Five fresh literary spins on classic creatures

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 five "stories [that] put an exciting new spin on the classic creature horror we all think we know, from vampires and zombies to sirens." One title on the list:

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

Jones has quickly become the king of Indigenous horror, and in this 2016 novel, he took on werewolves, bringing in fun takes on werewolf daily life and what it might actually look like to be a lycanthrope in the modern world. He tells the tale in a constellation novel format, a series of chapters centering on the young protagonist and his aunt and uncle as the trio tries to survive on society’s margins. This is a gritty werewolf tale complete with coming-of-age energy and a look into the early work of an author who has become a modern, persistent phenomenon.

Read about the other books on the list.

Mongrels is among R.W.W. Greene's five SFF books about road trips and Mallory O'Meara's ten great horror books for wimps.

--Marshal Zeringue

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