Ten top titles set in the wilderness

In addition to being a writer, Alice Henderson is a dedicated wildlife researcher, geographic information systems specialist, and bioacoustician. She documents wildlife on specialized recording equipment, checks remote cameras, creates maps, and undertakes wildlife surveys to determine what species are present on preserves, while ensuring there are no signs of poaching. She’s surveyed for the presence of grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, jaguars, endangered bats, and more.

Henderson's new novel, The Vanishing Kind, is the fourth book in the Alex Carter series.

At The Strand Magazine the author tagged ten stirring reads set in the wilderness. One title on the list:

The River of Souls by Robert McCammon

In 1703, detective Matthew Corbett journeys up the Solstice River in the Carolinas in search of an accused murderer. There he encounters strange settlements steeped in mysticism and eerie stories of a mythical beast hunting humans in the fetid landscape. But nothing will stop Corbett, an intelligent, resourceful, and honor-bound character, from seeing justice done.

Robert McCammon is one of our finest contemporary writers. He has the gift of transporting readers to the settings of his books, in this case to the swamps of the Carolinas in colonial America, where alligators and snakes prowl the dark waters.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles about the complicated history of U.S. citizenship

Katie Moench is a librarian, runner, and lover of baked goods. A school librarian in the Upper Midwest, Moench lives with her husband and dog and spends her free time drinking coffee, trying new recipes, and adding to her TBR list.

At Book Riot she tagged eight books that show "the idea of citizenship was not something once defined in the early years of the U.S. as a country, but it is rather a nebulous concept that has been defined and redefined over and over since the nation’s beginnings." One title on the list:

Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States by Hiroshi Motomura

In this expansive text, Professor Hiroshi Motomura compares and contrasts the experiences of immigrants to the United States across two centuries. Examining immigration statutes, deportation laws, and cultural conceptions of whether newcomers should assimilate to their new country, Motomura provides a comprehensive look at how American laws and American attitudes toward immigration and naturalization have shifted over time.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six YA reads in stunning locations

Rachel Ekstrom Courage is the author of the Young Adult thriller Nothing Bad Happens Here and Murder By Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery.

She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband (the children’s book author Nick Courage) and their dog, Chaely.

At The Nerd Daily Courage tagged six "young adult thrillers and romances [that] will transport you to beautiful and unique locales from the comfort of your favorite reading nook." One title on the list:

Hop a train from France to Italy and fall in love with All Roads Lead To Rome by Sabrina Fedel, a Roman Holiday-esque YA romance featuring an anxious introvert who thinks she knows all the gelato shops and picturesque ruins of the Eternal City. But when she meets a Scottish hottie and gets embroiled in a fake-dating scheme, will it be her heart that’s left in ruins?

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve titles that center work & working-class lives

Dustin M. Hoffman writes stories about working people. His newest story collection is Such a Good Man. He’s also the author of the story collectionNo Good for Digging and the fiction chapbook Secrets of the Wild. His first book One-Hundred-Knuckled Fist won the 2015 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. He’s published more than one hundred stories in journals including Black Warrior Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Ninth Letter, Masters Review, Witness, Wigleaf, The Threepenny Review, Gulf Coast, and One Story. Before getting his MFA in fiction from Bowling Green State University and his PhD in creative writing from Western Michigan University, he spent ten years painting houses in Michigan. Now he lives in South Carolina and teaches creative writing at Winthrop University.

At Electric Lit Hoffman tagged "twelve books of poetry and prose that depict not just working-class people but that foreground work as the feature." One title on the list:

The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

I also adore Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, which depicts low-wage restaurant work in some of Orwell’s most scene-driven narrative. But The Road to Wigan Pier is an absolutely brilliant and insightful investigative piece into the work and conditions of coal miners. When I first read this, the television show Dirty Jobs was quite popular, and Orwell was doing something similar yet much more in-depth—full immersion into this very dangerous, dirty job. He depicts the human lives at the center of this work with great sensitivity, while also capturing the sensory pain of forever crouching so as not to bang your head on a rocky roof. The book goes on to discuss class consciousness and socialism in ways that still feel valid and important today. Beyond being fascinating and important, this is such an entertaining read. I’m a huge Orwell fan, but I actually find Animal Farm and 1984 overly didactic to the point of being a bit obvious. In my opinion, Orwell’s nonfiction is his most interesting work.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Road to Wigan Pier is among Ben Highmore's ten best books about houses and Robert McCrum's books to inspire busy public figures.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four mystery titles that explore legacy

Benjamin Bradley is a member of both Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He's the author of the Shepard & Kelly Mystery series through Indies United Publishing House and his short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Reckon Review and Flash Fiction Magazine. He works in public health and homelessness and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, their cat Fox, and their dog Harper.

Bradley's new novel is What He Left Behind.

At CrimeReads he tagged four mystery novels that explore legacy. One entry on the list:

What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris

Set on the coast of Georgia, Morris’ novel brings protagonist Deena Wood into the world of Holcomb, who is fighting desperately to keep land that has been in his family for generations. Holcomb’s story is a grim one, with strained familial relationships and a lonely existence, and it’s apparent that one of his last great hopes is to keep the land safe. Morris sprinkles these life-and-death questions throughout, keeping Holcomb and their legacy as a common thread through a great mystery.

Read about the other mysteries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine horror titles about monstrous women

Susie Dumond is a queer writer originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the author of Queerly Beloved, Looking for a Sign, and Bed and Breakup, and she also talks about books as a senior contributor at Book Riot and a bookseller at her local indie bookstore. Dumond lives in Washington, D.C., with her spouse, Mickey, and her cat, Maple. When she’s not writing or reading, you can find her baking cupcakes or belting karaoke at the nearest gay bar.

At Book Riot Dumond tagged nine books featuring monstrous yet deeply complicated women and girls. One title on the list:

Motheater by Linda H. Codega

Bennie is sick and tired of the Appalachian mining company where she works putting its employees in danger. After her best friend dies in a coal mine, Bennie quits her job and starts investigating the deaths of local miners to prove the company is at fault. She soon finds a nearly-drowned woman in a mine slough who turns out to be a frightening ancient witch named Motheater, destined to protect the mountains from being exploited. Together, Bennie and Motheater find unexpected power to change the future for their mountain home.

With eerily beautiful prose, mystical characters, and an immersive natural setting, it’s a powerful story about the sacrifices we make to protect the places and people we love.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top horror novels set in small towns

Allison Gunn is a professional researcher, writer, and podcaster with a penchant for all things whimsical and strange. An alum of the University of Maryland, she has extensively studied marginalized communities as well as Appalachian folklore and the occult. She currently resides in the wonderfully weird land of West Virginia with her twin daughters, a precocious pup, and one seriously troubled tabby.

Nowhere is her first novel.

At Electric Lit Gunn tagged "seven terrifying horror novels set in small towns." One title on the list:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

A terrifying examination of broken families, Sharp Objects slices through the thin veneer of congeniality that covers a multitude of sins in small-town culture. Journalist Camille Preaker returns to her Missourian hometown to investigate the recent murders of two young girls. Flynn takes readers on a wild ride, evoking a visceral pain as Camille battles horrific memories of her past before crashing into a jaw-dropping ending.

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

Sharp Objects is among Lucy Foley's six top stories of folk horror, Katherine Higgs-Coulthard's top six crime-in-the-family thrillers, Zach Vasquez's seven dark novels about motherhood, Christina Dalcher's seven crime books that challenge the idea of inherent female goodness, Nicole Trope's six domestic suspense novels where nothing is really ever what it seems, Heather Gudenkauf's ten great thrillers centered on psychology, and Peter Swanson's ten top thrillers that explore mental health.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books that combine mystery & romance

Bellamy Rose has never solved an actual murder. When she’s not writing about them, she spends her time trying to taste every cuisine in the world, befriending all the animals she meets, and publishing non-murdery rom-coms as the USA Today bestselling author Amanda Elliot. She lives with her husband and daughter in New York City.

Roses's new novel is Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder.

At CrimeReads she tagged seven favorite books that combine mystery and romance. One title on the list:

Royal Blood by Aimée Carter

This absolutely delightful young adult mystery follows Evan, the illegitimate daughter of the king of England left reeling when her identity is suddenly revealed in the press. The press turns even more bloodthirsty when she becomes the primary suspect in a murder investigation. The only way to clear her name and regain a shred of normalcy is for Evan to team up with a hot royal insider and find the real killer. I loved this book not just for its fun fusion of romance and mystery but for its inclusion of family drama – Evan has a lot of (understandably) complicated feelings toward her father the king, her stepmother the queen, and her half-sister the crown princess, and watching those feelings change and evolve over the book was incredibly rewarding.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best fantasy journeys

Grace Curtis is a freeroaming writer from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Her debut Frontier, a queer space western about climate change (really), came out in March last year.

The follow up Floating Hotel was a bestseller in the UK.

When she’s not dreaming up stories, Curtis can usually be found up a hill somewhere, climbing or hiking or lolling idly in the grass.

Idolfire is her first work of fantasy.

At The Nerd Daily the author tagged five top fantasy journeys, including:

N.K. Jemisin – The Fifth Season

Proceed with caution: The Fifth Season is fairy food. Once you’ve tried it, all other fantasy will seem tasteless by comparison. It’s a bargain worth making, though. Jemisin assembles a fascinating, terrifying world, caught in an endless cycle of disasters, and sets three different women out across it. A mind-altering novel that puts twee sword n’ sorcery contemporaries to shame.

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Fifth Season is among Tochi Onyebuchi's seven books about surviving political and environmental disasters, Lit Hub's twenty best novels of the decade, Mark Skinner's eleven top works of science fiction & fantasy by black authors and Emily Temple's ten best road trip books. The Broken Earth series is among John Scalzi's six best examples of sci-fi worldbuilding and Joel Cunningham's eleven top sci-fi & fantasy books or series with a powerful message of social justice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels that will change the way you think about divorce

Amy Shearn is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Dear Edna Sloane, Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and How Far is the Ocean From Here. She has worked as an editor for Medium, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Oprah, Coastal Living, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Catapult, The Millions, The Rumpus, and many other publications.

Shearn has an MFA from the University of Minnesota, and currently lives in Brooklyn with her two children.

Her new novel is Animal Instinct.

[The Page 99 Test: How Far Is the Ocean from Here; Writers Read: Amy Shearn (March 2013); Q&A with Amy Shearn; My Book, The Movie: Dear Edna Sloane; The Page 69 Test: Dear Edna Sloane; The Page 69 Test: Animal Instinct; Writers Read: Amy Shearn (March 2025); My Book, The Movie: Animal Instinct]

At Electric Lit Shearn tagged "seven novels that each made me think about divorce—and life—a little differently." One title on the list:

The Not Wives by Carley Moore

So many of the great divorce novels ask the question, What if divorce isn’t the end, but the beginning? This is the thrust of The Not-Wives, a wild, sexy, queer book about restarting and revolution. Set against the backdrop of Occupy-era NYC, this poetic novel tells the story of three women who are decidedly Not Wives—one bisexual woman who is looking for love and hoping to start a family (while being constantly sexually harassed by men she works with); one young unhoused woman who needs to wrench free of her addict partner; and one queer mother who is still getting her footing after a recent divorce. Liberated sex lives are intertwined with political resistance here; the book opens, “Perhaps fucking was a road map for those of us who no longer believed in directions.” Each of these women is looking for new road maps, paths that don’t necessarily hew to the white-picket-fence-heterosexual-nuclear-family blueprint we’re all meant to desire. As the divorced mother says: “I used to think my job was to stay whole, to keep it all humming along like the vaudeville act with the spinning plates, every plate just about to fall and break, but still miraculously whirling. But I was wrong, my job was to let the plates crash and shatter. My job was to fall apart spectacularly, and then to make a new self out of fragments.”

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Six mysteries that will make you turn back to page one

Before turning to fiction, Aggie Blum Thompson worked as a newspaper reporter, covering cops, courts, and trials, with a healthy dose of the mundane mixed in. Her writing has appeared in newspapers such as The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. She lives in the suburbs just over the Washington D.C. line with her husband, two children, cat, and dog.

Thompson's new novel is You Deserve to Know.

At CrimeReads the author tagged six mysteries with a very late reveal thar "reframes the entire book and turns everything we think we just learned on its head..., sending us back to chapter one to see if we can spot what was hiding in plain sight all along." One title on the list:

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

One could be forgiven at first for thinking this is a family novel about two adult sisters navigating their complicated relationship. Hang on, because these two sisters are not the people they claim or appear to be, and one of them is playing mind games with the reader. These two fully-developed characters have such different takes on their shared troubled childhood, as well as events that unfold during the book, that we are forced to take sides. Only when the truth is revealed do we realize how easily we have been manipulated.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles set on trains that show how they changed the world

Emma Donoghue is the author of sixteen novels, including the award-winning national bestseller Room, the basis for the acclaimed film of the same name.

Her latest novel is The Paris Express.

Donoghue has also written the screenplays for Room and The Wonder and nine stage plays. Her next film (adapted with Philippa Lowthorpe from Helen Macdonald’s memoir) is H Is for Hawk.

Born in Dublin, she lives in Ontario with her family.

At Lit Hub Donoghue tagged nine books set on trains and showing how they changed the world. One entry on the list:

Émile Zola, The Beast Within

Probably the most famous train novel is Émile Zola’s La Bête humaine (1890, variously translated as The Beast Within, The Beast in Man, The Human Beast or The Monomaniac). His portrayal of the close three-way partnership between driver, stoker and train—encouraged for mercenary reasons by the Company, but a genuine, overwhelming passion nonetheless—inspired many passages in The Paris Express.

Zola’s lurid plot is easily mocked for its relentless association of railway travel with rape and murder, for both crew and passengers…but his writing is so magnificent, this is the one I will always think of when I hear that haunting choo-choo of a passing train in the night.

Read about the other books on the list at Lit Hub.

La Bête Humaine is among Andrew Martin's ten top books about trains.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles to read when the world is on fire

Sari Fordham is a writer, professor, and environmental activist. Committed to being kind to the earth, Sari writes a free monthly newsletter, "Cool It: Simple Steps to Save the Planet.” Each newsletter focuses on practical actions we can take for a more sustainable planet.

Fordham has lived in Uganda, Kenya, Thailand, South Korea, and Austria. She has a BA from Southern Adventist University, an MA from Iowa State University, and an MFA from the University of Minnesota.

Fordham teaches creative nonfiction at SUNY Oswego and lives in upstate New York with her husband and daughter.

Wait for God to Notice, a memoir about her childhood in Uganda, is her first book.

At Electric Lit Fordham tagged "seven books to read that offer a sustainable path forward." One title on the list:

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, Camille T. Dungy addressed the first Trump presidency, writing, “In the months after the 2016 presidential election, I often found myself in the company of people, almost always white, who said, ‘This is all so surprising. This isn’t who America is!’ ... But I was not shocked. For quite some time–since the beginning, really–Black Americans have pointed out that ‘this’ is actually happening.”

It is now 2025 and “this” is still happening, but even more egregiously. Soil expands the definition of nature writing, inviting in those—such as mothers—who have been excluded from the genre. She is mindful of her readers’ mundane responsibilities because she, too, has to wash the dishes. As Dungy nurtures her garden, pulling up bindweed and growing native plants, she contends with both a pandemic and racism. She weaves these lived experiences together into a book that is wise and sustaining, and through it, she shows us the work we must undertake to create a better future.

Read about the other books on Fordham's list at Electric Lit.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirty-six of the best mystery thriller books

At Marie Claire Andrea Park tagged "the 36 best mystery thriller books of all time." One title on the list:

In the Woods by Tana French

You’ll be thinking about the ending of this novel—the first in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series—for a long time after it’s over. (I, for one, have been haunted by it for almost a decade now.) In it, two members of the squad are assigned to find the killer of a young girl, a case further complicated by one of the detectives’ mysterious history at the same location.

Read about the other books on the list.

In the Woods is among Jacqueline Faber's seven thrillers about the role of the witness, Margot Harrison's six titles about the perils of memory manipulation, Peter Nichols's six novels whose crimes & mysteries grow out of place and manners, Amy Tintera's five top thrillers featuring amnesiacs, Emily Schultz's eight top novels about memory loss, Gabino Iglesias's fifty best mysteries of all time, Kate Robards's five thrillers unfolding in wooded seclusion, Paula Hawkins's five novels with criminal acts at their heart, Alafair Burke's top ten books about amnesia, Caz Frear's five top open-ended novels, Gabriel Bergmoser's top ten horror novels, Kate White's favorite thrillers with a main character who can’t remember what matters most, Kathleen Donohoe's ten top titles about missing persons, Jessica Knoll's ten top thrillers, Tara Sonin's twenty-five unhappy books for Valentine’s Day, Krysten Ritter's six favorite mysteries, Megan Reynolds's top ten books you must read if you loved Gone Girl, Emma Straub's ten top books that mimic the feeling of a summer vacation, the Barnes & Noble Review's five top books from Ireland's newer voices, and Judy Berman's ten fantastic novels with disappointing endings.

The Page 69 Test: In the Woods.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five supernatural serial killers

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. She is the first Latina in history to win a Bram Stoker Award. Pelayo writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and cycles of violence. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, The Shoemaker’s Magician, Forgotten Sisters, as well as dozens of standalone short stories and poems.

At CrimeReads Pelayo tagged five "novels that explore supernatural serial killers." One title on the list:

The Angelmaker by Alex North

Katie Shaw grew up in a wonderful home with a loving family. One day that all changed when her brother Chris was attacked by a stranger. As a result, Chris developed a number of issues and eventually separated from his family. Nearly two decades later, Katie now has a family of her own, but the traumatic events of her childhood linger. Then one day, Chris goes missing. Simultaneously, Detectives Laurence Page and Detective Caroline Pettifer are investigating the murder of a professor and during their search, Chris becomes connected to the case. The serial killer here is Jack Lock, who claims he can see into the future. This is a genre blending, multi-layered novel with breadth and depth. A number of issues are explored including religious fanaticism and philosophy. So how easy is it to stop a serial killer who claims to know events to come? Read The Angelmaker to find out.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels about women over 40

Colleen Oakley is the USA Today bestselling author of six novels including, The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise, The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, You Were There Too, Close Enough to Touch, Before I Go, and her latest Jane and Dan at the End of the World.

[The Page 69 Test: Before I Go; Writers Read: Colleen Oakley (January 2015); Writers Read: Colleen Oakley (March 2017)]

At Electric Lit Oakley tagged seven novels featuring "protagonists over the age of 40—women navigating the complexities of middle life with all its triumphs, heartbreaks, and reinventions." One title on the list:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett’s latest engrossing novel is about a 57-year-old mother who finally tells the story of her once-upon-a-time love affair with a famous Hollywood star to her three grown daughters. It’s poignant, introspective and beautifully nostalgic.

Read about the other novels on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Three recent books on economic statecraft

Daniel W. Drezner is Professor of International Politics, a nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the co-director of Fletcher's Russia and Eurasia Program. He has written seven books, including All Politics is Global and Theories of International Politics and Zombies, and edited three others, including The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence.

On his Substack Drezner tagged "three recent books on [economic statecraft] that merit a closer look from anyone interested in the topic." One title on the list:

Ketian Zhang’s China’s Gambit: The Calculus of Coercion

This book is a worthy addition to the rapidly expanding literature on Chinese coercion. Zhang examines the conditions under which China chose to coerce from the 1990s to the 2010s across multiple issue areas, including Taiwan, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Dalai Lama. Her core argument is that China usually “coerces to deter” — China’s goal in employing coercion is not just to pressure the target, but to send a message of resolve to other actors contemplating similar moves. Or, to paraphrase an old Chinese aphorism, China is killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Relying on an impressive array of Chinese-language sources, Zhang’s research is impeccable. Refreshingly, this is a book about non-events as well as events — to test her theory, Zhang compares incidents that triggered a coercive response with similar incidents that did not trigger the same response to test her arguments. Her findings challenge the conventional wisdom of China as a monotonically increasing bully on the global stage. Furthermore, by looking at both military and economic forms of coercion, Zhang demonstrates the value-added of theorizing about coercion more broadly.

Read about the other books on Drezner's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six romances about creatives in love

Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from various universities in the UK and the US, she moved to Edinburgh where she lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Meet Me in Another Life (2021) and the newly released time-travel romantic comedy Love and Other Paradoxes (2025).

At The Nerd Daily Silvey tagged "six romances where both partners are creatively inclined, and where the romantic resolution is tied up with each of the characters finding creative fulfilment." One title on the list:

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Kiki is a student radio host with big ambitions and a no-dating rule. Malakai is the new boy on campus, an aspiring filmmaker Kiki initially writes off as a womaniser. When an impulsive kiss between them leads to drama, Kiki and Malakai embark on a staged relationship to salvage her reputation with the university’s close-knit Black community.

Employing romance tropes (fake dating, anyone?) with knowing panache, Babalola’s funny, charming debut novel excels at showing its loveable characters finding their creative voices as they find each other. And if you haven’t read it yet, now’s the perfect time — the followup, a second-chance romance titled Sweet Heat, is coming this summer!

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six novels of intrigue set in Golden Age Hollywood

Susan Meissner is the critically-acclaimed author of 27 novels for adults and two children’s books. Her engaging novels feature memorable characters facing unique and complex circumstances, often against a backdrop of historical significance. A multi-award-winning author, her books have earned starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. More than a million of her books are in the hands of readers worldwide.

[Coffee with a Canine: Susan Meissner & Bella; My Book, The Movie: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard; My Book, The Movie: A Bridge Across the Ocean; The Page 69 Test: A Bridge Across the Ocean; The Page 69 Test: The Last Year of the War; The Page 69 Test: Only the Beautiful]

Meissner's new novel, A Map to Paradise, is set in 1956 Malibu during the last days of the Hollywood Red Scare and the era of the blacklist.

At CrimeReads Meissner tagged six favorite novels set in Golden Age Hollywood, including:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This wildly popular novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the story of an aging Hollywood movie icon who decides to reveal long-held secrets to a novice magazine reporter. Cosmopolitan aptly says of it, “Come for the glam Old Hollywood vibes, stay for a touching tale of a young reporter and a silver screen legend.” I liked it (the audio version was wonderfully voiced) but if I could be so bold, I liked so much more Reid’s Daisy Jones and the Six. This novel is only merely Hollywood-adjacent, though, taking place in Los Angeles. The story, uniquely constructed in lines of conversation, follows the rise and fall of a 1970s rock band. Everything about it is perfect; I had to list it.

Read about the other novels on the list at CrimeReads.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is among People magazine staffers' favorite literary romances, Elizabeth Staple's eight titles about youthful mistakes that come back to haunt you, Katherine St. John's five top fiction titles about Hollywood, and Kerri Jarema's eleven top novels set in Old Hollywood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books about the Chinese immigrant experience

Su Chang is a Chinese-Canadian writer. Born and raised in Shanghai, she is the daughter of a former (reluctant) Red Guard leader. Her fiction has been recognized in Prairie Fire’s Short Fiction Contest, the Canadian Authors’ Association (Toronto) National Writing Contest, the ILS/Fence Fiction Contest, the Masters Review’s Novel Excerpt Contest, the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest, among others.

Her debut novel is The Immortal Woman.

At Electric Lit Chang tagged nine books that "offer a diverse range of Chinese immigrant experiences in North America, weaving together tales of aspiration, adaptation, and identity across generations." One title on the list:

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

In present-day Vancouver, a young woman embarks on a journey to untangle the history of her broken family, guided by her connection with a girl from China. Their fathers, both musicians, shared lives that were deeply entwined during the Cultural Revolution, leaving generational reverberations that shape the present. . This sweeping, politically charged novel, grounded in years of meticulous research, offers a kaleidoscope of insights into the Chinese psyche. Deeply personal yet universally resonant, it vividly captures the minutiae of life within China while transcending cultural and geographic boundaries.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Four of the best country house novels

Jonny Sweet started out winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer in 2009, and in the intervening years, his work as a writer and actor has been varied and exceptional. His first feature was Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley.

Alongside writing and acting, he develops and produces TV and film through his award-winning company People Person Pictures.

The Kellerby Code is Sweet's debut novel.

At the Waterstones blog the author tagged "his all-time favourite novels set in country manors." One title on the list:

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day was also an influence for my book in that it takes the English trope of the butler and psychoanalyses it, discovers its sadnesses, its buried memories. Considering it today I think it’s an interesting companion to Ishiguro’s screenplay for Living. Excavating English silences, or the language of avoidance, it is funny and deeply moving, and entire passages of the book are still very vivid to me - more so than any other book on this list.

Read about the other books on the list.

The Remains of the Day is among Emily Temple's seven great love stories for cynics, Sung J. Woo’s five top mysterious classic novels that take place in a grand manor house, Saumya Roy's seven books about star-crossed lovers, A. Natasha Joukovsky's seven novels that subvert social norms, Mark Skinner's ten best country house novels, Xan Brooks's ten top terrible houses in fiction, Molly Schoemann-McCann's nine great books for people who love Downton Abbey, Lucy Lethbridge's ten top books about servants, and Tim Vine's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten Washington D.C. titles that aren’t about politicians

Charlotte Taylor Fryar is a writer, historian, educator, and herbalist. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Glen Echo, Maryland, less than seven hundred feet from the banks of the Potomac River.

Her first book, Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation’s River, is an essay collection exploring the natural history & racial history of Washington, D.C.’s waterways.

At Lit Hub Fryar tagged ten Washington D.C. books that aren’t about politicians. One entry on the list:

Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

The New York Times Book Review heralded Dinaw Mengestu’s debut as “a great African novel, a great Washington novel, and a great American novel.” Nearly twenty years after its publication, it’s fair to say that The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and Mengestu’s more recent novel Someone Like Us (2024) are two of the century’s greatest D.C. novels.

Set primarily in Logan Circle in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the novel captures the gentrification of the neighborhood alongside the personal dislocation of Sepha Stephanos, an Ethiopian shopkeeper haunted by exile and yearning for connection.

The book is at its most poignant in its descriptions of a city whitening under the shadow of the federal government. In one particularly melancholy scene, reminiscent of Jones’ compass-like sense of the city, Stephanos leaves his store, walking west to the corner of 16th and P Streets. From here, he remarks, “You can see the White House…the street unfurls from its gate like a massive concrete carpet….I used to think that there was some great metaphor in this.”

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten notable romantic thrillers

Best-selling romantic suspense author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 5 million books in print and her books have been on the USA Today bestseller list, the ECPA, CBA, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon bestseller lists. She writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail.

Coble's newest novel is Ambush.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "ten of the best romantic thrillers [she's] read in the past year." One title on the list:

Beautiful Storm by Barbara Freethy

When her father’s plane mysteriously disappeared in the middle of an electrical storm, Alicia Monroe became obsessed with lightning. Obsessed by storms, Alicia covers local stories by day and chases storms at night. One night during a violent thunderstorm she sees what appears to be a murder during a flash of lightning and her investigation puts her in extreme danger. The storm aspect of this novel was particularly compelling to me (my brother died from a lightning strike) and I read it all in one sitting.

Read about the other novels on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight novels set in strange, unsettling towns

Jon Bassoff is the author of ten novels, several of which have been translated into French and German. His mountain-gothic novel, Corrosion, was nominated for the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, France’s biggest crime fiction award, and his debut novel, The Disassembled Man, was recently adapted for the big screen. For his day job, Bassoff teaches high school English in Longmont, Colorado.

His latest novel is The Memory Ward.

At Electric Lit Bassoff tagged eight "novels set in strange unsettling towns that will haunt you." One title on the list:

The City and the City by China Miéville

This trippy and surreal novel explores two cities, Besźel and Ul Qoma, which somehow occupy the same geographical space. The citizens of each city are trained from birth to “unsee” the other city, which is difficult considering the space and architecture are identical. This conscious separation is enforced by an unseen but terrifying authority called Breach, who punishes those who violate the boundaries between the two cities. Although it was published fifteen years ago, the novel is particularly timely considering the dual narratives that spread across our politics.

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

The City and the City is among Walter Mosley's five favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels that explore friendship's complexity

Jeremy Gordon's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Pitchfork, The Atlantic, and GQ. He was born in Chicago, and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Jen.

See Friendship is his first novel.

At Lit Hub Gordon tagged "seven novels that explore friendship in all its messy, complex beauty." One title on the list:

Mary Gaitskill, Veronica

One of the key relationships in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is the friendship between Lisa (a young woman played by Anna Paquin) and Emily (an older woman played by Jeannie Berlin), who befriend each other after Emily’s best friend is struck and killed in a bus accident that Lisa happens to witness. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, so I can only paraphrase the texture of the interaction, but one of my favorite moments is when Emily accuses Lisa of milking the tragedy to add color and drama to her own existence: “We are not all supporting characters to the drama of your amazing life,” she says. Everything feels so intense in youth, but age brings the perspective requires to get along with all this intensity—and this contrast between young and old also marks Veronica, in which a former model reminisces about her friendship with the title character, whose impact and worth cannot quite be appreciated until the narrator is old herself.

Read about the other novels on the list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven essential domestic psychological thrillers

Susan Moore is an author and screenwriter whose creative journey has been fueled by the world of technology. Her work captures the essence of what it means to be human in a complex and ever-changing world. She has over three decades of experience working in the film, tech and media, most notably at Skywalker for Lucasfilm Ltd.

She has been successfully published worldwide for the Nat Walker Trilogy and Power Families series, and has an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Kingston University, London. Her new thriller is The Widow’s Web.

At CrimeReads Moore tagged seven of the best domestic psychological thrillers, including:

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window cleverly plays on classic film noir tropes, creating a modern-day Hitchcockian atmosphere filled with suspense and paranoia. With a narrator who is as captivating as she is flawed, the story masterfully keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue