrielle Zevin's novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, comes from Macbeth
December 7, 2025 at 1:47 AM
I think I am pretty well read, but then you learn something that shows just how ignorant you are. Just learned today that the title of Gabrielle Zevin's novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, comes from Macbeth
A Spy Inside the Castle by MB Courtenay [A Review]
M.B. Courtenay’s debut novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, follows Ethan Briar, a security analyst drawn into a covert operation after his prediction precedes a German Chancellor's assassination. As he navigates a web of political intrigue and an…
M.B. Courtenay’s debut novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, follows Ethan Briar, a security analyst drawn into a covert operation after his prediction precedes a German Chancellor's assassination. As he navigates a web of political intrigue and an…
A Spy Inside the Castle by MB Courtenay [A Review]
M.B. Courtenay’s debut novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, follows Ethan Briar, a security analyst drawn into a covert operation after his prediction precedes a German Chancellor's assassination. As he navigates a web of political intrigue and an advanced AI named ARCLIGHT, readers experience a complex narrative that challenges perceptions and sets up a thrilling series.
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
A Spy Inside the Castle by MB Courtenay [A Review]
M.B. Courtenay’s debut novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, follows Ethan Briar, a security analyst drawn into a covert operation after his prediction precedes a German Chancellor's assassination. As he navigates a web of political intrigue and an…
M.B. Courtenay’s debut novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, follows Ethan Briar, a security analyst drawn into a covert operation after his prediction precedes a German Chancellor's assassination. As he navigates a web of political intrigue and an…
American Psycho is a brutal, relentless satire of consumer culture, toxic masculinity and moral apathy, that is disturbing, compelling and enduringly relevant told via the disquieting lens of a narrator who is both product and symptom of his environment weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
American Psycho is a brutal, relentless satire of consumer culture, toxic masculinity and moral apathy, that is disturbing, compelling and enduringly relevant told via the disquieting lens of a narrator who is both product and symptom of his environment weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
Given the age we live in (or are hostage to) we must examine the fact that Bateman’s idol is Donald Trump. While there are some factors to consider, it may be the case that Bateman’s love for Trump is an instance of one sociopath admiring another weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Given the age we live in (or are hostage to) we must examine the fact that Bateman’s idol is Donald Trump. While there are some factors to consider, it may be the case that Bateman’s love for Trump is an instance of one sociopath admiring another weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
Bateman regales the reader with his thoughts on pop music. It serves to humanise him, pause the escalation of his violence and juxtapose the man who commits those acts with the one who loves Whitney Houston. I had to chuckle at the comic timing of it weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Bateman regales the reader with his thoughts on pop music. It serves to humanise him, pause the escalation of his violence and juxtapose the man who commits those acts with the one who loves Whitney Houston. I had to chuckle at the comic timing of it weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper [A Review]
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is one of the most enduring works of early American literature, often cited as a defining example of the nation’s emerging voice in fiction. Set during the French and Indian War, it…
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is one of the most enduring works of early American literature, often cited as a defining example of the nation’s emerging voice in fiction. Set during the French and Indian War, it…
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper [A Review]
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is one of the most enduring works of early American literature, often cited as a defining example of the nation’s emerging voice in fiction. Set during the French and Indian War, it blends adventure, history, and romanticism against the backdrop of the North American frontier. It portrays the brutal realities of war as well as the deep cultural and moral conflicts at the heart of early America and is considered a classic that has become a staple of university reading lists.
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper [A Review]
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is one of the most enduring works of early American literature, often cited as a defining example of the nation’s emerging voice in fiction. Set during the French and Indian War, it…
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is one of the most enduring works of early American literature, often cited as a defining example of the nation’s emerging voice in fiction. Set during the French and Indian War, it…
The character of Bateman is an early exemplar of the antihero that would enjoy a dominant period in television from the late 1990s. Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Walter White (Breaking Bad) and Don Draper (Mad Men) being some of the most famous iterations weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The character of Bateman is an early exemplar of the antihero that would enjoy a dominant period in television from the late 1990s. Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Walter White (Breaking Bad) and Don Draper (Mad Men) being some of the most famous iterations weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
In American Psycho we can see a showcasing of the expensive lifestyles of the New York elite we would later see in television shows like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl. Both stepping stones to the vapid influencer culture we are currently steeped in weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:30 PM
In American Psycho we can see a showcasing of the expensive lifestyles of the New York elite we would later see in television shows like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl. Both stepping stones to the vapid influencer culture we are currently steeped in weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho is set in the resurgent New York of the 1980’s. Think Reaganomics, young Donald Trump, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. An elitism obsessed with looks and status without competency or consequences weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
American Psycho is set in the resurgent New York of the 1980’s. Think Reaganomics, young Donald Trump, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. An elitism obsessed with looks and status without competency or consequences weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century, shocking readers with its blatant sexism and graphic sexual violence and forcing readers to question the values of the culture that enables the main character weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:30 PM
American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century, shocking readers with its blatant sexism and graphic sexual violence and forcing readers to question the values of the culture that enables the main character weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/29/a...
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic violence including sexual violence. Later chapters…
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic violence including sexual violence. Later chapters…
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic violence including sexual violence. Later chapters get even more extreme. Told through the detached narration of Patrick Bateman, the novel immerses us in a world of superficial charm, empty status symbols, and moral decay.
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis [A Review]
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic violence including sexual violence. Later chapters…
Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and polarising novels of the late 20th century. First published in 1991, it shocked readers with its blatant sexism and graphic violence including sexual violence. Later chapters…
Nostalgic for Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I eagerly picked up this novel to see how Gardiner and Kumar have imagined the character's lives unfolding. What also caught my attention was the uniting with one of my favourite genres, murder mystery weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/16/s...
Short & Sharp Review: Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective by Gardiner & Kumar
Nostalgic for Austen’s much-loved Pride and Prejudice, I eagerly picked up this novel to see how Gardiner and Kumar have imagined the lives of the characters unfolding. What also caught my attentio…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Nostalgic for Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I eagerly picked up this novel to see how Gardiner and Kumar have imagined the character's lives unfolding. What also caught my attention was the uniting with one of my favourite genres, murder mystery weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/16/s...
I do not doubt there is a ready audience for Octavo. It offers a compelling story premise, blending a contemporary thriller with an historical murder mystery. The present-day characters are engaging and speak to current issues weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
I do not doubt there is a ready audience for Octavo. It offers a compelling story premise, blending a contemporary thriller with an historical murder mystery. The present-day characters are engaging and speak to current issues weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo was serialised as an audiobook and released via Substack. The audiobook was very well received. Neumeier, I hear, is already working on a sequel weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Octavo was serialised as an audiobook and released via Substack. The audiobook was very well received. Neumeier, I hear, is already working on a sequel weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
This mystery-thriller does touch on larger themes and issues. Sexism is a major one, in science, art or publishing. Lost art – when art disappears into private collections depriving the public. And elites who have the power to manipulate the ‘truth’ weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This mystery-thriller does touch on larger themes and issues. Sexism is a major one, in science, art or publishing. Lost art – when art disappears into private collections depriving the public. And elites who have the power to manipulate the ‘truth’ weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
In Octavo, Leonardo will make use of ideas far ahead of Renaissance Italy but for which there is no reason they could not have been invented sooner. The Leonardo of Octavo is not impossible but it will be up to the reader whether they find him plausible weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
In Octavo, Leonardo will make use of ideas far ahead of Renaissance Italy but for which there is no reason they could not have been invented sooner. The Leonardo of Octavo is not impossible but it will be up to the reader whether they find him plausible weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
The historical mystery may remind readers of novels like AS Byatt’s Possession or Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. While the combination with a contemporary conspiracy involving da Vinci might evoke obvious comparison to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The historical mystery may remind readers of novels like AS Byatt’s Possession or Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. While the combination with a contemporary conspiracy involving da Vinci might evoke obvious comparison to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
De Melzi and his master are soon dragged into a murder mystery which will take all of da Vinci’s genius to solve and places their own lives in danger as it uncovers the involvement of Renaissance Italy’s powerful families weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:31 PM
De Melzi and his master are soon dragged into a murder mystery which will take all of da Vinci’s genius to solve and places their own lives in danger as it uncovers the involvement of Renaissance Italy’s powerful families weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
The 16thC portfolio is the story of a grim adventure taken by de Melzi and da Vinci, of a diabolical mystery and extraordinary events that took place. He adds that the powerful Borgias and Estes families will not be pleased with the story weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:31 PM
The 16thC portfolio is the story of a grim adventure taken by de Melzi and da Vinci, of a diabolical mystery and extraordinary events that took place. He adds that the powerful Borgias and Estes families will not be pleased with the story weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. With nods to other historical fiction and to the thrillers of Dan Brown weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonym…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:30 PM
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. With nods to other historical fiction and to the thrillers of Dan Brown weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/10/03/o...
Sarah is not afraid of being critical and finding fault. There should be nothing wrong with that. She acknowledges her Western privilege and never assumes her experiences are universal. To omit, sugar-coat, rationalise or be dishonest would be worse weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/09/16/h...
Holy Cow! by Sarah Macdonald [A Review]
I avoided Holy Cow! by Sarah Macdonald for years and only came to it by a chance encounter and with a lot of scepticism. But the complexities of India allow for a multitude of perspectives on an un…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 4, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Sarah is not afraid of being critical and finding fault. There should be nothing wrong with that. She acknowledges her Western privilege and never assumes her experiences are universal. To omit, sugar-coat, rationalise or be dishonest would be worse weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/09/16/h...
The book attracted criticism insisting it is closeminded and even racist. I wondered if they were wholly selective in their reading. I found Sarah to be sincerely openminded to new ideas and experiences, willing to admit her faults and change her mind weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/09/16/h...
Holy Cow! by Sarah Macdonald [A Review]
I avoided Holy Cow! by Sarah Macdonald for years and only came to it by a chance encounter and with a lot of scepticism. But the complexities of India allow for a multitude of perspectives on an un…
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
The book attracted criticism insisting it is closeminded and even racist. I wondered if they were wholly selective in their reading. I found Sarah to be sincerely openminded to new ideas and experiences, willing to admit her faults and change her mind weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/2025/09/16/h...
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonymous email to a small-time editor quickly escalates into a…
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonymous email to a small-time editor quickly escalates into a…
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonymous email to a small-time editor quickly escalates into a high-stakes literary and historical mystery involving lost artwork, encrypted emails and lifting the lid on an historical figure of extreme intrigue and mystery. With nods to other historical fiction and to the genre-bending thrillers of Dan Brown, …
weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Octavo by Marty Neumeier [A Review]
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonymous email to a small-time editor quickly escalates into a…
In Octavo, Marty Neumeier invites readers into a labyrinthine tale that bridges centuries, intertwining a Renaissance murder plot with modern-day billionaire gangsterism. What begins with an anonymous email to a small-time editor quickly escalates into a…