Ten of the most notable New Years in literature

In 2011 at the Guardian, John Mullan tagged the ten most notable New Years in literature. One title on the list:

The Children of Men by PD James

Is this the glummest new year in recent fiction? On New Year's Day, 2021, "the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl". He was 25, a significant age because, in James's dystopian tale, it has been 25 years since a pandemic made all human beings infertile. On the same day Theodore Faron begins his journal of humanity's last days.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Children of Men is on Siobhan Adcock's list of five top books about motherhood and dystopia, M.R. Carey's list of five favorite apocalyptic novels, Jeff Somers's top ten list of books with plausible fictional apocalypses, Justin Cronin's list of ten top world-ending novels, Anita Singh's list of five P.D. James novels you should read, Torie Bosch's top twelve list of great pandemic novels, Joel Cunningham's list of eleven scary fictional diseases, Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the twelve most unfaithful movie versions of science fiction and fantasy books, Ben H. Winters' list of three books to read before the end of the world, and John Sutherland's list of the five best books about the end of England.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books about Jimmy Carter

Robert Lieberman is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. He studies American political development, race and American politics, and public policy. He has also written extensively about the development of American democracy and the links between American and comparative politics.

His most recent book is Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy (2020), co-authored with Suzanne Mettler.

[The Page 99 Test: Four Threats]

At Five Books Eve Gerber interviewed Lieberman about five books helpful to understand Carter and the context in which he served and was elected. From their discussion of one of Lieberman's picks:

[Gerber] Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States (1977-1981), ran as a Washington outsider, a born-again boy from rural Georgia who could redeem the nation during a difficult decade—one plagued by inflation, unemployment and oil shocks, overhung by Watergate and withdrawal from Vietnam, and animated by rising demands for gender and racial inequality. Since the decade is not remembered fondly, it’s no surprise that the president who oversaw the sunset of the seventies was not regarded highly for many years after he lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Your first book is a cultural and political history of the decade. Please introduce us to Vanderbilt historian Jefferson Cowie’s Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class.

[Lieberman] To understand Jimmy Carter and his presidency, it’s important to understand the context in which he was elected and served as president. For a long time, people looked back at the 1970s as an in-between decade. The sixties were the start of the Vietnam war and counterculture, the time of the civil rights movement, student protests and the maturing of the baby boomers. The Eighties were the Reagan era, the beginning of a new conservative regime in the United States. And for a long time, the 1970s were seen as just the transition from the sixties to the eighties. In recent years, historians have been paying more careful attention to what was going on in the seventies and identifying the decade as an important turning point in American politics. That’s what Jefferson Cowie’s book, among others, does.

The seventies were a time of economic transition. We begin to see the first inklings of big changes in the American economy. Deindustrialization leads to the disappearance of jobs that had sustained the American working class for most of the 20th century and the hollowing out of cities that used to be industrial powers. This big economic transformation is the thrust of Cowie’s book. Situating the Carter presidency amid the changing economic landscape, the decline of the industrial economy, the slide of the working class and the rise of the service economy in the United States is important to understanding...[read on]

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top modern horror classics

At BookRiot Steph Auteri tagged ten modern horror classics keeping the genre alive. One title on the list:

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Tremblay is another horror author whose works I automatically read. One of my faves from him is A Head Full of Ghosts, about a young woman who may or may not have faked a demonic possession and whose attempted exorcism was filmed for TV. Obviously, this one made me think fondly of William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, which I both read and watched the film adaptation of at a disturbingly young age. With 14 titles to his name (Horror Movie is out in June), he shows no signs of slowing down.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Head Full of Ghosts is among Heather Gudenkauf's five mysteries and thrillers with a reality TV twist, Lee Kelly's eight fictional dinner parties gone wrong, and Wendy Webb's eight top modern gothic mysteries.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ayo Onatade: favorite crime and thriller reads of 2024

At the Shots ezine blog Ayo Onatade tagged her favorite reads of 2024, including:

The Sparrow & The Peacock by I S Berry

Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain for his final tour, he's anxious to dispense with his mission — uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency. But then he meets Almaisa, an enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask. When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his romance and loyalties upended. In an instant, he's caught in the crosswinds of a revolution. He sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa's love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain's secrets end and America's begin.

Read about the other books on the list.

The Peacock and the Sparrow is among The Guardian's best crime and thrillers of 2024 and David McCloskey's top five spy novels.

Q&A with I.S. Berry.

The Page 69 Test: The Peacock and the Sparrow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mystery Tribune" — eleven top crime and mystery books of 2024

One of Mystery Tribune's favorite crime and mystery books of 2024:

Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch

In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit.

Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with Penny, the little girl whom he was separated from and hasn’t seen in years.

Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Her only comfort when the past comes back to haunt her is the memory of her precious, rebellious pony.

Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer.

This acutely observant, feel-good mystery reveals the humanity of animals and beastliness of humans in a rollicking escapade of epic proportions.

Read about the other titles on the list.

Pony Confidential is among ELLE magazine's best mystery and thriller books of 2024 and Katy James's five top horse girl books for adults.

The Page 69 Test: Pony Confidential.

My Book, The Movie: Pony Confidential.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kevin Burton Smith: favorite crime fiction of 2024

At The Rap Sheet Kevin Burton Smith tagged his favorite crime fiction of 2024. One title on the list:

California Bear, by Duane Swierczynski

I generally hate serial-killer novels. Too often they’re simply workarounds for lightweights who want to skip over the tough job of creating credible villains. But Swierczynski does the heavy lifting here, because he’s after much bigger game. This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco—he ain’t foolin’ around.

Sure, there’s the obligatory hunt for a serial killer, but that's just the corkboard for this author to pin a whole lot of things to, including:

— A multiple murderer known as the “California Bear,” who vanished four decades ago but is now coming out of retirement.
— An upcoming true-crime documentary by some scruple-free filmmakers about that slayer coming out of retirement.
— Cato Hightower, a crooked former cop who smells money, and isn’t beyond a little extortion to get what he wants.
— Jack Queen, a recently released ex-convict and single parent who’s trying to do right by his 15-year-old daughter.
— Jeanie Hightower, Cato’s beleaguered wife, a genealogist unwillingly dragged into her husband’s schemes.
— A slew of California Bear online fans and true-crime podcasters, plus a handful of real-life wannabes and copycats gumming up the works.
— The Girl Detective (aka Matilda), Jack Queen’s aforementioned daughter, a brainiac problem solver, confined to a hospital bed with a bad case of leukemia. And the prognosis is not good.

Along the way, Southern California writer Swierczynski...[read on]

Read about the other titles on the list at The Rap Sheet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles about The Gilded Age’s wild women

Raised in the Midwest, Greer Macallister earned her MFA in creative writing from American University. Her historical novels, including The Magician’s Lie, Girl in Disguise, Woman 99, and The Arctic Fury, have been named Book of the Month, Indie Next, LibraryReads, Target Book Club, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television.

Macallister's newest novel is The Thirteenth Husband.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged five "books starring real-life rebels of" the Gilded Age. One title on the list:

I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira

Mary Cassatt made a name for herself as an Impressionist painter in Paris, but she was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Her tenacity and talent helped her succeed in a world that wasn’t always welcoming to woman artists. She never married nor had children, though her paintings of mothers with children have had the most lasting fame. Oliviera’s novel focuses on Cassatt’s relationship to fellow Impressionist Edgar Degas, depicting a romantic love that may or may not have existed between the two, though historical records show they worked closely together for years and certainly influenced each others’ work.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top Christmas novels

Skylar Miklus serves as Editorial Intern at Electric Literature and Poetry Editor at Barnstorm Journal. They obtained their B.A. in Philosophy from Dartmouth College and are pursuing their MFA in Poetry at the University of New Hampshire. Their writing has appeared in Rogue Agent Journal, Identity Theory, On the Seawall, and elsewhere. They live in Dover, NH, and are currently working on their first collection of poems.

At Electric Lit Miklus tagged eight top Christmas novels, including:

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan

From the queen of cozy romance comes this tale of two very different sisters and an ancient bookshop that needs saving. After losing her job, Carmen moves in with her pregnant sister Sofia in Edinburgh, Scotland and tries to help one of Sofia’s clients rescue his bookstore from bankruptcy. Surprising herself, Carmen starts to repair the rocky relationships in her family as well as the bookshop’s finances—and finds not one but two love interests. My favorite parts of this book were the atmospherically written scenes set in the bookshop; I could practically picture the cheery displays in the windows.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

"ELLE" — The best mystery & thriller books of 2024

One of ELLE magazine's best mystery and thriller books of 2024:

Since She's Been Gone by Sagit Schwartz

Sagit Schwart’s thriller is a nuanced roller-coaster—high-stakes, high-energy, but with a sensitive approach to its subject matter. Protagonist Beatrice “Beans” Bennett lost her mother when she was only 15. Now decades older, she’s a clinical psychologist, one who uses her own experiences in eating-disorder recovery to better care for her patients. But when her latest patient informs Beans her mother is very much still alive—oh, and wrapped up in a Big Pharma scandal—Beans must reconcile her own mental health with her mother’s secret history. Told via dual timelines between Los Angeles and New York, this debut is a captivating feat.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Q&A with Sagit Schwartz.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that challenge our notions of normal time

Shelley Wood is the author of The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley. Her short fiction, creative non-fiction, columns, and travel-writing have appeared in a range of literary magazines and mainstream media, and her work as a medical journalist has won a range of international prizes. Her debut novel, The Quintland Sisters, about the world’s first identical quintuplets, was a #1 bestseller in Canada.

At The Nerd Daily Wood tagged five favorite "books that directly challenge or subvert our notions of regular time as a central theme or plot device." One title on the list:

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

I had been working for 10 months on The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley, about a little girl who ages one year for every four, when Haig’s novel was published, about a slow-ageing, 439-year-old man whose one rule is to never fall in love. I was crushed. Determined not to be unduly influenced, I waited until my own novel was finished, sold, and heading to the printers before delving into this book. To my relief, Haig’s tale proved very different from my own, even as it grappled with some similar themes: the fragile ties that bind, the dangers of being different, the risks we take in forming lasting connection. But Haig’s book steers mostly clear of medical explanations and follows a unified and propulsive plot arc that makes for a fast, fun read. I especially loved the situational comedy woven into the drama, provided largely through Tom’s sardonic perspective on mod-cons, his second-hand distrust of science, and some of his bumbled interactions with celebrated historical figures, including everyone from Shakespeare to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Read about the other entries on the list.

How to Stop Time is among Martha Greengrass's top ten books for fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten animal books

The Zoomer Book Club's Nathalie Atkinson tagged ten "tales about our furry and feathered friends [that] give new meaning to creature comforts and prove the animal-human bond is mutually beneficial." One title on the list:

Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong

In this vivid and lyrical novel set in Depression-era New Brunswick, the Nova Scotia-based poet follows 15-year-old Pearly, a girl who was raised alongside an orphaned bear cub named Bruno, and considers him a sibling. When the local lumber camp boss sells Bruno to an animal trader, Pearly traverses the Canadian wilderness to rescue him.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine thrillers & suspense titles that turn on a hallmark event

Jen Marie Wiggins's first book, the gifty nonfiction title Married AF: A Funny Guide for the Newlywed or Bride, was published in 2022. She has a background in advertising and public relations, and her writing has appeared in Southern Coastal Weddings, Savannah Magazine, Savannah Homes, and elsewhere.

Wiggins's new novel is The Good Bride.

[My Book, The Movie: The Good Bride; Q&A with Jen Marie Wiggins]

At CrimeReads the author tagged nine psychological thrillers and suspense books in which the plot turns on a hallmark event. One title on the list:

Her Dark Lies, J.T. Ellison

Clare Hunter is thrilled to be marrying Jack Compton at his family estate in Isle Isola off the stunning italian coast. . . that is until a literal skeleton in his closet becomes just the first sinister occurrence to plague their nuptials. From a decimated wedding dress to a raging storm, Claire must untangle the mystery of Jack’s first wife before it catches up to them all.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Her Dark Lies is among Anna Snoekstra's eight top taut thrillers set over three days or fewer and Amanda Jayatissa's seven best thrillers set at weddings.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight gripping novels based on actual murders

Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent, the short-story collection Forgetting English, and, with coauthor John Yunker, the mystery novel Devils Island. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. She has taught at Boston University, Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. Raymond lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is co-founder of the boutique publisher Ashland Creek Press.

[The Page 69 Test: My Last Continent; Writers Read: Midge Raymond (June 2016); The Page 69 Test: Floreana; Q&A with Midge Raymond]

At Electric Lit the author tagged eight novels "based on real murders, and, as fiction allows us to do, the books go beyond the tragic events to explore issues that often don’t make it into the news headlines: deeper insights into the lives of the victims, the survivors, and even the perpetrators." One title on the list:

The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor

First published in France as Chanson douce, Moroccan-born French author Leïla Slimani’s novel is both haunting and harrowing. Set in Paris, the novel evokes the real-life case of the New York Krim family, whose children were murdered by their nanny, who afterward attempted suicide. Translated from the French by Sam Taylor, the stark, austere prose makes Slimani’s novel all the more gripping—and unsettling—from the very first page.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

The Perfect Nanny is among Lisa Harding's six out-of-control characters in literary fiction and Elle Marr's five great diverse crime novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books from the children of celebrities

Charley Burlock is the Associate Books Editor at Oprah Daily where she writes, edits, and assigns stories on all things literary. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from NYU, where she also taught undergraduate creative writing. Her work has been featured in the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Review, Agni, and on the Apple News Today podcast. She is currently completing an MFA in creative nonfiction at NYU and working on a book about the intersection of grief, landscape, and urban design.

At Oprah Daily Burlock tagged five "books that make us see our celebrity heroes—and their gilded lives—from a totally new perspective." One title on the list:

Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me by Ada Calhoun

While the premise of this memoir— a daughter’s doomed quest to win her father’s attention by finishing his failed memoir of the legendary poet Frank O’Hara—may sound academic, the result is anything but: a hilarious and aching story about the impossibility of filling a parent’s oversized shoes, and the necessity of trying to walk a mile in them.

The name “Peter Schjeldahl” may not be the first one to pop into your mind when you think of A-listers, but the acclaimed poet and critic was undoubtedly a superstar in the circles of Manhattan’s literati—and in the wide eyes of his only daughter, who spent her childhood and adult writing career trying desperately and doomfully to impress him.. Writing is the beginning and end of Ada’s connection to her father: She is a workhorse journalist and dedicated mother; he is the tortured artist who unabashedly admits that writing is his first (and arguably, only) priority. But when Ada finds a collection of old interview tapes from her father’s attempt, in the 1970s, to write a biography of their mutual hero, Frank O’Hara she sees an opportunity: the book “seemed like a time when he’d failed at something that I was pretty sure I could have nailed.” If she indeed pulls it off, he might finally seem comprehensible to her, and she interesting to him. Spoiler alert: Ada does not get exactly what she wants from the process, but she gets what she needs—and we get immersed into the complexities of her father-daughter bond and into the hallucinatory haze of New York bohemia in the 1960s and 70s.

We recommend listening to the audiobook, which features the actual forty-year-old recordings from Schjeldahl’s interviews with artists like Willem de Kooning and Edward Gorey, as well as his bedtime banter with his then-toddler daughter. You won’t make it through with dry eyes.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Steve Donoghue's best mystery books of 2024

Steve Donoghue is a writer and critic who shares his opinions and insights on books of various genres and topics.

One of his top ten mysteries of the year:

Death by Misadventure by Tasha Alexander

Equally reliable is Alexander's series of the globe-trotting sleuthing adventures of Lady Emily and her husband Colin, who here find themselves in the Bavarian Alps of 1906, embroiled in murderous complications that reverberate from the days of notorious King Ludwig half a century earlier.

Read about the other mysteries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven thrillers with couples who don’t get (or deserve) a happy ending

Darby Kane is the pseudonym for a former divorce lawyer and #1 international bestselling author of domestic suspense. Her books have been optioned for television and featured in numerous venues, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Cosmopolitan.

Kane's new novel is What the Wife Knew.

At CrimeReads she tagged seven thrillers on dysfunctional couples who lose control. Two titles on the list:

There are a lot of thrillers about couples where a missing husband maybe isn’t what he seemed. This could be its own category. Her are two good ones from 2024: The Honeymoon by Shalini Boland (Stella’s new husband goes missing on their honeymoon—the same husband her father told her not to marry) and Just The Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica (two couples, one missing husband, so many secrets).

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles that capture the complexity of sisters

Lilli Sutton writes contemporary adult fiction. She holds a BA in English from Shepherd University. From Maryland, she now lives in Colorado. She draws inspiration for her writing from the natural world and the intricacies of human relationships.

When she's not writing, she's usually cooking, hiking, or trying to keep up with her ever-growing TBR list.

Sutton's new novel is Running Out of Air.

[Q&A with Lilli Sutton]

At Electric Lit Sutton tagged "nine books [that] ask their own questions about sisterhood, depict the many kinds of conflict that arise between siblings, and reflect the compassion extended by family, even in extreme circumstances." One title on the list:

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

Miranda and Lucia, the Chinese-American sisters at the heart of Everything Here is Beautiful, have strikingly different personalities. Miranda is older and more controlled; Lucia is wild and headstrong, brilliant at her best but affected by chronic mental illness. Miranda longs to help her younger sister, but Lucia resists treatment, insisting that she isn’t sick; this is simply her reality. The question of family loyalty arises when Miranda moves to Switzerland with her husband, and Lucia to Ecuador, putting both physical and emotional distance between them. How much must Miranda sacrifice to protect Lucia?

Covering many years and told through alternating perspectives, including both sisters and Lucia’s partners, Mira T. Lee draws a fully-realized portrait of the sweeping effects of mental illness, both on the afflicted person and their loved ones.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

Everything Here is Beautiful is among Amy Feltman's six top books featuring unconventional families, Lisa Braxton's seven novels that show the range and depth of gentrification fiction, Lynda Cohen Loigman's eight compelling books of sisterly friction.

My Book, The Movie: Everything Here Is Beautiful.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six novels featuring women and their art

At B&N Reads Isabelle McConville tagged six "novels chronicling the lives of college students, visual artists, painters, performance artists and more," tales that supply a "peek into the creative mind." One title on the list:

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

While we’ve been obsessed with Rachel Kushner’s latest novel Creation Lake for the past few months, we love revisiting her 2013 publication The Flamethrowers. A whirlwind journey through sex, drugs and rock and roll, this novel follows Reno’s recent move to New York. She’s intent on poring over her favorite things in life while she’s there: art, pleasure, and motorcycles. A novel that feels like exploring NYC and Italy alongside its iconic stars like Patti Smith or Julia Fox through a literary style reminiscent of Joan Didion, you’ll race through this critically acclaimed novel about art, speed and social class.

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Flamethrowers is among the Christian Science Monitor's ten best 2013 books for 10 different kinds of book-reading mom.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five horse girl books for adults

Katy James writes contemporary romance books that get to the heart of falling in love while finding one’s place in today’s world. When not writing, she works as an archivist and rare book librarian. Her free time is spent being a single mom, wrangling an ever-fluctuating number of pets, fixing up her old house, reading, knitting, cooking, gardening and generally making all kinds of stuff.

James's new novel is The Grump Whisperer.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged five favorite books that feature "an immersive equestrian experience" the way horse girl children’s books do, but "include adult characters, themes, romance, and perspectives." One title on her list:

Ambition by Natalie Keller Reinert

Reinert’s Eventing Series was originally published from 2014 forward, but starting in December of this year the entire series is being reedited and released with new covers. The books follow eventer Jules and her rider boyfriend Pete as they try to survive and thrive in the tough world of competing and making a living with horses. If you want extremely accurate, immersive, and delightful horse world content in a whole series, this is for you!

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 13 most essential Los Angeles books of mystery or crime

The L.A. Times asked writers with deep ties to the city to name their favorite Los Angeles books. One of their top titles of mystery or crime:

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha, 2019

In this magnificent novel, Cha overturns all the conventions of crime fiction, even as she employs them to broader ends. Inspired by the 1991 murder of Latasha Harlins, the book moves from the 1992 uprising nearly to the present, tracing the effects of that killing on two families (one Black and one Korean). Cha is a deft stylist and a vivid creator of character, and she understands that there are no glib solutions in a situation such as this. “Some might call this a crime novel — and of course it is,” notes Tod Goldberg. “But it’s also the most profound look at modern Los Angeles I’ve read in recent memory.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

Your House Will Pay is among Jordan Harper's three top novels in the new L.A. crime canon, Erin E. Adams's seven titles that use mystery to examine race, María Amparo Escandón's eight books about living in Los Angeles, Alyssa Cole's five top crime novels that explore social issues, Sara Sligar's seven California crime novels with a nuanced take on race, class, gender & community, and Karen Dietrich's eight top red herrings in contemporary crime fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Vulture" — top ten comedy books, 2024

At Vulture Brian Boone tagged "the ten best, most delightful, thought-provoking, and just all in all funny comedy books of 2024." One title on the list:

A Paper Orchestra, by Michael Jamin

Jamin has written for television for nearly 30 years, for gag-oriented stuff like Tacoma FD and character-driven, empathetic projects like King of the Hill. Well versed in finding the nuance in how people behave in everyday situations, Jamin reflects on himself in his essay-thinkpiece collection that loosely coalesces into a memoir. His very funny and touching stories about his own tender childhood segue into pieces about his regrets, anxieties, and triumphs as a father. I read this book right when my son was turning 18 and graduating, and good lord, how it made me feel happy, sad, and connected all at once. A Paper Orchestra isn’t always funny, but if one defines comedy as making sense of life and getting a visceral reaction out of its reader, it’s a triumph.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six Regency-era historical mysteries with headstrong heroines

Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee and a former freelance writer and editor whose novels include historical mysteries set in Regency-era England and genealogy-themed cozy mysteries set in modern-day Austin, Texas. Whether the mystery is set in past or present, she delights in giving her books a good dose of romance and a few research facts she hopes you’ll find as interesting as she does. Passionate about history and slightly obsessed with period dramas, what Connally loves most is reading and writing about women who don’t always do as they are told.

[The Page 69 Test: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord]

Connally's new novel is All's Fair in Love and Treachery.

At The Nerd Daily the author tagged six Regency-era historical mysteries with obstinate, headstrong heroines. One title on the list:

Murder in Highbury, by Vanessa Kelly (book one in the Emma Knightly Mysteries)

Now that Emma Woodhouse has been happily married to her Mr. Knightly for a year, she suddenly needs her famous confidence even more when she finds herself sleuthing with her friend Harriet Martin after the unpleasant Mrs. Elton, the vicar’s wife, is found murdered at the village church.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that feature powerful, dangerous gardens

Chelsea Iversen has been reading and writing stories since before she knew what verbs were. She loves tea and trees and travel and reads her runes at every full moon. Iversen lives in Colorado with her husband, son, and Pepper the dog.

Her new novel is The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt.

At CrimeReads Iversen tagged five "titles that feature powerful, dangerous gardens" for those who "love a little poisonous or unpredictable flora." One title on the list:

Her Little Flowers by Shannon Morgan

A reclusive woman who lives on a crumbling estate with a poisonous garden begins to unravel her family’s secrets and, with it, a tragic history. The lush setting and rambling, disquieting garden are woven intricately into the dark family lore.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books that will make you reconsider Florida stereotypes

John Brandon has been awarded the Grisham Fellowship at Ole Miss, the Tickner Fellowship at Gilman School in Baltimore, and has received a Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship. He was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. His short fiction has appeared in ESPN The Magazine, Oxford American, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Mississippi Review, Subtropics, Chattahoochee Review, Hotel Amerika, and many other publications, and he has written about college football for GQ online and Grantland. He was born in Florida and now resides in Minnesota, where he teaches at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Brandon's new book is Penalties of June.

At Electric Lit he tagged nine books that give "a dizzying tour of divergent Florida experiences and styles whose kinship, if they share any, is tied up in heat and crime and displacement and unpredictability." One title on the list:

Everyday Psycho Killers: A History for Girls by Lucy Corin

This is a novel, but if it didn’t say that on the cover, you’d think it was an odd sort of memoir. Sometimes it’s an essay. Occasionally, a treatise on speculative neuroscience. You have to earn your readerly footing. At the beginning, the book hides its narrator—there’s a 1st person voice, but we don’t know who it’s attached to; a girl is spoken about in the 3rd person, and then we realize that girl is the 1st person narrator, a first-person narrator that imagines other people’s lives so fully that those characters sometimes get POV. Many of the described events (especially toward the beginning of the book) feel deliciously theoretical, and the timeline is mostly in order but that order feels incidental and unimportant. Amazingly, the narrative gymnastics never outstrip Corin’s intellectual agility, her uncanny talent for turning a seeming tangent into exactly the relevant passage you didn’t know you needed. The world of the novel feels both real and unreal, perhaps due to the larding of mythical and fairytale and historical references—Repunzel and Cinderella and the Venus de Milo; griffins and Egyptian gods and Joan of Arc; Anne Boleyn and the Grimm tales and eventually, yes, Leonard Lake and Jeffrey Dahmer and Danny Rolling. It’s Hollywood, Florida some thirty-five or forty years ago, described with familiar details—orange groves, last-gasp strip malls, white-out-sniffing—but also it’s Corin’s unique creation.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten great Appalachian books

At People magazine senior books editor Lizz Schumer tagged ten great Appalachian books, including:

Sugar Run by Mesha Maren

This gripping, heartwrenching debut follows Jodi McCarty, who gets out of prison and has to find her footing in the face of unexpected freedom. She meets and falls in love with Miranda, a young single mom who's down on her luck, and the two hope to find brighter horizons together. It's a propulsive story, told in gorgeous writing.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Sugar Run is among Kaytie Norman's seven eye-opening books about Appalachia.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five novels using hurricanes to heighten the drama

Bonnie Kistler is the author of The Cage and Her, Too. A former Philadelphia trial lawyer, she was born in Pennsylvania and educated at Bryn Mawr College and the University of the Pennsylvania Law School. She and her husband now live in southwest Florida and the mountains of western North Carolina.

Kistler's new novel is Shell Games.

[Q&A with Bonnie Kistler; The Page 69 Test: The Cage; The Page 69 Test: Her, Too; Writers Read: Bonnie Kistler (July 2023); My Book, The Movie: Shell Games]

At The Nerd Daily Kistler tagged five novels, both classic and contemporary, that have deployed hurricanes to heighten the drama. One title on the list:

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

A hurricane is employed to its full thrilling effect in Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. On a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, a murderer has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane, and federal marshals are searching for him as a hurricane bears down upon them. Nothing is quite what it seems, but the approach of the hurricane clearly conveys an eerie sense of foreboding. And when it strikes, its violence reflects all the rage and malevolence unleashed in the story.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Shutter Island is among Alex Michaelides's five best island thrillers and Michelle Adams's five top thrillers in which memory is unreliable, at best.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the most popular literary antiheroes

Adam Hamdy is a bestselling British author and screenwriter who works with studios and production companies on both sides of the Atlantic. He’s currently adapting his novel Black 13 for Ringside Studios, and is developing his original screenplay, The Fear in Their Eyes with December Films.

Hamdy's new novel is Deadbeat.

At CrimeReads the author tagged ten of the most popular literary antiheroes. One entry on the list:

Tom Ripley – The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

If Severus Snape is arguably a secret hero rather than an antihero, then Tom Ripley is simply a villain who has earned antihero status simply by being the protagonist. He starts out as a poor, ambitious young man desperate for a better life, but his envy, insecurity and avarice propel him to a series of manipulative and murderous acts. Ripley is a chameleon-like character, and Highsmith imbues him with charm, but I don’t think readers ever truly like him or root for him in the way they might for Tyler Durden, and perhaps it is the selfishness of Ripley’s ambition that makes him a less sympathetic character.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Talented Mr Ripley is on Nadia Khomami's list of five of the best psychological thrillers by women, the UK-based Crime Writers' Association's list of ten page-turning reads, Nathan Oates's list of eight of the best bad seed novels, Lizzy Barber's list of seven titles about wealthy people behaving badly, Charlotte Northedge's top ten list of novels about toxic friendships, Elizabeth Macneal's list of five books that explore the dark side of fitting in, Saul A. Lelchuk's nine great thrillers featuring alter egos, Emma Stonex's list of seven top mystery novels set by the sea, Russ Thomas's top ten list of queer protagonists in crime fiction, Paul Vidich's list of five of the most enduring imposters in crime fiction & espionage, Lisa Levy's list of eight of the most toxic friendships in crime fiction, Elizabeth Macneal's list of five sympathetic fictional psychopaths, Laurence Scott's list of seven top books about doppelgangers, J.S. Monroe's list of seven suspenseful literary thrillers, Simon Lelic's top ten list of false identities in fiction, Jeff Somers's list of fifty novels that changed novels, Olivia Sudjic's list of eight favorite books about love and obsession, Roz Chast's six favorite books list, Nicholas Searle's top five list of favorite deceivers in fiction, Chris Ewan's list of the ten top chases in literature, Meave Gallagher's top twenty list of gripping page-turners every twentysomething woman should read, Sophia Bennett's top ten list of books set in the Mediterranean, Emma Straub's top ten list of holidays in fiction, E. Lockhart's list of favorite suspense novels, Sally O'Reilly's top ten list of novels inspired by Shakespeare, Walter Kirn's top six list of books on deception, Stephen May's top ten list of impostors in fiction, Simon Mason's top ten list of chilling fictional crimes, Melissa Albert's list of eight books to change a villain, Koren Zailckas's list of eleven of literature's more evil characters, Alex Berenson's five best list of books about Americans abroad John Mullan's list of ten of the best examples of rowing in literature, Tana French's top ten maverick mysteries list, the Guardian's list of the 50 best summer reads ever, the Telegraph's ultimate reading list, and Francesca Simon's top ten list of antiheroes.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best crime & thrillers of 2024: "The Guardian"

One title on the Guardian's list of the best crime and thrillers of 2024:

An established author in his own right, le Carré’s youngest son Nick Harkaway has slid into the gap in his father’s oeuvre between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). In Karla’s Choice, a Soviet assassin comes to London to kill Hungarian publisher Laszlo Banati, but subsequently changes his mind. Banati, however, is missing, and Smiley is lured out of retirement to find him and discover why the Soviets wanted him dead: a mission that puts the shabby, self-effacing hero back on the trail of his old nemesis, Karla. Le Carré fans will certainly applaud Harkaway’s success at channelling his late father’s voice in this excellent addition to the canon.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top post-divorce romance books

Nora Dahlia is a style writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, among others. She is also a branded content expert, book doctor, ghostwriter, collaborator, and writing coach.

She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two kids, and enormous cat, Waldo.

Pick-Up is her first romance novel.

At People magazine Dahlia tagged ten top post-divorce romance books. One title on the list:

You Are Here by David Nicholls

Michael is adrift after his wife’s departure. He’ll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids any and all reminders of her rotten ex-husband. When a persistent mutual friend and some changeable weather land Michael and Marnie together on a 10-day hike, they’re both impossibly miserable — until they aren’t.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Bryn Turnbull says You Are Here "has the exact right amount of romance to warm even the chilliest (of elder-millennial) hearts."

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books that feature surfing

Sara Ackerman is the Hawai'i born, bestselling author of historical & romance novels set in the islands.

Her books have been labeled “unforgettable” by Apple Books, “empowering & deliciously visceral” by Book Riot, and New York Times bestselling authors Kate Quinn and Madeline Martin have praised Ackerman’s novels as “fresh and delightful” and “brilliantly written.” Amazon chose Radar Girls as a best book of the month, and ALA Booklist gave The Codebreaker’s Secret a starred review.

Ackerman's new novel is The Maui Effect.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged "seven books that feature surfing, four fiction and three non-fiction." One title on the list:

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This NYT Bestseller has over 1 million ratings on Goodreads. Definitely for those who prefer books with a lot of glitz and drama. In typical TJR fashion, she draws you in with her vividly drawn characters (the four famous Riva siblings, who all surf) and a twisty plot. It all happens in the span of 24 hours leading up to and including an end of summer bash (and also with flashbacks to the past) where everything spins out of control and the house goes up in flames. Surf is not the main focus in this novel, but we do get to paddle out and catch a few waves.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Malibu Rising is among Olivia Petter's five top novels that examine celebrity culture, Shilpi Somaya Gowda's ten novels with rotating perspectives, Laura Griffin's seven suspense titles in which paradise is not what it seems, and María Amparo Escandón's eight top books about living in Los Angeles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books about women keeping secrets

Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent, the short-story collection Forgetting English, and, with coauthor John Yunker, the mystery novel Devils Island. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. Raymond has taught at Boston University, Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is co-founder of the boutique publisher Ashland Creek Press.

[The Page 69 Test: My Last Continent; Writers Read: Midge Raymond (June 2016)]

At CrimeReads Raymond tagged eight books "about women with secrets and how they hide them (from the world and within themselves) and how their secrets are devastatingly revealed to the other characters and to the reader." One title on the list:

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

When Barbara Van Laar disappears from summer camp on the property that her family has owned for generations, it becomes clear she’s been keeping secrets. Yet she’s not the only one. As the search for Barbara launches, we get glimpses into her family’s dark history and the lives of those who surround the Van Laars, many of whom have secrets of their own. Narrated by myriad characters, this gripping novel reveals what lies hidden within the family as well as the community surrounding them.

Read about the other books on the list.

The God of the Woods is among Molly Odintz's eight thrillers & horror novels set at terrible summer camps.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten fantasy & romantasy books to help grapple with complex social issues

Penn Cole is an international bestselling author of magical worlds, feisty women, and angsty romance. Her debut series, The Kindred’s Curse Saga, has been sold in over a dozen languages to date. Before pursuing her lifelong dream of publishing, Cole had a prior career as an artist and attorney. Although she’s a Texas girl born and bred, she currently lives in France with her husband where she can usually be found eating far too many pastries and trolling her readers on Discord.

At People magazine the author tagged ten books "to inspire readers to return to their lives with a more inclusive mindset and a more courageous heart." One title on the list:

Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli

Billed as “The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games,” this four-book romantasy series features a high-stakes tournament for a King’s hand in marriage that combines a spicy, enemies-to-lovers romance with the unpredictable twists and turns of epic fantasy. Lor is a fierce protagonist who holds her own in a world of men trying to control her. One of my favorite quotes says it all: “I am not his conquest. I am not his to claim. I am my own castle.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about islands and isolation

Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent, the short-story collection Forgetting English, and, with coauthor John Yunker, the mystery novel Devils Island. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. Raymond has taught at Boston University, Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is co-founder of the boutique publisher Ashland Creek Press.

[The Page 69 Test: My Last Continent; Writers Read: Midge Raymond (June 2016)]

At The Nerd Daily Raymond tagged seven books that "feature tales of how the effects of isolation can lead humans to act in unexpected ways, for better or worse, as well as how it can help them discover who they truly are." One title on the list:

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

In this stunning novel set at a lighthouse on an isolated point of land, a grieving couple rescue an infant, adrift at sea with her deceased father, and claim her as their own. Still mourning her miscarriages and stillbirth, Isabel convinces her reluctant husband, Tom, that the baby who washed ashore is meant to be theirs. Living in isolation, they can live their uneasy family dream until they return to the mainland when the child is two—and realize their actions didn’t happen in isolation after all.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue