Five titles featuring strangers crossing paths in unexpected ways

Ilona Bannister is the author of three novels, When I Ran Away, Little Prisons, and the newly released Five.

[Q&A with Ilona Bannister; The Page 69 Test: When I Ran Away]

At Lit Hub the author tagged five novels that

involve strangers crossing paths in unexpected ways. They are about what happens when people who don’t know each other are suddenly entangled in one another’s lives. But they are also about the chance experiences that connect us to each other and change us, sometimes for a moment. Sometimes forever.

One title on the list:

Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith

The master of stories about chance encounters between strangers was undoubtedly Patricia Highsmith. Her unnerving 1950 classic, which became a Hitchcock film, is about two strangers who meet on a train and decide to exchange murders. Bruno will kill Guy’s wife, if Guy will kill Bruno’s father. It’s the perfect crime, because neither man will have a connection to the other, so the police won’t suspect them.

This dark psychological thriller about guilt, obsession, truth and morality arises out of just a single conversation between strangers who happen to sit next to one another. It will make you think, and look at your next subway ride a little differently.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Strangers on a Train is on Jamie Kornegay's five notable novels with criminals covering their tracks, Jeff Somers's top five list of timeless old-school thrillers, Stella Gonet's six best best books, Lars Iyer's top ten list of literary frenemies, and John Mullan's list of ten of the best railway journeys in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles that break the silence around suicide

Rocky Callen is a critically acclaimed author and passionate mental health advocate. Her novel, A Breath Too Late, was born out of her own experiences with depression, domestic violence, and suicidal ideation. She was a co-contributing editor to the Ab(solutely) Normal: Sixteen Stories that Smash Mental Health Stereotypes. She’s a frequent speaker and panelist about art and mental health. She founded The HoldOn2Hope Project, an initiative that unites creatives in suicide prevention.

At People magazine Callen tagged eight "books [that] grapple with mental health, grief, and suicide with honesty." One title on the list:

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This novel imagines a library between life and death where alternate lives unfold. It gently challenges the allure of “what if,” revealing beauty within limitation and offering hope through the radical idea that an ordinary life can still be meaningful. A philosophical, accessible meditation on regret and possibility.

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Midnight Library is among Tobias Madden's seven books that take you places, Mark Skinner's twenty-five best time travel books and twelve great novels set in a bookshop or library, and Clare Mackintosh's top ten books with “What if?” moments.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve titles about losing perspective in Los Angeles

Luke Goebel is an American novelist, screenwriter, producer, and publisher.

He is the author of Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours, winner of the Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize, and the novel Kill Dick.

He co-wrote the films Causeway and Eileen, starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway; for Causeway, Brian Tyree Henry received an Academy Award nomination.

At Electric Lit Goebel tagged twelve books about losing perspective in Los Angeles. One title on the list:

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Real violence, the kind that Your House WIll Pay is concerned with-–specifically the shooting of a Black teenager in the early 1990s (echoing the real-world killing of Latasha Harlins)—is different from the fictive unrest and ultraviolence essential to the LA novel. Different from the fun and games of Pynchon or the riot-as-trope of LA literature that stretches back even before the riots we all know off the top of our heads. YHWP is about how the past resurfaces as fever pitch. Underneath are years of violence that never leave, never go anywhere. This LA doesn’t disappear, it gets glossed over by soundbytes. Steph Cha understands the way people look at each other beyond what they say. There’s less performance here, and no escape hatch. This novel isn’t about LA erasing you through illusion or ambition, it’s about how LA uses sleight of hand in POV when it comes to race and inequality.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Your House Will Pay is among Addison Rizer's eight top revenge thrillers, the thirteen most essential Los Angeles books of mystery or crime, Jordan Harper's three top novels in the new L.A. crime canon, Erin E. Adams's seven titles that use mystery to examine race, María Amparo Escandón's eight books about living in Los Angeles, Alyssa Cole's five top crime novels that explore social issues, Sara Sligar's seven California crime novels with a nuanced take on race, class, gender & community, and Karen Dietrich's eight top red herrings in contemporary crime fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five historical romance books set in France

At Book Riot Julia Rittenberg tagged five historical romance titles set in France, including:

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera

Luz Alana is the heiress of a rum business from the Dominican Republic, looking to expand into France. She arrives in Paris in 1889 during the Exposition Universelle (famously when the Eiffel Tower went up). She meets and quickly begins verbally sparring with James Evanston Sinclair, a Scottish whiskey brand owner. They’re both looking to start over, and are somehow stuck together.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six thrillers that sit with discomfort and ethical ambiguities

A confirmed Francophile, Michael Cowan taught writing at UCLA School of Law, sang professionally, argued and won a case before the California Supreme Court, had two songs published, co-owned a dairy manufacturing business, and became the general counsel of two major corporations. Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, Cowan attended Amherst High School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan Law School. Father of three and grandfather of four, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their eccentric rescue dog Percie.

Cowan's new novel is John B. Peoples.

At CrimeReads he tagged six favorite thrillers that sit with discomfort and ethical ambiguities. One title on the list:

John Grisham, A Time To Kill

This novel is next on my list because, as in [Robert Traver's] Anatomy Of A Murder, it includes a temporary insanity defense. To be clear, I am not saying that John Grisham was thinking about or even borrowing from Anatomy of a Murder when he wrote A Time To Kill. Even if he was, there is no copyright on a novel including a temporary insanity defense. A Time To Kill might even be in part an homage to the earlier novel. After all, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

A Time To Kill has a “happy ending” in the sense that the black man who killed the two white men who had raped his ten-year-old daughter is eventually exonerated by the white jury. However, after reading the book, one is left horrified by the level of racial hate and violence that is portrayed in the book and that persists to this day.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten love stories for the romance reluctant

Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature and lives in Austin, Texas with his family.

How The Story Goes is his first novel.

At The Nerd Daily Forrester tagged "ten love stories that may or may not be capital-R romances, but which have a little something extra going on, too." One title on the list:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

This is a love story, and I won’t hear any argument against it. Nadia and Saeed meet as students in a city experiencing strange unrest—which, it turns out, has to do with unexplained (magical?) doors that are opening up all over the world. Walking through these portals takes someone from one point to another, usually across the globe. Together, Nadia and Saeed escape their city and explore Greece, London, and California, falling in love, yes, but also growing into themselves in beautiful, unexpected ways. Told in lyrical, moving prose… it’s just a perfect book.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Exit West is among Forbes's thirty greatest dystopian books of all time, Ore Agbaje-Williams's seven top books featuring very complicated friendships, Gian Sardar's eight of the best novels about war-torn love, C Pam Zhang's top ten novels about moving and Helen Phillips's six notable novels involving alternate realities.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about actually-old women

Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of six novels. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Publishers Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award and the Endeavor Award. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and been optioned for film and TV. A former college professor, she now writes full-time in Seattle, Washington where she lives with her family and makes good soup.

[Coffee with a Canine: Laurie Frankel and Calli; The Page 69 Test: The Atlas of Love; My Book, The Movie: Goodbye for Now; The Page 69 Test: Goodbye for Now; My Book, The Movie: This Is How It Always Is; The Page 69 Test: This Is How It Always Is; Writers Read: Laurie Frankel (February 2017); The Page 69 Test: One Two Three; Q&A with Laurie Frankel; The Page 69 Test: Enormous Wings]

Frankel's new novel is Enormous Wings.

At Lit Hub the author tagged seven great books about "actually-old women behaving as actually old." One title on Frankel's list:

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

In the first Olive book, Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge, we see Olive struggling with retirement, her adult son and his family, her sick husband, the death of old friends. She’s cantankerous certainly, but we sense this has been true of Olive since childhood and has little to do with aging. But the sequel, Olive, Again, takes Olive well into genuinely old age. In this one, by the end of which Olive is in her mid-eighties, we get widowhood, elderly romance, disappointing grandchildren, incontinence, round-the-clock nursing, and an assisted-living facility. The writing is beautiful and elegant, in contrast with Olive herself who is stark, raw, unapologetic, angry, and, usually, absolutely right.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Six novels set in the 1970s

At Book Riot Julia Rittenberg tagged six novels set in the 1970s, including:

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

In the summer of 1976, there was a record-breakingly terrible heatwave in London. Gretta, an Irish matriarch, is suffering extra during the horrible weather event because her husband has recently left without a trace. Her three grown-up children, Michael, Monica, and Aoife, return to help her and figure out what happened. When the group returns to Ireland, even more family secrets come to light, and they all have to deal with old wounds.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight quintessentially Québécois novels

Jake Pitre is a writer and scholar based in Montreal. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, JSTOR Daily, Fast Company, and elsewhere.

At Electric Lit he tagged eight novels that "capture the diversity and cultural wealth of Québec’s storied metropolis." One title on the list:

Dandelion Daughter by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, translated by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch

Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, an actress, turned to literature with her debut, Dandelion Daughter, a coming-of-age story about the prejudices of rural Québec and a protagonist who realizes they were assigned the wrong gender at birth. It is a story of transgender discovery told with radical honesty and a deep understanding of character—nothing about the self is ever simple. As the protagonist moves to Québec City and then Montreal, the book excavates poetry from deep emotional wounds and demonstrates what it means to own your identity.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Six thrillers set in the suburbs

Nicole Blades is a novelist and journalist with nearly two decades of experience in the media industry. Her cover stories and features have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Runner’s World, Women's Health, and more. An active member of the International Thriller Writers organization, her novels often focus on the facade and filters people put on to face the world. Her latest novel is Would I Lie to You?. The domestic thriller joins Blade’s previous novels, Have You Met Nora?, The Thunder Beneath Us, and Earth's Waters. A proud Caribbean Canadian, Blades currently lives in New England with her husband and their son.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five "must-read thrillers set in seemingly idyllic environs crowded with the sinful secrets and base behaviors of the wealthy that tickle the nosiest parts of our brains." One title on the list:

Liv Constantine, The Last Mrs. Parrish

In this psychological thriller, Amber Patterson insinuates herself into the gilded marriage of Daphne and Jackson Parrish. Coveting the wife’s life, Amber plots to take her place. But shocking twists and turns unveil deeper deceptions, buried secrets and danger at every corner.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is among Susan Moore's seven top domestic psychological thrillers, Trisha Sakhlecha's eleven thrillers that feature the mega-rich, 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

Seven titles about the messy politics of Indian meals

Asfiyah Qadri is a writer based in Mumbai, India. Her work has appeared in Tweak India, Vogue India, and Brown History, and explores themes of memory, identity, and nostalgia.

At Electric Lit Qadri tagged seven books about the messy politics of Indian meals. One entry on the list:

Chhaunk by Abhijit Banerjee

How are roadside chowmein and foreign policy related? What does a disappointing New Year’s Eve have in common with Universal Basic Income? Few authors can extrapolate the dreary slog of everyday life to economic theories without being overly didactic, but Banerjee suffers from no such predicament. Every chapter begins with a juicy anecdote about food—in one, a sanyasi suckles lasciviously at a ripe mango on a crowded train, putting on a show for his scandalised audience; in another, a group of friends skip lunch to make their evening meal of sutli kebabs feel more rewarding, only to find that hunger has fettered every ounce of their mental energy.

Then, almost as if by chance, Banerjee begins to drift away—drawing unexpected parallels to Xi Jinping’s domestic policy, India’s malnutrition problem, the erosion of democracy, undertrial prisoners. Nothing is too frivolous, everything is related, and it almost always circles back to food. But while Chhaunk is a sobering reminder that the personal has always been political, Banerjee’s writing is laced with levity, making it an easily digestible read in spite of its heft.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven historical fiction titles set in Appalachia

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 historical fiction books set in Appalachia, including:

Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani

Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani is well-known for her sweeping sagas set in Italy, like The Shoemaker’s Wife and The View From Lake Como, but she also has a slew of excellent novels set in Appalachia. (Trigiani was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia!)

The novel Milk Glass Moon—the third installment in her 1970s-set Big Stone Gap series—centers on Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney, who recently visited a fortune teller and was told to “redream” her future. Meanwhile, Ave Maria is struggling to raise her headstrong daughter, Etta. Set against the close-knit backdrop of southwest Virginia, this deeply heartfelt novel explores motherhood, marriage and the ever-changing bonds of family.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top books celebrating Paris

Kate Clayborn is the USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance novels. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Bookpage, and more.

She is a lifelong reader of texts of all kinds, and a passionate advocate for the romance genre. A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in Virginia.

Clayborn's latest novel is The Paris Match.

At People magazine the author tagged "ten favorite Paris-set texts ... all which taught me something about the textures of Parisian life." One title on the list:

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Admittedly, the title of this one was reason enough for me to pick it as an audiobook when it came out in 2023 — even though I’m usually not a mystery reader! But a missing resident of a Paris apartment, and a building full of cryptic, stonewalling residents? I was hooked. The heroine, Jess, arrives in Paris only to find that her brother Ben — who extended the invitation to his apartment — is missing. If you like a locked-room (locked-building?) mystery, The Paris Apartment scratches that itch, with really deft character work by Foley, who knows how to luxuriate in details while still keeping pace with the twists and turns of the plot.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five cautionary tales about shopping

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged five “buyer, beware” novels about the dangers of shopping. One entry on the list:

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

It’s only forever, not long at all…

Up next is a YA retelling of a mix of Labyrinth (but without the purple leggings) and Beauty and the Beast. It’s about a young woman looking to save her sister from the Goblin King. When Liesl’s younger sister Käthe eats magical fruit at the Goblin Market, she falls under the spell of the feared and mysterious Goblin King. To save her, Liesl must travel to the Underground to get her back.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Wintersong is among Darren Croucher's six top novels connected to the 1980s.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight notable books about libraries

Edwin B. Maxwell is the Chief Librarian of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL). A New York City native, born and raised in the Bronx, he began his career at BPL and worked his way through every level of the system, now leading public service across BPL’s central library and 60 neighborhood branches. Over nearly two decades, he has expanded access, supported youth programming, and helped shape libraries as spaces for connection, learning, and opportunity. He believes deeply that reading, in all its forms, belongs to everyone, and that libraries are essential community spaces that show up as real pillars in their communities, meeting people’s needs in whatever way is needed.

At Lit Hub Maxwell tagged eight favorite books about libraries, including:

Wayne A. Wiegand, Part of Our Lives

A history of public libraries that shifts the focus from institutions to the people who use them. Wiegand centers everyday readers and how they moved through libraries, what they chose, and why it mattered. It’s a reminder that libraries are not defined solely by what they offer, but by how communities shape, use, and make meaning from them.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine of the best climate and sustainability books

Vogue asked four climate activists to help "compile a reading list that offers context and perspective on issues of climate, sustainability, and resistance." One pick by Xiye Bastida, climate activist and Indigenous rights advocate:

Begin Again by Oliver Jeffers

This is the book I would’ve loved to write because it just makes sense, but it also makes us question everything we know about how to be human. Very few times have I come across something so grounding yet inspiring. Every time I read it, I feel the spark of my activist fire go bright.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that let India’s smaller towns shine

Sneha Pathak is an independent writer and translator based in India. Her work has appeared in Business Standard, Scroll.in and Strange Horizons. She translates between Hindi and English.

At Electric Lit Pathak tagged seven novels that feature India’s smaller towns. One title on the list:

The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy

Set in Ranikhet, a small town in the foothills of Northern Himalayas, The Folded Earth is the story of Maya, a young widow. She has come in search of sanctuary, and The Folded Earth shows a small town becoming a safe haven. At the same time, it reveals the fragility of such peace and tranquillity when faced with powerful local forces that thrive on conflict. Roy gives local color in descriptions of this charming town as well as through characters like the aristocratic Diwan Sahib and the young Charu—people who can only be found in India’s mofussils. Never in a hurry to reach its destination, The Folded Earth moves at a languid pace, capturing the feeling of strolling along winding, hilly roads of the town it describes.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Twenty-eight top investigative journalism titles

At the Waterstones blog Anna Orhanen tagged twenty-eight "investigative journalism books as page-turning as any thriller," including:

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

The award-winning author of Say Nothing turns his penetrating gaze to the stupendously wealthy and influential Sackler family, probing the dark and murky methods they have employed to amass their fortune.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Empire of Pain is among Lit Hub's ten best books for understanding the opioid crisis.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten gripping western historical fiction titles

At Woman’s World Melissa D’Agnese and Carissa Mosness tagged ten of the best western historical fiction books. One title on the list:

Outlawed by Anna North

Set in 1894, this bestselling novel follows 17-year-old Ada, whose life is defined by society’s expectations. A year into her marriage, she still hasn’t gotten pregnant, and in her world, that’s not just disappointing. It’s dangerous. Women who can’t conceive are accused of witchcraft and hanged. Desperate to escape that horrifying fate, Ada decides to join the infamous Hole in the Wall outlaw gang. Suddenly, she’s living a life she never imagined and it’s one filled with freedom, danger and impossible choices. But when the stakes get higher, Ada must decide: Is she willing to risk everything for her freedom or will she go back to her old life filled with expectations and accusations? A fun western tale that is perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Outlawed is among Emily Burack's twenty-five top books like Yellowstone, Brittany Bunzey's thirteen top wilderness novels, Claudia Cravens's eleven westerns that break the genre's rules, Robin McLean's eight top books about surviving in the wilderness and Christina Sweeney-Baird's seven books that imagine a world without men.

The Page 69 Test: Outlawed.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top horror titles featuring libraries or librarians

Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis.

At Book Riot she tagged "great stories that either take place in a library or involve a library or a librarian," including:

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

This is another example of a story where the library is a key location. Jane Shoringfield knows she must marry to continue her work. She chooses the reclusive doctor, Augustine Lawrence, who agrees to her proposal. He makes her promise one thing in return: never visit his ancestral home, Lindridge Hall.

Yet on their wedding night, she becomes stranded there, and her new husband now seems…different. Without spoiling anything–and this story has a lot of surprises–it’s safe to say a lot of key moments and epiphanies take place in Lindridge Hall’s library. Jane is a curious, competent, and clever heroine, yet even she cannot predict the shock and horror this story brings by the end.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Death of Jane Lawrence is among Casper Orr's seven top novels that celebrate autistic voices.

The Page 69 Test: The Death of Jane Lawrence.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six literary mysteries set in the 1980s

T. Greenwood grew up in rural Vermont in the 1970s. She began writing stories at seven years old and wrote her first "novel" at nine on her dad's electric typewriter.

Since then, she has published sixteen novels. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council. She has won three San Diego Book Awards. Five of her novels have been Indie Next picks. Bodies of Water was finalist for a Lambda Foundation award, and Keeping Lucy was a Target Book Club Pick.

[My Book, The Movie: Rust and Stardust; The Page 69 Test: Rust and Stardust; Writers Read: T. Greenwood (August 2019); The Page 69 Test: Keeping Lucy; My Book, The Movie: Keeping Lucy; Q&A with T. Greenwood; The Page 69 Test: Such a Pretty Girl; My Book, The Movie: The Still Point; My Book, The Movie: Everything Has Happened]

Greenwood's new novel is Everything Has Happened.

At CrimeReads the author tagged six favorite literary mysteries set in the 1980s, including:

Megan Abbott, The End of Everything

Megan Abbott has become known as the contemporary queen of noir, but The End of Everything, published in 2011, is the first novel of Abbott’s which explores the intensity of friendships between girls, a subject found in many of her subsequent novels. The End of Everything, set in a midwestern suburb in the mid-1980s, centers on thirteen-year-old Lizzy Hood, whose best friend, Evie, is kidnapped. The novel illuminates the complexity of this friendship, the girls’ burgeoning sexuality, and their respective attractions to older men.

Abbott has said that it was inspired by Lolita, drawing from the second half of the novel during which Humbert Humbert kidnaps the young Dolores Haze and takes her on the road. As with all of Abbott’s books, The End of Everything is atmospheric, and much of the suspense psychologically driven.

Read about the other titles on Greenwood's list.

The End of Everything is among Heather Levy's eight books about dark desires that will crush you, Lisa Levy's eight most toxic friendships in crime fiction and Hallie Ephron's top ten mysteries that harness unreliable narrators.

The Page 69 Test: The End of Everything.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten memoirs that explore the nuances of family estrangement

Jenny Bartoy is a French American writer, critic, and editor based in the Pacific Northwest.

Her new book, No Contact, is an anthology about family estrangement. Ocean Vuong called it "a landmark work."

Bartoy writes essays, author profiles and interviews, and book reviews. Her work appears in a variety of publications, including The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, The Rumpus, CrimeReads, Chicago Review of Books, Under the Gum Tree, Room, and Hippocampus Magazine, and in literary anthologies such as Sharp Notions: Essays from the Stitching Life.

At Lit Hub Bartoy tagged ten great memoirs that explore "the realities of [family] estrangement with the vulnerability and nuance it deserves, providing a powerful counterpoint to pervasive and reductive sociocultural talking points." One title on the list:

Stephanie Foo, What My Bones Know

In this best-selling memoir, Foo investigates the repercussions of complex PTSD (C-PTSD) caused by her abusive parents and her subsequent estrangement from each of them in turn. The book describes both her research into C-PTSD and her extensive efforts to heal. This is a rich, complex memoir in which Foo explores her familial roots, the impact of intergenerational trauma in Asian-American immigrant communities, the failures of American healthcare, and the patriarchal erasure of women’s suffering. While trauma is its focus, at heart the book wrestles with the concept of parent-less identity and the question of deserving to be loved. “Trauma isn’t just the sadness that comes from being beaten, or neglected, or insulted. That’s just one layer of it. Trauma also is mourning the childhood you could have had,” Foo writes. “Trauma is mourning the fact that, as an adult, you have to parent yourself.” At times heartwrenching, at others darkly funny, this story provides a vivid and layered glimpse into the perspective of a no-contact adult child.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven literary characters who break the “teen girl” trope

Caroline Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, where she teaches courses in Shakespeare, early modern culture, and horror fiction. She is the author of Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare’s World and Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England; co-author of Shakespeare Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas; and co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast. Her essays and humor pieces have appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and the show Afterbirth. She lives in Blue Hill, Maine, with her family.

Bicks's new book is Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King.

At Electric Lit Bicks tagged "seven stories [that] feature girls who use their cognitive abilities to challenge social norms and imagine their own destinies." One title on the list:

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

“Why is the measure of love loss?” This question drives Winterson’s memoir about growing up with an abusive adoptive mother, searching for her past, and making her future. The elder Winterson locks Jeannette outside in the winter and forbids all books except for the Bible. When she discovers that 14-year-old Jeanette is sleeping with her girlfriend, she has a Pentecostal minister force her daughter through three brutal (and unsuccessful) days of conversion therapy. Eventually, Jeanette saves herself by escaping into fiction. She works her way through every work of literature, A-Z, in her local library; and, after Mrs. Winterson evicts her at 16, gets herself into Oxford where she becomes a fiction writer. Here, she writes about how stories give words to those who have been silenced: “We get our language back through the language of others.” Fiction “isn’t a hiding place. It’s a finding place.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is among Tara Westover's four inspirational memoirs.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles for fans of "Margo’s Got Money Troubles"

At Book Riot Megan Mabee tagged seven books for fans of Margo’s Got Money Troubles, including:

The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe

I couldn’t kick off this list without mentioning Rufi Thorpe’s exceptional backlist, which I’m working my way through now. While I’d recommend them all, this debut novel by Thorpe emphasizes motherhood themes, so it has the closest feel to Margo’s story. Mia and Lorrie Ann have been best friends since they were kids, and as they grow up, they’ll face ups and downs in life, including abortion, motherhood, love, loss, substance abuse, and discovering their passions. I like Thorpe’s nuanced examination of friendship and how these relationships change as we do. This story is so heartbreaking at times, yet hopeful too. It’s one of those books that stays with you.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Girls from Corona del Mar is among Ellen Wehle's five books to whisk us away to sunny vistas and ocean-swept sands.

The Page 69 Test: The Girls from Corona del Mar.

My Book, The Movie: The Girls from Corona del Mar.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles about historic betrayals

Emma Parry's debut novel, Mrs. Benedict Arnold, is a compelling exploration of the life of Peggy Shippen, the wife of Benedict Arnold, during the American Revolution. The novel delves into the complexities of love, loyalty, and treason, as Peggy navigates the political currents of the time while seeking safety and peace for her family. Parry's writing is noted for its historical accuracy and the vivid portrayal of the characters, including the famous figures of the era. The novel has been praised for its fresh take on a well-known historical figure and its ability to shift the reader's perception of America's most famous traitor.

At The Nerd Daily Parry tagged five books about historic betrayals, including:

Alison Weir’s INNOCENT TRAITOR contains a betrayal a page, culminating in the execution of Lady Jane Grey for treason. This was the first work of fiction from the popular historian, and her deep research is beautifully distilled through a fantastic constellation of characters.

Weir leaves the gate and keeps the pace with such assurance, we are delighted by the storytelling even as we are outraged by accelerating events. The poisoning of a King, switching of a body, heresies, rape, endless scheming and the unnecessary death of a sixteen year old girl at the will of her cousin.

I’ve heard fun snark about the Tudors and their dominance of the English heritage industry, but their dramatic stories first excited my interest in history, and definitely made me susceptible to heroines at the center of wildly consequential events getting to exercise some agency…

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five suspense novels with heart

Allison Winn Scotch is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven novels, including Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, In Twenty Years, and Time of My Life.

She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Honors History and Concentration in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business.

Scotch lives in Los Angeles with her family and their two rescue dogs, Hugo and Mr. Peanut.

Her new novel is The Insomniacs.

At CrimeReads Scotch tagged five mysteries that pack an emotional punch, including:

Razorblade Tears by S.A Cosby

I know that Cosby is a smash success but if you haven’t read this masterpiece, please correct that immediately. Two fathers go searching for justice for their murdered sons. It’s a beautiful exploration of biases, prejudice, love, acceptance and the lengths parents will go for their children. I listened to this one, and I highly recommend the audio. Genuinely exceptional.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

Razorblade Tears is among Leodora Darlington's five top thrillers by Black writers, David Bell's five great thrillers about domineering parents, Robyn Harding's seven unlikely friendships in crime fiction, Lesley Kara's six crime novels about settling old scores, and Liz Nugent's top ten first lines in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles about women with secret lives

Bonnie Friedman is the author of the bestselling, widely anthologized Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction, and Other Dilemmas in the Writer’s Life. She is also the author of the memoirs The Thief of Happiness: The Story of an Extraordinary Psychotherapy and Surrendering Oz.

Her essays have been selected for inclusion in The Best Writing on Writing, The Best American Movie Writing, The Best Buddhist Writing, and The Best Spiritual Writing. Her new novel is Don’t Stop.

At Lit Hub Friedman tagged eight "books that reveal covert lives, truths that society forbids or shames, and an effusion of vibrant spirit." One title on the list:

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, translated by Lydia Davis

“You cannot understand that,” said my high school English teacher when her glance fell on this novel on my desk. I rankled. I understood it perfectly! It was about a woman having an affair. Because I knew the literal meaning of the words, I thought I understood the story they told. And I wondered at this teacher’s greedy need to own and to mystify.

But of course she was right. Since then I’ve read this book at least four times, once a decade. Even now I feel Emma Bovary’s novel has more to teach me, about the ways that fantasy can pollute one’s mind, about how appetites aroused can grow ever larger, ever more corrupt, about how ordinary, mundane life itself can seem an affront, and, beyond this, about the construction of magnificent sentences that are marvels of precise detail: “the musicians cooled the tips of their fingers on their tongues” “she put away . . . her satin shoes, whose soles had been yellowed by the slippery wax of the dance floor. Her heart was like them: contact with wealth had laid something over it that would not be wiped away.”

Every story of an affair has some point of contact with Madame Bovary, and one feels somehow the way that high school English teacher did, possessive, wishing to make special claims, as if the book itself had a tender, intimate message that the Charles Bovarys of the world—i.e. everyone else—can’t understand.

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

Madame Bovary is on Alastair Campbell's six best books list, Paul Theroux's six favorite books list, Peter Brooks's list of favorite Flaubert's works (at #1), Ed Sikov's list of eight great books that got slammed by critics, BBC.com Culture's list of the three of the worst mothers in literature, Alex Preston's top ten list of sex scenes from film, TV and literature, Rachel Holmes's top ten list of books on the struggle against gender-based inequality, Jill Boyd's list of six memorable marriage proposals in literature, Julia Sawalha's six best books list, Jennifer Gilmore's list of the ten worst mothers in books, Amy Sohn's list of six favorite books, Sue Townsend's 6 best books list, Helena Frith Powell's list of ten of the best sexy French books, the Christian Science Monitor's list of six novels about grand passions, John Mullan's lists of ten landmark coach rides in literature, ten of the best cathedrals in literature, ten of the best balls in literature, ten of the best bad lawyers in literature, ten of the best lotharios in literature, and ten of the best bad doctors in fiction, Valerie Martin's list of six novels about doomed marriages, and Louis Begley's list of favorite novels about cheating lovers. It tops Peter Carey's list of the top ten works of literature and was second on a top ten works of literature list selected by leading writers from Britain, America and Australia in 2007. It is one of John Bowe's six favorite books on love.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight mysteries about cryptids and cryptozoology

Elisa Shoenberger is a freelance writer and journalist. At Book Riot she tagged eight "mystery books [that] explore the wide world of cryptids, from werewolves to Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster." One title on the list:

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant was in the right place at the right time … or wrong place, wrong time. He’s keen to make something of himself in London’s Metropolitan Police. But when he gets assigned guard duty over a crime scene, it’s not the kind of work he wants to be doing. That is, until he talks to a witness, who turns out to be a ghost. He finds himself the newest member of the Folly, a formerly dormant part of the Met focusing on magic or weird things. Now he’s befriending genius loci in rivers and other waterways, facing off with otherworldly beings, and trying to stop more horrible crimes. The series has 15 books and novellas so far, including graphic novels; the most recent is Stone and Sky (2025). Peter and his mentor, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, have to solve cases involving a wide range of mythical creatures and cryptids.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven music-themed books

Delphine Seddon, a graduate of Faber & Faber’s writing academy and studied poetry at Goldsmiths University, writes female-driven contemporary fiction and poetry.

Her debut novel is Darkening Song.

For the past 20 years she has worked in the music business.

At The Nerd Daily Seddon tagged seven favorite books with a music theme. One of the novels on the list:

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Brilliant, funny, poignant
This book won the Pulitzer Prize. I don’t know if I’d describe it as music fiction exactly – one of the characters is a record label executive, so there is an element of music business, but it felt to me like this was more a book about human behaviour and why we are who we are and the choices we make. There’s an entire chapter which is made up of diagrams on power point slides. Truthfully, I never really understood what that chapter was saying, but big respect to the author for doing something so radical – I love that. Sasha is an incredible character – another strong, flawed, female protagonist (I clearly love a strong, flawed female protagonist!). A Visit From The Goon Squad is to my mind a modern day classic.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Visit From the Goon Squad is among the Amazon Book Review's list of ten books for fans of Daisy Jones & the Six, Julian Gough's ten top books to help you survive the digital age, Marina Benjamin's ten top books about middle age, four books that changed Alison Lester, Jeff Somers's five top books that blur the line between the novel and short story, Gillian Anderson's six favorite books, and Julie Christie's seven favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten must-read titles for "Devil Wears Prada" lovers

At People magazine Shyla Watson and Lizz Schumer tagged ten must-read workplace dramas for Devil Wears Prada lovers. One title on the list:

Love on Paper by Danielle Parker

At a prestigious teen writing retreat, Macy and Caleb are destined to clash — their parents have been literary rivals for years. But when they’re paired up as critique partners, they’ll have to set aside their differences for a shot at publication. This year’s theme is romance, at least on the page, but as the tension between them turns into something more, Macy and Caleb may find themselves caught in a love story that might just surpass fiction.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles featuring self-sabotaging characters

Pardeep Toor is a winner of the PEN America Dau Prize. His writing has appeared in Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize, Southern Humanities Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, and Longreads. His new short story collection is Hands (Cornerstone Press). Toor grew up in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, and now lives in Colorado.

At Electric Lit the author tagged seven

stories of characters who can’t get out of their own way. These characters are both the aggressors and victims of their circumstances. They are hard to love, but it’s still painful to read about their collapses. In the end, readers are left feeling queasy, hoping for the best while realizing that the worst is inevitable.

One title on Toor's list:

Whiteout Conditions by Tariq Shah

The setup: Ant returns home to Chicago to attend the funeral of his friend’s cousin, who was killed by a neighborhood dog. It’s a complicated setup that is enriched by childhood memories sprinkled throughout the short novel. All Whiteout Conditions’s characters are drunk, high, and unhinged as they mourn the sudden loss in their family. But it’s not Ant’s family. So what is he even doing there? Ant’s unexpected and often unwanted arrival causes drug-induced chaos at the funeral as a family tries to move forward while Ant pulls them back and drowns them in the past. But of course, Ant doesn’t realize his own part in the oxy-laced toxicity of this emotionally and physically violent novel.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Five historical fiction titles featuring older women

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 in which "older women prove that it’s never too late to begin a new adventure." One entry on the list:

The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso

Neighbors Hortensia James and Marion Agostino share a hedge and an animosity that belies their eighty-odd years of age. Both women, one white and one Black, have led good lives with impressive careers but have been failed by their late husbands. Now living out their golden years in post-Apartheid South Africa, the women pass their time in committee meetings, volleying thinly veiled insults back and forth. But when unforeseen circumstances force them together, their bickering begins to turn into deeper debates and reminiscences of the lives they’ve both lived. Will it be enough to bridge the divide of racism and animosity that has kept them at each other’s throats all these years?

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue