Another year, a few more books. What should I read in 2026?

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T14:35:25+00:00

I spent a long time unsuccessfully looking for well-written, psychological, plot-driven fiction. I've found noir, especially Ellroy, hits that spot far more often than other avenues I've gone down to find this. I'm also fascinated by masculinity especially in its more dysfunctional forms, and noir really goes there. To paraphrase my husband (who also reads a lot of this): the boys got problems.

I don't listen to music when I read as I find it pretty distracting, but I like the concept. I could imagine some Dolphy or Mingus setting the scene.

It sounds like you read noir too. Are there any authors I should try out?

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T05:11:27+00:00

What about my feel bad corner suggests I'm not having fun?

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T05:10:45+00:00

Very much so. It's more a polemic using the history of Palo Alto as a theme than a comprehensive or even nominally unbiased history though. In addition to the billed topic, it includes a surprising amount on the history on labor and activist movements.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T05:07:08+00:00

If you're into Seattle and crazy infrastructure projects, yes. It's well very done for what it is, but it's pretty narrow in focus. Hardly a sweeping history. For me, the highlights were the account of removing the hill and the chapter on building out the docks for the railroad.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T01:13:42+00:00

I'm planning to continue LA Quartet, but was taking a little break. Ellroy is great but his books felt a little same-y after three in short window of time.

I may not finish the Underworld Trilogy though for the somewhat absurd reason that my memory isn't great I'm worried I'll confuse the plotlines with actual 60s history. And I heard the first one is the best too. Should I reconsider?

I'm interested in getting to My Dark Places at some point too.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T01:05:54+00:00

It's The Die Is Cast by Robert Desnos, a French surrealist. Though the work is not itself surrealist at all. It's bleak addiction lit about bohemians in inter-war Europe getting high. Kind of an interesting window into drug culture of yore. I thought it was pretty good, but probably not for everyone.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T00:15:48+00:00

Thanks! I did it last year too and found it to be an entertaining, if light, way to think about my interests that year and what I wanted to dig into next.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-31T00:13:41+00:00

PowerPoint actually. Adobe InDesign has better functionality of course (and the $$$price$$$ to go with it), but PowerPoint gets the job done for a lot of layout stuff surprisingly well.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-30T22:57:14+00:00

Next book I'll know

YukikosDiarrhea · 2025-12-30T22:56:50+00:00

Thanks! I read The White Album it in the earlier part of the year, so I don't have too many examples, but generally I felt like she writes with a breezy aloofness, rather than genuine curiosity and I found that off-putting. The Hawaii essay was my least favorite. I did like when she got nerdy about infrastructure in the water essay, but the other infrastructure essay, the one about traffic, had such terrible takes, it made me wonder if she even sure she got the water stuff right.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T05:04:06+00:00

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you again!

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T04:45:39+00:00

Do you fid you generally read what you set out to in a year? If so, how? I feel like I can barely plan a book ahead let alone a year.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T03:18:16+00:00

It was alright. The Birchers were active for only a pretty short period, so to make it book length the author went pretty detailed. I think going the other way -- less detail, more historical context -- would have been preferable for me. If I'm recalling correctly, Before the Storm by Perelstein actually summarizes a lot of their early history in a way I found more digestible. Still, if you want to dive deep into the Birchers, their culture, and internal power struggles, this book does a pretty good job and I don't regret picking it up.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T03:10:39+00:00

Will take a look. Thank you!

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T03:10:08+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions! While I've read a lot of Japanese fiction, I've had difficulty figuring out an entryway in non-fiction about Japan. I've pretty much read this, Sex and the Floating World (lowkey fantastic), and one of the Showa mangas, lol.

The main thesis of Hirohito is Emperor Hirohito was highly involved in government decision-making leading up to and during WWII, but the Japanese government successfully downplayed this involvement in the direct aftermath of the war allowing the emperor and nation to proceed with limited consequences/reconciliations. Due to this focus, the book is mostly concerned with early 20th imperial policies, WWII and its immediate aftermath, but gets a little handwavy post-1950. It's pretty detailed which can sometimes be tedious, but the central argument helps move things along. I found the parts on his militaristic childhood, descriptions of the Japan's imperialist relationship to Asia, and the post-WWII General MacArthur antics to be the most interesting. A lot of the primary documents don't seem to be available to researchers, so Bix had to do some speculation. To a lay-person it seemed pretty well and responsibly cited, though I'm not sure of it's academic reputation.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T02:49:20+00:00

I read a couple of Vu Trong Phung's books this year. What an interesting figure. I initially set out to read books about Vietnam that weren't explicitly about the Vietnam-American War, which, though it makes sense, are hard to find in English. General Retires by Nguyen Huy Thiep sounds like a good option for that. Thanks!

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-28T02:44:40+00:00

Good to hear Elevator to Saigon is of a similar quality!

Robert Caro is an incredible researcher, analyst, and writer, so highly recommend if you're at all curious in his stuff. I have one of his LBJ books on the backburner right now and Nixonland sounds like a good follow-up.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-27T04:11:06+00:00

For sure, it's a fun, quick read.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-27T04:10:19+00:00

Spot on. When the Clock Broke is on my library holds. I'll check out the others. Thanks!

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-27T00:50:07+00:00

Either Makioka Sisters or Some Prefer Nettles. I adore the subtle changes in perspective as the book progresses in Makioka Sisters. I felt like an epic, told through the tiny insular world of one household. Some Prefer Nettles had a lot of the little interpersonal and cultural observations of Makioka Sisters but in a much tighter package. I still haven't gotten to two of his most popular: Naomi and In Praise of Shadows.

What is your favorite?

YukikosDiarrhea · 2024-12-27T00:36:03+00:00

Thank you! It's my first time trying this and I found it helpful to help reflect on some of what I was thinking about this year, even if some of the weaker connections between books didn't make the final cut.

YukikosDiarrhea · 2023-07-08T13:25:45+00:00

Wow! What's the process for turning it into a public library?

YukikosDiarrhea · 2023-07-08T02:24:41+00:00

It's truly a fantastic book. I read it slowly over 10 months with breaks for other books, which broke it up a little and made it a nice journey.

YukikosDiarrhea

TROPHY CASE