I have several books on my list right now—some I’ve started, some I meant to start, and a few I’ve been circling for years without quite committing.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello is high on that list. I’ve always been a Hitchcock fan, and the idea of peeking behind the curtain of one of cinema’s most iconic films is hard to resist.
Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips is another. I lived in the Atlanta area for years and somehow never heard this deeply disturbing story. It’s the kind of book that challenges you—and it also dovetails uncomfortably well with some of the history and themes I teach.
The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens surprised me. Until the film adaptation came out last year, I had no idea Dickens had written a work like this at all. I’m genuinely curious to see how he approaches the life of Christ through his own literary lens.
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand is a revisit. I read it years ago and absolutely loved it, and lately I’ve felt the pull to saddle up and give it another run.
Then there’s The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. At nearly 1,500 pages, starting this book feels less like reading and more like making a life commitment. Still, one of these days I’m going to dive in and let it take as long as it takes.
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by John Fox Jr. carries a more personal weight. My mom read it aloud to my brother and me when we were kids, but I never finished it on my own. I started it again a while back, set it aside, and now it’s quietly waiting for me to come back and finish what I began.
And, of course, there’s Tumbleweeds—my book. I wrote it about eighteen months ago and haven’t looked at it since. At some point, I need to pick it up again with fresh eyes and see what still works and what might need refining. It’s nice to be able to say I wrote a novel. Now I want to be able to say I published one.
Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
