What Fiction are you reading this week, January 18, 2026?

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This discussion thread is pinned.

Imagine a world where libraries get more funding than guns.

I've just finished Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Defies description; poetic, prophetic, weird. Author really hates trump, though. Calls him President Invective. Appropriate. Next up, The Feast by Margaret Kennedy. A vintage crime classic exploring the mystery of a buried Cornish hotel, from 1950. It was hugely popular and rereleased in 2021 as an ebook.

Listening to A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor, the second Chronicles of St Mary's book. "Wherever the historians go, chaos is sure to follow.." Enjoyable.

Really busy these days dealing with reality. Less time for fun or enjoyment. Not giving up, though. Hope you don't either.

[cbabe]

1. Taken/Robert Crais

The cartels, immigrants, the desert.

Elvis and Joe. Timely page turner.

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4. Looks like a good one.

[NewLarry]

2. The Last Kingdom

by Bernard Cornwell

A historical (875 AD England) action/adventure story. Well-researched and well-written.

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3. I really enjoy his writing

He has SO many books, like 65! I've read a few.

Welcome to the Fiction group. Always nice to see a new....Larry.

[rsdsharp]

8. I spent most of one summer reading that series. I haven't read Uhtred's Feast, but a cookbook of 9th-10th century

food isn’t for me. Oat cake, anyone?

[mentalsolstice]

5. I finished "Untethered" by Angela Jackson-Brown, meh....

The main character was too full of herself. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead was much better.

On Wednesday I started Sacrament by Susan Straight. I almost gave it up the first chapter in, which I never do, not because it was bad, but the political news that day was so depressing. The next day I decided to give it another go. So glad I did. It’s a beautifully written book about nurses during Covid isolating in campers to protect their families and loved ones while they work.

Have a great week dear readers!

[Bayard]

6. Engrossed in, "Lonesome Dove," by Larry McMurty

Have seen all the series several times, (they never get old,) but had not read the book. Really special on a frigid winter night in front of the wood stove.

Stay warm!

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7. You too, pal

Temps in the Midwest today are scary. I used to live there but now I'm in a high desert where I don't think we're gonna make it much over 32F today. Heavy fog isn't helping.

[yellowdogintexas]

9. An Easy Death. A Longer Fall and The Russian Cage from the Gunnie Rose series (there are 6 altogether)

Three books in a series by Charlaine Harris (of Sookie Stackhouse fame) who always delivers!!

I started An Easy Death after I finished News of the World for my book club. I wasn't sure about it at first but then Ms Harris worked her magic and I became absorbed.

The Russian Cage is book 3 and I have just started it. Like all of her books they move fast and have great characters. The books are a combination of paranormal and alternative history which are two of my favorite things.

Synopsis of An Easy Death In a fractured United States, a new world where magic is acknowledged but mistrusted, a young gunslinger named Lizbeth Rose takes a job offer from a pair of Russian wizards. Lizbeth Rose has a wildly fearsome reputation but these wizards are desperate. Searching the small border towns near Mexico, they’re trying to locate a low-level magic practitioner believed to be a direct descendant of Grigori Rasputin.

As the trio journey through an altered America—shattered into several countries after the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression—they’re set on by enemies. It’s clear that a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose has never failed a client, but this job may stretch her to her deadly limits.

A Longer Fall In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job. She is tasked with transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straightforward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

I have the first 4 books but I am going to have to wait for the price to drop on the last two.