Michael Kist

Kist Reads

Kist

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Kist Reads

Michael Kist

Kist Reads

Kist

Welcome to our community of book reading Sickos!

Get a Rec

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Exclusive advance digital copies of original Kist Reads books

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Kist Reads

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The Kist Master List - History Books (Updated 6/30/26)
The Kist Master List - History Books (Updated 6/30/26)

9

Mar 10 2025

11 Ways to Help Scoundrels Find More Readers!
Poll

2

Sep 25

October Fiction/History Book Club Options!

Hello, Sickos! The October polls for the History/Fiction Sickos Book Clubs are live! You can go vote on them in the appropriate Discord channels (scroll down and you'll see #fiction-vote and #history-vote). The polls run for 72 hours so you've got plenty of opportunity to bully and bribe.

If you're not seeing the channels, make sure you've linked your Bindery subscription to Discord via the Account Settings page. Those vote/discussion channels unlock at the Sicko plus paid tiers, so if you're a "Follower", you'll need to upgrade. Along with the book club forums you also get access to a ton of other channels for various genres, book recommendation requests, movies/TV, buddy reads and much more.

Back to the options... These are the 8 books across the 2 clubs that we're voting on.

FICTION SICKOS

Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Incarcerated people fight in televised gladiatorial matches for a chance at freedom.

James by Percival Everett

A reimagining of Huckleberry Finn that retells the journey down the Mississippi from the perspective of the enslaved Jim.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

A group of elite classics students at a New England college cross a line with deadly consequences in this dark academia novel.

She's a Doll by Barbara Truelove (a Bindery book from Ezeekat Press!)

After being murdered, a young woman possesses an antique doll and sets out for revenge against her killer.

HISTORY SICKOS

The Invention of Prehistory by Stefanos Geroulanos

How the modern idea of "prehistory" was created, and how theories about humanity's origins have been used to justify empire, racism, and violence.

Carthage Must by Destroyed by Richard Miles

The rise and destruction of Carthage, from its Phoenician origins and through the Punic Wars with Rome.

The Trojan War by Barry Strauss

A historian looks behind Homer's epics to ask what archaeology and ancient evidence can tell us about the real war that may have inspired the legend of Troy.

King of Kings by Scott Anderson

A narrative history of the 1978-1979 Iranian Revolution that brought down the Shah and transformed Iran.

That's it, go vote! (and make sure you've got your copy of A Complement of Scoundrels!)

Sep 23

Kist Reads

The titles published under my Bindery imprint!

2 Titles

 • Last updated 

Aug 18

book cover
book cover
Weekly Checkpoint + I'm Goin' to London!

Hey all, I'm back from my li'l vacation so let's get this week's update! Let me know the books you plan on reading this week in the comments and I'll share with you what I'm workin' on!

READING

REVIEW

SUNBURN by CHLOE MICHELLE HOWARTH (literary fiction)

Progress: Finished

Holy shit! I mean, holy f'n shit! I'd heard this was a wild one and I God was it ever. This was yearning on nuclear, world-ending levels and the religious imagery and exploration of Catholic guilt and young love was all just so beautifully done. I was literally holding my breath for the final sentence. This is the type of bonkers I want from any story with heavy romance from now on.

FIRE & BLOOD by GEORGE RR MARTIN (fantasy)

Progress: 350/706

I didn't even mean to pick this up I was just spot-checking things vs. the show and ended up starting from the beginning because I'm a goblin. Anyway, the King is dead, long live the King (Viserys I)! As a history reader the way this is written appeals to me, and The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu takes a similar approach to the narrative history style, if you're into that kinda thing. I'm gonna set this aside so I can start the book club reads but I'll come back to it right after.

PREVIEW/AUGUST BOOK CLUB PICKS

Little bit of a late start but this week will be all about the Fiction/History Sickos Book Club picks, The Odyssey by Homer (any translation) and Black Flag, Blue Waters by Eric Jay Dolin. I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I anticipated last week but we're gonna get stuck in.

EVERYTHING ELSE

  • Publishing News: ICYMI we announced our second acquisition earlier this month, Grave of Petals by Ofelia J. Vazquez!

  • Game of the Week: I'm up to level 52 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey with plenty of game left. This'll go great with The Odyssey read (there's so many pig farms in the game).

  • Show of the Week: I'm just about all the way done with my House of the Dragon re-watch so S3 will be started this week.

  • Movie of the Week: idk but I did see Spiderman in the theater last week so that was a good time.

  • I'll be going to England in September, huzzah! This is part of an event for Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver, which is a sequel to the excellent Artificial Wisdom. September 11th, at the London, Penguin Random House HQ, I'll be co-hosting an event with my honorary sisters Kris & Mads. It's an exclusive event with only 150 spots, and you can apply to secure a spot here.

  • Our Monthly Wrap Call in Discord will be Tuesday, 8pm EST!

4

Aug 10