Five top books for K-Pop fans

Giaae Kwon is the author of I’ll Love You Forever: Notes From a K-Pop Fan. In the essay collection, she

explores her personal history as a bbasooni (K-pop stan) alongside the evolution of the K-pop industry. In doing so, she uncovers the cultural and political forces that birthed the K-pop idol and paints a compassionate portrait of fandom — a much-needed counterweight to all the ink spilled about its harmful excesses.

At Bustle Kwon tagged "five books that every bbasooni should read," including:

Flowers of Fire by Hawon Jung

Korea is still a patriarchal society with rigid gendered standards, and we see this play out through K-pop and fandom constantly. Flowers of Fire is a look at the #MeToo movement that, to my surprise, got pretty good traction in Korea starting in 2018. This isn’t an easy read, but I think it’s vital — Jung’s writing is accessible, and she doesn’t sensationalize or try to appeal to emotions, simply telling the stories of Korean women and telling the truth of what women go through. For example, I’d known for a while how bad the problem of molkas (hidden cameras) were in Korea, but I had no idea how bad. Jung doesn’t shy away from portraying reality, but Flowers of Fire avoids veering into totally hopeless and bleak territory, as Jung highlights the work that women activists have done and continue to do.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven fantasy titles with dangerous alliances and deadly pacts

The son of a librarian, Chris M. Arnone's love of books was as inevitable as gravity. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. His cyberpunk series, The Jayu City Chronicles, is available everywhere books are sold.

His work can also be found in Adelaide Literary Magazine and FEED Lit Mag. You can find him writing more books, poetry, and acting in Kansas City.

At Book Riot Arnone tagged seven top fantasy books with dangerous alliances and deadly pacts. One title on the list:

City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This epic fantasy novel is grand in scale while small in geography, focusing on a single city under harrowing occupation. Every aspect of culture in Ilmar is under the thumb of the occupying force and is being pushed aside. When one of their high officials is killed while venturing into a magical portal, the entire city is upended. Someone is responsible, and a hunt for the killer soon becomes full civil unrest. Alliances shift and break in mere moments throughout this politically complicated

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books for fans of "The Pitt"

At People magazine senior books editor Lizz Schumer tagged seven books for fans of the HBO medical drama, The Pitt. One title on the list:

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

Between her job as a law clerk for Justice Howard Wynn and a difficult family life, Avery Keene is balancing a lot. Things get even more intense once Justice Wynn falls into a coma and Avery discovers that he left specific instructions for her to serve his legal guardian and power of attorney.

As she dives into her role, she finds Wynn’s research on a high-profile merger between a Biotech company and genetics firm that would change medicine completely. As she continues to uncover more secrets, Avery must use Wynn’s research to bring justice to light.

Read about the other titles on the list.

While Justice Sleeps is among Otho Eskin's five novels about the end of democracy and Brittany Bunzey's eight best legal thrillers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that complicate stories about the South

Grace Gaynor is a writer from Louisville, Kentucky. She is a Feminist Press apprentice, an editorial intern at Electric Literature, and a reader for Bicoastal Review. She studied English and GWS at Hollins University and earned an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Tech.

At Electric Lit Gaynor tagged seven "books, each of which adds a new texture, layer, and contradiction to the story of what the South really is, will resonate with readers who love and live in deeply complex, complicated places." One title on the list:

Southernmost by Silas House

Garth Greenwell calls Southernmost a “novel of painful, finally revelatory awakening, of fierce love and necessary disaster.” Opening in the midst of a flood of biblical proportions, Southernmost is a story about destruction, prejudice, and forgiveness that follows Asher, an evangelical preacher, as he endures a crisis of faith. As the narrative unfolds, it demonstrates the propensity for change that is possible in the South, how it has the potential to become a place that celebrates and protects its most vulnerable populations.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 25 best historical fiction titles of all time

At Oprah Daily Charley Burlock and Bethanne Patrick tagged the twenty-five "most transportive historical novels across eras and continents, from ancient Greece to 1960s Saigon." One title on the list:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz

Junot Díaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel might begin in the early 2000s—an era that’s alarmingly close to qualifying as historical—but it earns its place here through its sweeping portrait of the Dominican Republic in the 1940s and the ghastly Trujillo dictatorship. The de León family is doubly cursed: by the supernatural fukú that stalks their bloodline and by the more concrete horrors of colonialism and tyranny. At its center is Oscar, an endearingly awkward, sci-fi-obsessed dreamer from New Jersey, longing for love and a story of his own. Díaz tells it all in an electrifying voice that crackles with street slang, comic-book bravado, and academic footnotes. You’ll fall in love with the characters and come away knowing more about Dominican history—as well as the intricate rules of Dungeons & Dragons.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao appears among Renée Branum's seven top novels about family curses, Wajahat Ali's eleven books on loving a country that doesn’t love you back, Carrie V Mullins's eleven favorite unreliable narrators, Saskia Lacey's fifty incredible literary works destined to become classics, Samantha Mabry's five books that carry curses, Susan Barker's top ten novels with multiple narratives, BBC Culture's twelve greatest novels of the 21st century, Emily Temple's fifty greatest debut novels since 1950, Niall Williams's top ten bookworms' tales, Chrissie Gruebel's nine best last lines in literature, Alexia Nader's nine favorite books about unhappy families, Jami Attenberg's top six books with overweight protagonists, Brooke Hauser's six top books about immigrants, Sara Gruen's six favorite books, Paste magazine's list of the ten best debut novels of the decade (2000-2009), and The Millions' best books of fiction of the millenium. The novel is one of Matthew Kaminski's five favorite novels about immigrants in America and is a book that made a difference to Zoë Saldana.

The Page 99 Test: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five dark academia classics

Christopher J. Yates is the author of the novels Black Chalk, Grist Mill Road, and The Rabbit Club.

Black Chalk was an Indie Next Pick that was also named a best book of the year by NPR, and a “must read” by the Boston Globe, BBC.com, and the New York Post.

Grist Mill Road was an Entertainment Weekly "Must Read" and one of the NPR Book Concierge's "Best Books of the Year."

At Bustle Yates tagged his "five favorite books set in dark, dusty campus corridors. They’re the original dark academia tales...." One title on the list:

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

If I could convince just one reader to dive into this remarkable, mazelike novel, I would consider my time on Earth well spent. The story is structured around a poem, named Pale Fire, written by a professor at the fictional Wordsmith College. It contains 999 lines — its author, John Shade, was murdered before he could pen the final sentence. Shade’s neighbor, a fellow Wordsmith professor named Charles Kinbote, is our narrator, having taken it upon himself to interpret the poem on the reader’s behalf. Kinbote is the most fascinating unreliable narrator in the history of literature — a lunatic, a narcissist, and perhaps an exiled king from a land named Zembla. He is also absurdly funny as, page by page, he manages to make Shade’s last poem all about himself.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Pale Fire's John Shade is among John Mullan's ten best fictional poets. The novel appears among Brian Boyd's ten best Vladimir Nabokov books, David J. Peterson 's five best books with invented languages, Jane Harris's five best psychological mysteries and Edward Docx's top ten deranged characters. It is one of Tracy Kidder's six best books as well as the novel Charles Storch would save for last. It is one of "Six Memorable Books About Writers Writing" yet it disappointed Ha Jin upon rereading.

--Marshal Zeringue

"CrimeReads" -- best gothic fiction of 2025

At CrimeReads Molly Odintz tagged the best gothic fiction titles of 2025, including:

The Haunting of William Thorn, Ben Alderson

After the titular main character catches his fiance cheating on him, only to immediately lose him to a car accident, that’s whiplash enough—he certainly doesn’t need the problems of a haunted country estate to add to his plate. But his fiance has indeed left William Thorne a haunted estate, and there he must go, to process his grief and guilt, and shut himself away from society. The only problem? The estate is really, truly, haunted, and he must team up with a mysterious and handsome visitor to lay the ghosts of the manor to rest, or face the deadly consequences of their fury.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six Regency-era titles that aren’t romances

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 six Regency-era novels that aren’t romances, including:

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

If you like your historical fiction mixed with fantasy, pick up the first book in Cho’s Sorcerer Royale series. Zacharias Wythe is a magician and formerly enslaved person who is the respected Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers, a position he inherited from his adoptive father. England’s magic is beginning to wane, and those who conspire against Zacharias blame him, forcing him on a quest to find the reason for the decreased stocks of magic. On his journey, Zacharias will encounter gentle witches, magical schools, and a fantastical world that fuses fantasy and Regency-era customs.

Read about the other novels on the list.

Also see Celeste Connally's six Regency-era historical mysteries with headstrong heroines and Tara Sonin's fifty best regency romances.

--Marshal Zeringue

A Jane Austen reading list

One title from Tertulia's list of books that offer "multiple ways into Jane Austen’s enduring world:"

What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Essential Questions Answered
John Mullan

“A box of 20 literary chocolates for Austen fans to savor,” wrote Kirkus Reviews, while The Atlantic called this “the next best thing” to having more Austen novels. Guardian Book Club columnist John Mullan builds each brief chapter around a deceptively simple question, from sex before marriage to characters who never speak, using curiosity and close reading to reveal the pr

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Rebecca Romney's list of six books that owe a debt to Jane Austen’s work, Melissa Albert's list of the top fifteen male characters in Jane Austen's novels, and Paula Byrne's list of the ten best Jane Austen characters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles that embody resilience

William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series. His books have won many literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and the Costa Book Award. He was named a Granta Best Young Novelist in 1983, and in 2005, he was awarded the CBE. Boyd's newest novel is The Predicament.

In 2020 at GQ (UK) he tagged "five books that, for him, embody and inspire resilience like no others," including:

A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark was a survivor. Born into a Scottish, Jewish family in Edinburgh she sought, like many Scots, a form of early exile abroad. But life was hard initially, before her novels eventually brought her fame and financial security. This novel (published in 1988) is particularly autobiographical, set in London in the 1950s. Its central character, Mrs Hawkins, is a mesmerising self-portrait of the author at this particular juncture in her life. Scraping a living on the fringes of the literary world, Mrs Hawkins (a young widow) is very overweight, supremely confident and a life force. People are drawn to her; her judgements rival Solomon’s; she is indomitable. The book is a kind of hymn to self-sufficiency – or resilience – and a model handbook of how to overcome what look like adverse situations. And it is written in Spark’s unique tone of voice: terse, funny, adamantine.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Far Cry From Kensington is among Joanna Biggs's top ten books about working life.

--Marshal Zeringue

"CrimeReads" -- best speculative mysteries and thrillers of 2025

At CrimeReads Molly Odintz tagged fifteen of the best speculative mysteries and thrillers of 2025, including:

Hole in the Sky, Daniel H. Wilson

This book is an essential addition to the growing canon of first-contact literature, crafted from Daniel H. Wilson’s singular perspective as an indigenous writer and robotics engineer, and featuring a perfect mixture of technical know-how, native history, and dynamic character interactions. Lyrical, creative, and truly original!

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Hole in the Sky.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 5 novels of 2025 -- "Electric Lit"

One of Electric Lit's top five novels of the year:

Audition by Katie Kitamura

A performance, a love triangle, and an unnamed actress quietly dissecting her internal world. These are the constituent parts of Katie Kitamura’s Booker Prize-shortlisted fifth novel, which opens with a young man declaring himself the nameless narrator’s long-lost son. Quickly, the book plunges into the murky territory of identity, where nothing is quite fixed or true. With sentences sharp as knives, Audition does everything possible to slip up the reader, asking: If identities transform, why shouldn’t stories transform too?

Read about the other novels on the list.

Audition is among Tertulia's ten critically acclaimed books you can read in a weekend.

--Marshal Zeringue