Eight books that celebrate Black performance

Lauren Morrow studied dance and creative writing at Connecticut College and earned an MFA in fiction from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. She was a Kimbilio Fellow and an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow and is the recipient of two Hopwood Awards, among other prizes. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares and the South Carolina Review. She worked in publicity at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is now a senior publicist at Dutton, Plume, and Tiny Reparations Books. Originally from St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn.

Morrow's new novel is Little Movements.

At Lit Hub she tagged eight books that "explore performance in various ways—its power and pressures—beautifully exposing the talent and vulnerability of the characters, and turning the reader into an audience member, eager to give a standing ovation." One title on the list:

Percival Everett, Erasure

Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is an academic who forces himself into the performance of a lifetime when he writes (and sells for an obscene amount) My Pafology, later retitled Fuck, a book that exploits nearly every Black stereotype. He then must conceal his intellectual identity in order to present as someone who wrote such a book, contriving a new voice and a tragic “street life” backstory under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh (it’s worth looking into the folklore of Stagger Lee). Shockingly, 50 pages of Erasure are My Pafology, appearing midway through and testing the fictional publisher and the real-time reader. This is next-level performance as Everett forces readers to engage with some of the most offensive writing they’ve likely ever read before pulling back out to the central narrative. It’s shocking, and provocative, and genius.

Read about the other books on Morrow's list at Lit Hub.

Erasure is among Heidi Julavits's five top books on missing persons and absent figures.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles that make good companions when you need emotional support

An avid bibliophile with a degree in chemistry, Karnam Vashisht spends most of her time trying to juggle all of her hobbies. She has a penchant for assigning Taylor Swift songs to people and characters. On most days, she can be found lounging with her cat, Aslan, and cozying up with her current read.

At The Nerd Daily Vashisht tagged "five books that are like a warm coffee on a rainy day." One title on the list:

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Enemies-to-lovers? Between the son of the American President and the Prince of England? Nothing screams comfort quite like this.

Made into a famous movie, Red, White, and Royal Blue is a book that will make you laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. Characters that are incredibly lovable and humane this book is for everyone who is looking for a silver lining.

Alex is chaotic, messy, and has a heart that is on fire. Henry is definitely not the one for him. But the Henry he knows is not the real one, and the more time the two of them spend together, the more they realise how much they have in common. What blossoms is a beautiful friendship based on late night calls and text messages turn into hour long conversations.

Soon, Alex and Henry realise what they truly mean to each other, but some romances are more difficult than others. And the one between the First Son of America and a Prince is definitely one of them.

With a beautiful ensemble of characters, the book is rife with incidents that make your heart flutter and break. The email exchanges between Alex and Henry are so imperative and make the story so much more richer. Red, White, and Royal Blue is like a comforting cup of coffee, not the one that wakes you up, but the one that calms you down.

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles that explore the love letters of literary icons

Christine Estima is an Arab woman of mixed ethnicity (Lebanese, Syrian, and Portuguese) and the author of the short story collection The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society, which the CBC called one of the Best Fiction Books of 2023. She has written for The New York Times, The Walrus, VICE, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maisonneuve, the Toronto Star, and the CBC. Her story “Your Hands Are Blessed” was included in Best Canadian Stories 2023. She was a finalist for the 2023 Lee Smith Novel Prize and was shortlisted for the 2018 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism. Estima has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from York University and lives in Toronto.

Her new novel is Letters to Kafka.

At Electric Lit Estima tagged eight favorite books that explore the love letters of literary icons. One title on the list:

Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka, translated by Philip Boehm

Beginning in 1920, Kafka’s letters to Milena very quickly become amorous, and the frequency at which they’re sent is fast and furious. In his letters, Kafka is consumed by her charm, wit, and intelligence, but also petrified she might reject him because of his illness, his small frame, and because he is Jewish. His words are so passionate, it’s easy to see why she was willing to risk her marriage for him. Some of the most famous declarations of love are found in his turns of phrase, including “You are the knife I turn inside myself. That is love. That, my dear, is love.”

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Five subtly paranormal mysteries

Amanda Chapman is a lifelong mystery lover and wordsmith. An enthusiastic fan of traditional mysteries and of New York City, she found herself wondering, “What if someone recreated Agatha Christie’s personal library—even to the furnishings and architecture—in New York City? What would happen in that space?” And thus Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library—the first in a new series—was born.

At CrimeReads Chapman tagged five "subtly paranormal myster[ies], in which little more is asked of the skeptical reader except a certain suspension of disbelief." One title on the list:

The Secret Place by Tana French

This fifth book in Tana French’s superb Dublin Murder Squad series takes place in St. Kilda’s, a posh girl’s boarding school where a year earlier a boy was found murdered in a case that was never solved. A year after Chris Harper’s body was found, the investigation is cold—until a St. Kilda’s girl brings Detective Stephen Moran a photo and a note she’s found on the school’s “Secret Place” bulletin board, with the words “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.” Moran is thrilled to be assigned to work with Senior Detective Antoinette Conway when the case is reopened. But he is hard-pressed to see his way through the weird and claustrophobic maze of an almost-too-closely-knit group of friends, their rival clique, and the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy.

The structure of the book—told over the course of one day, as each of the girls involved is interviewed by Moran and Conway and flashbacks provide disturbing glimpses of the past—is masterful. The girls are convinced of their shared ability to lift objects and manipulate lights with their minds, and French, a master of ambiguity, leaves it up to the reader to decide: Were these genuine supernatural occurrences or shared psychological hallucinations? Or something more tangible? Either way, it’s downright eerie.

Read about the other titles on Chapman's list at CrimeReads.

The Secret Place is among Stephanie Barron's seven great mystery novels set in academe, Davida G. Breier's nine titles featuring teens behaving badly, C. J. Cooke's eight thrillers & mysteries with underlying supernatural elements, Cambria Brockman's five thrillers featuring a small group of friends, Adele Parks's eight crime novels featuring intense female friendship, Kristen Lepionka's ten top female detectives in fiction, the B&N Reads editors' five favorite fun, fearless femmes fatales in fiction, and Kelly Anderson's seven amazing female friendships in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight notable books about ambitious women

Eliana Ramage is the author of To the Moon and Back, a Reese’s Book Club pick. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has received support from Lambda Literary, Vermont Studio Center, Tin House, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she lives in Nashville with her family.

At Lit Hub Ramage tagged eight "truly beautiful, inventive, and powerful novels and memoirs about ambitious women—singular in desire but breathtakingly expansive in reach." One title on the list:

Allie Tagle-Dokus, Lucky Girl

Lucky Girl is a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of the messy contradictions between art, work, and ambition. Lucy Gardiner needs to become a dancer. Dancing alone in her bedroom won’t satisfy her, especially after Hollywood claims her for a dance competition slash reality TV show. As Lucy fights to achieve her dream, she sacrifices more and more of herself: her time, her friends, and finally her family to make art the masses consume.

Lucy finds a role model and a home with Bruise, an aging pop star on her comeback who like Lucy has given up her childhood to make her dreams a reality. But the closer Lucy is drawn into Bruise’s inner life, the more she sees that Bruise’s greatness is smoke and mirrors, a mirage she will never truly reach, leaving Lucy to ask, if this isn’t success, what is?

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Four top books about the natural world

At Book Riot Kendra Winchester tagged four must-read books about the natural world, including:

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Amy Tan has written and illustrated this beautiful book on her relationship with one of her favorite hobbies. In 2016, Tan felt overwhelmed by the state of the world, but she found solace in nature. She began watching the birds flying in and out of her backyard. Before long, she had dozens of sketches of different kinds of birds. Tan’s new hobby gave her hope for a better world.

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles about wild animal companions

Brian Buckbee has written for The Sun, The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, and other publications. He is co-founder of Missoula’s 406 Writers’ Workshop and a former creative writing and literature instructor at the University of Montana. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

Carol Ann Fitzgerald is an editor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Their new book is We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir.

At Electric Lit Buckbee tagged eight stories that "show how our connection to wild creatures can help us understand animals, and perhaps more importantly, ourselves and, in the process, learn to live, thrive, and heal." One title on the list:

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

In this exploration of the only eight-armed creature in the world, the reader will learn that the compellingly strange octopus has three hearts. The reader may need three for themselves, too, because Montgomery writes so beautifully about the mysterious cephalopod that a couple of theirs might just burst. With a background in journalism and having authored many books about other creatures (tigers, apes, dolphins, etc.), Montgomery is often referred to as a “popular naturalist,” and she has developed a writing style that is familiar and authoritative, funny and smart, and totally accessible. Over the course of the book, the popular naturalist gets to know several octopuses. (And, yes, octopuses is the plural of octopus, as is “octopodes,” which is also correct.) What stands out is Montgomery’s description of how these two creatures (human and octopus) have seemingly endless curiosity about each other. She becomes well acquainted with four different octopuses as the story progresses, and it turns out each one has its own personality. Using the term “personality,” though, is itself loaded, because animals, even the inquisitive and alluring octopus, are not people.

We learn from Montgomery that each arm of the octopus is essentially its own brain, capable of thought and emotion, and when she visits the aquarium and puts her arm in a tank, the resident octopus—whether it is Athena, Octavia, Kali, or Karma—will move its suckered arms across Montgomery’s un-suckered arm, sometimes blushing, sometimes retreating to a corner or tightening the embrace. And with each encounter, our estimation of this unique, marvelous creature grows, and we gain a greater sense of the depths of our compassion.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Five mysteries & thrillers set in the workplace

L.S. Stratton is an NAACP Image Award-nominated author and former crime newspaper reporter who has written more than a dozen books under different pen names in just about every genre from thrillers to romance to historical fiction. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband, their daughter, and their tuxedo cat.

Stratton's new novel is In Deadly Company.

At CrimeReads she tagged five mysteries and thrillers set in the workplace, including:

Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl

From office pet to threat—many black women experience this phenomenon in the working world, and Harris explores it in detail in her slow-burn, twisty novel, The Other Black Girl. The publishing world isn’t perfect, but editorial assistant Nella Rogers knows her place in it.

That is until Hazel, another black assistant, shows up in the office. Soon their budding friendship takes on a more sinister turn when Nella starts getting mysterious notes telling her to leave the company. She suspects Hazel, the new office pet, may be the one trying to get rid of her.

Is Nella being paranoid, or is there an even bigger threat Nella needs to worry about? We find out the answers as the story unfolds.

Read about the other titles on the list at CrimeReads.

The Other Black Girl is among Christina Dotson's five top books that feature toxic friendships, Mary Keliikoa's eight top workplace thrillers, Tania Malik's five unconventional office novels, Stephanie Feldman's seven novels featuring ambitious women, Caitlin Barasch’s seven novels set in the literary world, and Ashley Winstead's seven titles that explore collective guilt & individual complicity.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six depressing novels that can lift you out of depression

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels The Wrong End of the Telescope; Angel of History; An Unnecessary Woman; The Hakawati; I, the Divine; Koolaids; the story collection, The Perv; and one work of nonfiction, Comforting Myths. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He received the Dos Passos Prize in 2019 and a Lannan Award in 2021.

Alameddine's new novel is The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother).

At Lit Hub Alameddine tagged six "depressing novels that can lift you out of depression." One title on the list:

Bohumil Hrabal, Michael Henry Heim (Trans.), Too Loud a Solitude

Why it’s depressing:
Let’s start with the fact that the book is about a man, Haňťa, who has spent his life compacting wastepaper for recycling in a cellar. Is that not enough? He attempts to rescue banned books that are about to be destroyed. His life’s ambition is to buy the hydraulic press he uses to crush the paper, which he never achieves, of course. And when The Brigade of Socialist Workers replace him with apathetic paper crushers, he lies down in his press, holding a book by Novalis of all people, and crushes himself.

Why it will lift you out of your depression:
Because it’s fucking brilliant, of course. Haňťa is trying to survive a totalitarian dictatorship that disdains and prosecutes the arts (sound familiar?), yet he doesn’t merely survive, he transcends. The world might see him as a peon, but he sees himself as an artist. He considers every bundle of papers he creates a work of art. He wraps each bale with reproductions of paintings and places a rare book at the center of it. He dreams of the world seeing his bales the way he does. Dreams are an act of resistance.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight folklore-inspired horror novels

Daphne Fama was born in the American South, embedded in its tight-knit Filipino community. When she’s not writing stories about monsters and the women who love them, she’s writing about video games. And when she’s not writing, she’s spending every minute adoring her partner and pup.

Fama's new novel is House of Monstrous Women.

At Electric Lit she tagged "eight unforgettable folk horrors [that] will crawl beneath your skin and make your blood run cold." One title on Fama's list:

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A story of three women across time, bound by a legacy of witchcraft and danger. Minerva, a graduate student in 1998, is researching horror writer Beatrice Tremblay—a woman who vanished from public record decades earlier. The deeper Minerva digs, the more she uncovers fragments of protective symbols identical to those her grandmother learned as a girl in rural Mexico, where Alba once used them to fend off a dark presence. Now, that presence may have its eyes on Minerva. The Bewitching is a powerful tale of legacy, resistance through storytelling, and the defiance it takes to survive as a woman in a world that wishes to silence them.

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

--Marshal Zeringue

Fourteen top books about fatherhood

At GQ (UK edition) Nathalie Kernot and Josiah Gogarty tagged fourteen of the best books about fatherhood, including:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Yes, it’s long. Yes, you could watch the film instead, but really you would miss out on the nuanced, Dickensian nature of the novel, which follows protagonist Theo after his mother is killed in a museum explosion. Many of the adult characters provide temporary templates of fatherhood, ranging from abusive to loving, but the beauty is in Theo’s relationship with surrogate father Hobie and the endurance of those ties through a plot filled with suspense, loss and constantly changing connections.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Goldfinch is among Nzinga Temu's eight action-packed titles about art heists, Kate Belli's six crime novels that revolve around art or the art world, Marisha Pessl's six favorite stories of suspense, and Sophie Ward's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books about sisters

Brooke Lea Foster is an award-winning author and journalist who has worked as a writer and editor at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, The Huffington Post, and the Washingtonian magazine.

Her novels include Summer Darlings, On Gin Lane, All the Summers in Between, and Our Last Vineyard Summer.

At Oprah Daily Foster tagged seven favorite novels about sisters that capture the complexity — and joy — of the sibling bond. One title on the list:

Saints for All Occasions, by J. Courtney Sullivan

In the 1950s, Nora and Theresa immigrated from Ireland to Boston. At twenty-one and seventeen, the sisters are eager to plan their shared future together—but an unplanned pregnancy leads the sibling pair to an impossible choice and, ultimately, into a decades-long estrangement. The novel picks up fifty years later when a death in the family forces Nora and Theresa back together. Theresa, who has been living in isolation as a nun, and Nora, the matriarch of her large Catholic family, must finally reckon with their shared decision and their diverging paths. A heartbreaking portrait of two sisters whose long-ago decisions reverberate through a family, this novel captures the way that sisters will always try to protect each other, at any age and despite any conflict.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue