Q1 Reads 2026

Since 2020 or 2021 (I can't remember (is it too early in the blog post to be doing parantheticals?)) I've been keeping a reading log. It is, more or less, just a list: for the last two years, it has been a thread on Blue Sky. I think it's both a nice reading accountability space, and also a good way for anyone to reach out and ask about anything I've read.

@queertranslations.blacksky.app asked for a reading update, and my top idea for next blog post was a Q1 update so here we are. I was interested in doing a quarterly wrap up for reading retention purposes, and also because I do enjoy 'consuming' this kind of 'content' in blog/ vlog form when others do it.

As mentioned above, I do log everything in this thread. Here, I'll be doing some light reviewing and aspirational thinking: there are still 9 more months to reread Capital.

Rumi: One of my goals is to read the recently completed Oxford Classics translation of the Masnavi. As a warm up, I read Water and Gold from NYRB translated by Haleh Liza Gafori. Even without knowing any Persian, I can say off the bat that I am CERTAIN these are better than the Coleman Barks translations. I really enjoyed what was on the page, and I think these are probably the best starting point in English for Rumi (probably in order of their publication from NYRB). At the same time, I remain disappointed in NYRB specifically: NYRB has the resources for a more substantial translation, something like Oxford Classic's translation of the Masnavi... Great books tho

Hugh Cook: At Tren's suggestion, I started reading Chronicles of an Age of Darkness. Currently I'm in the midst of book 4. As a series, it's kind of a darker Discworld. Part of how this manifests is that characters are more often bound by their life circumstances and ideologies; in my opinion, it's a nice addition to this kind of formula. The third book was a real highlight in its way as it took a female lead from slave to mother to... well I won't spoil it. I think I referred to it in my log as dialectical, so I think you can guess the trajectory!

Tren and I have also talked about how much we've enjoyed the kind of mosaic aspect these books: plots and characters constantly dovetail. It is the chronicle of a chaotic age coming to an end: characters make history but not in the circumstances of their choosing. It's really something to read, especially with the amount of levity Cook's able to muster. There is something special about this series: it has an ambition rarely seen, and an approach to plot that few would dare.

As for the fourth book, it's a bit of a bar crawl: a pirate making his way from port to port, bar to bar. I've enjoyed how much hanging out is in this one.

Ghassan Zaqtan: translated by Fady Joudah. I've posted a few of his poems on Blue Sky, and I would recommend picking up a copy from and donating to their matching campaign for the Sameer project to support Gazans. Over the course of the collection, you can feel Zaqtan radicalizing with each Zionist aggression. For Joudah, I think Zaqtan has a certain postmodern quality he admires in a way that maybe a writer like Darwish does not; hard for me to say in translation though. https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/bookshop-4-gaza-bookstore/products/zaqtan-ghassan-the-silence-that-remains-selected-poems

M John Harrison: my own mother has not given me back my copy of the Course of the Heart by M John Harrison. I gave in and read it digitally. It was not a bad experience; I dusted off an old Sony PRS 350 to do it. In the end, I am too Kefahuchi pilled for this more Umberto Eco style novel. No disrespect - I just miss the zaniness and levity. Perhaps I am Hugh Cook pilled as well.

Richard Stark/ Donald Westlake: Since finishing Lemons Never Lie, I've been joking I am a #grofieldguy. The gods decided, for some reason, to bless me with the last book in the Parker universe spinoff Alan Grofield series first. I read a Parker book or two when I was younger, I think, and I appreciated this lighter angle that Grofield brings to the Parker universe. I think the author preferred this too. Can't say I'd recommend this to anyone, but it's solid if you're a crime fiction fan.

Ross Macdonald: Besides the Hugh Cook, another series I have dived into is the Lew Archer series. Previously, I'd read a couple early Lew Archer novels including The Drowning Pool. I think my favorite so far is the Zebra Striped Hearse, but in general, and this is a bit rare for me as a poet lol, I've more been enjoying Ross Macdonald's prose. It's a great mix of the literary and genre with plenty of quotable one liners and worldly observations. I think some of the plots are maybe one step too elaborate for me; but, since the twists just make the books longer, in the end, I can't complain.

Samir Amin: I posted a long thread of quotes from this one. It's an interesting mode for Amin: he's kind of discussing the trajectory of his views over the preceeding thirty-ish years. He contextualizes his contributions as well and disputes the positions of adjacent thinkers like Arrighi. I thought this was a compelling book, but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point. I think, for this moment too, Amin's atheism is problematic.

Immanuel Wallerstein: I think I picked After Liberalism up immediately after finishing the Amin. I've been trying to revisit this 90s era after the USSR fell and the US became the hegemon... for I think pretty clear reasons. After Liberalism was more of a collection of essays, and a few were great. Maybe because Wallerstein doesn't share Amin's animus to Islam, I think aspects of his analysis hold up better particularly with respect to Iran.

John Ashbery: Finished a couple more Ashbery collections: Rivers and Mountains remains a favorite collection. I do not think I had previously read Double Dream of Spring, and had maybe never read Fragment. Fragment is another great long poem by Ashbery like The Skaters or Self-Portrait. I think I prefer his longer poems: excited to read Three Poems and eventually Flow Chart.

Paula Gunn Allen: Found a copy of the new selected poems of Paula Gunn Allen, and was excited to read her poems. There were some misses for me, but there were some strong poems. I think I posted some examples. Did not realize she was Lebanese, and some of the poems that discussed her family were really good.

Zheng Xiaoqiong: This was an NYRB volume from the translator Eleanor Goodman who also did an antholoyg of Chinese migrant worker poetry. I think that anthology is somewhat known because it has poems by Xu Lizhi. Anyways, this one did not disappoint; Zheng Xiaoqiong has a lot of range as a writer too. I think it's a good and accessible collection.

Sawako Nakayusa: On the other end of the accessibility spectrum: Pink Waves by Sawako Nakayusa. I have to be honest: I think I'm missing some context for this book, so I don't really want to comment yet. I've read another of her collections, and I thought it was great. I still thought this one was very good even though I know I'm missing something.

Michael Denning: I finally read another Michael Denning after loving The Cultural Front: Cover Stories. Fascinating text, highly recommend if you're also a Denning fan. There is overlap here with the Cultural Front, but to me it's more notable for its CCCS overlap. Will be checking out the other book he wrote from this period about dime novels. Think this work on the spy novel/ thriller is more applicable than people think due to how normalized these plots have become through Hollywood.

Fargo Tbakhi: Terror Counter - it's great. "PALESTINE IS A FUTURISM!" is a poem I will be returning too again shortly.

Summer Farah: Immediately after finishing Terror Counter, I picked up and read The Hungering Years by Summer Farah. Finished it the same day. I liked the sequence of poems to Etel Adnan, and I hope to see more poets grappling with her legacy. Really appreciated the pop culture knowledge too.

Ulises Carrión: Woke up the next day and started Sonnet(s) by Ulises Carrion: in some ways, I'm a bit frustrated with how the Language poets have coopted him. I think he did their whole thing better and more thoughtfully.

Simenon: Another Simenon has hit the reading log. My first Simenon of the year was The Snow Was Dirty. This is the kind of novel that, if I was novelist, I might try to rewrite but better. Very compelling setting and setup: A serial killer living Vichy France. Really fell apart for me by the end. Reading another Simenon now, the Glass Cage I think. It's better so far, but I don't think the action's started yet.

Abdelkebir Khatibi: Over the past several years, I have been trying to read more from the milieu Fanon emerged from like for instance Albert Memmi or the work in English available from Anfas/ Souffles. This was a poetry collection by someone who I think published in Souffles: it was great. Very curious about his more theoretical works now.

Gwendolyn Brooks: reread a Street in Bronzeville. I hadn't read a book length Brooks in some time, and I was glad I did. I really appreciate some of her more observational tendencies.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to ask any questions about the above: I've generally enjoyed the books I've read so far this year and would love to talk about them.

For the rest of the year, I do hope to read more theory and maybe fewer novels: I have a longstanding project that I'm close to finishing, but I still need to read a few books for it.

I do want to read a couple other fantasy series from around the time of Cook's Chronicles though like Michelle Sagara, Laurie Marks, and Robin Hobb but maybe thats a project for another year!