Nine great books about survival at sea

Kathleen Rooney is the nationally bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, as well as Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey and From Dust to Stardust. She has won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from Poetry magazine and the Adam Morgan Literary Citizen Award from the Chicago Review of Books. Rooney’s criticism can be found in The New York Times, The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Brooklyn Rail, Chicago magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and beyond. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay, and teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University.

Rooney's new novel is Man Overboard!.

[The Page 99 Test: Live Nude Girl; The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs; My Book, The Movie: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs; My Book, The Movie: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk; The Page 69 Test: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey; My Book, The Movie: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey; Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (July 2022); The Page 69 Test: Where Are the Snows; Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (September 2022); The Page 69 Test: From Dust to Stardust; My Book, The Movie: From Dust to Stardust; Q&A with Kathleen Rooney; Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (September 2023); The Page 69 Test: Man Overboard!]

At Lit Hub the author tagged nine great "accounts of people lost at sea, struggling to be found." One title on the list:

Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone

Everybody read this thriller so we can all talk about it. Cool, dry, sexy, and philosophical, it tells the story of ex-Navy Vietnam War veteran Owen Browne’s courageous yet foolish attempt to win a highly publicized race by sailing solo around the world. It’s like if Joan Didion wrote manly adventure stories. Robert Stone said he based this, his fifth novel, loosely on the real-life businessman and amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst, but the genius of his fictional approach lies not only in the character of Browne, but also in those of Browne’s ambitious wife Anne and of Ron Strickland, the sleazy countercultural documentarian that Browne’s boat-manufacturer employer hires to make a film about the feat.

Dread hangs over this book like fog over the sea. In the end, the story is as much about how, if at all, a person can make meaning in a meaningless world as it is about trying not to drown: “Carefully, he examined his imagined positions on the chart. All the stories were embroidered, so it was said. Sailors privately ridiculed each other’s accounts. No one had ever brought the truth ashore. It was not to be had.”

Read about the other books on Rooney's list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sixteen historical fiction novels to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary

At People magazine Shyla Watson and Lizz Schumer tagged sixteen "historical novels transport readers to pivotal moments in the nation’s past ... and illuminate the many stories woven into America’s history." One title on the list:

The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay

Two women train in the hospitality industry as “Harvey Girls,” or waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad in the 1920s American Southwest. Initially bound together by their shared dislike of one another, the roommates also each carry a secret that could end their employment.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that blur the boundary between fact and fiction

Meg Charlton is a writer based in New York City. Her debut novel Voyagers is now out from Harper. Other work has appeared in The Yale Review, Slate, Lux, Atlas Obscura, and Vice, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. Her writing has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and covered in Indiewire, Above the Law, and Australian National Radio's Future Tense. She holds an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College and teaches at Sackett Street Writers.

At Electric Lit Charleton tagged seven books that "live in that borderland of uncertainty, peering over the edge of consensus reality into the irresolvable." One title on the list:

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell

Structured as a kind of cross-examination between a dying woman named Amanda and a young boy named David, Fever Dream retraces the events that led to Amanda’s mysterious illness. “Keep going, don’t forget the details,” David urges. But as the details accrete, the investigation grows only more unsettling and irresolvable. Why does David insist certain seemingly minor moments are essential while others are deemed irrelevant? Is David’s interrogation even real? Or is it all in Amanda’s head? And what, exactly, has poisoned David and Amanda both? Ultimately a horror story about parenting, Fever Dream is about the terror of trying to protect a child from the most frightening dangers of all: those you didn’t even know existed.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Fever Dream is among Stephanie Feldman's five scary novels that use setting to embody horror.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six epic fantasy romances

At Book Riot Megan Mabee tagged six "swoon-worthy stories [that] take place in different worlds, include immersive fantasy world-building and epic plots, while also promising a strong romance." One title on the list:

Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher excels at building compelling fantasy worlds and interweaving romance within them. I also love how relatable Kingfisher’s characters are. They’re often awkward, average-looking, and trying their best rather than being beautiful and perfect protagonists. It’s one of my favorite things about her writing. After Stephen’s god dies, he lives as a paladin trying to find purpose again. When he saves a fugitive named Grace in an alley, the pair soon get caught up in a twisty assassination plot with a killer trailing behind them!

Read about the other novels on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six titles that make us question those closest to us

Lucy Ashe trained at The Royal Ballet School for eight years, first as a Junior Associate and then at White Lodge. She has a Diploma in Dance Teaching with the British Ballet Organisation. Her first two novels, The Dance of the Dolls and The Sleeping Beauties, were inspired by her years immersed in the world of classical dance.

Ashe's new novel is The Model Patient.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "six novels that reveal how terrifying it is to have one’s sense of reality systematically dismantled by the person we are supposed to love and trust." One title on the list:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

In this gothic horror novel, Noemí Taboada travels to her newlywed cousin Catalina’s home in the mountains to help investigate her claims that her husband wants to poison her. When Noemí enters High Place, her intelligence and logic are weaponized against her and the Doyle family use medical claims about inherited mental stability and supernatural elements to make her question everything. The novel is part of a long tradition of gothic novels —Jane Eyre, The Mysteries of Udolpho, Rebecca—where a woman’s ability to trust her instincts begins to unravel. The isolation of the setting makes her particularly vulnerable in this beautifully written and deeply unsettling novel.

Read about the other entries on Ashe's list at CrimeReads.

Mexican Gothic is among C.J. Dotson's five novels featuring decaying settings and Samsun Knight's seven horror novels about mysticism.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six books that take you behind the scenes of Black Hollywood

Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me, which was selected as a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. He is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. He codeveloped Bel-Air and worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. Newson is a 2025–26 American Library in Paris Visiting Fellow. He currently lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena.

Newson's new novel is There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood.

At Oprah Daily he tagged six books "that brilliantly capture the balancing act required of Black stars in Hollywood and give non–Hollywood insiders a peek behind the velvet curtain at a world that creates alluring idols for the masses." One title on the list:

A More Perfect Party by Juanita Tolliver

Civil Rights–era stars like Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, and Diahann Carroll are often remembered for their public activism: marching, giving interviews, and speaking out on television when doing so came with real risk. But some of their most consequential work happened far from the cameras. They were strategists, connectors, and funders, using their fame to help turn moral urgency into political power.

In A More Perfect Party, MSNBC political analyst Juanita Tolliver offers a lively, behind-the-scenes look at one especially dazzling example: the 1972 fundraiser Carroll hosted in her home for Shirley Chisholm’s groundbreaking presidential campaign.

The guest list alone is worth the price of admission; it brought together strange bedfellows, including Black Panther Huey P. Newton, comedian Flip Wilson, and rising starlet Goldie Hawn on a shared mission: electing the first Black woman to the highest office in the land.

Tolliver makes a persuasive case that Chisholm and Carroll’s coalition-building playbook echoed far beyond that night, shaping the kind of grassroots fundraising and cross-cultural organizing later used by campaigns like Barack Obama’s. Chisholm may not have won the presidency, but she changed what political possibility looked like. And Carroll emerges as more than a glamorous star: She was a woman who understood the power of her Rolodex, her reputation, and her living room. Today’s celebrities should take notes.

Read about the other titles on Newson's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books on the American Revolution

Thomas S. Kidd serves as Research Professor of Church History at Midwestern and the John and Sharon Yeats Endowed Chair of Baptist Studies. Kidd completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Notre Dame, where he worked with historian of religion George Marsden. He also earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at Clemson University in South Carolina.

His books include Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh, Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father, American Christians and Islam: Evangelical Culture and Muslims from the Colonial Period to the Age of Terrorism, and Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis.

[The Page 99 Test: American Christians and Islam]

He tagged "five excellent books that would be a great start on learning about the Revolution and American independence." One title on the list:

Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (1997).

A definitive history of the Declaration, its creation, and the way that Americans came to revere it as a quasi-sacred document.

Read about the other entries on Kidd's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that explore the lives of wayward youth

Susan Wiggs is the author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and the recent New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages. She lives with her husband on an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound.

Her newest novel is Wayward Girls.

At Lit Hub Wiggs tagged seven "books that offer a haunting, unsparing look at hidden histories and the enduring spirit of those who survived." One title on the list:

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

Spanning three generations of Dakhóta women and filled with the imagery of dolls, this is another profound story of the Indian residential school system. From the 19th century to the present, Power explores how the state sought to “kill the Indian, save the man” by stripping children of their culture and family ties. The sense of intergenerational trauma is palpable, as is the power of storytelling to shine a light on the human spirit.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best books on the World Cup

At the Waterstones blog, Mark Skinner tagged ten top books on the World Cup, including:

World Cup Fever by Simon Kuper

Kuper pops up again in our run-down with his latest book World Cup Fever, in which the veteran sports journalist recounts his personal experience of covering every tournament since Italia '90, thirty-six years ago. A fascinating and highly entertaining exploration of how the World Cup has changed and evolved over the decades - from half-empty stadia to international political protest - Kuper is the perfect guide to this ethically complex and ever-more glamorous competition.

Read about the other titles on the list.

Also see ten soccer titles to read during World Cup 2026.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top seven monsters in literature

McKayla Coyle (they/them) is a lesbian writer from Alaska currently living in Washington. They're the author of the cozy lifestyle guide Goblin Mode and the cryptid romance collection Mothman Is My Boyfriend. McKayla is the publishing coordinator for Lit Hub and they hold an MFA in fiction from The New School. In their free time, they read a lot of fantasy novels and make a lot of jam.

At Lit Hub Coyle tagged seven of her "favorite contemporary works of monster literature." One title on the list:

Samanta Schweblin, tr. Megan McDowell, Little Eyes

Personally, I feel that the panopticon Furbies in Little Eyes count as monsters. What else would you call an iDog that lives in your home and watches your every move and is being controlled by a stranger? In Schweblin’s sci-fi horror novel, stuffed animals called “kentukis” are an international hit. Kentuki owners are watched at all times by a random stranger on the internet, and the internet strangers get to control a kentuki and observe the life of a random individual. Sometimes this leads to moments of beautiful connection, sometimes it leads to something darker. But such is the life of a monster—they aren’t inherently good or bad, they’re just unexpected.

Read about the other books on the list at LitHub.

Little Eyes is among Laura Venita Green's ten books featuring devils, doppelgängers, ghosts, and creepy dolls, 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

Five top novels that read like bad trips, fever dreams, or reality warps

Lindsay Kent, a.k.a. The Hallucinarrator, is a multimedia storyteller whose work explores the luminous edges of consciousness and culture. Over the past decade, she's directed three international feature films, produced a Hulu documentary on LGBTQ+ families, and created branded films for nonprofits and Fortune 500s alike. Her 2014 documentary "Going Furthur" retraced the arc of America's counterculture through a psychedelic lens, and her docuseries, "Plant Medicine," follows an Ayahuasca retreat center in Costa Rica. A few years ago, Kent returned to her first love―fiction. Blending the vision of a filmmaker with the curiosity of a psychonaut, her stories blur the boundaries between science and spirit, cinema and literature. At the heart of her work lies a singular mission―to bridge the gap between reality and the beyond, welcoming more seekers into the mystery through stories anyone can access, and everyone can feel.

Kent's new novel is My Twin the Murderer.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five "favorite trippy novels, where time distorts and nothing is what it seems." One title on the list:

Mona Awad, Bunny

Samantha Heather Mackey, an isolated outsider in a prestigious MFA program, is drawn into the glittering orbit of the Bunnies—a clique of unsettlingly sweet, wealthy young women whose saccharine charm masks something deeply bizarre. What begins as a razor-sharp satire of elite creative culture gradually warps into a surreal descent where artistic ambition, obsession, and identity blur into something increasingly monstrous, as the boundaries between performance and transformation start to dissolve.

I love this book. It has everything sharp and vicious I loved about Heathers but somehow gets even weirder. What makes Bunny so effective is the way it takes pastel, hyper-feminine aesthetics and slowly turns them unsettling. Awad fills the novel with surreal social dynamics, abrupt tonal shifts, and just enough dream logic to keep you constantly questioning what’s real—is this performance, delusion, or something supernatural?

The pacing is fast, strange, and increasingly unhinged, pushing sweetness so far that it becomes disturbing, then grotesque.

Read about the other novels on the list at CrimeReads.

Bunny is among Catriona Silvey's five Gothic novels about cults, Isabelle McConville's six novels for novelists, Chris Wheatley's six top dark academia novels, and Gnesis Villar's seven books about the struggle of being a writer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten titles that bring back the wild magic of the ’80s

At Oprah Daily Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne tagged ten standout "books about the nightlife scene, late-night culture, and comedy of the ’80s." One title on their list:

My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

TV writer and producer Rasheed Newson’s electric, hilarious, critically acclaimed debut novel gives readers a seat on main character Trey Singleton’s roller-coaster journey to finding himself in New York City’s East Village in the mid-’80s. A Black gay man born to a privileged family in the Midwest, Singleton escapes to New York, gets involved in AIDS crisis advocacy, experiences sexual liberation, and grapples with who and what is worth fighting for during this charged, tumultuous era in the city’s history. Presented as a memoir, complete with footnoted references to actual historical events and real individuals, this cinematic coming-of-age tale seamlessly recreates ’80s New York and introduces a relatable and unforgettable protagonist.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue