What I'm Reading: January 2026 Issue of Booklist Plus Spotlight on Book Discussion Books

The January 2026 issue of Booklist is out and I have one review, but before I get to that review, I did want to mention that this issue also has the annual spotlight on book discussions. 

I love leading book discussions, and I love training library workers to be better at facilitating book discussions even more. In fact, I am providing that training program for the library workers of the state of CT next week. This current issue has three excellent lists to use to help you or your co-workers who are leading book discussions. I have added 5 years of backlist access where applicable as well. 

• Top 10 Book-Group Books 2026
• 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021
• Reading and Listening Together: Print and Audio Discussion Standouts
• Top 10 Book Group Books on Audio 2026 
• 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021

And if you aren't involved in book groups in anyway, please note that these lists are a great resource for your patrons who come in and ask you to help them bring their suggestions to their personal book groups and battle tested book discussion titles are also one of my favorite sure bet resources. Pro-tip: when your mind goes blank, grab a list of book discussion favorites to use as suggestions. It works every single time!

Now back to my review in the January 2026 issue. As usual I have my draft review with bonus appeal info and readalikes. 

You Have to Let Them Bleed: Stories

By Annie Neugebauer

Feb. 2026. 282p. Bad Hand, paper, $19.99  (9798988128694). 
First published January 1, 2026 (Booklist).

A woman goes to extreme lengths to see the color red, the chaos of a junk drawer leads to madness, how not washing the cilantro ends a marriage (but not in the way readers will expect), and a decidedly uncozy grandmother-grandson relationship. These are just a sampling of the disorienting and thought-provoking tales, cleverly hidden amidst mundane situations, which readers encounter in Neugebauer’s collection of 19 stories and 8 poems. Framed by psychologically unmooring poems, the author begins by letting everyone know that she is collecting “the shadowlings,” for them, but by the end, those shadowlings are directly calling out to the reader. This narrative choice combined with the range of gore and fear (from subtle to visceral) offered throughout and direct call-outs to horror masters like Shirley Jackson and Edagr Allan Poe, work to immerse all who encounter these tales in a unique and unsettling voice, one readers will want to revisit in future books. For fans of the weird, original, and thoughtfully crafted works of Kelly Link, Cassandra Khaw and Samanta Schweblin. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: disorienting, making the mundane terrifying, range of gore and fear

Further Appeal: Here are some of my notes.

Other general appeal: Thought-Provoking, Weird, unsettling (especially with her endings which can be very open-- leaves room for readers to feel the story though and then think about it), psychological horror but not without gore, unmooring, very deliberate word choices-- in a way that is still making them easy to read, but you can feel and see the writing craft here, unique, original voice, nothing goes where you think it will.

Neugebauer is a name you might not think you know, but her stories have been seen across the horror 
publishing landscape including multiple appearances in "best of" anthologies.

"The Pelt" is included and that is the story that introduced me to Neugebauer and I still love that story. But in my review I will pulled out others.

Poems serve as good interludes in between stories. Starts and ends with poems featuring "The Shadowlings" which helps to give the collection a larger structure. These stories are her shadowlings, that she collects and shares, but at the end, they are still calling to us.

Also the title of the collection sets the stage very well here.

There are stories here that directly draw off of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe which also show part of what she is doing here in this collection-- Neugebauer is clearly invoking some great works of horror literature but also grabbing them to make them her own. She is doing it explicitly in those 2 stories, but I would argue, that every story does it. You notice it more when they are collected together.

"Redless" about a woman who goes to great lengths to see the color red is short and taught and immersive and terrifying.

"Cilantro" and "The Little Drawer Full of Chaos" are both focused domestic dramas gone, not just horribly wrong, they are that, but also they go to weird, disquieting and terrifying places. Different places but same idea

"You Ought Not Smile as You Walk These Woods" is a dark fairy tale type story. Reminded my of Cass Khaw a lot.

I am not going to leave comment for each story here. If what I have said in general intrigues you, you should grab this collection.

Bad Hand Books is a solid small press and now with larger distribution, you can easily add all of their titles to your libraries.

Readalikes: This reminded me of the stories of the three authors I called out in the review, but also, specific books: Cursed Bunny by Chung and Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Lima. And The Grip of It (novel) by Jac Jemc.

As you can see there is a wide range of readalikes here, making this a great choice for general library collections.