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The Return of What Are You Reading?? (In February)

2026-02-17 · 17:18 UTC ·Culture Study ·3 min read

Brief

Culture Study’s short Patreon newsletter is a community-engagement post rather than a substantive essay: it reopens the publication’s monthly “What Are You Reading?” thread and frames the discussion around the author’s surprise enthusiasm for R.F. Kuang’s BABEL. The author says they had repeatedly ignored recommendations for the novel until Melody urged them to read it in preparation for an upcoming episode with Kuang on dark academia. They single out several features that won them over—its 1830s Britain setting, its critique of colonialism, its focus on obsessive scholarship, and its portrayal of academia as a system that reinforces white-supremacist power—while noting they have not finished the book and asking readers not to spoil it. The rest of the post solicits audience comments and recommendations, requests questions about BABEL or KATABASIS through a form, and reiterates the formatting norm that book titles be written in all caps to make very large discussion threads easier to scan.

Why it matters

Culture Study’s February 17, 2026 Patreon post revives its recurring “What Are You Reading?” community thread and uses R.F. Kuang’s BABEL as the prompt.

Key details

  • The author says they had long resisted BABEL for vague, non-substantive reasons, but after starting it for an upcoming episode with R.F. Kuang, they found it strongly aligned with their interests.
  • The post highlights BABEL’s setting in 1830s Britain and praises its treatment of colonial norms, academic obsession, campus friendship, and the way academia reproduces white-supremacist power.
  • Readers who have read BABEL or KATABASIS are invited to submit dark-academia-related questions via a Google form for a future episode featuring Kuang.
  • The newsletter is primarily a call for reader participation: commenters are asked to share what they are reading, seek recommendations, put all book titles in ALL CAPS, and help sustain threads that “regularly top 1000 comments.”
Cleaned source text

title: The Return of What Are You Reading?? (In February)

author: Culture Study

content_type: newsletter

publication: patreon.com

published: 2026-02-17T17:18:15+00:00

source_url: gmail://19c6c9c2b6603062

word_count: 634

Is there a book you've been hearing about forever, a book you assumed "wasn't for you" for reasons that weren't entirely clear.....a book that when yo... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

The Return of What Are You Reading?? (In February)

Culture Study

Feb 17, 2026

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Is there a book you've been hearing about forever, a book you assumed "wasn't for you" for reasons that weren't entirely clear.....a book that when you finally start reading, you immediately realize your assumptions were based on _nothing_? A cover vibe? The title? Some person you barely know but kinda dislike saying _they_ liked it?

If this has never happened to you, all I can say is you're lying or you're forgetting. It's happened to me with SO MANY BOOKS (to the extent that we should probably do a future thread on it). Most recently it happened with R.F. Kuang's _Babel_ , which Melody (digitally) pressed into my hands so that we could do an episode with Kuang on dark academia. I'd seen it strongly recommended in these threads SO MANY TIMES and resisted it — I don't think I really even realized it was dark academia??? — but friends, it is so deeply my shit.

Set in 1830s Britain! Deft interrogation of colonial norms! Nerdy obsessive disciplinary focus! Exploration of how the academia reproduces and reinforces white supremacist power! IMMEDIATE FRIENDS ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS!

I haven't finished, so please don't spoil, but if you have read it (or _Katabasis_) please submit your dark-academia-related-questions for the episodehere.

But what are YOU reading? Tell us how you feel about it, what's next, or what sort of book you're looking for (and we'll do our best to offer suggestions). Please try to adhere to our commenting style norms and put ALL BOOK TITLES in ALL CAPS (it makes it easier to scan). These threads regularly top 1000 comments, so come back often and keep the conversation going. ...

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