Seven titles that feel like a movie

Marion Winik is the author of nine books, including The Big Book of the Dead (2019) and First Comes Love (1996; reissued with a new introduction in 2026). Her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and elsewhere; her column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has been running since 2011.

[Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (December 2009); Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (June 2013); Writers Read: Marion Winik (June 2013)]

A professor at the University of Baltimore, she reviews books for The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, and People, among others, and hosts the NPR podcast The Weekly Reader. She was a commentator on All Things Considered for fifteen years. She is the recipient of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Service Award.

At Oprah Daily Winik tagged seven books with fast-paced, visual storytelling, including:

She's Under Here by Karen Palmer

For a memoir that grabs you on page one and doesn't let go, pick up this chilling account of one woman's escape from domestic abuse. One day in 1989, the freshly minted “Karen Palmer” and her husband of about a week, “Vinnie,” packed up a carload of possessions, every cent they had, and Palmer’s two daughters, aged three and seven, and left California for what the author calls “do-it-yourself witness protection.” They were running from Palmer’s ex-husband, an older man she had been with since she was in high school. When she left the coercive, controlling relationship to pursue a romance with an old friend, her spouse turned violent and dangerous. Palmer's story combines the energy of a psychological thriller with the deep resonance of heartfelt personal truth, as she courageously considers the moral implications of her decision to disappear.

Read about the other entries on the list.

-Marshal Zeringue