Watching Last One Laughing and got some questions
Why is Daisy May Cooper always pulling a face like she's an 80s guitarist mid solo?
When is someone going to tell Harriet that she's Daisy's little sister?
Why wouldn't you just stay twenty feet away from Richard Ayoade at all times in this game?
Nine was Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, a joy as ever
I'd been cautiously excited for the new Scrubs but the stuff I read about it in the past five days sent that the way of the dodo.
But on the bright side, now I'll spend that time on something else.
Eight was Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana.
Which I now think is probably the single best book in the fantasy genre.
In that order? :P
Seven was Andre Norton's Witch World.
Really good but never wowed me. Maybe a slight disconnect with the writing, maybe seen a few too many other books doing the same thing (cos they're copying Norton), maybe didn't love the characters... dunno. Still impressive tho.
Six was Jim Butcher's Changes.
And you know, the first time I read this book, all those big heavy moments and plot twists wowed me.
But on a reread, knowing what was coming? Not sure it held up.
My favourite piece of Olympics commentary so far is
"a little bit more paprika into the pasta sauce"
Five was Ursula Le Guin's Rocannon's World, which I fell in love with as it's a beautiful fantasy novel barely even masquerading as a sci-fi. Honestly, it might be more fantasy than the actual Earthsea books.
Four was EM Forster's The Eternal Moment. Wow, I'm really up to date with this.
Anyway, lovely collection of shorts with some wonderfully vivid images. And all sci-fi/fantasy of some sort (save the title story), which I hadn't expected. V much recommended.
Three was revisiting CS Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for the first time in a very long time. Surprisingly pleasurable - really hits some fun mythic and family notes.
Somehow I'm only reading the full text of On Fairy Stories for the first time. If there's any other essays by great figures of fantasy people think are fantastic reading, throw them at me. I feel that Le Guin in particularly has a bunch of great ones but I don't know which ones are which.
Sorry to hear it's going that way.
What's the book at least?
I was the opposite way and surprised at how much I did enjoy it the last I read it and I genuinely have no idea why. I even paid full attention to Frodo in Ithilien which I never normally do.
Now, The Farthest Shore, that was a big old "wait why do I now find this really tedious"
If there is a better live intro to a metal song than
"The good that men do is oft interred with their bones, but the evil that men do lives on"
Then I am unaware of it. Granted, stealing from Shakespeare makes it easy, but hyped I get anyway
Two was a reread of Saad Z Hossain's The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday, one of my favourite novellas - wickedly funny, wickedly imaginative, and very thoughtful
Since I've some updates from other people doing this, here be the Peat reading thread with everything I devour this year.
Cos I don't want to miss out.
Numero Uno this year was Jim Butcher's Turn Coat, which was where I felt the Dresden Files creaking a bit around all the stuff it had accumulated.
Jonathan Wallis: Jonathan Wallis: A three-dimensional image of a book cover against a green wall and on a wooden table. The book is a scene of a ship stick with the title the curse of Dragon tail Island. There is a captain in a white cotton shirt and try corn hat, holding a couple next to him is a large half or with green skin holding rum barrels. There is also a dwarf and a major who holds a magic staff. The backdrop is a blue sky and clouds with ropes and pulleys.
🦜🏴☠️⚓WEIGH ANCHOR: PUBLICATION DAY!⚓🏴☠️🦜
Excited to announce my latest book: THE CURSE OF DRAGON TAIL ISLAND. My first fantasy (and romance 🌶️🌶️)!
A revenge-fueled tale of clashing cutlasses, monsters & magic, second-chance romance, and salty sea adventure.
LINK: www.jonathannevair.com/curse-dragon...
A biography of an intriguing military engineer at the crossroads of medieval/early modern warfare AND a look at the interaction between European powers with the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman...
randomalex.net/2026/01/21/t...
In which I tried to investigate what I thought was a fantasy archetype and now wonder if it actually is one
peatlong.wordpress.com/2026/01/13/i...
I need this because I'm I'm gearing up to retry the book after lowkey hating it the first time I read it.
Today is the first anniversary of my launching the Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which started off with this essay on Peter Beagle's THE LAST UNICORN. I'm really proud of this one, in which I highlight how we might read this wonderful novel in the contexts of late 1960s America.
My new hobby is writing lengthy posts on sports forums then deleting them when I realise it'll get me sucked into an argument that will change absolutely nothing about anything.
Dang that really sucks.
A mug of tea casting a curved shadow on paper, with a drawing of a seated child reading a book positioned on the paper to make it look like the child is sitting on the shadow, leaning against the handle of the mug. Art by Debbie Ridpath Ohi.
How do YOU discover books to read? Have your reading habits changed in past year? Pls take a few minutes to answer this anon, multiple-choice informal survey:
reading-2026.paperform.co
I'll post results on my blog. One goal: to help book creators. Thank you! 🩷📚
#BookSky #EduSky #KidLit
wildsymposiums.tumblr.com/post/8053590...
Relevant to all my fellow Discord users. Although honestly if all my Discord communities want to leave there, that'd be cool too at this point.
One of the sweetest things anyone has ever said about me.
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
