Books We Like the Looks Of: New Releases in February 2026
Our takes on six books forthcoming in February 2026, including novels, short story collections, and nonfiction.
Review: Reading Queer Isolation in Bryan Washington's Palaver
When you’re living in the fishbowl of your own queer life, when it’s all you’ve ever known, you might not recognize that the people who have always surrounded you do not treat you with a great deal of care. This is the phenomenon that Palaver represents so well.
Canary in the Coal Mine: Long Covid in Fiction
The ongoing pandemic is affecting authors just as it's affecting everyone else. We’re not supposed to talk about it, and we’re treated with disdain if we take precautions to prevent infection. Just the same, authors are not supposed to write about it.
Review: Race and Realisms in Quan Barry’s The Unveiling
While reading Quan Barry’s new novel The Unveiling alongside Tiphanie Yanique's "On Character," I was struck by how it reflects Yanique's expansive approach to realism for authors of color, demonstrating a way to write fiction beyond the limits of the psychological.
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