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

Seven of the best dark academia titles

Melissa D’Agnese is a senior editor at FIRST for Women, Woman’s World, and various a360media special interest publications.

At Woman’s World she tagged seven of the best dark academia books, including:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

When Donna Tartt wrote The Secret History in 1992, she had no idea she was writing a book that would one day be considered the blueprint of dark academia. The compelling premise centers around a group of six students studying at a New England university under a charismatic professor, Julian Morrow. Their studies in Greek lead them to discover a new way of thinking and living—one that’s far away from their everyday life. As morals slip, obsession leads to betrayals and, ultimately, murder.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Secret History is among Nora Garrett’s five titles that take you deep inside the ivory tower, Chris Wheatley's six best dark academia novels, Ali Lowe's six best campus crime novels, Edwin Hill's six perfectly alluring academic mysteries, a top ten Twinkies in fiction, Kate Weinberg's five top campus novels, Emily Temple's twenty best campus novels, and Ruth Ware's top six books about boarding schools.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that blend hilarity and escapism

Victoria Dillon is a former research scientist, current pediatrician and writer with a passion for exploring the intersections of politics and science. She has a unique ability to blend speculative fiction with thought-provoking social commentary, creating prose that speaks both to the heart and the mind. She currently resides in Middle Tennessee.

Ava is her debut novel.

At CrimeReads Dillon tagged five favorite books that blend hilarity and escapism. One title on the list:

Stephen Colbert, I Am America (And So Can You!)

This book leans fully into satire, using Colbert’s exaggerated public persona (prior to his talk show) to mock politics, media, and American self-importance. The humor is intentionally ridiculous, but there is a sharpness underneath that makes the jokes land harder than you expect. It’s hard to pick a favorite line from the book, so I went with something timely: “Here’s an easy way to figure out if you’re in a cult: If you’re wondering whether you’re in a cult, the answer is yes.”

When the news starts to feel surreal, this book feels like meeting that surrealism at its own level. It does not fix anything, but it does offer the relief of laughing at the spectacle when taking it seriously feels exhausting. It’s a great book to keep on your nightstand. You can open it to any page and enjoy Colbert’s sharp wit as a great alternative to doom-scrolling on your phone.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top works of fiction set in Maine

Elise Juska’s latest novel, Reunion, was named one of People Magazine’s “Best Books to Read in May 2024.” Her previous novels include The Blessings, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and If We Had Known. Juska’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Alice Hoffman Prize from Ploughshares, and her short fiction has been cited by The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize anthologies. 

[The Page 69 Test: Reunion; My Book, The Movie: Reunion]

At Tertulia Juska tagged her favorite fiction set in Maine. One title on the list:

Beneficence by Meredith Hall

Doris and Tup and their three children live on a dairy farm in the 1950s. Theirs is an idyllic existence, focused on the satisfactions of work and family, until an unspeakable tragedy befalls them, marking the end of life as they knew it. The aftermath is painful but described in some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top sci-fi books like "Project Hail Mary"

At Book Riot Megan Mabee tagged five sci-fi titles like Project Hail Mary, including:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Andy Weir excels at interweaving humor within sci-fi, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a more humorous option as well. Like Project Hail Mary, there’s also a bit of an endearing Rocky-Grace dynamic found between the crew of this book and Murderbot, a company-issued droid who secretly hacked its own system. As a team of scientists tests the surface of a distant planet, Murderbot must begrudgingly keep them alive. Before long, though, they’ll instead begin investigating what happened to another nearby mission.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Liberty Hardy's five books for fans of Project Hail Mary.

All Systems Red also appears among Justin C. Key's nine top depictions of AI in fiction, Debbie Urbanski's nine books that center asexuality, Lorna Wallace's ten best novels about Artificial Intelligence, Deana Whitney's five amusing AI characters who should all definitely hang out, Andrew Skinner's five top stories about the lives of artificial objects, Annalee Newitz's list of seven books about remaking the world, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Rivqa Rafael's five top books that give voice to artificial intelligence, T.W. O'Brien's five recent books that explore the secret lives of robots, Sam Reader's top six science fiction novels for fans of Westworld, and Nicole Hill's six robots too smart for their own good.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six mysteries featuring mother-daughter sleuth duos

Stacy Hackney lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and four sons. She graduated from Wake Forest University and University of Virginia School of Law—after her legal briefs started bordering on a little too dramatic, she started writing fiction and never stopped. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her out on the water, watching romantic comedies, online shopping for beautiful shoes, or making an enormous mess in the kitchen.

Hackney has published two children’s books, Forever Glimmer Creek and The Sisters of Luna Island. The Primrose Murder Society is her first book for adults.

At CrimeReads Hackney tagged six top mystery novels with mother-daughter sleuths. One title on the list:

Karin Slaughter, Pieces of Her

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter is an expertly plotted mystery-thriller where daughter, Andrea, discovers the secret past of her mother, Laura, after her mother kills a gunman in a diner. Andrea is forced to go on the run and unravel her mother’s secrets to protect them both.

This book explores the themes of how well we know the people in our lives and the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her daughter.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

Pieces of Her is among Kimberly McCreight's five thrillers about charged mother-daughter relationships.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six fairy tale retellings

Bar Fridman-Tell has a BA in art history and an MA in English literature. (She gleefully wrote her thesis about Victorian vampires.) She has worked as a bartender, a bookseller, a translator, and a library assistant. She is currently studying for a master's in library and information sciences, hoping to stay in a library for good. She lives in Toronto with her professor husband and two very fluffy cats. Honeysuckle is her debut novel.

At Lit Hub Fridman-Tell tagged six books that "take a fairy tale and pull one thread loose, to see what happens next, or tip the story on its side and see what new shape emerges." One title on the list:

S. M. Hallow, How To Survive This Fairytale

In How To Survive This Fairy Tale, a novella tiptoeing on the border between fantasy and horror, S. M. Hallow at turns unravels fairy tales and stitches them together. Hallow starts with a question: what happens after the fairy tale ends? After Hansel escaped the forest witch, after the hunter let Snow White go, after the six swans turned back into humans (mostly), and their sister proves her innocence. And what would happen if one character, Hans, tripped through all three of these stories, plus a few more?

From this starting point, Hallow tackles subjects such as the line between villain and victim, the possibility of redemption, living in a body that no longer fits who you are, and what a happy ending really looks like in these circumstances. Tears (the good kind) guaranteed.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten crime novels featuring female duos

Elle Cosimano is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, an International Thriller Writers Award winner, and an Edgar Award nominee. Cosimano’s debut novel for adults, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, kicked off a witty, fast-paced contemporary mystery series, which was a People magazine pick and was named one of New York Public Library's Best Books of 2021. The third book in the series, Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, was an instant New York Times bestseller. A TV show based on the series is now in development by Tina Fey and Lang Fisher for Peacock. In addition to writing novels for teens and adults, her essays have appeared in HuffPost and Time. Cosimano lives with her husband and two sons in Virginia.

[Q&A with Elle Cosimano; My Book, The Movie: Seasons of the Storm]

Her new novel is Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line.

At CrimeReads Cosimano tagged ten favorite crime novels featuring captivating partners in crime. One title on the list:

Colleen Oakley, The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise

A surly octogenarian and a disillusioned college dropout take an unforgettable road trip when they find themselves on the lam from the law. Perfect for fans of the TV series Hacks.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine novels about women in the wild

Laura Hulthen Thomas’s deeply human, emotional storytelling explores blue and white collars, lovers and spouses, mothers and children, and the unique Michigan places that shape these relationships. Her novels, stories, and essays reveal the complexities of home, work, and the Midwestern landscape. Thomas is a Teaching Professor in the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan’s Residential College. Her first book, States of Motion, was a finalist for a Foreword Reviews Indie Award.

Thomas's new novel is The Meaning of Fear.

At Electric Lit she tagged "nine novels [that] tell the stories of women who find themselves battling their own wilds." One title on the list:

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

The Vaster Wilds pits woman against the wilds from its first lines. Set in 1609, young Lamentations flees from Virginia’s Jamestown colony into the “great and terrible wilderness” to escape starvation and a crime that deprivation drove her to commit. More Lot’s wife than Robinson Crusoe, the girl flees north through the dense forest without looking back. As she fights the cold, malnutrition, and the toll of past trauma, Lamentations chops fish from the ice and shelters in fallen logs. At first, survival means outrunning the men who pursue her. Later, as her health and stamina slip, true survival means learning when to flee and when to shelter in “one of the quiet good places of this new land.” Throughout the novel, Groff cuts to the nearby Powhatan gathering food and building communities as a reminder that this world is only wild to the woman not born to it.

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

The Vaster Wilds is among Peggy Townsend's five notable wilderness thrillers featuring fearless women and Daniel Schreiber's top ten books about solitary living.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four great sci-fi novels with ragtag crews

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged four "fun sci-fi escapades featuring motley crews." One entry on the list:

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

Last but not least is this action-filled story of a ragtag crew of two. They’re both outcasts: a former treasure hunter and a champion racer who are no longer relevant. They’re searching for a legendary warship they heard about, which was supposedly lost or destroyed many moons ago, but if found, could turn their fortunes around. And it could also give them the ability to destroy anyone and anything that dares to cross them, if they desire, nbd.

Read about the other titles on the list.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is among Liberty Hardy's five great sci-fi titles about competitions.

My Book, The Movie: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe.

The Page 69 Test: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe.

--Marshal Zeringue