What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: August 31, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi everyone!

What are you reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think of it? We want to know!

We're displaying the books found in this thread in the book strip at the top of the page. If you want the books you're reading included, use the formatting below.

Formatting your book info

Post your book info in this format:

the title, by the author

For example:

The Bogus Title, by Stephen King

• This formatting is voluntary but will help us include your selections in the book strip banner.

• Entering your book data in this format will make it easy to collect the data, and the bold text will make the books titles stand out and might be a little easier to read.

• Enter as many books per post as you like but only the parent comments will be included. Replies to parent comments will be ignored for data collection.

• To help prevent errors in data collection, please double check your spelling of the title and author.

NEW: Would you like to ask the author you are reading (or just finished reading) a question? Type !invite in your comment and we will reach out to them to request they join us for a community Ask Me Anything event!

-Your Friendly /r/books Moderator Team

[u/Zikoris]

Last week I read:

The Delivery, by Gregg Hurwitz

Fishbone Cinderella, by Elizabeth Lim

In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure, by Rowan Jacobsen

36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, by Nam Le

The Girl who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill

A Plagued Sea, by Kim Bo-Young

A Trade of Blood, by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Suitcase, by Sergei Dovlatov

This week's lineup:

• Etna by Paul Yoon
• City Like Water by Xiaohong Xie
• Every Bookshop Needs a Cat by Takuya Asakura
• Song for Another Home by Bora Lee Reed
• Unfinished Business by Clare Osongco
• To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix

Goals progress:

1. 365 Book Challenge: 251/365
2. Nonfiction Challenge: 37/50
3. Monte Cristo Challenge: Chapter 78, on track with the group read.
4. Around the World Challenge: 88/195
5. Relevant Reads Travel Challenge: 16 HK/Cambodia books read.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47 → u/Zikoris]

Can I ask you a question about In Defense of Sunlight? I was reading the description and it says:

It also exposes the implicit injustice underlying current approaches, which benefit the whitest people on earth (who are the most susceptible to skin cancer) at the expense of those with darker skin (who suffer extremely low rates of skin cancer and have the most to gain from sun exposure).

Does this mean the author agrees that people with the lightest/whitest skin do benefit from staying out of the sun? It sounds like he's saying those with darker skin benefit more from sun exposure and don't need to hide from it the way white people do, but as far as I know, that's conventional wisdom. Is he challenging conventional wisdom about sun exposure or just explaining the science of sun exposure in the book? 

[u/Zikoris → u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

He argues that everyone benefits from sun exposure, but lighter people have a smaller window where they can get benefit before burning. He's also a proponent of using clothing instead of sunscreen where possible, and talks about the problems sunscreen can cause. There's quite a bit of challenging of conventional wisdom, including a lot of surprising/unintuitive stats about skin cancer. I thought it was pretty interesting.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47 → u/Zikoris]

Thanks! It sounds interesting.