Whatcha Reading? October 2026, Part Two

Happy Saturday! Here’s what we’re reading right now: Lara: While I’m still reading Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m starting to see it more as a guide than a book to read for leisure. I’ve disappeared down internet rabbit holes and stared into space thinking about women and literature and, based on my recent rec league request, I’m plotting my summer reading. It’s exhilarating! Shana: I just picked back up a Jan Clausen’s 1999 memoir, Apples & Oranges. ( A | BN | K | AB ) Clausen was a Brooklyn lesbian who fell in love with a man in Nicaragua. Memoirs are my least favorite genre, but I like this book anyway. It’s really half memoir and half feminist reflections on gender and sexuality. Elyse: I started a horror/romance called Camera Stays On ( A | BN | K | AB ) but one of the characters (not the hero) abuses his dogs so I’m not reading that now. Sarah: hell no nope nope nope nopity nope I am reading this omegaverse why choose set in a hair salon called Shear Instinct. The story is clicking along while my brain is analyzing the power dynamics, the rules of the O-verse, how it affirms and subverts gender roles inside very typical sounding character types. Like the...