Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive, Philipp Dettmer (2021)Read about the other entries on the list.
This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to know more about how our bodies work without being overwhelmed by dense technical jargon. Dettmer’s accessible language and engaging graphics make it easy and enjoyable to learn how the human immune system works to protect us tirelessly from disease and infection.
Woodrow on the Bench: Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog by Jenna BlumRead about the other entries on the list.
Blum’s memoir recounts the last year of her dog Woodrow’s life as she comes to accept that it is the end. Though a lot ofBlum’s book deals with the difficult choices that one has to make around a pet’s end-of-life-care, what stands out the most in her book is all the joyful moments that make up her final months with Woodrow. Friends, family, neighbors, exes and current partners, the doorman at the hotel down the street, and even bookstore employees rallied together to give Woodrow the best last year he could possibly have––trips to the beach, the finest of snacks, and just hours enjoying time sitting on Woodrow’s bench across the street from Blum’s apartment. Animals find joy in the simplest of things, and they remind us to do that too.
in domestic horror, he is perfectly placed to translate the recent successes of the genre from the silver screen to the written word – while adding something new and wholly his own.
The Forbidden by Clive BarkerRead about the other entries on the list.
When Books of Blood was unleashed in 1984, Stephen King said: “I have seen the future of horror – and his name is Clive Barker.” With six volumes and 30 stories, what do I pick? The man-made giants of In the Hills, the Cities? The Body Politic’s army of skittering hands? The demonic slapstick of The Yattering and Jack? To hell with it: let’s go with The Forbidden. Candyman is a fine Hollywood adaptation, but in relocating it sacrifices the cold, wintry dread of Barker’s Spector Street Estate: a graffiti-ravaged brutalist pit of social-realist despair where its urban legend looms.
The Sentence by Louise ErdrichRead about the other entries on the list.
The Sentence follows a haunting: one woman, Tookie, who works at an indie bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted by the ghost of the store’s most annoying customer, Flora. But this haunting quickly becomes one of many—the novel begins on All Soul’s Day (November 1) in 2019, and ends on All Soul’s Day in 2020, covering one year of isolation, turmoil, and challenge. The book follows the COVID-19 pandemic as it slowly, then quickly, emerges, including ways the bookstore must try to survive, but it also follows the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests. Tookie, herself formerly incarcerated, explores the link between being sentenced and reading a sentence, reflecting on the ways books can liberate us—and the ways they can’t.
Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty novels, including Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six (coming November 8), Last Girl Ghosted, and Confessions on the 7:45 — now in development at Netflix, starring Jessica Alba.
The Overnight Guest by Heather GudenkaufRead about the other entries on the list.
True-crime writer Wylie Stark retreats to an isolated farmhouse to finish her new book. It might be the perfect escape, except that decades earlier two people weremurdered in cold blood and a young girl disappeared without a trace. When a snowstorm bears down, Wylie finds herself snowed in and discovers a lost child in the blizzard. Gudenkauf weaves a tight and twisty double narrative that’s character rich and full of suspense and surprises. The house is both a shelter and a prison of long-buried secrets. And Wylie is the one who is truly haunted. This one is perfect for reading by the fire after you’ve listened to your favorite true-crime podcast. But if you hear someone knocking at the door, don’t answer!
Jennifer Givhan, River Woman, River DemonRead about the other entries on the list.
“A psychological thriller that weaves together the threads of folk magick with personal and cultural empowerment” is the publisher’s description of this one, and damn if that doesn’t sound good.
Tana French, Broken HarborRead about the other entries on the list.
Tana French is the master of the slow build, the quiet suspense, the minutia of life and thought that occurs around a mystery: usually a murder in a closed-setting location, where the town is small, but everyone is a suspect. These books are meticulous character and town studies, and usually delve deep into a specific cultural facet of Ireland that French deems worthy of excavation. She’s always right: they’re immersive and captivating, but I would never call these books scary, as a whole. The anomaly of the bunch is Broken Harbor, the fourth book in the Dublin Murder series. The word scary is even up for debate: do I mean disturbing? Deeply distressing?
The difference between this and the others in the series is that rather than the traditional cause, effect, and clean solution that one typically expects in a murder mystery, this book is about something more insidious, and ultimately scary in its unpredictability: madness. The Spain family moves to a new housing development that promises the suburban dream: happy kids biking through the streets, cookouts with the neighbors, and a giant return on the investment of a lifetime, only for the development to halt construction midway through, though firmly after the Spains have already sunk their savings into a house that will never offer a return. This financial decision upends the family’s status quo and sets the ball rolling steadily downhill. Worse and worse things befall the Spains, and the family enters into both economic and psychological ruin. What makes this story so affectingly terrifying is the sheer possibility of it, how life can turn on a dime (or a huge down payment). It reveals the fine balance one’s stability is hanging upon, especially for men in traditional communities who can predominately bear the weight of “providing” for a family, and the violence that can occur in the wake of male failure.
Claudia Lux is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and has a master’s in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Satanic Verses by Salman RushdieRead about the other entries on the list.
In typical Rushdie style, this novel balances real world issues with fantasy in a literal and metaphorical take on the Heaven vs. Hell narrative, which results insomething truly unique for both the characters and the reader. Starting with two men falling from a bombed airplane and landing in London, safe but changed, this novel grapples with questions about immortality, the choices for the afterlife and who is really in charge.
with Flatiron Books in 2017 and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe best first novel prize by the Mystery Writers of America. Kennedy has worked as a reporter, teacher, and editor, as well as a cookie packer, ice cream scooper, and children’s baseball coach. She also holds a Master’s in Fiction Writing and English literature from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She currently lives in Forest Grove, Oregon with her mother and young son.
The Hunger by Alma KatsuRead about the other entries on the list.
Much has obviously been written about the Donner Party, probably too much at this point, but in the skilled hands of Alma Katsu, that infamous family finally gets the truly spine-tingling treatment it deserves. Katsu borrows much from thehistorical record for her story, but she allows herself just the right amount of poetic license as well, and you’ll want to keep the lights on for this one. Here’s a taste of what Mary Graves, one of the would-be pioneers, encountered when the wagon train hitched up outside a cabin in Ash Hollow, Nebraska: “She could still picture the tiny makeshift shack, boards bleached bone-white by the relentless prairie sun. A sad, lonely place, like the abandoned farmhouse she used to pass every Sunday on her way to service. Stripped nearly bare by the elements, dark empty windows like the hollow eye sockets of a skull.” Strap in. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Worlds by Joe Haldeman (1981)Read about the other entries on the list at Tor.com.
One of the half million who call the orbiting habitats (the Worlds) home, Marianne O’Hara’s academic ambitions draw her down from New New York to its namesake on Earth. A fourth-generation child of the Worlds, O’Hara looks forward to an enriching education on Earth. Pity that so much of it will be intensely unpleasant.
New York is a violent, crime-ridden city. While the Second Revolution brought an unstable peace to the United States, stark divisions remain, wanting only a spark to flare into civil war. Likewise, while the world took a lesson from the cataclysmic South American nuclear war, across the planet vast nuclear arsenals remain, awaiting only the right spark to be unleashed. O’Hara may be that spark.
Worlds is a compact exploration of late-1970s, early 1980s American enthusiasms and anxieties: space cities on the plus side of the ledger, and urban decay, political strife, and nuclear doom on the minus. There are other contemporary works that draw from the same well of inspiration, but Haldeman’s was one of the better written books.
Hysterical by Elissa BassistRead about the other entries on the list.
Hysterical is a memoir about being heard or, more often, not being heard. It follows Bassist’s experience with mystery ailments (and doctors who couldn’t make sense of her pain), the #MeToo movement (and men who couldn’t make sense of female rage), and the frustrating and liberating experience of finding one’s own voice. Bassist manages to be funny, precise, and intimate while dissecting the mess of modern feminism—wow, women can have it all!
New York Times and went on to the Washington Post as media columnist. She started her career as a summer intern at her hometown Buffalo News and rose to be that paper's first woman editor-in-chief.
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, All the President’s MenRead about the other entries on the list.
This seminal 1974 book about how two young and hungry Washington Post reporters broke open the Watergate scandal not only launched the classic movie of the same name but ignited innumerable journalism careers.
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