Reading Roundup Wrapup: May 2026

Pick of the month: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. It's Hugo-reading season, which means I'm reading the best science fiction and fantasy of 2025. This is just my second novel, so there's definitely time for things to change, but this is my favorite of them so far: an interesting tale of time travel and storytelling. Are we trapped in stories that make our lives worse?

All books read:

1. They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
3. Star Trek: Vanguard: Precipice by David Mack
4. Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris
5. Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters by Malcolm Hulke
6. Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C. B. Lee
7. The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford
8. Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
9. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
10. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill
11. The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
12. The Transformers: Til All Are One Compendium One (part 1/part 2/part 3/part 4/part 5/part 6/part 7/part 8) by Simon Furman, Bob Budiansky, Don Perlin, Ian Akin & Brian Garvey, et al.

I have occasionally been sneaking in extra stuff between Hugo reads, too: see #3 and 5.

All books acquired:

1. The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
2. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
3. The Raven Scholar: Book One of the Eternal Path Trilogy by Antonia Hodgson
4. Inventing the Renaissance: Myths of a Golden Age by Ada Palmer
5. A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
6. Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
7. What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher
8. Oz-story Magazine, Number Three edited by David Maxine
9. Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume 3: The Fatal Five by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Scott Kolins, Jeff Johnson, et al.
10. The Time Team Unearthed by Adrian Salmon 

Obviously mostly Hugo reads, but I did pick up a couple other things, too. 

Currently reading:

• The Raven Scholar: Book One of the Eternal Path Trilogy by Antonia Hodgson
• North Woods by Daniel Mason
• Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks 
• Star Trek: The Original Series: Harm’s Way by David Mack
• A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
• The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066–1284 by David Carpenter

That said, the stuff I am "reading" is piling up as I prioritize those Hugo books!

Up next in my rotations:

1. Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, Marco Palmieri, and David Mack
2. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois
3. The Poe Clan Vol. 1 by Moto Hagio 
4. On Progress in Physics and Subjectivity Theory: An Amateur’s Meanderings as Inspiration for Actual Physicists by N. Otre Le Vant 

Books remaining on "To be read" list: 668 (down 1)

Honestly, I was a bit surprised this went down, not up!