Nine titles that explore the unique intimacy of sisters

Lisa K Friedman is a writer and essayist living in Washington, D.C. Her essays appear in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other publications.

Friedman's new novel is Hello Wife.

At Electric Lit she tagged "nine novels [that] explore the intricacies of trauma, love, conflict, and support between sisters." One title on the list:

The Turnout by Megan Abbott

This is a psychological drama of twin sisters who are so enmeshed in each other’s lives, they cannot see outside of their own microcosm. Dara and Marie share a business, a dance academy they inherited from their deceased mother. Like ballet dancers in training, their relationship is about control: control over the body, control over the business, and control over each other. The story is rife with tension and kept secrets, and shows the deep emotional conflict of women in competition. The nature of their bond is characterized by intensity and claustrophobia.

Read about the other titles on Friedman's list at Electric Lit.

The Turnout is among Kate Alice Marshall's six top thrillers featuring sisters (and murder), M. M. (Marjorie) DeLuca's six psychological suspense stories that feature young protagonists, and Lynn Slaughter's five memorable mysteries for performing arts lovers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books for understanding why we choose what we choose

Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches European and American intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, the trans-Atlantic Age of Revolutions, and the legacy of the eighteenth century for modern democracy.

[The Page 99 Test: Common Sense: A Political History; The Page 99 Test: Democracy and Truth]

Her latest book is The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life.

At Lit Hub Rosenfeld tagged five important books for understanding why we choose what we choose. One title on her list:

Alain Corbin, The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination

The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination is essentially a book about the declining tolerance for strong smells in 18th and 19th-century France. But it is more than that. In this and many subsequent books, Corbin makes the case that our sense perceptions and our emotions also have histories that can be recovered—and that doing so helps explain much about our collective social, political, and even everyday familial lives.

Read about the other titles on Rosenfeld's list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven new & recent 90’s throwback books

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

She is the author of Backslide and Pick-Up.

At People magazine Dahlia tagged eleven newer "90’s throwback books.... From memoir to literary fiction and from light to dark, these stories—though often complex in content—envelop us in simpler times." One title on the list:

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto’s determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. Six years later, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 U.S. Open, watching her record get taken from her.

She decides to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record — even if it means training with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Carrie Soto Is Back is among Adrian Markle's seven sports novels about more than athleticism.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels featuring women leading double lives

Lisa Borders is the author of the novels Cloud Cuckoo Land, chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award and a Massachusetts Book Awards honoree, and The Fifty-First State. A frequent humor contributor at McSweeney’s, her essays and short fiction have appeared in Past Ten, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Black Warrior Review and other journals.

Borders’s new novel is Last Night at the Disco.

At Electric Lit the author tagged seven novels in which female protagonists "are all very different characters, but the one thing they share is being trapped between two worlds, even if that trap is of their own making." One title on the list:

The Likeness by Tana French

A common trope in mysteries and thrillers is the imposter: a character pretending to be someone they’re not, living a double life by stepping into another’s identity. Often these imposters are criminals, but The Likeness approaches the genre in a different way: the imposter is Dublin police detective Cassie Maddox, who bears a startling resemblance to a young murder victim and slips into her life to try to solve the crime. As Cassie gets drawn into the young woman’s tight-knit group of college friends—one of whom she suspects might be the murderer—she develops feelings that threaten not only her ability to solve the case, but her own life. Much more than a standard detective story, Cassie’s yearning for this other life of closeness and camaraderie is deeply moving to the end.

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

The Likeness is among Allison Buccola's seven novels featuring imposters among us, Anna Snoekstra's seven titles built on the weight of a shared secret, Louise Hegarty’s eight Irish novels about the rise & fall of Big Houses, Emily Bain Murphy's seven mystery novels with the best twists, Emily Beyda's seven top doubles in the twisted world of mystery fiction, Sophie Stein's eight books about small-town woman detectives, Alison Wisdom's sven great thrillers featuring communal living, Christopher Louis Romaguera's nine books about mistaken identity, and Simon Lelic's top ten false identities in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels featuring demons and possession

K. Valentin works as a senior art director in casual gaming, herding twenty-plus amazing artists into some semblance of organization. She has been published in the Bag of Bones Horror Anthology, the Latino Book Review, and Cosmos: An Anthology of Dark Microfiction. As a comic writer and illustrator, her work has been published in Puerto Rico Strong and Proud: An LGBTQ+ YA Anthology. She has a BA in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University. An Amateur Witch's Guide to Murder is her debut novel.

At CrimeReads Valentin tagged seven of the latest and greatest novels featuring demons and possession, including:

Henry H. Neff, The Witchstone

In a world where demons have quotas and performance reviews, failing doesn’t mean a salary deduction—it means getting melted into primeval goo. Lazlo, the lazy, vice-riddled youngest son of the powerful demon lord Baalzebul, is forced to take his curse-keeper job seriously for the first time in his long life.

The task? Draw out misery from a young woman suffering under a truly gruesome family curse that will one day transform her into a monster.

This is definitely a more biblically classic yet tongue-in-cheek approach, with demonic hierarchy and rank determined not just by power, but by accomplishments. The horrific is juxtaposed right up against the hilarious, making for a memorable read.

Read about the other novels on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven works that push narrative boundaries

Molly O’Sullivan is a cybersecurity engineer turned speculative fiction writer with a love of nature, tea, and characters who, despite everything, still manage to hope. Originally from South Carolina, she has lived all over the country but now resides outside Seattle with her husband, two children, and curmudgeonly dog.

O’Sullivan's debut novel is The Book of Autumn.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged six books (plus one short story) that "experiment with form and structure to create an engaging and immersive experience that wholeheartedly sucks you into the story." One title on the list:

Possession by A.S. Byatt

This one follows two scholars researching the love life of two famous fictional poets. Following clues left inside diary entries, letters, and poetry from the nineteenth century attributed to the two poets, the scholars uncover the truth of their secret relationship. The novel flips between present day and past, culminating in a gorgeous narrative exploring art and ownership.

Read about the other titles on O’Sullivan's list.

Possession also appears on Ceillie Clark-Keane's list of nine literary mysteries with a big winter mood, Emily Temple's list of the twelve best descriptions of flowers in literature, Jae-Yeon Yoo's list of ten books about the importance of the post office, Paraic O’Donnell's top ten list of modern Victorian novels, a list of four books that changed Charlie Lovett, Michelle Dean's list of the six best books about university life, Kelly Anderson's top five list of books for newlyweds, Rebecca Mead's list of six favorite books that illuminate the Victorian era, Marina Warner's ten top list of fairytales, Ester Bloom's top ten list of fictional feminists, Niall Williams's list of ten of the best books that manage to make heroes out of readers, Kyle Minor's list of fifteen of the hottest affairs in literature, Emily Temple's list of the fifty greatest campus novels ever written, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best fossils in literature, ten of the most memorable libraries in literature, ten of the best fictional poets, ten of the best locks of hair in fiction, ten of the best graveyard scenes in fiction, and ten of the best lawyers in literature, and on Rachel Syme's list of the ten most attractive men in literature, Christina Koning's critic's chart of six top romances, and Elizabeth Kostova's top ten list of books for winter nights.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles to read if you love art crime

Brittany K. Allen is a writer and actor living in Brooklyn.

At Lit Hub she tagged seven books to read if you love art crime. One entry on the list:

María Gainza, Portrait of an Unknown Lady

I loved María Gainza’s autofictional Optic Nerve for its lush descriptions, and the bits of art history trivia. In this novel from the Argentinean art critic, we find another protagonist who’s obsessed with the image. But this time we’re in history, and foul play abounds. Following an art forger and the critic who’s hot on her trail, this novel considers why we crave authenticity from art.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten stories of real Black women in history

Jessica Pryde is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot, where she is the co-host of the When In Romance podcast and writes about bookish things of all kinds. Having earned an AB in the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis and her MLIS at San Jose State University, she is now a librarian for a public library system in Southern Arizona, where she lives with her husband and an ever-growing collection of Funko!Pops. Black Love Matters is her first book.

At Book Riot Pryde tagged ten books, nonfiction and historical fiction, that place real Black women in history front and center. One title on the list:

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

Josephine Leary is another one of those enterprising women who fell prey to history’s erasure. Born enslaved, she was able to come of age as a free woman during the Reconstruction. Having developed an interest in real estate, her dreams were often pushed back due to the day-to-day needs of family rearing and care. But eventually, she began buying property, leading to a small but remarkable business empire in the town of Edenton, North Carolina.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sixteen cozy novels that feature travel and international intrigue

Lucy Connelly travels around the world, usually with her bossy dog in tow. Her favorite pastime is sipping tea in a quaint cafe as she turns each passerby into a murder victim, witness, or suspect. If she stares at you strangely, don’t worry. She only murdered you in her book.

[The Page 69 Test: Death at a Scottish Wedding; Q&A with Lucy Connelly]

Connelly's new novel is Death on a Scottish Train.

At CrimeReads the author tagged sixteen favorite cozy novels that feature travel and international intrigue. One title on the list:

Gigi Pandian, Artifact

Artifact: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery by Gigi Pandian travels from the British library in London to the rugged Highlands of Scotland. She’s received mysterious package from a former flame, who just happens to turn up dead. She’s determined to find answers, but someone close might just be the murderer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five classic basketball books

Yaron Weitzman is an award-winning NBA writer and the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports and A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers. His work has appeared in outlets such as The Ringer, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, FOX Sports, The New Yorker, and GQ, and was recognized in 2020's "The Best American Sports Writing." None of this, however, matches his career highlight of being the ESPN Radio college intern tasked with delivering Stephen A. Smith his daily bag of Cheez Doodles.

At Lit Hub Weitzman tagged five classic basketball "books that moved me the first time I read them and have stayed with me ever since." One title on the list:

David Halberstam, The Breaks of the Game

You can’t talk about sports books—let alone basketball books—without paying homage to Halberstam’s masterpiece. On the surface, it’s a standard “A Season with Team X” setup: Halberstam embedded with the 1979–80 Portland Trail Blazers, a team two years removed from an NBA title and trying to figure out what came next. Not surprisingly, though, Halberstam turns this story into so much more.

Stuffed with sharp, brilliant and—perhaps most important of all—beautifully written portraits of unforgettable characters like Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas to the team’s legendary coach, Dr. Jack Ramsey, The Breaks of the Game set the standard for all sports books. Halberstam brought the same depth and seriousness to his reporting on the NBA as he did into his investigations on the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War and, in doing so, turned what could have just been a simple story about a basketball team into a sweeping meditation on race, labor, class dynamics and power, but did so way in way that was both fun and easy to consume. This is probably the greatest basketball book ever written. It’s also unlikely ever to be topped.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles about the power of political imagination

Mai Serhan is the author of CAIRO: the undelivered letters, winner of the 2022 Center for Book Arts Poetry Chapbook Award and I Can Imagine It For Us, a finalist for the 2022 Narratively Memoir Prize. Her writing has appeared in The London Magazine, The Adroit Journal, Magma Poetry, The Oxford Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine and elsewhere.

At Electric Lit Serhan tagged seven books about the power of political imagination. One title on the list:

No One Knows Their Blood Type by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat

This exquisite novel was longlisted for the 2025 Palestine Book Awards and, in my view, deserved to win. Abu Al-Hayyat’s narrative centers on Jumana, a woman struggling with the recent death of her father. After his passing, she discovers that her blood type does not match his, which casts doubt on her biological connection to him and, by extension, to her Palestinian heritage. The father, once a freedom fighter, is a deeply flawed character, much like mine. He is no perfect victim, and neither are the other characters. But it is precisely this complexity that brings them to life in dazzling, unforgettable ways. Hazem Jamjoum puts it beautifully in his translator’s afterword, noting that, unlike much of the literature that emerges from communities marked by dehumanization, this is not a story that pleads for the humanity of its characters. It does not appeal to a colonial gaze; instead, it centers us, our voices, our freedom to tell our own stories, and our authorship over our own narratives.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven historical horror titles inspired by true events

C. J. Cooke is an award-winning poet and novelist published in twenty-three languages. She teaches creative writing at the University of Glasgow, where she also researches the impact of motherhood on women’s writing and creative writing interventions for mental health.

Cooke's newest novel is The Last Witch.

At CrimeReads she tagged seven novels "that not only chill but also takes a long hard look at the histories that have haunted us for centuries," including:

Alma Katsu, The Hunger

The story of the Donner Party’s doomed journey west in 1846 is infamous, but Katsu reimagines their suffering as something darker than starvation and snow. As hunger gnaws at the travelers, strange accidents multiply, men vanish into the wilderness, and whispers of something inhuman stalking them grow louder.

Drawing on survivor accounts and historical documents, Katsu fuses history and horror to transform one of America’s greatest tragedies into a tale of supernatural menace.

Read about the other novels on Cooke's list at CrimeReads.

The Hunger is among Reedsy's one hundred best (and scariest) horror books of all time, Steph Auteri's ten modern horror classics keeping the genre alive, Sharon Virts's twenty scary books for Halloween, C. J. Tudor's five top winter thrillers, Brittany Bunzey's twenty-five "must-read, truly bone-chilling" horror books, Deborah E. Kennedy's seven hot mysteries set in the Midwestern winter, Meagan Navarro top ten scary good horror novels, Jac Jemc's top ten haunting ghost stories and Mallory O'Meara's top thirteen spine-chilling books written by female authors.

My Book, The Movie: The Hunger.

The Page 69 Test: The Hunger.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight fictional books that read like reality television

Natalie Zutter is a playwright and pop culture critic whose work has appeared on Reactor, NPR Books, Lit Hub, and elsewhere.

At Paste magazine she tagged eight fictional titles that read like reality television. One title on the list:

The Family Experiment by John Marrs
For Fans of: The Rehearsal

John Marrs’ dystopian thrillers envision futures in which DNA tests forcibly match up soulmates (The One) and the government pushes marriage while punishing singledom (The Marriage Act). Set in the same universe, The Family Experiment puts a speculative spin on an increasing issue in our society: overpopulation makes it so that many couples can’t actually afford to start families. The bizarre solution is to raise virtual children via artificial intelligence—but to make it more palatable, the government turns it into a reality show. On The Substitute, ten couples will spend nine months raising their AI babies from birth to eighteen years in a condensed experiment—and the winning couple will be forced to choose between keeping their virtual child or erasing them in order to conceive a flesh-and-blood baby. Of course it immediately brings to mind the bizarre turn that Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal took, when he inserted himself into another woman’s experiment in child-rearing, only for him and the child actor to become too emotionally invested in what was supposed to remain a hypothetical scenario.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books featuring devils, doppelgängers, ghosts, and creepy dolls

Laura Venita Green is a writer and translator with an MFA from Columbia University, where she was an undergraduate teaching fellow. Her fiction won the Story Foundation Prize, received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention, and appears in The Missouri Review, Story, Joyland, Fatal Flaw, and translated to Italian in Spazinclusi. Her translations appear in World Literature Today and The Apple Valley Review. Born in San Angelo, TX, she's lived in New Orleans and now lives with her husband in New York City. Sister Creatures is her debut novel.

At Electric Lit Green tagged "ten books, all published within the last decade, feature some sort of entity or presence that looms over the lives of their characters, and they’re all incredibly enjoyable reads." One title on the list:

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

There are two types of people in the world of Schweblin’s captivating novel: keepers & dwellers. Either you keep a Kentuki—a toy of uncannily janky quality, made to resemble various animals such as crows, moles, and pandas—or you dwell in one, surveilling your keeper through a concealed camera and microphone. A keeper and dweller are paired together randomly, from any place on the planet. A keeper might want a companion, or maybe a captive audience for their exhibitionist tendencies, or perhaps simply the newest product on shelves. A dweller might be experiencing a crushing loneliness, or they may be a pedophile hoping for a victim, or they’re someone who needs a means of escape from their sad reality. Whether the technology corrupts or simply exacerbates human flaws, with the help of these creepy little inanimate animals, Little Eyes—translated by the great Megan McDowell—explores the dark corners of human psychology.

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

Little Eyes is among Sara Sligar's four tech thrillers rooted in the tensions between technology & human nature and Rabeea Saleem's six technothrillers featuring digital surveillance and voyeurism.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six adult novels featuring young sleuths

Tom Ryan is an internationally best selling, award winning author, screenwriter and producer. His adult mystery debut The Treasure Hunters Club (2024) was an instant USA Today, Globe & Mail, and Toronto Star bestseller and a 2025 Edgar Award nominee. His YA mystery Keep This to Yourself (2019) was the winner of the 2020 ITW Thriller Award for Best YA Thriller, the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book, and the 2021 Ann Connor Brimer Award. His followup YA mystery I I Hope You're Listening (2020) was the winner of the 2021 Lambda “Lammy” Award for Best LGBTQ Mystery.

Ryan’s latest novel is We Had a Hunch.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "six of my favorite adult novels featuring young sleuths." One novel on the list:

Maria Semple, Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Not a whodunnit, but an engaging mystery of a different sort. When eccentric architect Bernadette Fox disappears, her fifteen-year-old daughter Bee decides to piece together the truth.

Told through emails, documents, and Bee’s narration, it’s fast-paced, surprisingly heartfelt, and often outright hilarious. (One scene involving a mudslide had me literally crying with laughter).

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette is among Kate McIntyre's seven top novels about only children, Francesca Segal's seven best books to prepare for motherhood, Kelly Simmons's six books to read with your teen or twentyish daughter, Jeff Somers's top five novels whose main characters are shut-ins and five books that use cultural anthropology to brilliant effect and top five novels featuring runaway parents, Heidi Fiedler's thirty-three books to read with your mother, the Star-Tribune's eight top funny books for dire times, Chrissie Gruebel's seven great books for people who love Modern Family, Charlotte Runcie's ten best bad mothers in literature, Joel Cunningham's seven notable epistolary novels and Chrissie Gruebel's five top books for readers inspired by Nora Ephron.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight horror tales about the power of nature and the environment

Leah Rachel von Essen is an editor, writer, and book reviewer. She is a copyeditor and fact-checker at Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as a contributing editor, Adult Books, for American Library Association’s magazine Booklist. She writes regularly for Chicago Review of Books and is a senior contributor at Book Riot.

At Book Riot she tagged eight horror reads about the power of nature and the environment. One title on the list:

The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

This dark Korean tale refers yes, to a hole. But also, the English word “hole” transliterates to a Koraen prefix that means “alone.” In this novel, Oghi has been disabled by a tragic car accident that killed his wife. Isolated in a room and dependent on his mother-in-law for care, he obsesses over his wife and his troubled relationship, and looks over her garden, which was her primary and sometimes only refuge. When he notices his mother-in-law furiously working there—and digging—he starts to wonder what secrets she’s hiding, and whether he can escape the eerie conviction that he is in danger.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lukas Gage's favorite celebrity memoirs

Lukas Gage is an actor/writer/producer who is best known for his role in the first season of the Emmy Award–winning HBO limited series, The White Lotus. Gage also starred in Netflix’s You; Euphoria on HBO; Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline; Down Low for FilmNation, which he cowrote and stars opposite Zach Quinto and Simon Rex; and Fargo on FX/HULU. Gage can also be seen in the remake of Road House for Amazon/MGM, Smile 2 for Paramount, and the highly anticipated film, Rosebush Pruning.

Gage's new memoir, I Wrote This for Attention, "details his upbringing in the west coast—including a broken family, struggles with addiction, sex, borderline personality disorder—and his commitment to being the center of attention at all times, even as he actually becomes a star."

At Lit Hub Gage tagged four celebrity memoirs that "didn’t just entertain me; they also gave me permission to overshare, to own my most cringe qualities, and to actually embrace them." One title on the list:

Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough, From Here to the Great Unknown

This one hits hard. Lisa Marie and Riley’s dual voices weave a haunting, intimate duet about family, grief, and carrying a legacy. It’s layered, emotional, and lingers with you long after you finish it. The writing from both Lisa and Riley is so honest and descriptive you are teleported into their world.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Vogue's list of "41 celebrity memoirs that are actually worth reading" and Sadie Trombetta's nine memoirs that reveal the dark side of Hollywood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirteen of the best books for "House of Guinness" fans

Emily Burack is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site.

At Town & Country she tagged thirteen of the best books for fans of the Netflix period drama House of Guinness, including:

Guinness: A Family Succession: The True Story of the Struggle to Create the the World's Largest Brewery by Arthur Edward Guinness

New this fall is a history of the Guinness family from Arthur Edward Guinness, a member of the dynasty himself. “I’m aware of if the story doesn't get told, the story can get told in many different ways, and some of them will be inaccurate. Some will have axes to grind; some will not reference family papers and primary sources like I’m privileged to have. And I have Arthur Guinness on my passport, I’m proud of being an Arthur Guinness, and I’ll tell my version of the story with access that I have—hopefully it’s readable, entertaining, and informative,” he told Town & Country.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 100 best (and scariest) horror books of all time

One title from Reedsy's list of the one hundred best (and scariest) horror books of all time:

The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012)

Caitlin R. Kiernan is one of the finest horror writers out there when it comes to blending the gothic and the fantastic. She elevates her game even more with this ghost story about India Morgan Phelps, a schizophrenic girl who one day picks up Eve Canning on the street — and who, in turn, might be a werewolf, mermaid, or siren. Kiernan is one of the rare authors who can up the suspense quotient to insane levels while writing about mental illness with the sensitivity that it deserves.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Drowning Girl is among Ross Johnson's top eleven recent trans-positive SFF works, Kendare Blake's favorite reads that somehow star creepy water, and Peter Straub's six favorite books.

My Book, The Movie: The Drowning Girl.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books about ballet

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Molly Schoemann-McCann tagged nine books about ballet, including:

To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel, by Siena Cherson Siegel

Siena was only six when she decided she wanted to become a ballerina. When a doctor told her that she had flat feet and could never be a dancer, she refused to give up on her dream. Her journey took her from Puerto Rico to Boston and beyond, and from a young girl to a young woman, as she dedicated herself to pursuing a career in ballet. The unusual graphic novel format is surprisingly well-suited to the story.

Read about the other books on the list.

Also see Nina Laurin's eight books that feature the world of ballet; Lucy Ashe's eight books about growing up through ballet; Tammy Greenwood's four books that juxtapose the beauty and ugliness of ballet; Charley Burlock's five books to awaken your inner ballerina; Martha Anne Toll's eleven top fiction books & memoirs about ballet; and Erin Kelly's top ten books about ballet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books that queer the vampire

Hal Schrieve is the author of books about teens, queer community, monsters and aliens. Hir first book Out of Salem (2019), was selected for the National Book Award Long List for Young People’s Literature in 2019. It was followed by How To Get Over the End of the World (2023).

Schrieve’s new novel is Fawn’s Blood.

At Electric Lit the author tagged eight "queer vampire novels that approach the idea of 'inhumanity' in creative, queer ways." One title on the list:

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Hungerstone, a Carmilla-redux, is part of a recent lit-fic grappling with the Gothic origins of speculative fiction and the novel in general. Here, Dunn revives the Victorian lesbian in a tale about the wife of a steel magnate discovering her true desire…for Carmilla, who, as in the original, invites herself into Lenore’s house and feeds on local girls. Desire becomes a source of tension as she grapples with terror of the unknown and her need for companionship, sensuality, and love. There’s something fun about taking what you like from a literary predecessor and running with it—Carmilla is ripe to inspire more lesbian takes.

Read about the other novels on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles for fans of Tudor drama, history, fashion and style

Philippa Gregory is a historian and novelist renowned for combining rich research with powerful storytelling.

Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and been adapted for stage, television and film.

Gregory's new novel is Boleyn Traitor.

At People magazine she tagged eight favorite Tudor books, including:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

There are many very fine historians working on the Tudors. Eric Ives, David Starkey, David Loades, GR Elton, Amy Licence, Suzannah Lipscombe, Gareth Russell, Eamon Duffy who have led an explosion of Tudor scholarship and much of it is genuinely new research and thinking. A great place to start is Alison Weir’s Six Wives, which encompasses all the detail which such a pace that you can read it almost like a novel.

Read about the other titles on Gregory's list.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII is among Rebecca Jane Stokes's top ten books for people who loved Wolf Hall.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight stunning historical novels by Latine authors

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. At Book Riot she tagged eight top Latine historical fiction titles. One novel on the list:

Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda

Set in 1551 Guatemala, the novel follows Catalina Cerrato as she embarks upon a quest to rewrite the sacred text of Popol Vuh, the forbidden history of the K’iche people. Born to a member of the Spanish hierarchy and a Mayan noblewoman, Catalina strives to confront and, if possible, reconcile her origins.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Daughter of Fire.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five caffeine-fueled mysteries

Naomi Kaye Honova is a freelance writer based in Germany and originally from California. She's written for numerous publications, including New Lines Review, Wine Enthusiast, Lonely Planet, and Nameberry. Some of her myriad research interests include cults, the history of Disney parks, rare diseases, and the Mitford sisters.

At CrimeReads she tagged five novels in which coffee, tea, and mate fuel the plot, including:

Death On the Patagonian Express by Hy Conrad

Upon the breakout success of their travel agency blog, TrippyGirl, Amy Abel and her mother, Fanny, are asked to join a group of prominent travel writers on a scenic train tour of Patagonia. Their expedition seems to chug along smoothly until Fanny finds a body scavenged by condors in the wilderness. Even more unsettling, the corpse mysteriously disappears before fellow tourists arrive. Some question Fanny’s sanity, but doubt becomes horror when the tour owner’s angel investor is found dead in a similar position. As a number of “accidents” validate Amy’s suspicion of foul play, the Abels must outsmart one very conniving killer—or they’ll soon be en route to their final destination . . .

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight of the best chosen one YA fantasy books

Leah Rachel von Essen is an editor, writer, and book reviewer. She is a copyeditor and fact-checker at Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as a contributing editor, Adult Books, for American Library Association’s magazine Booklist. She writes regularly for Chicago Review of Books and is a senior contributor at Book Riot.

At Book Riot she tagged eight "chosen one YA novels [that] paint fantastic and compelling worlds for our protagonists to work their way through on their hero journeys." One title on the list:

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Bree just wants to get away from home when she goes to UNC for a pre-college program. But when she runs into a secret society of students reportedly descended from the Round Table knights themselves, she’s thrown into a world of magic, demons, and the battles between good and evil. Meanwhile, an ex-member wants her help to investigate the group. Naturally, nothing is quite as it seems, and Bree is forced to try and decide whether to believe the Legendborn or make her own calls about what feels right.

Read about the other titles on the list.

Legendborn is among Renée Ahdieh's five top SFF books set in the American South.

--Marshal Zeringue

The forty best YA novels

In 2014 Rolling Stone tagged forty "classic staples and overlooked gems" from the mountain of YA novels. One title on the list:

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

In a dystopian version of the United States, 15-year-old Nailer is forced to scavenge for materials to help him and his father get by. It is while doing this that he rescues the wealthy Nita, sole survivor of a recent shipwreck. Bacigalupi tells a fast-paced, exciting story without sacrificing substance.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Ship Breaker is among Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick's top nine YA dystopian novels with fresh twists and Helen Grant's ten best books with settings that are strikingly brought to life.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top nature books

Josh Jackson is the founder and president of Paste Media Group.

At Paste he tagged "five great nature books to get your mind off other things." One title on the list:

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger (2024)

Communicating the latest advances in biology is often left to the scientists, but Zoë Schlanger proves that a good storyteller can make all those peer-reviewed papers and monotonous lab studies come alive for an interested reader. An environmental reporter by trade, she tackles a seemingly oxymoronic subject—plant intelligence—and completely changes the way you’ll look at our oxygen-producing, carbon-sequestering green friends.

However we define intelligence—communication, awareness of environment, memory, adaptability—Schlanger offers examples that we’re only beginning to understand, while still carefully resisting the temptation to anthropomorphize the Kingdom Plantae. Beautifully written and unexpectedly provocative, Schlanger’s book deserves all its accolades.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten must-read LGBTQ+ historical fiction titles

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 ten "must-read LGBTQ+ historical fiction books." One title on the list:

Cantoras by Caro De Robertis

This is one of my all-time favorite books, and one that showed me the immense power of queer historical fiction to carve out spaces for joy and love amidst moments of real homophobic violence. In a time of great danger for queer people in 1970s Uruguay, five queer women find each other and create a refuge from their country’s military dictatorship in a beach shack on Cabo Polonio. Over the course of three decades, we see these women grow together, fall in love, experience loss and heartbreak, and find a path forward. Six years after reading Cantoras, I still can’t stop thinking about this extraordinary story.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Cantoras is among Leslie Archer's six top novels about sisters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven powerful novels about undocumented immigrants

Cindy Fazzi is a Filipino American writer and former Associated Press reporter. She’s the author of the Domingo the Bounty Hunter series. Danger No Problem (book 1), previously titled Multo, was a finalist in the Best Literary category of the 2024 Silver Falchion Award. Book 2 is titled Sunday or the Highway.

At Electric Lit Fazzi tagged six of her "favorite novels about undocumented immigrants written by immigrants, and one equally outstanding novel written by a first-generation Brazilian American author." One title on the list:

Amnesty by Aravind Adiga

The fear of deportation and feelings of displacement are common among undocumented immigrants throughout the world, and Amnesty portrays this brilliantly. Danny, originally from Sri Lanka, works as a cleaner in Sydney, Australia. The government has rejected his application for refugee status, so he must toe the line. With a steady job and a girlfriend, he’s fairly content being invisible in his adopted country. But Danny’s invisibility is threatened when one of his clients is murdered. He knows the dead woman had an affair with another client of his. Danny faces a moral dilemma. He has no rights in his adopted country, and yet he has a moral responsibility to help in the case of the dead woman. Should he tell the police what he knows to help get justice for the victim, even though it would mean revealing his legal status to authorities and risking deportation? Indian-born Adiga presents Sydney from the unique lens of an undocumented immigrant during a thrilling twenty-four hour period. Danny’s predicament forces us to examine the importance of a citizen’s responsibilities vis-à-vis his rights.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten thrilling crime novels led by female protagonists

Anders de la Motte, a former police officer, made his debut in 2010 with the award-winning thriller Game and has since then been one of Sweden’s most beloved and popular crime writers. He is the author of several acclaimed and bestselling crime fiction series, among them the suspenseful Skåne Quartet.

De la Motte's new novel is The Glass Man, the second title in the Leonore Asker series.

At People magazine the author tagged ten favorite crime titles starring strong female characters, including:

The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

Clarice faces a manipulative FBI boss, therapy sessions with none other than Dr. Hannibal Lecter and finally a violent showdown with Buffalo Bill himself. Talk about challenges! (And if you haven’t seen it, the film is also pretty good).

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Silence of The Lambs is among Sheila Yasmin Marikar’s eight titles that showcase the eroticism & savagery of cannibalism, Sascha Rothchild's ten top literary antiheroes, Andrew Bourelle's four best ticking-clock thrillers, Ben McPherson’s ten thrillers based on real-life events, E.G. Scott's best frenemies in fiction, Caroline Louise Walker's six terrifying villain-doctors in fiction, Kathy Reichs's six best books, Matt Suddain's five great meals from literature, Elizabeth Heiter's ten favorite serial killer novels, Jill Boyd's five books with the worst fictional characters to invite to Thanksgiving, Monique Alice's six great fictional evil geniuses, sixteen book-to-movie adaptations that won Academy Awards.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten titles in translation that celebrate Ukraine

Nelly Klos the program director of Lviv BookForum. Klos is known as an expert in international cooperation and creative management of cultural initiatives. She has coordinated numerous cultural events, including the organization of literary festivals and intercultural art projects across Europe. Her portfolio includes national campaigns to promote children's reading and innovative multimedia projects using augmented reality, implemented with the support of international cultural institutions.

At Lit Hub she tagged "ten important books that will help you understand Ukraine—and why this country stands and will stand." One title on the list:

Ukrainian Sunrise: Stories of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions from the Early 2000s, Kateryna Zarembo (translated by Tetiana Savchynska)

This book offers a nuanced exploration of Donetsk and Luhansk regions prior to the 2014 Russian invasion. Combining rigorous research and captivating narration, Kateryna Zarembo debunks common myths about the region, such as its long-standing gravitation towards Russia and its rejection of everything Ukrainian. This book is an essential read to get to know the Ukrainian East and its people, now forever altered by the Russian invasion.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue