Mid-year Book Freakout Tag 2026
I was tagged by @thiswaitingheart (thanks!). I don't know if the tag is truly representative of my reading habits, since (especially during thesis semester) I did a lot of selective reading of individual chapters and articles, but it's fun to be thoughtful about what I read and remember what I like.
Number of books you’ve read so far:
For the aforementioned reasons, it's hard to count anything before my college graduation. Since the start of the summer, though, I've read 11 books all the way through.
Best book you’ve read so far in 2026:
For books I've read cover-to-cover, probably Villette by Charlotte Brontë. Deeply, viscerally lonely and at the same time so much about seeing and being seen and (failing to) understand and be understood. However I have the feeling that my favorite book of the year still lies ahead of me.
Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2026:
Perhaps the only candidates for this are Thermidor by Stanisława Przybyszewska and Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb. One is an unfinished play and the other is the first book in a trilogy but set in a world I've been consistently reading from (I hope you're sorry @philoktitties!!!), and I liked them both, so it will be a draw.
New release you haven’t read yet but want to:
The Making of a Man: Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Transsexuality, and Imperial Russia is due to come out later this month and I hope to be the first person to check it out of my library! The Russian Empire in the late 18th/early 19th century continues to be fascinating for me, and this book comes with the approval of my beloved undergraduate thesis advisor so I'd really love to discuss it with her.
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:
As is the case for @thiswaitingheart I don't keep up too much with new releases but I'm really looking forward to reading @shimyereh's translation of Евгений Онегин whenever it comes out! That will give me a chance to finally read it in the original too.
Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you):
I was completely surprised and swept off my feat by The Hunting Accident by David Carlson and Landis Blair, which my friend @leyside recommended to me. I had shared an article with him about the impact of early 20th-century antisemitism and homophobia on the press surrounding the Leopold & Loeb trial, and he asked whether I had ever heard of it. I hadn't then, but I was able to get my hands on it through Interlibrary Loan and really enjoyed it. The tenuous friendship between Matt Rizzo and Nathan Leopold which forms the central stakes of the plot is really well-painted, and the book takes great advantage of the novel format.
Lin King (of Taiwan Travelogue fame) is my favorite new translator, aside of course from my IRL friends.
I actually started dating someone this year :)
However I would be loath not to mention how much I feel endeared to the character of Beloved in Fool's Errand (@philoktitties are you sorry yet?) and how heartbreaking certain moments in the story become when you think beyond the first-person narrator's perspective and imagine how he must be experiencing the events of the story. That's certainly a kind of affection.
Much like @thiswaitingheart, I don't tend to cry over books. But a play that really rattled me was Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, specifically the last scene: the exploration of Tell's hypocrisy, the "this-far-and-no-further" of its liberatory aesthetics, the way Parricida talks about himself... I got to translate the scene and stage it with some of my friends, which was delightful! I hope it was harrowing to the audience and not the cast.
Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received):
My dear friend @oriontomoonbase gave me a copy of A Memory Called Empire that they annotated themself! This is a gift which I have given a few times in my life but never received, and wanted for so long. The book itself is lovely and Orion's thoughts made it more so!
Book that made you happy:
I haven't read it cover-to-cover but I always have such a delightful time with Begegnungen mit Heine. Berichte der Zeitgenossen 1797-1846/ 1847-1856. It's an anthology of primary sources about Heinrich Heine and every time I open it I find something really funny, or sweet, or even tragic—but rarely in his life is Heine miserable about something he could not have prevented.
What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
I'd certainly love to make more progress in War and Peace, or rather Война и Мир. My thesis advisor gave me a two-volume copy from 1953 while I was helping her organize her office library and she realized it was redundant. I last read the book in full (and in English) when I was 12 so I'm excited to see how my views have changed. I'm already much more interested in Hélène Kuragina/Bezukhova as a result of conversations with @princesskuragina, and we'll see how things progress.
I'd love to hear the thoughts of everyone I've already tagged in this (@philoktitties, @shimyereh, @oriontomoonbase and @princesskuragina), as well as @evgenythegreat, @minipliny, @animate-mush, @elucubrare, @shmuel-ben-sarah-kcd2, @crochet-and-creatures, @sluttycinderella, @morksmorksmorks and anyone who things this tag sounds fun. Tag; you're it!!
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