Friday, January 31, 2025

Five novels with houses to die for

Camilla Bruce is a Norwegian writer of speculative and historical fiction. She has a master’s degree in comparative literature and has co-run a small press that published dark fairy tales. Bruce currently lives in Trondheim with her son and cat.

Her new novel is At the Bottom of the Garden.

At The Nerd Daily Bruce tagged five "novels with powerful houses that the characters are willing to fight, live, die – and even kill – for." One title on the list:
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

Ana and Reid are reeling from the difficult birth of their daughter, which left Ana in a wheelchair, when they catch an unexpected break: The two of them have won a lottery where the prize is an affordable apartment in the prestigious Deptford building, complete with stunning architecture and a view of Central Park. It almost seems too good to be true. Navigating new parenthood and Ana’s disability is hard, though. So hard that it takes a while for them to notice the strangeness lurking in the corners of their new home. The neighbors are pretty eccentric, true, and the gargoyles adorning the building are creepy – but you are willing to put up with a lot for the apartment of your dreams. There is no explaining away the needle-like marks on baby Charlie, though, or the sudden disappearance of visitors to their home. This house is like a hive, with many individuals living together in a complex structure. It is undoubtedly beautiful; an object of desire and the fulfilment of a dream. But what is truly hiding behind its delectable walls?
Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Eight historical novels that add a little magic

Susie Dumond is a queer writer originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the author of Queerly Beloved, Looking for a Sign, and Bed and Breakup, and she also talks about books as a senior contributor at Book Riot and a bookseller at her local indie bookstore. Dumond lives in Washington, D.C., with her spouse, Mickey, and her cat, Maple. When she’s not writing or reading, you can find her baking cupcakes or belting karaoke at the nearest gay bar.

At Book Riot Dumond tagged "eight novels that combine historical fiction with magical realism and fabulism to create something truly special." One title on the list:
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

What list of magical realism historical fiction would be complete without the legendary Isabel Allende? This sweeping epic involves three different protagonists orphaned by political violence who seek a different kind of family together. Samuel lost his parents to the Nazis in 1940s Austria. Leticia suffered great loss during a revolution in 1980s El Salvador. Seven-year-old Anita recently found herself separated from her loved ones at the U.S.-Mexico border. Anita, who is blind but has a gift of seeing much more than others, is placed temporarily with Samuel and Leticia, who work in his home. The three find a meaningful connection that gives them all hope for a better future. Weaving together multiple historical narratives with contemporary lives and touches of magic, Allende tells a powerful story of multiple generations healing from trauma.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Five mystery novels with unique settings

Jenny Elder Moke is the award-winning author of children’s and adult literature. She enjoys fast-paced adventures with plenty of mysteries, surprising turns, and laughs along the way. Her adult debut, She Doesn’t Have A Clue, is a murder-mystery rom-com mash-up for fans of Clue and Knives Out.

At CrimeReads she tagged
five selections that range from haunting thrillers to whip-smart homages to detective novels of a bygone era, [in which] setting plays a critical role in the execution of the story. The stories are worth reading not only to solve the murder, but to lose yourself in their immersive worlds.
One title on the list:
Night Film by Marisha Pessl

An expert blend of mystery, thriller, and horror, Night Film is a meticulous look at the lengths obsessive creatives will go to achieve their visions. When disgraced former journalist Scott McGrath reads about the death of a cult film director’s daughter, he immediately knows foul play was involved. After all, the director, Stanislaus Cordova, was the engineer of Scott’s professional downfall after Scott’s obsession with him went too far. The investigation into the daughter’s death is anything but by the book, as elements of the occult and stories of Cordova’s extreme directing methods begin surfacing. Pessl has written an absolute masterpiece, the culmination of which takes place at Cordova’s remote ranch/filming stage. What follows is a mind-bending chase through film sets, puzzle boxes, and even an abandoned pool that will make you question everything you know and trust. Fans of cult films and underground directors will appreciate Pessl’s detailed dedication to creating Cordova’s world.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Night Film is among Lauren Acampora's nine top novels of art and seduction, Kate Reed Petty's seven thrillers about filmmakers & subversive art, and Jeff Somers's ten creepy Halloween books and four huge books that will hurt your brain—but in a good way.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Seven books where real estate drives the plot

Daniel Kenitz is a freelance writer and the author of the thriller The Perfect Home. He has also published several short stories, including the Pushcart Prize-nominated "A Hand to the Plow" (2022, Red Rock Review), "Tickleneck" (2022, Spotlong Review), "The Cycle" (2021, Evening Street Review), "Seen" (2020, Every Day Fiction), "The Parent License" (2020, The Virginia Normal), and "Sunset 9037" (2013, Strangelet Magazine).

At Electric Lit Kenitz tagged seven novels in which "authors have skillfully used unique real estate situations for all sorts of literary purposes: metaphors, side plots, symbols, and entanglements." One title on the list:
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

The Last Thing He Told Me begins in a floating home, and the metaphor there is a life about to be swept away in the current. What a great choice, because the effect is instant: Owen’s mysterious “Protect her” letter kicks off a story with riverine momentum. The search unites Hannah and Bailey—not related by blood but through Owen—the same way the floating home forced them into living in close quarters.
Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, January 27, 2025

Six top thrillers featuring sisters (and murder)

Kate Alice Marshall is the bestselling author of thrillers and horror for kids and adults. Her middle grade books include the Secrets of Eden Eld trilogy and Extra Normal. In YA, she’s written the survival thriller I Am Still Alive, as well as supernatural suspense including Rules for Vanishing and The Narrow. She made her adult thriller debut with What Lies in the Woods, followed by the USA Today bestseller No One Can Know.

She lives outside Seattle with her family, two very friendly (but not very smart) golden retrievers, and a growing collection of fancy pens.

At CrimeReads Marshall tagged six of her "favorite stories featuring sisters—the good, the bad, and the complicated." One title on the list:
The Turnout by Megan Abbott

Not for the faint of heart, this unsettling and at times uncomfortable book takes a long, dark dive into the world of ballet. Sisters Marie and Dara, along with Dara’s husband Charlie, run a ballet studio once owned by their mother. Their claustrophobic world is disrupted when a fire damages the school, necessitating repairs. The contractor the three hire proves a corrosive, dangerous force. This book oozes atmosphere and dread, creating a fascinating portrait of the sisters and their deeply intertwined lives.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Turnout is among 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

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Books that teach how to be alone

Rebecca Joines Schinsky is the Chief of Staff for Riot New Media Group and a co-host of the Book Riot Podcast.

At Book Riot she tagged a few "books to help you savor solitude, sink into silence, and be alone with your thoughts in a world filled with noise." One title on the list:
[F]or those who really want to sit in silence and get comfortable with having nothing but their own thoughts for company, there’s Thich Nhat Hanh’s Silence. Some familiarity with basic mindfulness techniques will be helpful here, but it isn’t required, as Hanh explains the importance of silence for our spiritual well-being. The book includes meditation techniques and mantras to anchor the practice of sitting still, making it a particularly good candidate for audiobook listening.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Six books on belonging and identity

Charlene Carr has published eleven novels. Her first agented novel, Hold My Girl, was named one of the Best Books of 2023 by CBC, shortlisted for multiple awards, and has been optioned for adaptation to the screen. Carr lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia with her husband and young daughters.

Her new novel is We Rip the World Apart.

At The Nerd Daily Carr tagged six books that explore themes of identity and belonging. One title on the list:
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake is a multi-generational story that shifts between the past and the present as two siblings uncover the secrets of their late mother’s life. These revelations bring into question everything the brother and sister thought they knew about not only their mother’s identity, but their own, too.

Expansive and tender, Black Cake is an exploration of the intermixing of cultures and the ways in which the choices we make in an effort to survive and, maybe no less important, to belong, can ripple through the years.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Black Cake is among Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's five top books that wine & dine, Donna Hemans's eight books on love, loss, and betrayal in the Caribbean, and Sally Koslow's five novels about families far worse than yours.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, January 24, 2025

Nine titles combining the Gothic & the glamorous

Layne Fargo has a background in theater, women’s studies, and library science, so it’s only fitting that she now writes deliciously dramatic, unapologetically feminist stories for a living. She’s the author of the novels The Favorites, They Never Learn, and Temper, as well as co-author on the bestselling Young Rich Widows series.

[My Book, The Movie: They Never Learn]

At CrimeReads Fargo tagged nine books "that pair the Gothic with the glam." One title on the list:
The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore

David Lynch meets Disney in this thoroughly original dark academia novel, featuring a school for teen stars that’s hiding a mass grave of dark secrets underneath its polished exterior. We follow Ivy, a veteran actress who’s been at the titular academy for 18 years, plus Ramona and Grace, two up-and-coming ingenues eager to follow in Ivy’s footsteps. The Dollhouse Academy’s denizens will do anything for success—including subjecting themselves to constant surveillance and strange experiments. Montimore proves that sometimes the shiny, happy, and perky can be even more disturbing than obvious evil.
Read about the other titles on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Five historical fiction titles about little known history

Rachel Brittain is a writer, Day Dreamer, and Amateur Aerialist. Her short fiction has appeared in Luna Station Quarterly, Andromeda Spaceways, and others. She is a contributing editor for Book Riot, where she screams into the void about her love of books. Brittain lives in Northwest Arkansas with a rambunctious rescue pup, a snake, and a houseful of plants (most of which aren’t carnivorous).

At Book Riot she tagged five "historical fiction books about little-known history [that] bring the more obscure sides of history to light." One entry on the list:
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

More lives were lost in the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff than the Titanic and Lusitania combined, but many people have never even heard of it. I hadn’t before reading this heartbreaking historical fiction novel by Ruta Sepetys. The ship, overcrowded with more than 10,000 wartime personnel and refugees on a craft only meant for 1,800, was hit by a Russian torpedo in the Baltic Sea. To tell its tragic story, Sepetys imagines the people who might’ve found their way to the Wilhelm Gustloff: a young Lithuanian nurse, a Prussian soldier ferreting away Nazi treasures, and a heavily pregnant Polish girl, all fleeing for their lives.
Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Eleven thrillers that feature the mega-rich

Trisha Sakhlecha grew up in New Delhi and now splits her time between Berlin and London. She is a diplomat, currently working as Director of The Tagore Centre at the Embassy of India. In the past, Sakhlecha has worked in the fashion industry as a business consultant, designer, and trend forecaster.

The Inheritance is her U.S. debut.

At Electric Lit Sakhlecha tagged thrillers featuring the mega-rich in which "the themes of betrayal, secrecy, and ambition [are] explored with razor-sharp intensity." One title on the list:
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

This psychological thriller tells the story of Amber Patterson, a woman who infiltrates the life of a wealthy couple with sinister intentions. She is determined to take the place of the perfect, seemingly untouchable wife, and the narrative unravels with shocking twists as Amber’s own secrets are revealed.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is among Jaime Lynn Hendricks's seven best unlikeable characters in thrillers, Eliza Jane Brazier's nine books that pit the Have against the Have-Nots, Seraphina Nova Glass's seven top obsession thrillers, Allison Dickson's top ten thrillers featuring a dance of girlfriends and deception, Kristyn Kusek Lewis's eight shocking thrillers featuring scandals, Margot Hunt's top nine thrillers featuring duplicitous spouses, and Jennifer Hillier's eight crime novels of women starting over.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Mrs. Parrish.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Four tech thrillers rooted in the tensions between technology and human nature

Sara Sligar is an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. Her first novel, Take Me Apart, was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and a finalist for the Ned Kelly Award for Best International Crime Fiction. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Phil. in Modern European History from the University of Cambridge. Her new novel is Vantage Point.

At CrimeReads Sligar tagged four books that "are living on the blade edge of progress, using fiction’s vast possibilities to imagine what comes next, for tech and for the people who use it." One title on the list:
Ken Liu, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

I learned about Ken Liu’s work from one of my students, Luis Ferrer, who wrote his senior thesis on Liu this fall. This collection pulls together eighteen stories and a novel excerpt, some of which take place in fantasy worlds or distant futures. But the collection also features other stories that speak to more specific present fears. There’s a series of several linked stories beginning with “The Gods Will Not Be Chained”—the series Luis focused on, and which was also the inspiration for the TV show Pantheon—set in a world where it has become possible to upload individuals’ brains to computers, turning them into digital consciousnesses and effectively allowing their minds to “live” forever. In another story, “Byzantine Empathy,” cryptocurrency-literate nonprofits begin turning real atrocities into violent VR experiences to shock users into donating.

The story that hit me a little too close to home was “Real Artists,” in which an aspiring filmmaker learns that the films she loves are secretly made by artificial intelligence. An advanced algorithm called “Big Semi” tracks audiences’ real-time responses and creates countless story iterations until it reaches the “exact emotional curve guaranteed to make them laugh and cry in the right places”—then uses this information to make “perfect films.” When Big Semi’s film studio offers the protagonist a job, she discovers that in this world (as in our own), AI’s success depends on the exploitation of human creative expertise.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, January 20, 2025

Five wild girls of literature

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum's most recent collection of fiction, What We Do with the Wreckage, won the 2017 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her two previous collections are Swimming with Strangers and This Life She’s Chosen, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick of the Month.

Elita is her first novel. She lives near Seattle.

At Lit Hub Lunstrum tagged five works of literature featuring wild children, including:
Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson

No account of the literature of the wild nature of the child is complete without Marilynne Robinson’s canonical masterpiece. Here, in a Pacific Northwest landscape as untameable as the novel’s characters, the reader sinks into the fog of orphaned narrator Ruth’s adolescence and the year her aunt Sylvie comes to care for her and her sister Lucille. Ruth and Lucille form perfect opposites—Lucille moved by the sisters’ impoverished and uncertain childhood to mold herself into a model of adult stability and social acceptance; while Ruth is towed as if by invisible undercurrent away from all that, toward the mountains and the lake that define their Idaho town, toward Sylvie’s strange reveries and feral tendencies. The house these three keep is a house of silent, creeping discord, as Sylvie abandons typical caretaking routines in favor of tending her wild mind instead, and Ruth—unable to resist all that is also wild in her—follows. In Housekeeping, the question that drives the story is not how to hold onto the self but rather how to let it go that one might become absorbed, like Sylvie (whose name alone connotes her essential belonging in the wild) and the fog itself, into the true freedom of the larger world.
Read about the other entries on Lunstrum's list.

Housekeeping is among Cameron Walker's eight books about finding magic in the domestic, four books that changed Karen Foxlee, Yiyun Li's six favorite novels, Claire Cameron's five favorite stories about unlikely survivors, Sara Zarr's top ten family dramas, Philip Connors's top 10 wilderness books, Kate Walbert's best books, and Aryn Kyle's favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Nine chilling thrillers about marriage

At BookRiot Courtney Rodgers tagged nine chilling thrillers about marriage. One title on the list:
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

One year after the kidnapping of her son, Marin is a shell of her former self. After the FBI case has gone cold, Marin hires a private investigator who discovers that Marin’s husband is having an affair. Unwilling to lose Derek, too, Marin sets off on a path to destroy Derek’s girlfriend. Hillier weaves emotional turmoil with psychological elements to create an intense read from start to finish.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Little Secrets is among Andromeda Romano-Lax's four top thrillers that explore a mother's worst nightmare, Jessica Hamilton's six top novels about extra marital affairs, and Lisa Regan's ten riveting reads filled with shocking secrets.

--Marshal Zeringue

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Five titles that exploit our fear of being known

Melissa Larsen is the author of Shutter and The Lost House.

She received her M.F.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from New York University.

When she isn’t traveling somewhere to research her next novel—and somehow hurting herself in the process—she lives in New York City and teaches creative writing.

At CrimeReads Larsen tagged five novels that embody "the fear of even letting someone get close to us, because once we submit to that ordeal, they have the potential to hurt us." One title on the list:
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie

Fifteen years ago, Syd Walker witnessed her best friend’s murder and barely escaped with her own and her sister’s life. Now, working far out of state as an archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd is called home by a threat: A skull placed near the scene of the crime, with her ID badge held in its teeth. Reluctantly, Syd returns to uncover old wounds and new horrors alike. Her sister, troubled and far too involved in the dark threads that hold their hometown together, has gone missing. I read this one so fast I was almost out of breath, both from the pace and the terrors within.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Blood Sisters is among Eliza Browning's 2023 list of sixteen new books by Indigenous authors.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, January 17, 2025

Ten wintery horror novels

Claudia Guthrie is a writer covering culture, entertainment, and lifestyle content. Her work has appeared in ELLE, The Muse, Food52, and more. Originally from Kansas City, she now resides in Denver, where you can find her reading the newest thriller or knitting sweaters for her cats.

At Electric Lit Guthrie tagged ten wintery horror novels that will chill you to the bone, including:
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

On a cold winter night, a woman joins her new boyfriend on a roadtrip to meet his parents, despite her doubts about their relationship. Things get more and more eerie as the two drive through the snow and arrive at his parents’ farmhouse, and the woman can’t escape her intuition that something is deeply wrong.

At under 250 pages, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a short read with a twist that packs an ice-cold punch.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Five titles where bad things happen in beautiful places

Sandra Chwialkowska is a television writer and producer who splits her time between Los Angeles and Toronto. Most recently, she served as writer and co–executive producer on the Golden Globe–nominated ABC series Alaska Daily, created by Oscar-winning writer Tom McCarthy and starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank. Chwialkowska holds a BA in literature from Yale.

The Ends of Things is her first novel.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged "five delicious mysteries and thrillers to feed our obsession with bad things happening in beautiful places." One title on the list:
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

A fast-paced mystery about the disappearance of two siblings, fourteen years apart, at an idyllic summer camp in the Adirondacks. The missing children are no ordinary campers either – they’re the kids of the family that owns the camp and employs the locals.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The God of the Woods is among Midge Raymond's eight books about women keeping secrets and Molly Odintz's eight thrillers & horror novels set at terrible summer camps.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Ten titles to make you rethink AI

Erika Swyler is the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed novels Light From Other Stars and The Book of Speculation.

Her new novel is We Lived on the Horizon.

At People magazine Swyler tagged ten favorite books examining the impact of artificial intelligence on our lives and humanity. One title on the list;
Hum by Helen Phillips

Unemployed after being replaced by artificial intelligence, Mae subjects herself to experimental surgery to support her family, and to pay for a moment of escape to a botanical garden in a city rife with surveillance and devoid of nature. The novel’s AI — called hums — are an extension of the ways corporations and governments use surveillance technology, sometimes even taking on the role of caretaker in a literal nanny state. Most striking is the way Philips portrays the impact that tech has on parents and children alike as it considers both the anxiety around being watched, and the comfort in being able to watch and track another.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Five top mystery romances

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. Following a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, she earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s the author of four young adult novels: Leisha's Song, an Agatha Nominee for Best Mystery Novel in the MG/YA category, a Moonbeam Children's Book Awards' Bronze Medalist, and a recipient of the Silver Falchion Award and the Imadjinn Award for best young adult novel; It Should Have Been You, a Silver Falchion Finalist; While I Danced an EPIC finalist; and Deadly Setup, recipient of the NYC Big Book Award, the Maincrest Media Book Award, the Book Excellence Award, as well as a Moonbeam Silver Medalist and a finalist for the M&M Chanticleer International Book Awards, the Silver Falchion, and Imadjinn Awards. Her first adult mystery, Missed Cue, received the Independent Press Award for Distinguished Favorite in the mystery category.

Slaughter's latest novel is Missing Mom.

At CrimeReads she tagged five favorite mystery romances, including:
The Body In the Backyard by Lucy Score

The latest entry in the Riley Thorn mystery series features a madcap cast of characters. Riley’s over-the-top narcissistic ex-husband, Griffin Gentry, unexpectedly shows up begging for help tracking down the person who’s trying to kill him. Not surprisingly, Riley’s sexy private investigator boyfriend, Nick Santiago, refuses to take the case. But he’s overruled by Mrs. Penny, his eighty-year-old business partner, who points out their nearly empty bank account.

Their client’s selfish behavior and endless betrayals have enraged a bunch of people, so even with Riley’s psychic abilities and Nick’s skills as a detective, sorting through all the potential suspects is no easy task. There’s even a support group for women who hate the impossibly self-absorbed Griffin!

Meantime, the roof of the mansion next door has collapsed, and Riley and Nick’s elderly neighbors move in. Nick longs for some alone time with Riley for romance and a marriage proposal, but finding time alone proves to be almost as difficult as identifying Griffin’s would-be murderer.

For readers partial to romantic comedy capers and snappy dialogue, seasoned with a touch of the paranormal, this is a thoroughly entertaining read.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, January 13, 2025

Ten top classic retellings

At Fully Booked Meaghan Mains tagged ten of the best classic retellings, including:
Great by Sara Benincasa

Inspired by: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A young adult take on a jazz-age classic, Great shifts its glitz from Long Island over to the Hamptons. Mysterious socialites and unexpected tragedy shape the story, with a social scene that would make F. Scott Fitzgerald proud. The twists are modern, but the glam is all Gatsby. This readers’ 1920s’ loving heart is all about the Gatsby updates.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Great is among Sadie Trombetta's nine gender-swapped retellings of classic stories, Jenny Kawecki's five top steamy YA New York–set summer stories, Sabrina Rojas Weiss's four top YA retellings of classic works and Dahlia Adler's six great Young Adult retellings of classics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Ten literary adaptations coming to TV & film in 2025

Jalen Giovanni Jones is a Black and Filipino writer from Los Angeles, and is an editorial intern at Electric Literature. His work has been supported by the Tin House Workshop, the Lambda Literary Retreat, and ART PAPERS. Jalen’s work has won the David Madden MFA Award, and has been published by The Offing. He is the Assistant Editor of the New Delta Review, an MFA candidate in Louisiana State University’s Creative Writing Program, and is working on a collection of short stories and a novel.

At Electric Lit Jones tagged ten of the most anticipated literary adaptations coming to TV and film in 2025. One title on the list:
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal in Fiction, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun follows the solar-powered Klara, an Artificial Friend that carefully watches over Josie, a sickly child that chooses her to be her companion. Directed by Taika Waititi, and starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, and Aran Murphy, this devastating sci-fi novel’s adaptation gives fans much to be excited about. The film is slated for a 2025 release.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Klara and the Sun is among Sierra Greer's seven top stories of robot-human relationships.

--Marshal Zeringue

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Five books that tell complex, hopeful stories about migration

An award-winning teacher, scholar, and documentary film producer, Stanton E.F. Wortham is Charles Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College. A linguistic anthropologist and educational ethnographer with a particular expertise in how identities develop in human interactions, Wortham has conducted research spanning education, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and philosophy. He is the author or editor of ten books and more than 100 articles and chapters that cover a range of topics including linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, learning identity, and education in the new Latino diaspora.

Wortham's newest book is Migration Narratives: Diverging Stories in Schools, Churches, and Civic Institutions.

At Shepherd the author tagged five of the best books that tell complex, hopeful stories about migration. One title on the list:
Border Porosities: Movements of People, Objects, and Ideas in the Southern Balkans by Rozita Dimova

I love how this book documents the many ways in which borders are not nearly as solid as we typically imagine. We tend to think about how migrants move across borders, and they do, but the book traces how people, ideas, and things have moved back and forth between Greece and north Macedonia over the past century.

I was drawn in by the compelling stories of how less dramatic movements of this kind have transformed individuals and societies on both sides of the border.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, January 10, 2025

Five historical crime novels with Agatha Christie vibes

Fiona Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of eight historical fiction novels set in iconic New York City buildings, including The Stolen Queen, The Spectacular, The Magnolia Palace, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue, which was a Good Morning America book club pick.

[My Book, The Movie: The AddressMy Book, The Movie: The MasterpieceMy Book, The Movie: The Chelsea GirlsThe Page 69 Test: The Chelsea GirlsMy Book, The Movie: The Lions of Fifth Avenue]

At CrimeReads Davis tagged "five historical fiction novels that incorporate [Agatha] Christie’s signature moves and will keep you on the edge for the entire ride, and don’t be surprised if the grand dame herself doesn’t show up in one or two." One title on the list:
The Author’s Guide to Murder by Karen White, Lauren Willig, and Beatriz Williams

The Three W’s, as they’re known, provide a fresh take on the infamous Christie closed-circle mystery in their latest collaboration. At first glance, it appears that a trio of nutty American female writers have shown up for a writer’s retreat at a Scottish castle just in time to find their host quite dead. But as the keen-eyed local detective (another Christie trope), dives deeper, the women’s characters—and their motives—turn out to be far more complex than they first appear, and the hunt for the killer becomes a matter of life and death. The novel is chock full of Easter eggs about the publishing world, and a masterful ode to the Queen of Mystery herself.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Nine sci-fi and fantasy novels involving tarot

At BookRiot Vanessa Diaz tagged nine top sci-fi and fantasy novels involving tarot. One title on the list:
Nova by Samuel R. Delany

Time magazine described Nova as reading “like Moby-Dick at a strobe-light show” and I don’t know if I can do any better! But since I must try, this space opera follows Captain Lorq Von Ray in his obsessive quest to harvest a “fabulously valuable” power source called Illyrion from the heart of an imploding star, all while locked in a deadly rivalry with a Prince Red of Draco, a rival political unit. Tarot is a major part of this galactic society, with readings being used to plot courses through space, and each major character is also associated with a specific card.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Nova is among Electra Pritchett's five top speculative fiction books featuring tarot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Five top spy novels set in small towns

Ryan Britt is the author of the non-fiction books Luke Skywalker Can’t Read, The Spice Must Flow, and Phasers on Stun! His writing has appeared with Esquire, Den of Geek, and Inverse, where he is an editor. Britt teaches for the Maine Writers and Publisher’s Alliance, and is a guest instructor at Colby College.

At CrimeReads he tagged five great spy novels set in small towns, including:
End Game (2017) by David Baldacci

Set in Grand, Colorado, End Game, is one of several books in David Baldacci’s compelling Will Robie series. In this page-turner, Robie and Jessica Reel are sent to track down…their boss. Like that disembodied voice on the tape in Mission: Impossible, Robie and Reel had always worked with a handler named “Blue Man,” who, in this book, goes missing in the town of Grand. In a way, End Game is the perfect example of a modern thriller that values spy tactics as much as fishing trips.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Five of the best novels about women discovering unimaginable strength through tragedy

Melanie Maure holds a Master’s in Counselling Psychology and lives in central British Columbia. She is second generation Irish and spends a great deal of time in Ireland, which is an enduring source of inspiration for her work.

Sisters of Belfast is Maure's debut novel.

[The Page 69 Test: Sisters of BelfastMy Book, The Movie: Sisters of BelfastQ&A with Melanie Maure]

At Shepherd Maure tagged five of the "best novels about seemingly ordinary women discovering unimaginable strength through tragedy." One title on the list:
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

The narrator and protagonist, Ana, grabbed my heart and imagination immediately. Her tenacity, vulnerability, heartbreak, and clarity brought me into every experience she had throughout the story, one of which was being Jesus' wife. I loved that the experience of being Jesus’ wife was not the epicenter of her being. Instead, the depth of her longing to write and find her purpose in that calling shone through.

This book resonated deeply with me, helping to round out my childhood experience of religion, in particular, the bible being held in a very patriarchal view.

This book grabbed my heart and mind and would not let me go. I cried several times and finished it in a week, which is fast reading for a slow reader like me.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Book of Longings is among Glennon Doyle's six soulful, life-changing books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, January 6, 2025

The best nonfiction crime books of 2024

One title from the CrimeReads editors' list of the best nonfiction books of 2024:
Abbott Kahler, Eden Undone

In Abbott Kahler’s stranger-than-fiction account of murder in a utopian community, two couples and one throuple flee Nazi Germany to live an idealized existence in the Galapagos Islands. Honestly, the subtitle of the book says it better than I ever could: there is sex! There is murder! And there is utopianism, although it fails to translate into an actual utopia. But the best laid plans, when followed rigidly and put in place by bizarre actors, can’t possibly turn out well.
Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Six novels for novelists

At B&N Reads Isabelle McConville tagged six novels for novelists. One title on the list:
Bunny: A Novel by Mona Awad

While you may have heard of the dark, fairytale-like twists and turns of Bunny, did you know this story takes place in a highly exclusive MFA program at a prestigious New England university (besides, only writers would get into this much of a wacky mess)? Meet the Bunnies, a clique of women that call each other Bunny and participate in things called “Smut Salon” parties. Awad offers a candid and barbed portrait of the nuances of femininity and societal expectations forced onto women that readers will devour.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Bunny is among Chris Wheatley's six top dark academia novels and Gnesis Villar's seven books about the struggle of being a writer.

--Marsal Zeringue

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Eleven contemporary retellings of classic titles

At Teen Vogue Costa B. Pappas tagged "eleven books that are contemporary retellings of classic titles," including:
The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis

A YA spin on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, this novel follows Tress Montor and her former best friend, Felicity Turnado. Nearly a decade ago, Tress’ parents mysteriously went missing while driving Felicity home. After the incident, Tress was undeservingly shunned by her town. In the years following the fateful drive, Felicity fought to claim her status at the top of the social ladder, and in the process lost memory of what she knew. But Tress will make her remember — setting in motion a sinister plan to uncover the truth from Felicity, at any cost. Dark, gripping, and filled with turns, Mindy McGinnis’ first novel in this duology will leave readers frantically turning every page.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, January 3, 2025

Five thrilling books that will inspire you to listen to a true crime podcast

Katherine Greene is the pen name of bestselling authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley. They each cut their teeth on spine-tingling thrillers and true crime. It was their love of dark, twisted tales with a strong female voice led them to create stories that leave you guessing. Both currently live in the United Kingdom with their families.

The Lake of Lost Girls is their second novel.

At CrimeReads the authors tagged five "amazing stories that use [true crime podcasts] to deliver a fast-paced, and complicated narrative." One title on the list:
Sadie by Courtney Summers: This book focuses on some of our own very favorite things in a thriller: a small town, a missing girl, podcast snippets and revenge! A gut-wrenching story that flips back and forth between podcast segments and one jaded teen’s journey, with a closing line that will leave you speechless for a long time afterwards.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Sadie is among Megan Cooley Peterson's eight titles exploring real life crimes, Lisa Schroeder's seven top mysteries about teens, Kate McLaughlin's seven top fictional characters who are bent but not broken and Kate Kessler's six top revenge thrillers featuring female protagonists.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Five thrillers set in Russia

At the Waterstones blog Anna Orhanen tagged five "thrilling tales of crime, espionage and deception set in Russia and the USSR you might enjoy next," including:
Archangel by Robert Harris

The master storyteller's third page-turning novel pitches a historian into a deadly race against time through Moscow and the frozen Russian North to locate Stalin's secret diary.
Read about the other thrillers on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

The best historical fiction of the 21st century (so far)

At BookRiot Courtney Rodgers tagged the best historical fiction of the 21st century so far. One title on the list:
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Sentenced to house arrest by the Bolshevik regime, Count Alexander Rostov is stripped of his wealth and made to observe the world pass him by. Staying true to his gentlemanly ways, Rostov interacts with a revolving cast of unusual characters in his hotel dwelling. Charming and descriptive, A Gentleman in Moscow invites the reader into Rostov’s private world to understand 1920s Russia.
Read about the other entries on the list.

A Gentleman in Moscow is among Suzanne Redfearn's six architecturally inspired novels.

--Marshal Zeringue