Eight books about characters seeking community and connection

Wendy J. Fox is the author of five books of fiction, including What If We Were Somewhere Else, which won the Colorado Book Award; If the Ice Had Held, a top pick in audio from LitHub; and the newly released The Last Supper. She has written for many national publications including Self, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, and Ms. She authors a column in Electric Literature focusing on the big works of traditional small presses. A lifelong resident of the American West, she currently lives outside of Phoenix.

At Electric Lit Fox tagged eight books that "illustrate the complexity of finding our place in the world, all while showing that it really is possible." One title on the list:

Nadezhda in the Dark by Yelena Moskovich

Partners living in Berlin after having fled the Soviet Union as children—one from Ukraine and one from Russia—are in their apartment, not speaking on a long night. In this narrative in verse, there’s a sense of rootlessness for both women. Between Nadezhda and her unnamed partner, history surfaces and hurt surfaces. Both women process what it means to have lost a homeland. The narrator tries to understand what it means to love Nadezhda. As a writer, Moskovich places that ache the most, and she does it without apology and with a present lyricism that often leads her characters to a place of agency.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles about ordinary and everyday heroes

At Book Riot Megan Mabee tagged nine books about ordinary and everyday heroes, including:

Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph by Yusra Mardini

This powerful memoir by Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini will stay with you long after you finish reading. Yusra and her sister Sarah’s heroism is incredibly inspiring. Yusra recounts the harrowing journey she and Sarah made as they fled Syria and traveled by boat with a number of other refugees to Greece. When their boat’s engine fails, the two teens jump into the water to help pull the boat to safety. The Netflix movie adaptation of Yusra’s story called The Swimmers is very much worth watching too.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five novels that feature queer domesticity

Like Family is Erin O. White's debut novel.

White is also the author of the memoir, Given Up For You, and essays that have appeared in the New York Times, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere.

She lives in Minneapolis with her wife and two daughters.

At Lit Hub White tagged "five novels I love that tell the story of queer domestic life." One title on the list:

Spent by Alison Bechdel

In this year of grief, of worries and losses piling up for queer people, especially trans people, Bechdel delivered unto us a gift. In Spent Bechdel parts the curtains on the most delightful literary household in recent memory. Each panel is a two-dimensional diorama depicting the habits of that fascinating creature, the New England lesbian. There is visceral pleasure in the recognition, the familiarity, and the gentle teasing; an intimacy that is familiar yet foreign enough to sate my nearly infinite curiosity about the private lives of strangers. Other people’s bedrooms, indeed.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten memorable horror stories featuring twins

Dana Mele is a Pushcart-nominated writer based in upstate New York. A graduate of Wellesley College, Mele holds degrees in theatre, education, and law.

Mele’s debut, People Like Us, was shortlisted for the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel and is an ALA Rainbow List Selection. Their sophomore novel, Summer's Edge, was a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Selection and a New York Public Library Best Books for Teens title.

Mele's new novel is The Beast You Let In.

[Q&A with Dana Mele]

At CrimeReads the author tagged ten memorable horror stories from film and fiction that feature twins, including:

Luke and Nell
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House is both a novel and a Netflix adaptation, though the characters are only twins in the series. Luke and Nell each battle their own demons stemming from a haunting past, and they share an almost supernatural bond.

Though they drift apart over the years, it’s doubtful even death can drive a wedge between them. Loyalty, love, and realistic flaws make them relatable and lovable, whatever fate holds for the Crane twins.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Haunting of Hill House also appears on Camilla Bruce's list of five novels featuring houses to die for, Jen Williams's list of the five best novels about hauntings, Sara Flannery Murphy's five top thriller and horror books with “House” in the title, Lisa Unger's list of five great horror novels that explore the darkest corners of our minds, Dell Villa's list of seven of the best haunted houses in literature, Kat Rosenfield's list of seven scary October reads, Michael Marshall Smith's top ten list of horror books, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's top ten list of 20th-century gothic novels,  and Brad Leithauser's five best list of ghost tales.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books of immersive dark gothic fantasy for horror fans

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 titles of immersive dark gothic fantasy for horror fans. One title on the list:

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

When grad student Minerva starts looking into Beatrice Tremblay, she doesn’t expect to find the real story behind The Vanishing, Tremblay’s famous novel. And she definitely didn’t expect to discover that the malevolent force that once haunted Tremblay and her roommate might still be present on campus.

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Bewitching is among Daphne Fama's eight folklore-inspired horror novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles with short but rich interior journeys

Irena Smith is the author of the award-winning memoir, The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays and Troika: Three Generations, Three Days, and a Very American Road Trip. Her obsession with how words work began early (as a child growing up in Soviet Russia, she was known to occasionally stand on furniture and recite Pushkin poems), and her writing focuses on migration, memory, motherhood, generational expectations, the petty indignities of middle age, and the importance of embracing a broader, more generous vision of what it means to succeed.

At Electric Lit Smith tagged nine books that take "circumscribed journeys: across a parlor, through a single unruly sentence, back into a childhood bedroom.... But even when hemmed in by economic exigency, physical disability, or cultural constraints, these protagonists show us that nothing is more heroic than a consciousness finding a way forward on its own terms." One title on the list:

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

Why go outside when you can hang out in your apartment with the internet, the TV, and your garbagemonster cat? Samantha Irby sees no reason for it. Her bowels are irritable, her arthritis is flaring, the dating scene is “fucking dire,” and her job skills are limited to—in her words—surly phone answering, playing the race card, and eating other people’s lunches in the break room. Also, her mind is a “never-ending series of shame spirals” leavened with depression and anxiety, which is why she’s staying home in her day pajamas, eating the snacks she ordered online, and spinning the dross of daily life into gold.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Five expansive horror stories set in New York City

Vincent Tirado is a nonbinary Dominican born and raised in the Bronx. They are a Pura Belpré Award winner, Bram Stoker and Lambda Literary award finalist known for their
books Burn Down, Rise Up (2022), We Don't Swim Here (2023), and We Came to Welcome You (2024). You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom (2026) is their sophomore adult novel. When they’re not writing new spine-chilling horrors, they can be found making another pot of coffee and harassing their cat, Bugsy.

At CrimeReads Tirado tagged "five Big Apple horror novels to get a taste of what expansive terrors you can find in just one city." One title on the list:

Victor LaValle, The Changeling

Though this novel tells the tale of first-time father Apollo Kagwa–starting from his own childhood and all the way to the birth of his very own son–the story doesn’t really start there. It starts on a sloop, carrying fearful immigrants across an unforgivable sea to a new world. That new world later becomes New York City. This is the start of many people. Their history, culture, hopes and dreams intertwines, imbuing the city with a magic that is as unfathomable as it is transformative.

But as the Brothers Grimm are apt to tell you, not all magic is good. When tragedy strikes Apollo’s household, robbing him of both his wife and child, he comes to know the city’s sinister enchantments intimately. He travels all over, from Manhattan to Queens and even North Brother Island.

He meets both suspicious allies and honest enemies and learns how that little sloop did not just carry immigrants. It carried something powerful. Something that promised safe passage over an impossible ocean. Something that would come to collect its bloody due, time and time again.

Apollo’s story doesn’t really start from himself–it starts from those who came before him, a long chain of people who have laid the foundations he walks upon. It takes him time to dig deep inside and find his own great power, and when he does, it’s a reckoning that was always a long time coming. Beware–this gothic horror is one that would rival any Grimm’ fairytale.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

The Changeling is among Andrew DeYoung's eight top sketchy-spouse domestic thrillers, Lucy Foley's six stunning tales of folk horror, Brittany Bunzey's twenty-five "must-read, truly bone-chilling" horror books, Nat Cassidy's eight top unconventional coming-of-age horror novels, Benjamin Percy's top five novels about dangerous plants, James Han Mattson's five top dark and disturbing reads, A.K. Larkwood's five tense books that blend sci-fi and horror, Leah Schnelbach's ten sci-fi and fantasy must-reads from the 2010s, T. Marie Vandelly's top ten suspenseful horror novels featuring domestic terrors and C.J. Tudor's six thrillers featuring missing, mistaken, or "changed" children.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best historical fiction titles of the century so far

The lit pros at Book Riot tagged the best historical fiction books of the century so far. One of Vanessa Diaz's picks:

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

I've loved just about everything that writer, classicist, and comedian Natalie Haynes has ever written, but this is the book that made a fangirl out of me. Hayne's retelling of the Trojan War gives voice to the women involved in the conflict, telling a non-linear tale through a dozen or so perspectives that include goddesses and both Greek and Trojan women. Spoiler alert: there are no winners here, as there rarely are for women in war. Haynes drives this fact home in a feminist retelling that gives a voice to the silenced, and that's witty where you'd least expect it. If you're a mythology nerd, this trip to ancient times is worth the price of admission.

Read about the other books on the list.

A Thousand Ships is among Megan Barnard's top eleven books about misunderstood women in history and mythology, the B&N Reads editors' twenty-four best mythological retellings, Susan Stokes-Chapman's top ten novels inspired by Greek myths, Jennifer Saint's ten essential books inspired by Greek myth, Deanna Raybourn's six top novels based on historical scandals, and Alyssa Vaughn's forty-two books to help you get through the rest of quarantine.

The Page 69 Test: A Thousand Ships.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven slow-burn romances

Laura Vogt is a historian, storyteller, and poet.

She loves all things wild and beautiful.

Vogt lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and three children.

Her new novel is In the Great Quiet.

At Lit Hub Vogt tagged seven favorite slow-burn romances, including:

Jane Austen, Emma (1815)

If you need a fix after Bridgerton, I’ve got you. You thought I would recommend Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion, right? And, sure, those both spectacularly showcase longing. Austen is the queen of the slow burn. Not only in romance, but in the gradual development of character, relationships, and prose. You must wait—but an Austen book is always worth it.

Emma follows a matchmaker as she wanders the picturesque English countryside. Emma meddles with the romantic life of her entire village—while completely misunderstanding her own romance. In Pride and Prejudice, we have Darcy’s confession of love at 55%, while in Emma we’re on the edge of our seats wondering until the last chapters. Emma is a slow burn of misrecognition. We’re biting our nails, turning those pages. The brilliance of Emma is that she herself is the obstacle—she’s so busy arranging other people’s happiness that she nearly misses her own.

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

Emma is on John Mullan's list of ten of the best wines in literature, and among Daniel Mendelsohn's six all-time favorite books, Lucy Worsley's six best books, Sophie Kinsella's six best books, Tanya Byron's six best books, Judith Martin's five favorite novels, and Monica Ali's ten favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles about sibling rivalries

Lisa Lee is the recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has received other fellowships and awards from Kundiman, Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Korea Foundation. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, VIDA, North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. Lee holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles.

Lee's new novel is American Han.

At Electric Lit she tagged seven books in which we see "characters who look to their brothers and sisters with uncertainty, envy, and love, looking for clues as to who and how they should be."

One title on the list:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Identical twins Desiree and Stella Vignes grow up in Mallard, Louisiana in the 1970s, in a Black community where light skin confers status and a modicum of protection from the virulent racism that surrounds the community. At age 16, the Vignes twins run away to New Orleans to chase their dreams. Over a decade later, their lives have completely diverged. Desiree is back in Mallard with her dark-skinned daughter after fleeing an abusive husband. Stella is passing as a white woman in California, where she lives with her businessman husband and their daughter. Stella chose to abandon her sister and give up her history and identity for a chance to claim the privilege that comes with whiteness. Desiree spends much of her life searching for her missing sister, who has vanished into whiteness as much as she has physically vanished from the sisters’ Louisiana home. In the divergent fates of Desiree and Stella, Bennett traces how race and racism shape the possibilities of life in America.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Vanishing Half is among Charlene Carr's six top books on belonging and identity and Beth Morrey‘s top ten single mothers in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books that changed a librarian's life

New Jersey librarian Martha Hickson is a central figure in Kim A. Snyder’s film, The Librarians, a new documentary executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker about librarians fighting back against the rising tide of book bans.

For Vogue Hickson tagged ten "books that have indelibly shaped her life," including:

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

I first read J.D. Salinger’s frequently banned The Catcher in the Rye as a seventh grader. Holden Caulfield’s voice hooked me, and I spent my adolescence becoming a J.D. Salinger completist. Joanna Rakoff’s memoir about the year in her early 20s when she worked in the literary agency that represented Salinger offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the publishing world that he kept at arm’s length. Responsible for shielding Salinger from his incessant fan mail—gatekeeping that silenced readers in its own ironic form of censorship—Rakoff grows to love both the reclusive writer and his wounded correspondents. Her memoir captures that time of life, with one foot leaving adolescence and the other flailing for solid purchase in adulthood, when we begin trying on identities and careers. I loved this book and its forgiving look back at the challenge of finding one’s way.

Read about the other entries on the list.

My Salinger Year was one of Laura Lippman's four favorite reads of 2014.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five true crime titles featuring forgers, fraudsters, and con artists

Born in London, J. R. Thornton graduated from Harvard College in 2014 where he studied history, English, and Chinese. An internationally ranked junior tennis player, he competed for Harvard and on the professional circuit. He was a member of the inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars, obtaining an M.A. from Tsinghua University in Beijing. He now lives in Italy, working for AC Milan. Lucien is his second novel.

At CrimeReads Thornton tagged five books "on forgers and conmen—on trauma and personality disorders—on imposters and fantasists." One title on the list:

Tom Wright & Bradley Hope, Billion Dollar Whale

The story of Jho Low and the looting of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, is the con artist story of the Millennial era, and Wright and Hope tell it with the propulsive energy it deserves.

Although Jho Low became adept at navigating the opaque and secretive world of offshore banking, asset laundering and shell companies, his primary tool was not financial sophistication but social engineering and performance. Rather than attempt to fly under the radar Jho Low did the opposite and hid his crimes in plain sight. He threw parties. He gave extravagant gifts. He befriended Leo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton and Miranda Kerr (and paid them to associate with him). He commissioned a super yacht for $250m. He bankrolled the production of The Wolf of Wall Street. All with stolen funds.

His story is also one of institutional failure—from the failure of financial regulators to the complicity of banks like Goldman Sachs and Rothschild to the involvement of high-ranking political figures including Najib Razak, the sitting Prime Minister of Malaysia (now serving a twenty-year prison sentence for his culpability).

Wright and Hope’s account is meticulously researched and demonstrates a deep understanding of the international shadow-banking system, yet it unfolds with the pace and tension of a thriller.

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

--Marshal Zeringue