Since one of my 2026 goals is to read more, I figured the halfway point of the year is a good time to check in with that goal.
I used to love reading as a kid, but fell away from it in high school due to strict parents that were too controlling over which books I was allowed to read and when; it just kind of sucked any joy out of the activity. But recently I've decided it'd be great to get back into reading again. I've been seeing a lot of articles about how good for your brain it is, and also how relaxing it can be for reducing stress. Plus, it's something I used to enjoy as a kid and I think it's time to take that back again.
I set a goal of 5 books for the year and I'm shocked that I've already passed that. I'd assumed it would take longer to transition back into reading regularly, and it definitely was hard at first, but apparently the issue was just that I needed to find the right books. A book I'm really into just flies by without a problem, but a book I'm not enjoying that much can take me forever to finish.
Also, a great resource I highly recommend to anyone else with a reading goal is the website The Story Graph. It has some great features for tracking your reading stats. Also, the review format is excellent; it actually helps me figure out if a book is going to be suited to my tastes.
Anyway, on with the books. Below is my reading list for the first half of 2026. As I write up full reviews for each book, I'll link them here.
Dogged Pursuit (Andy Carpenter series) by David Rosenfelt ★★★⯪☆
A fun prequel story for the Andy Carpenter series. I used it as my introduction to the series and I think it worked well for that. A nice little mystery story that does a good job introducing all the important characters and setting the tone of the books. Normally I hate first person narration (like, I won't even finish a book if I see it has first person POV) but it wasn't too annoying in this one.
South of Nowhere (Colter Shaw #5) by Jeffrey Deaver ★★★★⯪
Started this book series in November and this is the final entry, at least so far. I really liked it. I do think it was one of the weaker entries in the series, but I enjoyed getting to know Colter's family a bit better and the mystery plot was pretty interesting. I'm going to miss reading these books, they were really great.
Open And Shut (Andy Carpenter #1) by David Rosenfelt ★★★⯪☆
A pretty good mystery story. It took some turns I wasn't expecting, and I found the light-hearted narration style fun to read.
...And this is when my reading goal got away from me. Started several books during these months but couldn't make myself finish any of them. I think I quickly realized that mystery books just aren't really my thing. I was enjoying them okay, but not enough to sustain my interest over a longer period of time. They were getting boring and my ADHD brain was ready to jump to something new.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir ★★★★☆
After watching the movie a ridiculous amount of times in theaters, I just needed to check out the book it was based on. Overall, a pretty good book. I liked all the science stuff, and how in depth Andy Weir went on the world-building. But I think the book fans over-hyped it after the movie came out, saying it was even better and more emotional than the movie, and that maybe gave me too high of expectations for it. Tbh, I found it quite a bit less emotionally impactful than the movie. It made me feel less connected to the characters, and Grace and Rocky's relationship, than what the movie did. But it was still a really good book and I want to re-read it later on to see if I like it better now that I don't have too high of expectations going in.
The Gray Man (Gray Man #1) by Mark Greaney ★★★⯪☆
I liked the main character and I thought the plot was very exciting. The downside for me is that I was not expecting it to have quite so much racist and homophobic language in it. To be fair to the author, these comments were only spoken by characters who were already shown to be bad people, but I still found it jarring. Other than that, I did enjoy the book more than I expected to.
On Target (Gray Man #2) by Mark Greaney ★★★☆☆
The first half dragged a bit for me, but it really picked up in the second half. A very exciting story and I like the additional backstory it provided for the main character. I will say though that the ending kinda ruined the book for me. I can't remember the last time I reached the end of a book and felt so frustrated. I won't spoil it, but I think knowing how it all turns out will prevent me from being able to enjoy rereading this book in the future.
June was my busiest reading month by far! I think I finally figured out that sci-fi is the genre that makes me the happiest and that I have the easiest time reading.
Ballistic (Gray Man #3) by Mark Greaney ★★★☆☆
Honestly, probably the best written out of the three Gray Man novels I read. But it did venture a little too far into the gore and gratuitous violence for my own tastes. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but the graphic nature of it did make me decide that it was time to try a different genre for a while.
All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells ★★★★⯪
My new favorite book series! I'd seen recommendations for this series before on tumblr, and now I'm mad I didn't try it out sooner lol. Not only is it brilliantly written (Murderbot has such a unique voice and the story telling is 1000% better because of its dry sarcasm and casual disdain for everything including itself) but it's also a surprisingly heartwarming story. I don't think I've ever connected so quickly with a book character before. Murderbot is a depressed, socially anxious, paranoid, agender, aroace, artificial construct that would be much happier if everyone just left it alone to enjoy its favorite tv shows. I've never felt so seen lol.
Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells ★★★★⯪
Murderbot's first solo adventure and I enjoyed getting to know the character outside of its relationships with the Preservation crew. Also, this book introduced a new recurring character who has won my heart; I love them so much.
Rogue Protocol (Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells ★★★★★
At the time of reading it, this book was easily my favorite of the series (it has since been beaten by some of the later books). I loved the mystery story aspect of this one. It has a thriller/horror element with a crew of people being trapped in an abandoned location and trying to survive while not fully understanding what is happening to them.
Exit Strategy (Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells ★★★★⯪
This book sort of wraps up the first story arc of the series as Murderbot takes all the things it learned while adventuring on its own and now returns to the Preservation crew to rescue them from a bad situation. I love the contrast here of seeing how Murderbot acts around the humans in this book compared to the first book. It's clear how much it has grown since the start of the series. I also love that the author puts a twist on the classic "artificial intelligence learns to be human" trope by having Murderbot adamantly not want to be human. It knows what it is and doesn't want to pretend to be anything else to fit into societal standards, and I love that so much.
Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells ★★★★⯪
Took me a minute to figure out which book comes next. Book #5 was written next, but this one comes next in chronological order so that's how I chose to read it. Loved this one a ton. Murderbot tries to solve a murder mystery in a place where it is not trusted by the general population and where cultural norms are vastly different from what it's used to. This book taught me that I do enjoy mystery stories more than I thought, I just prefer when it's mixed with sci-fi as well.
Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells ★★★★★
The first full-length novel in the series. This one launches a brand new story arc for Murderbot, introduces a new setting, and brings back a character from a previous book. I was already enjoying it just for the friendship between Murderbot and Perihelion, and all the facets that get explored of that -- caring, hurt, betrayal, grief, affection. But then the last third of the book takes a crazy turn and it quickly develops into the most exciting showdown I've ever read in a sci-fi book. Love how the author is able to write these artificial intelligences and make them feel legitimately believable as computers while simultaneously making them so real and relatable that you can't help loving them more than the human characters.
System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries #7) by Martha Wells ★★★⯪☆
My last book for June! This one is a direct sequel to Network Effect. It slows things down with a much lower stakes plot, but takes that opportunity to explore deeper into Murderbot's trauma from the events of the last book. A very touching examination of PTSD and all the many impacts that can have on a person and their life.
And that wraps up my reading progress for the first half of the year! Very surprised to have already passed my reading goal for the year. But also having a lot of fun rediscovering my love for books and finding brand new fictional worlds to explore. I also learned a few things about my taste in books, so hopefully I'll have better luck at picking out stories that will be enjoyable for me. I think I'll probably just continue with sci-fi and spy/thriller books for now, as those seem to be the easiest for me to stick with.
Total books: 14
Favorite book so far: Network Effect by Martha Wells
Favorite genres: Sci-fi and thriller
Background Image by Valentin Salja