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Trying something new for today's book news links.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Bit of a slow news day, so we will mix things up a little bit. We’ll do a few more links than usual, but the twist is that rather than the title of the piece, I will pick out the most interesting sentence. Let’s see how we do. “If they succeed, the communications could demonstrate willful infringement, triggering enhanced damages of as much as $150,000 per work.” [Full story] “Each year, the prize celebrates the novels that have genuinely made people laugh. [Full story] “The rise of AI does mean that I will never again assign a classic five-paragraph essay on an abstract topic.” [Full story] “Plus from the title I thought “Gravity’s Rainbow” would be about Skittles. It didn’t seem to be, so I took a break about halfway through.” [Full story] “To highlight the censorship suffered by the author in two crucial moments of the editorial process (1890-1891), we have opted to graphically indicate not only “when”, but “where” and “how” this censorship took place” [Full story] “It’s an honor to reintroduce this cherished character to the world with two people who share her signature mischief and charm — Amy Sherman-Palladino and Ryan Reynolds — in this bold, hilarious, and heartfelt new family film.” [Full story] “The sisters say they are committed to keeping the store going. They reject what they say are almost daily offers to buy the building, which is surrounded by skyscrapers in one of the city’s priciest areas and, according to real estate experts, worth well over $10 million.” [Full story]

A magical bond between woman and dog, an underwater penpal romance, stolen history, and more of today's best book deals.

Today’s Featured Book Deals $3.99 The Friend by Sigrid NunezGet This Deal $2.99 The Phoenix King by Aparna VermaGet This Deal $2.99 The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila HarrisGet This Deal $2.99 A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie CathrallGet This Deal $1.99 The Tiger Mom’s Tale by Lyn Liao ButlerGet This Deal $1.99 The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate MascarenhasGet This Deal $2.99 Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline BoulleyGet This Deal $1.99 No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner HarrisGet This Deal In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Most Popular Book Deals $2.99 Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar HokeahGet This Deal $2.99 The Conjuring of America by Lindsey StewartGet This Deal $2.99 Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily AustinGet This Deal $1.99 The Good House by Tananarive DueGet This Deal

Two of this week's new releases featuring compact mirrors on the cover, foreshadowing something a little bit sinister.

For a long time, I didn’t appreciate November as a month during the year. It always felt so dreary, so limp, and the slump in the calendar before we reached the end of the year. But I’ve really grown to love November, and part of that is certainly that it’s no longer the dreary, limp month it once was. At least here in the midwest, it’s become the real autumn month. The nights are cool and the days are crisp. The long nights and dark mornings invite slowing down and tucking in. November has, coincidentally, become one of the months where I tend to read more than other months of the year. When the sun goes down early, what else is there to do but climb into a cozy corner and read during free time? Whatever this month means to you, I hope that you carve out some time and space to read the new books hitting shelves in this second-to-last month of 2025. The publishing world begins to slow down after this week, so it’s a prime time to also make a nice dent in your TBR. It was really difficult to narrow down which books to highlight this week because the range of voices, genres, and stories is vast. But gear up for some romance–realistic and fantastic–as well as some action-packed thrillers, a sensitive work in translation, and so much more. You’ll discover some beloved YA authors, as well as a host of newer writers this week. We’ve also got another YA book hitting shelves in both hardcover and paperback simultaneously. That’s a 2025 format trend I hope we continue to see moving forward because giving readers more choice in how they consume there books is a boon to readers. New Hardcover YA Releases This Week Coldwire by Chloe Gong Epidemics and climate charge force people to change their lives completely. Most people move “upcountry,” a virtual reality. Those who are poor, though, are forced to live in “downcountry.” In upcountry, things are far from perfect though, as a Cold War rages between the two nations of Medaluo and Atahua. It’s Medan orphans in Atahua who suffer the most, though, forced to enroll in the Military Academy. Eirale did everything as she was supposed to and upon graduation, becomes part of the private foces in downcountry. But then an anarchist from Atahua frames her for government assassination and now she’s got to either partner with him for a dangerous assignment or be implicated in treason. Meanwhile, Lia is nearly finished with her time at the Military Academy when she’s forced to do a final assignment with her nemesis. Lia will work with him, but she’s going to do it better so she can secure the status of valedictorian. Except there’s a lot more at stake that either knows. When Eirale and Lia’s lives continue to intertwine, despite being in different reality planes, they start to wonder what their connection is . . . and what kind of conspiracy is at hand that keeps bringing them together. This is the first in a trilogy that looks like an awesome read for fans of science fiction, virtual reality, and stories that are not too far-fetched from our own reality plane. All access members continue below for more of the best new YA. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

There's a dark suspense series, a missing child thriller series, an intense character’s unraveling film, and a backlist legal drama.

November is a big month for adaptations across genres. There’s Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on Netflix, HBO Max’s The Seduction, which is a retelling of Les Liaisons dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons, and you may have heard that Wicked: For Good will be in theaters. That’s just to name a few. So what do we have under the mystery, thriller, and true crime genres? There’s a dark suspense series, a missing child thriller series, an intense character’s unraveling film, and I added a backlist legal drama based on a true crime memoir in case you’ve yet to see it! As You Stood By (Netflix) Courtesy of Netflix Naomi & Kanako by Hideo Okuda Here’s a dark suspense series that is adapted from the Japanese novel Naomi & Kanako by Hideo Okuda. It currently doesn’t have an English translation, but maybe the adaptation will change that. As You Stood By Me is a limited series adaptation that will drop on Netflix on November 7th. Jeogn So-nee and Lee You-mi play best friends who are separately affected by domestic abuse, and come together to kill one’s husband. What could go wrong?! Watch the trailer here. All access members continue below for more of the best mystery, thriller, and true crime adaptations to watch in November. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

This Appalachian mystery, with its compassionate, working-class private investigator, has a twist that will throw you for a loop.

Over on Read or Dead, my cohost Katie McLain Horner and I are always talking about our new favorite mysteries and thrillers. So when a friend told me about this debut mystery set in Appalachia, I knew I had to get my hands on it. The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan After leaving the Air Force, Annie Gore became a private investigator. She’s just scraping by when a young man hires her to look into the disappearance of his sister. Ten years ago, three little girls were abducted, but only one of them came back. When each girl was abducted, someone left behind an applehead doll. Annie heads to the mountains of western North Carolina, where she finds a tiny town much like her hometown. The community and culture feel so familiar. There’s the church that functions like a community hub. There’s the tiny diner where you’re always going to run into someone you know. They even have the same local folklore about the Witch’s Orchard, the story of a woman who sells her daughters to a witch in exchange for some apples. It’s not long before Annie learns that Olivia, the only girl who returned, still lives in town. But Olivia can’t tell anyone what happened. She’s mostly nonspeaking, unable to verbally communicate about her abduction. The author handles Olivia’s character with the care and respect that is often missing when people feature nonspeaking or autistic characters in fiction. When I first started this novel, it unfolded like the classic small-town mystery. Everything was familiar, and I thought I knew where it was going. But a twist about a third of the way through sent me for a loop. The novel changed in complexity, the characters deepened, and the stakes increased. From that point, I had zero idea where the book was going, in the best possible way. There’s something special about reading a mystery that breaks out of the box and does something unexpected. Annie is the working-class private investigator I didn’t know I needed. She’s kind and compassionate, but as tough as anyone whose families have been living in the Blue Ridge Mountains for generations. Sullivan’s love of the private investigator mystery/thriller shines through. Plus, Sullivan has a sequel, Brimstone Hollow, coming out next summer. You can bet I’ll be putting it on my pre-order list. You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.

From a tortoise who witnesses history to a sapphic Victorian romp, these are the month's best historical releases.

I hope you’re ready for a jam-packed start to your reading month, because not one, not two, not three, but five out of the six historical fiction books I’m telling you about today have already been published. That’s right, no waiting around for these titles, folks. You’re getting the treat of reading all of these novels early. In fact, every single one of these November historical fiction releases comes out before the 12th of the month. That’s wild. It was honestly just happenstance, but it feels like such a treat. Usually, new releases involve at least a little bit of waiting around, but not this time! Among November’s best historical fiction, there’s everything from a tortoise who witnesses history to a sapphic Victorian romp to the Canary Islands’ most famous shipwreck. Deeper than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito Release date: November 4, 2025 A journalist assigned to write a report on the Canary Islands’ most famous shipwreck, the Valbanera, unexpectedly discovers that her own great-grandmother is listed among the names of the dead, years before her own mother, who spoke often of her beloved grandmother, was born. If this fundamental truth Mara has always believed about the origins of her family is false, what else could be wrong? Searching for the truth about the shipwreck and her family, Mara digs deep into the past of the Canary Islands and Cuba in the early twentieth century. All access members continue below for more of the best historical fiction coming out in November. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

With two months left in the year, here are some strategies for squeezing in a little more reading, plus book recs to help you hit those goals.

It’s two months to the end of the year, and you’re staring down the reading goal that you set on January 1. All kinds of nonsense has conspired to keep you busy from then to now, and you’re no longer sure if it’s possible to get it done. You know you don’t technically have to accomplish your goal (or you should, so let me say, if you don’t know this: you don’t actually have to accomplish that arbitrarily set reading goal), but you want to. And I’ve been there. As someone who reads a lot of books each year, I’ve gathered a list of ways to help you get there. Whether your goal was to read 10 books or 100, these tips will help you read more, and reach your reading goal with two months of the year left on the calendar. Tip 1: Stop doom-scrolling. I know, easy for me to say! We are living in a hellscape right now, and goodness knows we need to be active. But burnt-out activists are useless activists, and we all know that after 15 or so minutes, doom-scrolling ceases to be useful. Carve out time for your hobby instead of letting yourself scroll till bedtime. Bring your book with you to have on the subway, or for lunchtime at work. Set screen limits using an app on your phone. Put your book by your bed and replace your early-morning social media scrolling with a couple book pages instead. Simply converting some of that screen time into reading time will do wonders. Tip 2: Use tools to keep you focused. I have a friend who reads before she goes to bed, and a lot of times that means rereading the same sections over and over again because she keeps forgetting what happened. My tip: have a post-it or your notes app handy! Write down the main character names and revelations so that if you have to put it down and pick it up a full week later, you remember where you left off. Tip 3: Don’t get defeated. Any reading counts. Whenever I set a goal, I find myself getting angry when I don’t do well right away, and really well. You decide tonight you’re going to read your book, and then you look up and realize you’re three episodes into Parks & Recreation again, and there’s no point in trying to still read tonight, is there? You already mucked it up. Well I’m here with an important announcement: there’s still time. It doesn’t have to be the whole night. I once took a class on War and Peace where we read it in just 10 weeks. I thought it would be impossible—1,200 pages in 10 weeks?? But if you broke it down into weekly, then daily goals, it ended up being just 17 pages a day. You don’t have to finish a book a week. You don’t even have to finish your chapter. Read a page, or a couple, and you’ve officially moved closer to your goal! Tip 4: For the love of Morrison, if you don’t like the book, put it down! I used to insist on finishing every book I started. Then one day, someone reminded me that the average person reads 12 books a year, so if you’re say, 30, you have, maximum, 840 books left in your lifetime, and that’s if you stick to a dozen every year. I know, panic attack ensuing, but I promise this is freeing information. Because if you only have less than 1,000 books to spend time on, for the rest of your life, why in the world would you waste time on this one that’s boring you? Who are you trying to impress? Half the time someone tells me they’re in a reading slump, it turns out they’ve been slogging through the same book for months. I am telling you, from a fellow bookworm: it will never, ever be worth the slog. Put! It! Down! Book Recommendations Now that the tips and lectures have been delivered, here are some recommendations for short, zippy books that are 110% still books—good books, at that—and will count towards your reading challenge, but are, again, short. Good luck! A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (160 pages) A monk who travels a post-apocalyptic utopian landscape, comforting people as they go, sets out into the forest to try and hear a rare sound: the crickets singing. In the wilderness, Dex stumbles on a robot named Mosscap, who is determined to find out what people want from life. It’s cozy, sweet, and particularly comforting in our current rough-and-tumble times. And if you like it, you can check out A Prayer for the Crown-Shy next, at just 152 pages. The Minotaur at Calle Lanza by Zito Madu (184 pages) Are you more of a memoir kind of reader? If so, you’ll enjoy this memoir/travelogue from a writer who got assigned to travel to Italy not long after borders tentatively reopened in fall 2020. He explores a Venice few will ever get to see, mostly empty and open for wandering. And confusing. Shops open one night are gone the next; people come and go, disappear. In this place of uncertainty, Madu reflects on his parents’ journey into the United States, the madness of the pandemic, and his own past. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, illustrated by Robert Kraiza (141 pages) No one can possibly shame you for reading a classic for your reading challenge! This one is not only a classic gothic novella, but it’s gay too. Le Fanu found some of his inspiration reading real letters about one girl’s infatuation with another. A young, mysterious girl comes to stay with Laura’s family, and Laura slowly falls under her spell despite being haunted by nightmares and an inexplicable fatigue. New editions come with a bonus stellar intro and beautiful illustrations. A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay by Octavia Butler, illustrated by Manzel Bowman (56 pages) Yes, I mean it—just 56 pages! Octavia Butler is one of the true prophets of our time—in Parable of a Sower, she predicted that 2025 would bring wildfires and the creep of authoritarianism. In this essay, turned into a lovely keepsake artbook, she explores how we can look at our past to predict our future, and how we can use what we have to craft the future that we’d like to see. This one is inspiring, hopeful, but actionable, and is also on the top of my list for gift-giving in the upcoming months. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (105 pages) Fans of fairytale adaptations and books about Fae will enjoy this story about two sisters who maintain the mysterious willows along the river that runs through both the human and fae kingdoms. The two sisters are closer than anything, even as one of them falls for a person from the other side of the border. But when one jealous man separates them, both sisters will have to set out on a journey to try and reunite and find their place. Poetic, but short. Want more short book recommendations? Check out our list from the beginning of 2025 for short, speedy reads; investigate books with short, fast-moving chapters; and take recommendations from our list of short books you can squeeze into a short amount of time.

The importance of Black bookstores, a man travels back to home to Palestine, law-changing cannibalism, and more.

And just like that, it’s November. Most of the big literary prizes have been handed out, and my feed is flooded with best of the year lists. But there are still new books coming out every week, and you won’t want to let them fly under your radar. Of course, as a fan of true stories, nonfiction is always at the top of my to-be-read pile. And November is full of incredible new releases! I could start with Char Adams’s new book about Black-owned bookstores. Or I could read the new book about a shipwreck that left a crew stranded at sea. Or maybe I’ll check out the new memoir from Palestinian author Tareq Baconi, where he describes returning to his homeland to help him better understand his own history. In celebration of true stories, I’ve collected ten of the most exciting nonfiction titles hitting shelves in November. You might be new to nonfiction or a true stories pro, but whatever the case, there’s sure to be something on this list that catches your eye. All publication dates are subject to change. Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams (November 4) A November LibraryReads Pic, Black-Owned highlights the importance of Black-owned bookstores. From Malcolm X giving speeches in front of the National Memorial African Book Store in Harlem to Maya Angelou becoming the face of National Black Bookstore Week, Black-owned bookstores have played a huge role in Black activism and community. Char Adams takes us on a tour of these indie bookstores throughout history, giving us a love letter to these treasured havens for Black resistance. All access members continue below for more of November’s best nonfiction. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

There are print versions of popular webtoons, adaptations and expansions of stories from other media, and lots of sweet romantic adventures.

Ha, nature puns! Autumn really is the best. Well, it’s taken ten months and/or ten decades, but we’ve almost reached the end of another year. As the calendar winds down, take a few minutes to enjoy the latest comic books and graphic novels. This month’s new releases list includes print versions of popular webtoons and webcomics, adaptations and expansions of stories from other media, and a whole lot of sweet romantic adventures to boot. November is often seen as a time of looking back, assessing the year, and expressing gratitude for the good things that have happened. But don’t lose sight of all the great stuff happening in the future too, whether you are looking forward to the holidays, a fresh start, or just a few hours with a brand new story. Do Women Need Sex Entertainment? by Yachinatsu and Sono Yoshioka (Nov 11) Trying to juggle a career and romantic prospects is no mean feat in this hectic world of ours. This light-hearted manga follows a working girl who is just trying to have it all. And is that really so much to ask? All access members continue below for the best new comics, graphic novels, and manga coming out in November This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

You’ll find the depths of a mother’s grief, a psychological snow-covered road trip, and a classic haunted house story, for starters.

People's #1 Must-Read Book of Fall, The Unveiling is an astonishing ghost story about the masks we wear and the truths we hide even from ourselves. Striker, a Black film scout on a mission to find a location for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton, finds herself on a luxury cruise in Antartica surrounded by wealthy, mostly white tourists. When a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker must survive a hostile environment, inner demons, and deadly secrets. Exploring abandonment, guilt, and the limits of human connection, Barry affirms there are no such things as haunted places, only haunted people. There’s nothing I love more than a literary horror novel. Combine the spine-chilling thrills of a deliciously terrifying narrative with a writing style that sings with subtle beauty or cutting metaphor, and I’m sold. Literary horror novels highlight so well the way horror can be just as touching, emotional, and beautiful a genre as any other. If you’re curious about which books fall into the literary horror category, look no further. On this list, you’ll find novels about the depths of a mother’s grief, a psychological snow-covered road trip, and a classic haunted house story, just to name a few. For those and more, check out these eight literary horror novels. Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova After the death of her son Santiago, Magos secretly keeps a piece of his lung, unable to fully let him go in her grief. She places the piece of him in a jar, and before long, it starts to grow. And grow. And grow. Until it becomes something alive, a creature that looks exactly like the son she lost. She names him Monstrilio and raises him as her own, but as the half-boy half-creature grows, his monstrous side wars with his human side, and the family’s fragile balance threatens to tip under the pressure. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson As part of a psychological study, Doctor John Montague invites three individuals whom he determines are in tune with the beyond to stay at Hill House, an estate with a reputation for being haunted. Eleanor, Theodora, and Luke all agree to spend their summer at Hill House under the watch of Montague. There, their nights are plagued with strange noises, laughter, and threatening messages written on the walls. The experiment quickly veers off course, putting them all in danger. This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno Neither Thiago nor Vera thinks much of it when their Itza, a smart speaker, starts acting up, playing music in the middle of the night, and shining strange lights throughout their place at all hours. It’s funny, almost. Something to talk about with friends over the dinner table. But then, Vera falls down the stairs of the subway in a strange accident, and she soon passes away from her injuries. Thiago is left reeling, and the speaker’s strange activity takes on a new sinister meaning. Thiago flees to a remote cabin in the Colorado woods, but this strange thing haunting him follows, as does his grief. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia When Noemi receives a letter stating that her newlywed cousin, Catalina, needs help, she doesn’t hesitate to make the journey to High Place, the decaying estate where her cousin and new husband live. When she arrives, Noemi must navigate tense family dynamics, haunting nightmares each night, and a house that seems so very alive. Before long, Noemi starts poking into the house’s past, where she finds horrible secrets lying in wait. Zone One by Colson Whitehead In the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, half the population is left in a zombified state. Those who were not infected by the disease fight to reclaim Manhattan from their safe space called Zone One, including Mark Spitz, a sweeper whose job is to clean the infected out of the city. As Mark works to make space for humanity to live again, he comes face-to-face with a world with different rules and a different role for society. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid For the first time, Jake has a girlfriend to take home to meet his parents. He’s ecstatic, and the couple sets off on a road trip to the rural farm where he grew up. But his girlfriend is thinking of ending things, and Jake can sense it. Through philosophical discussions, an impending snowstorm, and odd parental dynamics, tensions rise as the couple heads back home, detours halting their progress. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin Stuck in a rural hospital in Argentina, Amanda is dying. In her room is a young boy named David who has so many questions for Amanda. Urgent questions. Strange questions. He wants to know about the worms. He wants to know about her memories. As the pair speaks, Amanda reveals more about her past, and their lives turn out to be more closely linked than either of them realized. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield After Leah’s deep-sea mission is nearly six months late returning to land, her wife Miri is relieved just to have her spouse back. Just to have her alive. But the Leah that comes back isn’t quite the same as she was before she left. She spends hours in the bathroom under running water and craves more and more salt. With alternating perspectives, Miri and Leah recount their history, their present, and what lengths they will go to stay together. I hope you pick up one of these truly beautiful horror reads! If you’re in the mood for more literary horror, check out these modern horror classics or these horror novels about grief!

This is a moderated subreddit. It is our intent and purpose to foster and encourage in-depth discussion about all things related to books, authors, genres, or publishing in a safe, supportive environment. If you're looking for help with a personal book recommendation, consult our Weekly Recommendation Thread, Suggested Reading page, or ask in r/suggestmeabook.

Welcome readers, The end of 2025 is nearly here and we have many posts and events to mark the occasion! This post contains the planned schedule of threads and will be updated with links as they go live. Start Date Thread Link Nov 15 Gift Ideas for Readers TBA Nov 22 Megathread of "Best Books of 2025" Lists TBA Dec 13 /r/Books Best Books of 2025 Contest TBA Dec 20 Your Year in Reading TBA Dec 30 2026 Reading Resolutions TBA Jan 18 /r/Books Best Books of 2025 Winners TBA submitted by /u/vincoug [link] [comments]

Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: What are some non-English classics? Please use this thread to discuss classics originally written in other languages. You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki. Thank you and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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Just finished reading Me Talk Pretty One Day(2000) by David Sedaris, a hilarious, sharp and oddly tender collection of personal essays that turn everyday awkwardness into art. His humor is dry and self-deprecating, his timing impeccable and his observations about people (especially himself) brutally honest. The essays about his childhood, growing up in a neurotic family and living in Paris are especially delightful, blending humiliation and wit in a way few writers can. Not every piece lands equally well but even the weaker ones carry his wry, confessional and oddly kind voice. Beneath the laughter runs a thread of melancholy and vulnerability that gives the book surprising emotional weight. Its the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud and then quietly nod in recognition a moment later. Sedaris may not be for everyone, but when his humor hits, it hits perfectly. 8/10 submitted by /u/Zehreelakomdareturns [link] [comments]

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Välkommen readers, This is our monthly discussion of the literature of the world! Every Wednesday, we'll post a new country or culture for you to recommend literature from, with the caveat that it must have been written by someone from that there (i.e. Shogun by James Clavell is a great book but wouldn't be included in Japanese literature). Tomorrow is Gustavus Adolphus Day and to celebrate we're discussing Swedish literature! Please use this thread to discuss your favorite Swedish literature and authors. If you'd like to read our previous discussions of the literature of the world please visit the literature of the world section of our wiki. Tack and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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”The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.” This is the opening line of Seveneves(2015) written by Neal Stephenson, a sweeping hard science fiction epic about humanity's destruction, survival and rebirth. The story follows the events after the Moon shatters and humanity realizes it has less than two years before the resulting debris rains down and destroys life on Earth. In a desperate race against time, the nations of the world unite to build a network of space habitats, hoping to preserve a fragment of civilization beyond the planet’s surface. As politics, science and human nature collide, the survivors must adapt to the harsh realities of space and rebuild society from scratch. The world building in Seveneves is astonishingly detailed and grounded in real science, showcasing Stephenson’s ability to construct a future shaped by physics, engineering and human ingenuity, from the frantic construction of orbital habitats to the long term evolution of humanity in space. Every element from propulsion systems and asteroid mining to genetics and social structures, feels meticulously thought out and logically connected. Yet what truly elevates the novel is not just its scientific credibility, but its quiet reverence for human resilience. The characters aren’t melodramatic heroes, they are problem solvers, engineers and scientists doing their best in the face of extinction, employing reason, cooperation and a strong will to endure. This cold self restraint, while making the future generations of humanity a priority gives the story a lot of emotional depth and authenticity. At times the prose can feel heavy and the dialogue overly technical. But those moments never outweigh the novel’s sheer ambition. Stephenson blends physics, genetics and myth into a vast and strangely hopeful meditation on what it means to start over, to evolve and to be human. 8/10 submitted by /u/Zehreelakomdareturns [link] [comments]

I’ve seen a few posts floating around about the lack of developmental editing in books as of late, but has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of copy editing in traditionally published books? I purchased a copy of Frankenstein (1818 text) as the film is coming out and i’d like to read before I watch, however in the first 50 pages alone there are multiple spelling errors that should not be in a published copy - silly errors like forgetting the “f” in “myself” and spelling Ingolstadt as lugolstadt. I find it really egregious that it’s present in a text so widely available as Frankenstein and I even had to check that I hadn’t purchased a print on demand copy - it was a 2025 edition released by Penguin Random House. I’ve noticed this in multiple physical books i’ve read as of late, especially those published in the last 5 years. Is there really no money in the publishing industry to hire a decent copy editor anymore? submitted by /u/sugarcookie_latte [link] [comments]

I read A LOT of dark books, but very rarely do they actually shake me. I just read Big Sur by Jack Keuroac. Having done a lot of drugs and alcohol in the past, and having loved so many people in serious active addiction, it spoke to me on such a personal level. It took awhile to get into—maybe 50 or so pages. But once I started to understand his writing style, I was hooked. It was such an honest, realistic, raw portrayal of life in addiction. And Jack was so tender and sensitive; I just wanted to give him a hug. After finishing the book, I was so affected by it that I tried to find other people discussing it. But pretty much everyone criticized it! Is it that the average person doesn’t have intense, personal experience with the subject matter? Am I just dumb for liking it? Lmaoo no but I would love to hear from other people who were moved by this book, or any others by him! submitted by /u/Uteraz [link] [comments]

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I love fantasy and sci fi. I've been reading books in these two genres from big publishers, small publishers, and the occasional self pub. I've self pubbed in the genre myself and worked with editors. In the last few months I've noticed a decline in the speculative fiction, especially fantasy books, I've picked up. I've had to dnf several books because the writing is soo bad. The plot and world building might be fine, but the editing is terrible, and these are traditionally published books. Sometimes smaller houses, but still. I mentioned that I've worked with editors as a writer because the kinds of issues I'm seeing are basic stuff any editor should catch. The book I'm reading now has new paragraphs being started in the middle of a sentence. Or a sentence fragment ending ,. Like that. My biggest pet peve is time not making sense. Things that clearly took days to happen being described as happening in a few hours. I have not worked with expensive editors. Just editors a self pub author could afford. And they would have caught these problems. Has anyone else noticed this? As I wrote this I realized there's a chance this could be AI in the editing process? ETA: I don't notice it nearly as bad in other genres. Like one of my other favorite genres is cozy mystery and it doesn't have the same problem. submitted by /u/curiousdoodler [link] [comments]

This books is so exceptional in plot twists and unreliable narration! I loved the atmosphere and passion for magic, or in those cases deception. It is told through journals, giving each unique perspective of events. The characters have complex motivations for their actions and their passion extends to all aspects of their lives. It’s not only a tale of revenge but also what drives a man in their art as well. But that’s just the emotional base, the crazy twists and turns the story leads the reader through are unpredictable and very fun. I found it to be a lot more horror oriented than the movie, also the sci-fi element is more present. Another diversion the movie made was to not include the generational effects of the magician’s feud. The generational effect really hits home in the very end and the book finishes in a horror filled present day nightmare. I loved it! submitted by /u/gamercouplelolz [link] [comments]

Just finished American Gods this past week. The story follows a convict "Shadow" who is released early from prison due to the death of his wife, in a car crash. Upon his release Shadow discovers that his wife died in the same car as his best friend while performing a sexual act on him. Gaiman uses Shadow as the vehicle to introduce us to a cast of characters, mostly gods and other characters from world mythology. The main god is a mysterious character called Wednesday (we eventually find out that he is the Norse God Odin as well as Shadow's father). The book centres on a pending war between the gods of the old world, versus the modern gods, such as technology. A power struggle where the old tries to retain power while the new tries to usurp it. Wednesday hires Shadow as his assistant and proceeds to travel throughout the United States recruiting the gods, of old, for an upcoming war against the modern gods. As Wednesday puts together his army we are introduced to various deities from other countries/ parts of the world, Irish, African, Indian, Egyptian etc. Simultaneously, we discover that the new gods, are the gods of science, technology, and the Industrial Revolution. Interspersed throughout the book are also vignettes of seemingly random events. An indentured servant from the British Isles, a slave brought over from Africa, a trinket salesman from the Middle East. Having secured their army through a series of adventures or maybe better misadventures the book reaches its zenith in what, for me, felt more like an anti-climatic battle between old and new. Wednesday is assassinated prior to the battle and and the new gods arrange for the transfer of Wednesday's body back to the old gods in the geographic centre of the United States, a seemingly "safe space" for both sides. We ultimately learn that there is an interconnectedness of stories throughout the book. For example, Shadow's cellmate in prison is a guy named "Low Key" whom we learn is actually the Norse God Loki. We also eventually learn that rather than being a battle of old vs. new the whole story is just a con being run by Odin in a failed attempt to retain power. While I thought the concept behind the book was fascinating, I feel like Gaiman missed the mark. One would have to have a rather extensive knowledge of world theology and mythology in order to grasp this book. I feel like the vignettes would have been better served introducing us old and new world myths and laying the groundwork for the characters better. As is, you are left on your own to try and piece tother obscure and random characters and events. I really wanted to like this book, because as I have already indicated I thought the idea was fascinating. In the end, I felt like the book was average at best. I would be interested in hearing other people's opinions about this book. submitted by /u/InvestigatorLow5351 [link] [comments]

So, I just finished the book, watched the interview of the author with Dua Lipa and have the urge to talk about it. Right at the beginning Dua Lipa asks him about the "affair" with the neighbor and that doesn't sit well with me. For me it was very obvious that this whole "affair" was not one, it was more likely SA? He was 15 and got "seduced" by his 42 year old neighbor. Phrasing it as an affair just plays it down. In my opinion this is the whole premise of the depressed tone of the book, because Istvan is obviously traumatized? Every other intimate relation he has with a woman is reflecting the one he had with his neighbor: They are older, married and from his point of view somehow ugly. I wouldn't say, that this is just his type of woman, I rather think that the experience he made with 15 marked him. Aside from that I felt really uncomfortable reading the intimate scenes with his neighbor. All the other ones he had in his adult life were not nearly described that detailed and since the SA topic was never picked up again in the book (especially as what it is, even not with his therapist?) nor by the author itself in interviews - I wonder why he even wrote about it? I tried to make some research about this but couldn't find anything. At one point Thomas even says that Istvan is a primitive man which attracts his mother to him so I wonder if the author even realized what he wrote about? In the interview it seemed like he wanted this book to be seen as one about masculinity but in my opinion it is a book about a deeply traumatized boy/man who never processes all the negativ things that happen to him. So after reading this book l had the feeling, that SA of boys by grown women are not seen as a serious crime. This actually shocked me. Did I missed a point here? Because I feel as if the author missed the point of his own book. And I also wonder how the "affair" would have been received if the gender roles would have been switched. submitted by /u/Bookfriennd [link] [comments]

Spoilers in the post below! I finished this book this morning. I really enjoyed most of it, but I'm left feeling very unsure how I feel about it now. It's the ending of the book. I really didn't feel like the ending... did much. Maybe it not being an ending persay, not wrapping things up neatly, was part of the point of the book thematically. But as a reader I was disappointed that there wasn't a bit more, I don't know, closure? I really wanted Richard and Cynthia to get together - yes maybe that's cliche and maybe again part of the point of the book is that the man and woman he meets in his adventure don't always have to get together. In a way I guess it was realistic - good even - that she also got a fresh start, new lease of life, just like Richard did, just not with him. Either way I guess I kind of wanted them together regardless; thought they were good for each other. I also felt like things got left part-done with 'the ex wife'. Towards the end I was really hoping Richard and ex-wife wouldn't get back together and at least they didn't, but again, that was left kind of open, and that's a pairing I do not think are good together (although again, I get that thematically towards the end was partly about how families aren't perfect but kind of make do the best they can, and ex-wife's deeprooted fear of thinking about anything meaningful - to the extent she kept too busy for anything including emotional closeness - was a foil for Richard's newly found appreciation for closeness and community). I get that a lot of it is just... Richard becoming something new, and gradually practicing the skill of accepting things as they happen in life. So there's partly a 'well who knows what's in Richard's future, maybe any of the above can still happen'. And there's definite hints that both Richard and Ben want to build on their relationship in the future, so we can hope that might happen for them. One thing I do really like is Richard's personal growth throughout the book. This has already become a longer post than I intended, so I'm going to stop rambling. Just circling back to... something about the ending has just left me feeling at sea, a bit like Richard is at the end of the text. But instead of him feeling a sort of tranquil acceptance of whatever may come, I'm feeling dissatisfied with a seemingly abrupt running out, petering out, of words to a story I'd been otherwise really enjoying. It's left me not being able to put my finger on a rating for my Goodreads and my 2025 reading spreadsheet! Anyone else? Thoughts about this book? I'd especially like to hear your thoughts on the ending - maybe it will give me new appreciation or perspectives on it - but still welcome any input on the book in general. submitted by /u/Ninja_Hedgehog [link] [comments]

I just finished Bunny by Mona Awad and I was pretty disappointed in it. :( I call it Temu Frankenstein for Taylor Swift girl bosses. I know it's supposed to be a satire, but it feel so flat for me. It wasn't very weird or scary to me at all. I think it was really silly that themonsters they created were just hot men . I expected a lot more since it's so highly praised. The main character was so annoying too, just pure whining and groveling the whole time. Also I figured Ava was her creation when she spoke about the swan on the pond, and then the Bunnies wanting her in the group after seeing her with Ava If you read it, what did you think? Maybe I'm overthinking it, because again, it was supposed to be a satire. submitted by /u/DroYo [link] [comments]

Twain's 4 in a row: Title Year The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876 The Prince and the Pauper 1881 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 1889 Woolf's 4 in a row: Title Year Mrs Dalloway 1925 To the Lighthouse 1927 Orlando 1928 The Waves 1931 Austen had a terrific run, but Mansfield Park was in the middle of that run, and it's not usually considered an all-time classic. Hemingway also had a great run, but it was interrupted by To Have and Have Not, which isn't typically considered a classic. Steinbeck's major works, too, were interrupted by lesser releases. Are there any other authors that have more than 4 all-time classic novels in a row? (Mostly thinking about this in terms of sustained uninterrupted greatness, the literary equivalent of consecutive home runs, maybe?} And obviously Shakespeare had several in a row, but he was a playwright, so he doesn't count. Edit: Removed the Shakespeare list because the years his plays were written are disputed, so it's hard to figure out how many bangers he actually had in a row. submitted by /u/pardis [link] [comments]

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I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is a sci fi horror novella, first published in 1954 about Robert Neville, the (presumed) last man on Earth after a quick spreading disease turns everyone into vampires. The horror doesn't really come from the vampires. A lot of the ones Robert comes across are zombie like with the traditional vampire limitations (sunlight, garlic, stakes, etc) so if he makes it back to his guarded home before night, he is relatively safe. The horror comes from seeing the world through the perspective of a hopeless man who is too miserable to want to keep living but too scared to die. Robert is a very miserable man and while I normally have no problem with unlikable main characters, I'll admit he had my eyes rolling so hard at first. Like seriously, the world has pretty much ended and his biggest grievance seems to be that he'll never have sex again. He thinks about sex a lot. I kind of just chalked it up to earlier sci fi male writers really over sexualizing women in their works but as I read on, yeah... never being able to receive affection (physically and emotionally) would be very bleak. I Am Legend was written over 60 years ago but the horror feels very modern, and not just because of Covid (though, the flash back to the very beginning of the outbreak felt very familiar). After a cataclysmic event, Robert is angry and depressed that his life has been taken away from him. His friends, coworkers, and neighbors are all enemies now. He can't trust anyone. He is paranoid, depressed, and scared. He is furious at how unfair his life is. He yearns for the past. He justifies his actions as necessary for survival. These are all feelings and emotions that feel very familiar because we've either felt them ourselves or because we see others going down that depressing path. So, if you like psychological horror, unreliable narrators, and villain origin stories, I definitely recommend this book. If you like vampire stories... it read more like a zombie story than vampires for me, but I did really like how Matheson tried to explain the vampire lore and tropes with science. submitted by /u/Anxious-Fun8829 [link] [comments]

Welcome readers, Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread. Thank you and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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Hi everyone! What are you reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think of it? We want to know! We're displaying the books found in this thread in the book strip at the top of the page. If you want the books you're reading included, use the formatting below. Formatting your book info Post your book info in this format: the title, by the author For example: The Bogus Title, by Stephen King This formatting is voluntary but will help us include your selections in the book strip banner. Entering your book data in this format will make it easy to collect the data, and the bold text will make the books titles stand out and might be a little easier to read. Enter as many books per post as you like but only the parent comments will be included. Replies to parent comments will be ignored for data collection. To help prevent errors in data collection, please double check your spelling of the title and author. NEW: Would you like to ask the author you are reading (or just finished reading) a question? Type !invite in your comment and we will reach out to them to request they join us for a community Ask Me Anything event! -Your Friendly /r/books Moderator Team submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

Books any time any day.

Book Review Author :Delia Owens Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher : GP Putnam’s Sons Year of Publication: 2019 Number of Pages: 368 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I picked this up with a bit of hesitation. In spite of the great reviews that it got, I must say the title made me expect something … Continue reading Where the Crawdads Sing →

Book Review Author :Delia Owens Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher : GP Putnam’s Sons Year of Publication: 2019 Number of Pages: 368 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I picked this up with a bit of hesitation. In spite of the great reviews that it got, I must say the title made me expect something quite different from what it was. I expected a book filled with scientific details about marshes and birds that would be difficult to read. I was genuinely surprised and pleased to get drawn into the story and to find that it was not an exposition on the science of the marsh masquerading as a novel but a well written, enjoyable and easy to follow story. The story is about Kya a young girl born in the marshes of North Carolina, USA who is left to fend for herself by her family from the tender age of 7. The town people consider her strange and refer to her as Marsh Girl. She somehow manages to take care of herself all alone in the Marsh with only the occasional journey into town to get supplies. She is lucky enough to make a friend who teaches her how to read and helps her make use of her knowledge of the marsh to make a respectable living. When one day, Chase Andrews, the son of one of the town’s most prominent families is found dead in the swamp, the town people cannot help but suspect that the strange Marsh girl had something to do with his death. This is an interesting book about survival and overcoming all odds to make a good life in the face of extreme hardship and hostility. Though I must admit at times I found it difficult to believe that such a young child could survive alone in such difficult circumstances and that none of the residents of the town bothered to do anything about this situation, the story is touching in many ways. It would be amazing if anyone could actually survive such a childhood and manage to turn their life around as Kya did. I also enjoyed learning about the marsh and the different species to be found there and seeing the beauty in nature through Kya’s eyes, as she explored her marsh and got to know it better than anyone else. I rate this book 4 out of 5. If you enjoy reading coming of age historical fiction stories and are a lover of nature, you will absolutely love this book. If you are the skeptical and cynical type, you might find it a bit implausible. Happy reading!

Classics Book Review Author : Elizabeth Gaskell Genre : Literary Classic Fiction Original Publisher : Chapman and Hall Year of Publication : 1854 Number of Pages : 396 My Rating : 5 out of 5 My most recent read is this gem of a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, based in Victorian England. Margaret Hale is … Continue reading North and South →

Classics Book Review Author : Elizabeth Gaskell Genre : Literary Classic Fiction Original Publisher : Chapman and Hall Year of Publication : 1854 Number of Pages : 396 My Rating : 5 out of 5 My most recent read is this gem of a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, based in Victorian England. Margaret Hale is the daughter of a parson. At age nine, her parents sent her away from the sleepy hamlet known as Helstone, where her father serves as the Parish Priest, to go live with her maternal aunt in London’s Harley Street so she could get an education along with her cousin Edith. Nine years later, aged eighteen, she returns to the village home of her parents and is longing for a quiet, peaceful life walking in the forest and spending her days tending to the needs of her father’s congregation. “She took a pride in her forest. Its people were her people. She made hearty friends with them; learned and delighted in using their peculiar words; took up her freedom amongst them; nursed their babies; talked or read with slow distinctness to their old people; carried dainty messes to their sick; resolved before long to teach at the school, where her father went every day as to an appointed task, but she was continually tempted off to go and see some individual friend–man, woman, or child–in some cottage in the green shade of the forest.“ When her father suddenly announces that he is moving the family North to the manufacturing town of Milton-Northern, she is shocked and grief stricken and wonders how this change will affect her family, most especially her mother. Life in Milton is as different as expected – the air is heavy with smoke, the streets are bustling and the people are rough. Margaret tries her best to ease her mother’s worries and anxieties. With time, she gets to meet some of the people of Milton and make friends with them, in spite of the differences in behaviour, customs and mannerisms. She manages to get herself embroilled in the politics of the town and finds herself in the middle of a strike. She also manages to draw the attention of Mr. Thornton, a mill owner and one of the wealthiest manufacturers in the town, who is also her father’s pupil. John Thornton finds Margaret haughty and thinks she treats him with contempt while Margaret finds him hard and unfeeling and only interested in getting wealthy at the expense of his poor workers. Yet the two are brought together time and time again by fate. Will they be able to overcome their differences and find common ground? “If Mr. Thornton was a fool in the morning, as he assured himself at least twenty times he was, he did not grow much wiser in the afternoon. All that he gained in return for his sixpenny omnibus ride, was a more vivid conviction that there never was, never could be, anyone like Margaret; that she did not love him and never would; but she –no! nor the whole world –should never hinder him from loving her.“ This story is engaging and well written. It demonstrates what happens when there is a clash of cultures. Margaret and her family are used to Southern mannerisms and she struggles to understand the industrial town and its people. She has also had a privileged life at the her aunt’s London home which is very different from the life her own family leads. Through the eyes of the other characters, we get to experience the industrial revolution and the inevitable clashes between the mill owners and their workers as each strives to protect their interests. I loved how the author presented us with different view points of the lives of the people of Milton – that of the owners, workers and outsiders in the form of the Hale family. “After a quiet life in a country parsonage for more than twenty years, there was something dazzling to Mr. Hale in the energy which conquered immense difficulties with ease; the power of the machinery of Milton, the power of the men of Milton, impressed him with a sense of grandeur, which he yielded to without caring to inquire into the details of its exercise.“ This was my first Elizabeth Gaskell book to read as part of my 50 classics in 5 years’ challenge. Having gotten used to Jane Austen books where the biggest differences in social class were as a result of inheritance and the sort of family that one came from, it was refreshing to read about self-made characters who were not trapped in the lives that they were born into. Adaptation North and South has been adapted for TV three times. I watched the above 2004 BBC adaptation. It was a four episode production featuring Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe. I absolutely loved it and found the characters very fitting for their roles, save that the ending was to me a bit too different from the actual ending in the book. I would have loved to see that ending played out here, though I must admit that it did not come out very nicely in the last episode of the 1975 adaptation that I managed to find on YouTube! I enjoyed every part of this book and recommend it to all lovers of classics. I rate it 5 out of 5.

Author : Marian Keyes Genre : Family Drama Publisher : Michael Joseph -an imprint of Penguin Year of Publication : 2020 Number of Pages : 633 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I totally fell in love with Marian Keyes after reading Sushi for Beginners. It led me to her other books which I … Continue reading Grown Ups →

Author : Marian Keyes Genre : Family Drama Publisher : Michael Joseph -an imprint of Penguin Year of Publication : 2020 Number of Pages : 633 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I totally fell in love with Marian Keyes after reading Sushi for Beginners. It led me to her other books which I also absolutely loved. I know it says ‘gloriously funny’ on this book’s cover – a quote from the Sunday Times – but it was more of drama than humor to me. This is especially so when I compare it with some of her other totally hilarious ones, like Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Rachel’s Holiday. The book is based on the Casey family, complete with a family tree, so we know who fits where – and once you tally all the children, they are quite a number. The three Casey brothers are close and spend a lot of time together, despite their estrangement from their very cold and distant parents. The family is fairly well-to-do (or at least Johnny and his wife Jessie are) so a good portion of the book features them at elaborate dinners or on holidays in picturesque destinations. We see the usual family dynamics play out, as the different characters encounter their own unique challenges. The book is quite voluminous at over 600 hundred pages. It took me a while to get into the story, I suppose due to the many characters, each with their own backstory and peculiarities. In fact, this felt more like several stories told together. Thankfully, once the story got going, I found myself pretty much drawn into it and I was easily able to follow the different story lines. I enjoyed the way that Marian expertly combined them into one tightly woven tale and, towards the end, I could not put the book down. Whilst the story was not ‘laugh out loud’ (at least not for me), there was a lot of humor in it together with all the family drama. The characters felt pretty familiar to me. I loved the interactions between them, as I got to know them and watch as they evolved. Marian explores some pretty serious themes in the book as she reveals the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. There was no part of this story that I did not like and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys warm family stories about relationships and the trials and tribulations that we all have to deal with in every day life. I especially loved that this story does not take itself too seriously and none of the characters is reflected as being perfect. I rate this heartwarming story as a 4. The only reason why it did not get a 5 is because I enjoyed some of Marian’s books so much more and actually laughed out loud!

Book Review Author : Colleen Hoover Genre : Romance Publisher : Simon & Schuster Year of Publication : 2016 Number of Pages : 384 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Lily Bloom is upset following her father’s very emotionally draining funeral and just wants to be alone on a rooftop where she can breathe … Continue reading It Ends With Us →

Book Review Author : Colleen Hoover Genre : Romance Publisher : Simon & Schuster Year of Publication : 2016 Number of Pages : 384 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Lily Bloom is upset following her father’s very emotionally draining funeral and just wants to be alone on a rooftop where she can breathe in the fresh air and unwind. She does not count on meeting handsome Ryle, a neurosurgeon with whom she makes an instant connection. During their brief chat, they tell each other some ‘naked truths’ about their lives. Lily is trying to overcome complicated feelings around her father’s death and the life that she left behind when she moved to Boston. Ryle is struggling with his own demons that plague him. After their initial rooftop encounter, Lily doubts she will ever see Ryle again, as they want different things from life. When they reconnect several months later, she finds herself unable to resist him. In addition to starting a new business, and settling her mother in Boston, she reminisces about her first love, Atlas. She met Atlas as a teenager, at a time when he was lost, and she saved his life. When she unexpectedly bumps into him again, she believes she will finally get the closure she needs to be able to move on with her life. This is a love story, but not just the usual love story. It is a love story that almost made me cry in some parts and left me frustrated in others. Colleen Hoover is a bestselling author of romance, young adult, thriller and women’s fiction. “And maybe a ghost story soon,” as she says in her Goodreads Bio. It is no wonder then that this was not just a romance story, even though romance is at the heart of the book. I really rooted for Lily and Ryle and the twist caught me by surprise. I honestly did not see it coming. As it turns out, this is a tale about life and relationships – and how complicated both can get. I found the story gripping, even as it took an unexpected turn. The author uses first person to narrate the story, so I felt all of Lily’s emotions intensely, as I followed her thoughts and experiences. I loved Lily as a character and wish I had her strength. The other characters were also well developed and easy to relate to. This story seemed so familiar to me, yet the author managed to show me that some circumstances in life are not as they seem at first glance. She shows how easy it is to judge people unfairly when we do not fully understand what they have been through and what makes them act the way they do. Ultimately, this is a story about one woman’s journey and her quest to overcome her past and build a fulfilling, meaningful life for herself. It tells us that we are not bound by our past – or even our present circumstances and we can make the decision to break patterns. No matter what path we take, there is always time and space to course-correct. This may not always be easy and it requires a lot of reflection to recognize where we went wrong and the right path. It also requires the courage to do what is right as opposed to what is easy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and rate it 5 out of 5. I recommend it to anyone who loves a good story with romance and a bit of a lesson.

Book Review Author : A. J. Finn Genre : Psychological Thriller Publisher : Harper Collins Published : January 2018 Number of Pages : 390 My Rating : 5 out of 5 The Woman in the Window is a psychological thriller by A. J. Finn. The main character, Dr. Anna Fox, suffers from severe agoraphobia and … Continue reading The Woman in the Window →

Book Review Author : A. J. Finn Genre : Psychological Thriller Publisher : Harper Collins Published : January 2018 Number of Pages : 390 My Rating : 5 out of 5 The Woman in the Window is a psychological thriller by A. J. Finn. The main character, Dr. Anna Fox, suffers from severe agoraphobia and is unable to leave her house. From the windows in her living room and her bedroom, she observes her neighbors. She knows all their goings and comings and sees everything that happens on her street. One day, she witnesses something shocking through her window. Unfortunately, no one believes her because of her condition. Dr. Anna Fox is an unreliable narrator. She has a severe anxiety disorder. At times, she either forgets to take her medication as prescribed, or takes double dosses after forgetting that she has already taken the medicine. She takes copious amounts of wine, even though she lies to her doctor that she will not take alcohol. She spends days and nights in her house, watching old thrillers shot in black and white. It is no surprise, therefore, that no one believes what she says. After a while, she even starts to doubt herself. I was drawn into this story from the beginning and it kept going at the same enthralling steady pace. It was full of twists and turns and a lot of suspense. At some point, I figured out part of the main character’s back story, but the main twist still caught me by surprise. I loved the way the author was able to clearly show us what Anna was going through, though at times, even Anna was confused and unclear about some of the events. I do not know anybody who suffers from agoraphobia, but I was able to feel the intensity of Anna’s fears, as they were set out so vividly. The characters were well developed. Most of the story is focused on Anna, but there is a good mix of supporting characters, who help to build the story. At the beginning, I thought this would be just a story about a nosy woman at a window spying on her neighbors – especially given how the story started. It turned out to be so much more. I’m glad I picked this as my last read of the year as I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I rate it 5 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who loves psychological thrillers. A film based on the book, starring Amy Adams and Julianne Moore, is currently under production and is expected to air in 2020. I’m looking forward to watching it and hope it remains faithful to the book, as I could not bear the disappointment if they mess it up.

Book Review Author : Margaret Atwood Genre : Literary Fiction/Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher : Penguin Random House Year of Publication : 2019 Number of Pages : 401 My Rating : 5 out of 5 This book is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. It is set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s … Continue reading The Testaments →

Book Review Author : Margaret Atwood Genre : Literary Fiction/Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher : Penguin Random House Year of Publication : 2019 Number of Pages : 401 My Rating : 5 out of 5 This book is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. It is set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. The author, Margaret Atwood, is an accomplished author whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries. An adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale is now an award-winning TV series. Though I haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale, I caught a few of the episodes which gave me some background into Gilead. The Testaments still reads well as a Standalone and prior knowledge of Gilead is not really necessary to follow the story. Atwood was selected as a joint winner of the Booker Prize in 2019 for The Testaments. Margaret Atwood This book takes us back to Gilead, a dystopian society that can only exist in one’s worst nightmare. It is a country set up after the so called ‘Sons of Jacob’ overthrow the US Government. They are deeply unhappy with a country bedeviled by numerous ills and want to make it better. I didn’t know there was a place in the Bible known as Gilead, but it makes total sense that the country would be named after a biblical place. Or maybe it was named after another actual town in the US called Gilead. The Sons of Jacob set up a theocratic government that has retrogressive views on the role of women in society, deeming them unsuitable for any positions of power. All steeped in religious bigotry. Women are not allowed to do any professional work. They can only be Wives, Aunts, Marthas or Handmaids. Marthas are domestic workers for the elites whilst the sole role of Handmaids is to get impregnated and carry babies for couples who are sterile. The world has a severe fertility crisis and most adults are sterile. Many babies are born with serious genetic defects and do not survive. As in many such societies, it is the women who are assumed to be infertile, hence the Handmaids are meant to bear children on their behalf. This makes the Handmaids extremely valuable and they are forced to perform their role with no escape. Handmaids wearing their ‘white wings’. The story is narrated through the voices of three women, whose connection becomes evident as it progresses. These are Aunt Lydia, who featured prominently in The Handmaid’s Tale and two young girls, Agnes and Daisy. Aunt Lydia is one of the founding women of Gilead. She is extremely resourceful, powerful and greatly feared. To ensure her own survival, she maneuvered her way into being placed in charge of all the women. She runs the revered Ardua Hall where Handmaids are trained and no men are allowed. She protects her position by ensuring she has incriminating information on all the senior members of Gilead’s governing council. Agnes is a fifteen year old girl, born after Gilead was formed. She is the daughter of a high ranking Commander. Through her story, we get an insider’s perspective of how life in a Commander’s house is and the sort of upbringing that Gilead girls have. She lets us in on life at school and the transition from being a girl to becoming a Wife. Eventually, she ends up at Ardua Hall under Aunt Lydia and gives us a front seat perspective of the lives of recruits selected to become Aunts. Daisy is a sixteen year old girl living with her parents in Canada. She only knows of Gilead through what she learns in school or sees on the news. She gives us an outsider’s perspective of Gilead, through the eyes of a young girl. She eagerly participates in anti-Gilead matches and disdains the Gilead Pearl Girls, who walk around her neighbourhood looking for fresh recruits to take to Gilead, thinking them ignorant. This is a story of horrific treatment meted out to others in the name of religion. Those in charge take it upon themselves to decide the fate of others with rigid oppressive laws, rules and guidelines. Spies are everywhere. Disobedience is severely punished and life in Gilead is full of fear, violence and death. Serious crimes by powerful men – such as pedophilia – are, for the large part, ignored and victims are more likely to be punished for speaking out than the perpetrators. Handmaids occasionally gather to carry out a horrific execution. Whilst this is not a story that one can call at all enjoyable, it was an intriguing look into what could happen when there is unchecked power. I loved the style that Atwood used to tell the story as I got a clear, firsthand view of events from different angles as represented by the three main characters. Whilst I really hated Aunt Lydia in the TV series, she somehow comes out as sympathetic in this book and I found myself empathizing with her, in spite of my better judgement. I suppose that is what happens when you are able to see a character’s motivation articulated so clearly. The book has quite a number of characters. Though many of them are totally unlikeable, they play a vital role in showing us the treachery, deception and vindictiveness pervading in Gilead. Some of them are heroes, working to end the tragedy that is Gilead. A few are even unsung heroes. All in all, what I loved most about this tale of woe was the ending. It gets a well deserved 5 out of 5. I recommend it to anyone who loves literary fiction.

A Classic’s Club Book Review Author: Henrik Ibsen Genre : Realistic Problem Play Publisher: T. Fisher Unwin Year of Publication: 21st December 1879 Number of Pages: 101 My Rating: 5 out of 5 I picked a Doll’s House as the next book to read for my Classics Club ’50 books in 5 years challenge’ because … Continue reading A Doll’s House →

A Classic’s Club Book Review Author: Henrik Ibsen Genre : Realistic Problem Play Publisher: T. Fisher Unwin Year of Publication: 21st December 1879 Number of Pages: 101 My Rating: 5 out of 5 I picked a Doll’s House as the next book to read for my Classics Club ’50 books in 5 years challenge’ because my son is reading it for school and I thought it would be cool to discuss it with him and share ideas on the themes. This exceptional read is a three-act play written by Henrik Ibsen, who was a leading Norwegian playwright. It features Nora Helmer and her relationship with her husband, Torvald. The play takes place just before Christmas. Nora is overjoyed because her husband has been appointed Manager of the local bank. He is to start at the beginning of the coming year. The family has been experiencing financial problems and Nora is looking forward to having more money than she can spend. Torvald believes his wife wastes money, calling her extravagant and a spendthrift who cannot save, even as she says that she really does save all that she can. His opinion of her is also evident in the way that he addresses her, calling her ‘a little squirrel’, ‘a little lark’, ‘a little skylark’ and ‘a little featherhead’. Ugh! When he says something that seems to upset her, he gives her money to cheer her up. Unknown to Torvald, Nora is not as helpless as he thinks, as she reveals to her old school friend, Mrs. Linde. She has had to work hard as well to support the family. Soon after their marriage, Torvald had overworked himself and fallen ill. The doctors had recommended that he travel south. The trip had to be taken, even though the couple did not have money to finance it. As far as Torvald knew, Nora borrowed some money from her father to pay for the trip. But Nora’s father had also been ailing at the time and she did not want to bother him. So she did the unthinkable and borrowed money from an unsavory man known as Nils Krogstad, without telling anybody else about it. Since then, Nora has saved what she can and worked long hours on whatever job she can get in order to repay the loan and the interest charged. When Mr. Krogstad realizes that Torvald is planning to fire him from his position at the bank because of a fraud that he committed, he attempts to blackmail Nora. He threatens to reveal that she borrowed money from him (and committed a fraud in the process) if she does not get her husband to retain him in his position. Nora is distressed by this as she knows Torvald detests loans and any impropriety. This play is a very insightful look into the way that women were regarded in society at the time. Torvald thinks his wife is a feather head and constantly refers to her as ‘little’. It is clear that he has all the authority in the home and does not regard his wife as an equal. Eventually, Nora realizes that her husband does not really love her, as he even refuses to do a favor for her. He implies that he would do anything for her, but when she faces condemnation, he turns on her and blames her for ruining him. All he cares about is himself. As appearances mean a lot to him, he is happy to keep her in his house but proclaims that she must not have any contact with her children, lest she infects them with her immorality. She also realizes that she does not love him anymore. She feels that she has been treated like a doll, first by her father, then by her husband. Her opinion does not matter. Torvald does not understand her and he has no respect for her. She decides to do the unthinkable and put herself first, for once, and look after her own interests. I found this play very thought – provoking. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I knew them and what drove them, within such a short period. Their obsession with societal expectations was evident as they place this above all else. I thought it was fascinating how they believed that a parent’s immorality or indiscretions would inevitably lead to the ruin of the children. And how Nora was astonished by the realization that altruistic intentions could not forgive a crime! The play shows us how damaging secrets can be. It also demonstrates how unreasonable it is to expect that others will always be grateful for what you do for them, especially when you cut some corners in the process. I found it hilarious that Torvald was quick to forgive his wife after he realized that no harm was to come to him and how he attempted to make her forget what he had said before when he thought he was going to be ruined. The only thing that puzzled me was how a mother can walk out on her children, especially when they had such a good relationship and the kids kept on insisting on spending more time with her. In as much as I understand the need to put herself first, this seems a bit extreme to me! It therefore does not surprise me that Ibsen was made to write an alternate ending to this play (which he called ‘a barbaric act of violence’) for a staging in Germany where Nora eventually decides to stay, as audiences of the time could also not fathom such an ending. All in all, A Doll’s House was an interesting take on life and marriage in particular in the 19th century and I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I also greatly enjoyed hearing my son’s take on the themes in the play, so that’s an added bonus. Adaptations This play was first performed at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 21, 1879. Since then, it has been performed numerous times and adapted for TV, radio and cinema. I didn’t really enjoy watching the adaptations. I think this is because an adaptation of a play follows the script very closely, so I just felt like I was re-reading the play again! 1992: Part of the British “Performance” series, with Juliet Stevenson as Nora and Trevor Eve as Torvald. Directed by David Thacker. 1973 : Claire Bloom as Nora and Anthony Hopkins as Torvald. Directed by Patrick Garland. If you love plays or classical literature, I recommend that you check this one out!

Book Review Author : Heather Morris Genre : Biographical Fiction Publisher : Echo/ Bonnier Publishing Australia Year of Publication : 11th January 2018 Number of Pages : 194 My Rating :4 out of 5 The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been on my ‘to-be-read‘ list for a while. To be honest, it has stayed so long … Continue reading The Tattooist of Auschwitzt →

Book Review Author : Heather Morris Genre : Biographical Fiction Publisher : Echo/ Bonnier Publishing Australia Year of Publication : 11th January 2018 Number of Pages : 194 My Rating :4 out of 5 The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been on my ‘to-be-read‘ list for a while. To be honest, it has stayed so long on my TBR list because I really did not want to read a story about the horrors of the Holocaust, having never read one before. The movies and documentaries I watched on the subject gave me quite a chill! I still kept coming across it everywhere, so my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to read it. This is Heather Morris’ debut novel, originally written as a screenplay before being reworked as a novel. The book has received international acclaim with four million copies sold worldwide (according to Amazon). In the midst of all this success, there has also been some controversy surrounding the book. This is the story of Lale Sokolov, originally known as Ludwig Eisenberg. It is April 1942 when Lale leaves his home in Slovakia. The German government has demanded that each Jewish family provide an adult child to work for them. Failure to do this will lead to the whole family being sent to a concentration camp. To save his family from this fate, Lale presents himself to the Germans for service, believing his family back home will be safe. On the gate at Auschwitz are the words ‘Work will make you free’. Lale ponders the meaning of this phrase. A number is tattooed on his arm. He soon learns the true nature of life at Auschwitz where a simple misstep can lead to the loss of a life. Fortunately for Lale, he gets appointed as a Tätowierer, whose job is to tattoo other prisoners. This puts him in a protected and advantaged position but also at risk of being considered a collaborator, since he now works for the political wing of the SS. He meets Gita as he tattoos her arm and immediately feels a connection with her. They start a relationship that endures until they separately leave Auschwitz and find each other back home in Slovakia. Heather Morris wrote Lale’s and Gita’s story from Lale’s recollections, more than sixty years after the events had transpired. Lale told her the story after Gita had passed away. Gita and Lale I liked the author’s writing style. The story is well written and easy to follow. I was able to easily picture the events as they happened and follow Lale’s thoughts as he lived through the traumatic events. The horror of life at the concentration camp – fear, devastation and suffering – are laid bare in a manner that made me feel like I was watching the events unfold through the characters’ eyes. Yet in the midst of all that is a powerful story of the resilience of human beings, their ability to survive brutal events and remain hopeful, even when surrounded by suffering and death. Their ability to fall in love and trust that they can build a relationship. It would have been easy for the characters to just give up but throughout the book, the desire to overcome their circumstances was evident. It amazed me how Lale and Gita were able to find one another and develop such a close bond in such restrictive and devastating surroundings when their future was so uncertain. Although I really doubted the authenticity of some of their encounters given my (admittedly limited) knowledge of concentration camps, I rooted for them and admired Lale’s determination to be with his beloved. Most of all, I marveled at his courage and ingenuity. I rate this book 4 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who loves stories about overcoming adversity. It would have been a 5 but for some discussions I came across online, which resonated with me, given some of my misgivings about the book. Controversy Given the historical significance of the Holocaust, any story that is centered on it is bound to attract a lot of attention. Some researchers have questioned the accuracy of some of the details in the book and have stated that some of the events that have been described could not have happened. Critics have been concerned that readers may take the story as a source of knowledge about life at Auschwitz – Birkenau. In as much as the author clearly states that she changed some facts to further the plot, the story is described as being ‘based on a true story’ and a lot of readers connected with the story because of this. When questioned about this, the author stated that she wrote “a story of the Holocaust, not the story of the Holocaust.” She told the New York Times that ;- “The book does not claim to be an academic historical piece of non-fiction, I’ll leave that to the academics and historians.” My Take on this This made me ponder on whether writers of historical fiction have an obligation to accurately depict historical events in their books. Is it not true that inaccuracies can mislead and leave readers with a wrong impression of events? Is it enough for authors to state that their stories are fictional and expect readers not to assume all the historical events are as they happened? What is the line between the fictional and the historical bit? And what is biographical fiction anyway? I think critics here were so concerned because this is described as a book about real people in a real place at a real time in history. A very sensitive time and place. This would therefore lead most readers to expect the story to be mostly true. And it should be. How much artistic license do you think an author has when they claim that a novel is based on a true story? Shouldn’t they at the very least get the actual known historical events correct? Let me know!

Book Review Author : Lola Shoneyin Genre : Literary Fiction Publisher: Serpent’s Tail Date of Publication: 2010 Number of Pages: 245 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Yes, I somehow ended up with two copies of this book. I think I bought the first one and whilst it was still on my ‘to read’ … Continue reading The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives →

Book Review Author : Lola Shoneyin Genre : Literary Fiction Publisher: Serpent’s Tail Date of Publication: 2010 Number of Pages: 245 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Yes, I somehow ended up with two copies of this book. I think I bought the first one and whilst it was still on my ‘to read’ list I came across it again and bought a second copy! Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives was her debut novel published in 2010. Lola was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010 for this book. She won the PEN Oakland 2011 Josephine Miles Literary Award and the 2011 Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives features the Alao family, made up of Ishola Alao (Baba Segi) and his four wives – Iya Segi, Iya Tope, Iya Femi and Bolanle. Iya is the Nigerian term for ‘mother of’ so they are named after their respective first born children. Baba Segi is, of course, named for the oldest child of the first wife. The book opens with Baba Segi contemplating a problem that he has had to deal with before. The latest addition to his family, his wife Bolanle, has not yet conceived a child. The last time he faced this problem, he found the solution at Teacher’s shack, where men gather and discuss different topics over whiskey. Teacher recommended a visit to a herbalist. Not long after taking the prescribed powder, his first wife got pregnant and Segi was born. Now with seven children from his three wives, he is again concerned because Bolanle has not yet conceived, after almost three years of marriage. Bolanle is different from the other wives. She has gone to university and is educated, whereas they are not. She refuses to see a herbalist. Teacher advises Baba Segi to take her to a hospital. Bolanle married Baba Segi against the wishes of her family and friends, who do not understand why she would marry an uneducated polygamist. Baba Segi’s other wives resent her because she is educated. As a result, they refuse to let her in on the secret that they all share, hoping to get rid of her. When Baba Segi decides to visit the hospital with Bolanle, he sets in motion a course of events that will change their lives in unimaginable ways. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gives us a good view of life in a polygamous family and the power dynamics that influence it. The role of the first wife and how it evolves as the husband gets more wives is explored. I enjoyed seeing the different personalities of the characters and how they affect their relationships. Baba Segi believes he is fully in control of the family and tries as much as he can to be fair to all his wives. Iya Segi is cunning, wise and controlling. Iya Femi is spiteful and vengeful. Iya Tope is lazy and not so bright, yet she is also kind. Bolanle is lost and carries deep-seated pain. Lola tells this story in an engaging way. She lets the main characters tell us their backstories and show us their feelings by using a first person narrative. In other places, she uses the third person to further the story. These characters are well developed and authentic. I empathised with them, even when I did not like their actions. The book tackles themes such as polygamy, violence, infertility, prejudice and other social injustices. It is a beautiful narrative that both entertains, questions and challenges. It is a tale of how far people will go to get what they want and to maintain their livelihood. It shows how easy it is to misjudge people and not appreciate their strengths. How our prejudices can make us blind to what should be obvious. Perhaps the most important lesson of all is – always be wary of karma! I rate it 5 out of 5 and recommend it to lovers of African literature.

Book Review May contain spoilers….. Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Date of Publication: 2004 Number of Pages: 307 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Best Debut Fiction Category) in 2004 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005 … Continue reading Purple Hibiscus →

Book Review May contain spoilers….. Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Date of Publication: 2004 Number of Pages: 307 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Best Debut Fiction Category) in 2004 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005 for Purple Hibiscus. Purple Hibiscus is Chimamanda’s debut novel, published in 2004. I read it after reading Americanah which resonated with me because of all the stories I had heard about the lives of immigrants in the US. Purple Hibiscus is a heartbreaking story about fifteen year old Kambili and her family. Kambili’s father, Eugene, is a wealthy Nigerian businessman. He is also a religious fanatic who does not allow any dissent in his family. Everything has to be done his way. He exercises tight control over their lives, planning and intricately scheduling every minute including family time, reading time, eating time and prayer time. There are prayers before and after meals, with a prayer before meals taking twenty minutes. Any dissent is met with horrific acts of violence. Eugene is fastidious about rituals and prayers but fails in kindness and compassion, yet he is blind to his many faults. Typically, he blames others for his wrongdoing and makes them go for confession when they have done nothing wrong. There are a lot of lessons to be glimpsed from the book. Chimamanda shows us how violence begets violence. Eugene was exposed to violence for behavior that was deemed ‘sinful’ by a priest he lived with while in school and metes out similar punishment to his family. Whilst this is no excuse, it helps us get a better understanding of his character. His family lives in silence and fear. This has greatly affected Kambili who rarely talks. When she does it is in a voice that is barely audible. Their mother, Beatrice, tries to prevent the violence by deflecting Eugene’s attention when she sees his temper rising, though she rarely succeeds. When Kambili and her brother, Jaja, visit their Aunt Ifeoma at the University campus in Nsukka where she works and lives with her family, they are surprised at how different life in her house is. Though Ifeoma’s family lacks the abundant resources that Kambili’s family has, they enjoy cheerful banter during meal times. Ifeoma’s house is full of music and laughter, which is alien to Kambili and Jaja. To their surprise, their aunt tells them that there is no need to follow their father’s strict schedule while they are at her house. At Nsukka, Kambili meets Father Amadi, a young catholic priest whose amiable behaviour is unlike anything her father would approve of. Father Amadi quickly notices that Kambili is different and pays her special attention. Kambili develops a crush on him. Though we do not see any inappropriate behaviour on Father Amadi’s part, he manages to draw Kambili out of her shell. She is able to open up and relax due to the way he treats her. Eventually she falls in love with him, even though she knows nothing can come out of this relationship (sigh………). Another theme that is explored in this book is how the wealthy are allowed to get away with ghastly behavior. Eugene is extremely generous. He is the main benefactor of his church. This gives him the confidence to stand in judgment of other worshippers, regarding those who missed communion on two consecutive Sundays as ‘having committed mortal sin’. Villagers flock to his rural home when he goes there and he gladly dishes out money. He is a highly regarded member of society, even though he permits his children only fifteen minutes to visit his own father whom he regards as a ‘heathen’. He refuses to have anything to do with his father. When they fail to report that they spent time with their grandfather at Aunt Ifeoma’s house, Kambili and Jaja are punished for knowingly being in the same house with a heathen. This in spite of the fact that their grandfather is only brought to Nsukka due to his deteriorating health. Eugene is not even moved when his father dies, his only comment is that a priest should have been called to pray for him and convert him. This does not stop him from sending a lot of money for the funeral, though he doesn’t bother attending it. Neither the villagers nor Father Benedict are shown as being at all concerned about the way he treats his family, though it must be clearly evident that something is off as others easily pick up on this. The only person who dares defy him is his sister, Ifeoma, who goes as far as to refuse his financial assistance because he tries to control her life in exchange for his support. Another theme that Chimamanda brings out is how society tends to turn a blind eye to things that make us uncomfortable. Nobody asks Kambili how she got hurt when she lands in hospital after her father repeatedly kicks her, not even Father Eugene or the doctor. The only person who dares broach the subject is her cousin, Amaka, who mentions it in a way that makes it obvious that she is already aware of what happened. How long can people really survive such treatment? Kambili’s mother, Beatrice, seems weak and helpless, as victims of domestic abuse often appear to be. She tries to protect her children but seems trapped by circumstances. She goes back to her abusive husband even after Ifeoma begs her not to go. Ifeoma often tries to talk some sense into her brother, although ultimately, she concludes that he is broken, perhaps beyond redemption. Jaja is wracked with guilt because of his inability to protect his mother. He is eventually able to take a stance against his father, and we see his character begin to develop. Unfortunately, the cycle of violence is doomed to continue as victims of violence often retaliate. All in all, this book was a poignant look at religious fanaticism and domestic violence. It is heartbreaking and distressing. It made me mad and frustrated. I wished I could enter into the book and shake some sense into some of the characters. I found the story well-paced and superbly written. The characters are well developed and easy to understand, even those that I did not like – Eugene and Father Benedict. I felt sorry for Kambili, celebrated Jaja’s growth into manhood, and empathized with Beatrice. I understood Ifeoma’s anger and frustration with her brother and even Amaka’s attempt at rationalizing her uncle’s behaviour. The story is told against the background of political instability and a military coup in Nigeria, which provides some useful information on what is going on in the characters’ lives. I love how Chimamanda uses the blooming of the newly planted and rare purple hibiscus to depict a new beginning for the family and how the characters are at last able to move on. The story is told from Kambili’s point of view and her emotional turmoil is brought out beautifully. I appreciated the way Chimamanda contrasts religion as depicted by Ifeoma’s family and Father Amadi, as opposed to Eugene and Father Benedict. The same religion expressed very differently. We see how Kambili feels isolated from her religion because of her father’s fanaticism, whereas her cousins embrace their religion and have a friendly and casual relationship with their priest, free from judgment. Even though a lot of violence is depicted, and I could clearly see how inhumane and traumatic this is for the characters, I did not find it at all graphic. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even when it made me sad, and rate it 5 out of 5. I recommend it to lovers of African literature.

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Midway through his handsomely illustrated study of mapmaking, Cheshire quotes diarist Harold Nicolson’s eyewitness account of President Woodrow Wilson kneeling over a map at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, tracing new borders with his finger. The scene captures the book’s central concern: our enduring desire to organize the world through cartography. As the writer Peter Turchi has noted—a line Cheshire quotes—“The first lie of a map, also the first lie of fiction, is that it is the truth.” A professor of geographic information and cartography at University College London, Cheshire writes from inside the university’s Map Library, a warren of drawers containing 40,000 maps. He is an infectious guide, tracing how maps evolved from hand-tinted curiosities to instruments of science, propaganda, and power. During World War II, the Allies printed billions of map sheets and raided Axis archives for more, including nine tons seized from a single German publisher. Yet even the most precise charts could not capture the mud and confusion of the trenches; tidiness, he shows, often conceals chaos. Victorian mapmakers such as George Bellas Greenough and Heinrich Berghaus turned geography into both art and ideology. Ethnographic maps hardened into justifications for empire and war, while national atlases—like Finland’s in 1899—helped invent the very nations they depicted. Not everyone approved of cartography’s instinct to capture a changing world. When the art critic John Ruskin ordered a map from Stanfords of Covent Garden (still in business), he insisted it omit the new railway lines, calling them the “oddest” of “stupidities of modern education.” To “tidy the map,” Cheshire reminds us, is to risk mistaking lines on paper for the real world they seek to contain.

Referred to as “the mother” and “the son,” these two people—like characters in Family Meal (2023) and Memorial (2020)—are equipped with the psychological tools needed to repair a wounded relationship but are almost entirely uncertain how to employ them. Truculent and alcoholic, he’s an English tutor in Tokyo but lately he’s been "forgetting his words." He’d moved to Japan a decade earlier partly, it seems, to escape his family in Texas, while his brother, Chris, who’d joined the Army, is now in prison. The son agonizes over his fractured relationship with his brother, another element in his perception that something is missing or incomplete in him. The son is sleeping with a man, Taku, who’s married to a woman; he’s seeking “clarity” from Taku about their relationship status. The mother and son hadn’t spoken in a number of years until he calls her one night but is unable to say much; the words he seems to want to say just do not emerge from his mouth, a physical manifestation of his emotionally stunted status. Suddenly, the mother takes two weeks off from her dental-office job in Houston, arrives in Tokyo, and promptly gets lost. It’s remarkable how delicately and finely Washington metes out the emotional journeys for both mother and son. The novel begins with the son’s embittered fury at his mother’s passivity and emotional distance, which becomes a begrudging détente, and then an eventual kindness toward her. She proves to be an adept and patient woman who finds her own way in a dizzying city, making acquaintances until her son lets her into his life. She seeks forgiveness for her past harshness, which her son initially refuses to grant. Washington imbues both mother and son with humane backstories, including the mother’s less-than-easy upbringing in Jamaica. He’s skillful at conveying the ways in which small, even tiny acts of kindness can heal: Returning home to his apartment late one night, the son notices the TV still on and his mother’s soft snoring, and he “slowly wedge[s] a pillow under the back of her neck.” In a less minutely observed novel, that would be an unremarkable moment, but it’s deeply affecting given the fine emotional calibration Washington employs.

With a key that opens a vault at a bank located in the city of Korslakov—in the far north of the Old Empire—that should contain insights into his father’s demise, Gardova sets off on the grand adventure with master thief Ashra (aka Lady Midnight) and Flea, a “sharp-tongued street rat” who is deadly with a crossbow. But once they reach their destination, Gardova gets drunk and has the jeweled key stolen from him by an infamous thief known as the Rook. Highly irritated by their companion’s bonehead mistake, Ashra and Flea—along with a contrite Gardova—vow to locate the Rook and somehow retrieve the key. Their mission, however, is beset with many perilous side quests, all of which seem to be tied to noble houses attempting to open an ancient portal called the Crimson Door in the side of a mountain left behind by a godlike race. Behind the door could be advances beyond their wildest dreams, or that could annihilate them all. While no novel is flawless, this comes close. Deeply developed and authentic characters (even the supporting cast are adeptly portrayed), nonstop action, immersive worldbuilding, and a plethora of cool fantasy elements (golems, ghouls, rogue alchemists, mythical beasts, sentient swords, and more) make this an undeniable page-turner. Logan achieves this readability in no small part by savvily ending chapters with bombshell revelations, powerful statements, and leading sentences like this one, which will all but compel fantasy fans to keep reading: “And with a terrible slowness, the door began to open.”

George is the author of Ninety Percent of Everything (2013), a revelatory and unexpectedly funny book about the shipping industry. In her latest work, she returns to the sea to focus on the fishing industry, another subject that, despite the prevalence of seafood, most of us know little about. It’s a startling account; much of what she shares will hit readers like a blast of shoreline wind. The details are unsettling. “Fish for awful statistics about ocean creatures and you will land a giant catch,” she writes. “For every 300 turtles that swam in the Caribbean, there is now one.” Industrialized fishing has been so destructive that “we spend twice as much effort to catch the same number of fishes as we did in the 1950s.” Huge numbers of other creatures are accidentally captured: In this “bycatch”—the industry term is “discards”—300,000 whales and dolphins are killed every year. This doesn’t even take into account illegal fishing. “One in every five fishes imported by Americans is illegally caught,” the author writes. And then there’s the nasty business of unwanted guests that plague salmon farms, leaving fish “half-eaten by lice.” In her travels, George spends time with fishermen in her native Britain. The crew’s blunt humor is evident when she vomits overboard: “More food for lobsters,” they say. In a stirring chapter on bygone “herring girls” who gutted fish hour after hour, George describes how these women fought for better safety. It’s still a dangerous profession: Every year, 100,000 fishermen die on the job. It doesn’t help that in the U.S., there’s a lack of training. Some observers, meantime, have mysteriously lost their lives when reporting on human rights violations. All the while, demand for seafood is rising. “By 2050, our fish consumption is predicted to double,” George writes. “Where will it come from?” It’s little surprise that George herself does not eat fish.

Readers who fell in love with Just Kids (2010), Smith’s National Book Award–winning memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, but were less taken with follow-ups—featuring a lot of elegant writing about very little—are advised to give her another shot. The question of that grave, seemingly Victorian young woman who materialized on a park bench in New York City in the first pages of Just Kids and where she came from is answered in an engrossing first section covering Smith’s Dickensian childhood in the late 1940s, including tuberculosis, an iceman, a ragman, a glass inkwell at school, and this heartbreaker: “On Christmas Eve after a long day waiting tables, before she boarded the crowded bus home, my mother bought two large lollipops and two small hand-painted wooden penguins for our stockings, all she could afford. When she got off a strap dangled; some­one had cut it and made off with her shoulder bag.” Her romance with and marriage to Fred “Sonic” Smith, a spiritual twin, fellow traveler, and father of her two children, is lovingly evoked, as are her close friendships with William Burroughs, Sam Shepard, Michael Stipe, Allen Ginsberg, and her brother and tour manager, Todd; when Fred and Todd died less than a month apart in 1994, she went into a tailspin. Who else but Fred would ever be able to join her in the game of choosing a Jackson Pollock painting and interpreting it musically as “unfettered cries for the chaos of the world”? A fascinating part of the book deals with Smith’s discovery, after both parents have died, that her sister is only her half-sibling—she digs up the truth with the help of a child she gave up for adoption at age 20, with whom she’s since reunited. The reality of her parentage made a surprising kind of sense, once she knew. Included are numerous black-and-white photographs chronicling the writer’s rich life.

Early in this sometimes difficult text, which owes much to fellow Collège de France professor Michel Foucault, Boucheron distinguishes analytical logic from fiction, noting that whereas the former gives the illusion that the world is logical, the latter “reveals to us the possibilities of thought.” The stories that critique or shore up political discourses, whether, as Boucheron goes on to examine, the films of Charlie Chaplin or medieval art and modern novels, describe “a reality that does not yet exist.” Yet sometimes it does: As Boucheron, a medievalist, writes, numerous monarchs have attempted to legitimate their rule by revealing dreams that placed them in world-changing contexts. One was the English king William II, who, troubled by a dream in which he consumed human flesh, sought the counsel of a priest, who told him boldly and baldly that he had consumed Christ, “and being a tyrant you devoured him whole.” Fictions differ from facts, of course; in a sharp analysis, the author distinguishes lies, which acknowledge that there is an objective truth, from the “bullshit” of Donald Trump and minions: “The bullshitter couldn’t care less about truth and is just looking to dominate.” Boucheron’s text, drawn from a series of lectures, is sometimes repetitive, both allusive and elusive, and often nebulous in a Parisian intellectual sort of way (and never mind that he snaps, “Intellectuals are the first to concede to tyranny because it allows them, basically, to set themselves off from the people”). All the same, in a narrative that wanders from the subversions of medieval epics to the cynical prescriptions of Machiavelli, Boucheron closes with a dour and timely note from Klaus Mann about how power works: “It’s as if people are afflicted with a kind of physical repugnance for the truth.”

Tussling with the unknown always comes with inescapable risks, but men generally only find madness and heartache when they start looking for meaning in an impossible universe. Gentler than Melville but less redemptive than Coelho’s magnum opus, The Alchemist (1993), this unpredictable adventure novel offers a heady reflection on science, faith, and the necessity of myth. Sampson “Gentle” Montgomery is a man in profound grief, soothed only by heroic doses of “Sweet Vitriol,” a potent combination of opium and laudanum. His best friend and scientific partner, Liam O’Kelly, is dead, killed by a gargantuan alabaster salamander terrorizing the Pacific Northwest circa the 1890s. Gentle is convinced that he can use his partner’s knowledge of alchemy, combined with the beast’s blood, to resurrect Liam from the grave. But a hunting trip takes money, a problem soon solved when Gentle’s runaway nephew, Kitt, shows up at his door, fleeing habitual abuse from his father, Gentle’s cruel brother, Emmanuel. Together, they head into the frontiers of Washington State, armed only with a copy of Liam’s alchemical spellbook, but they’re not alone. Before long, they’ve run afoul of a hypermasculine hunter named Hercules Belmont and a maniacal frontier warlord, Reverend Judge Malcolm Crane, not to mention a nihilist death cult, infected by apocalyptic visions generated by the animal they’ve dubbed “Leviathan.” Costa’s debut uses familiar building blocks, from the inherent quest for an impossible creature to the frontier violence that works so memorably in Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025). Whether Gentle is a visionary or a drunk, whether the salamander is a creature of flesh or a shared delusion, and ultimately, the meaning of the mission is as much about human frailty and grace as the nightmares that stalk the page.

Weaving her impressive debut around the true story of the 1919 wreck of the Valbanera, “the poor man’s Titanic,” Ojito follows the epic journeys of two women, 100 years apart: journalist Mara Denis, a 55-year-old widow with a 19-year-old son, sent to cover a story in the Canary Islands, and her great-grandmother, Catalina Quintana Cabazas, whose birth certificate Mara’s mother has asked her to track down. As Mara picks out the threads of the long-buried story, she begins to realize much of what her mother believes about the family’s history is incorrect, or incomplete. The first big indication is that Catalina’s name is listed among those lost in the Valbanera shipwreck, along with a husband whose name is completely unfamiliar. We readers know the real story, as we are watching Catalina’s life unfold in parallel, first on the isle of La Palma where she was born, one of three daughters raised on a silkworm farm, and then, after her father promises her to an older businessman, in Cuba, where Mara’s mother and Mara herself were born. No more details can be revealed here, but it is a story of complex passions, tragic destinies, and Latin American culture that recalls the novels of Isabel Allende. If Mara’s storyline slows a bit in the last third of the novel, Catalina’s stays dramatic and intriguing with secrets and twists the reader may not have guessed still to be revealed. As profound a role as the sea plays in shaping the destinies of the characters, the deeper force referred to by the title is likely the maternal bond, so central in every generation of this far-flung family, though never uncomplicated. As Mara, who has convinced herself that she is content with her single and solitary life, finds her world filling up with new faces and connections, this often-tragic story takes a hopeful turn.

After Rue Holloway was caught kissing a girl, her mom enrolled her at Sacred Heart Academy, “in the middle of East Jesus Nowheresville,” where students are instilled with values of purity and deference. Rue, who’s labeled “too much,” has no desire to be a “good girl,” so she’s intrigued by her classmate Charlotte Savage—the rule-breaking, social outcast senator’s daughter, who sneaks off into the forest at night. When Rue befriends Charlotte and learns her secret—she can transform into a wolf—Rue is inspired to rebel and discover the wild wolf within herself. As the girls’ relationship deepens beyond friendship, other classmates who are fighting against societal and parental expectations join their pack. The more they embrace their truest selves, though, the closer danger lurks; there are those who would prefer to keep wild girls caged. The strict, stifling school setting heightens the feeling of confinement, while the power and ferocity of the girls in their wolf form is vivid and awe-inspiring. This boldly feminist story highlights varied experiences and obstacles while resolutely asserting that every woman and girl deserves to thrive and feel free. The themes are timeless; the mid-1990s era is cued through some pop-culture references and an absence of cellphones and social media. Rue and Charlotte are white, and there’s racial diversity among the other students.

Genevieve Newhouse is a brilliant physicist, so used to being ignored next to her sparkling sisters that she’s developed the ability to turn invisible. Never one to let a little transparency get her down, 18-year-old Genevieve becomes a thief, stealing library books in order to perfect her invention, the “important, dramatic, ETCH-MY-NAME-IN-HISTORY accomplishment” that will finally get her noticed. A devastating accident that could bring about the apocalypse certainly would have done the trick—if it weren’t for intervention from Ash Hargreaves, also 18, who’s run away from his religious extremist community. His desire to prevent a terrible tragedy grew so strong that he gained the ability to time travel. In Genevieve’s moment of crisis, he yanks the two of them back 41 years, from the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair—where Genevieve was exhibiting a cyclotron—to the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Luckily the stranded teens (both cued white) meet the brilliant Matilda Flemming, a Black physics genius, who’s being exploited by an arrogant professor. Ash, Genevieve, and Matilda are up against racist and sexist physicists, paranoid capitalists—and time itself. They still find spare moments for both romance and heavy-duty personal growth. Ash, who tries to redeem the worst people in his life and never needs to outshine his talented love interest, is genuinely heartwarming, and the friendship between Genevieve and Miss Flemming is a joy.

The three young women at the center of O’Hare’s debut—Róise, Maggie, and Harley—are closing out their 20s with a bang. Though “Róise assumed they would evolve naturally from twenty-something buck eejits into secure and self-actualized young women who had skincare regimes and remembered to pay the council tax on time,” this is definitely not on the agenda during the time period covered by the novel, which sees more than one 30th-birthday celebration. Since they moved in together as a foursome years back, both the rundown house itself and their friend group have suffered great depredations, with the biggest blow being the death of their fourth friend, Lydia, in a car crash. This loss was complicated by the fact that it happened very shortly after a drunken betrayal involving Róise’s boyfriend had everyone on the outs. Though Maggie sees a rather unhelpful therapist, the women’s approach to grief relies largely on self-medication and casual sex; there is so much drinking and partying in this book that readers may themselves begin to feel a bit hungover. Maggie sleeps with women, Róise sleeps with her sort-of boss, Harley sleeps with their landlord, who is also their coke dealer; all are grimly aware that nothing is as fun as it used to be, though the effect is somewhat lightened by O’Hare’s insightful and humorous depiction of their weltschmerz: “The music has been turned down low in the living room to accommodate a game of Never Have I Ever, which, when every­one is in their thirties, becomes less of a light-hearted drinking game and more of an informal support group.” It’s a little harder than it should be to keep the characters and their supporting cast straight, and the witty writing works better than the more serious aspects of the story, but these are forgivable flaws in a promising debut.

Charlotte is known to readers as Elizabeth Bennet’s best friend from Pride and Prejudice. Unlike Elizabeth, who marries for love, Charlotte is not quite so lucky. She marries Mr. Collins, the stable but slightly awkward clergyman she describes as “tall, dark, and…pious.” Charlotte knows her prospects are slim, and she’s determined to marry well to provide a future for herself, even if that future doesn’t involve passion. With Mr. Collins as her husband, Charlotte lives a life that is safe and calm—but unexciting. While Mr. Collins treats her well, their relationship never feels particularly romantic. And then Charlotte meets Col. Fitzwilliam, Mr. Darcy’s cousin. Sparks fly instantly, and soon Charlotte finds herself sneaking around to spend more time with Fitzwilliam. Their attraction shouldn’t grow into a full-blown love story for many reasons, chief among them Charlotte’s marriage. That doesn’t stop them from developing feelings that may very well lead to heartbreak. A happily-ever-after seems nearly impossible, and to be sure, not every character here will end up happy, which may be a point of contention among some Pride and Prejudice fans. Staunch Austenites might blanch at this depiction of the characters they’ve come to love, although the book will be welcome to others who longed to see Charlotte take center stage and find her own happiness. It’s also satisfying to read the inner thoughts of Mr. Collins and come to view him a less mockable character. Parris gives Charlotte’s quest for happiness a more modern romance-novel feel than the original text—for example, Charlotte defends her feelings for Fitzwilliam by saying, “If God made me capable of love, then it must be his will that I find it.” While some of the characters’ actions may seem surprising, there have been enough Pride and Prejudice retellings that there’s plenty of room for one where Charlotte follows her bliss.

Mike, a fluffy gray stray, has been searching for the perfect family. Older companions Annabell and Rose seem ideal, with their friendly faces, generous supply of tuna cans, and “hands just right for belly scratches.” But when the pair argue over who will take responsibility for Mike (“I can’t look after a cat! I already have a parrot.” “No, you don’t!”), Rose makes a wish for a parrot (“Then you’d have to take care of this darn cat”), and Mike suddenly coughs up a bright yellow bird. More wishes ensue…but Mike worries: What if his wishes go wrong? Takac’s friendly artwork employs sweet, rounded, soft shapes that create warmth and comfort, while dynamic diagonal compositions during the transformation scenes generate energy and movement. The illustrations reward multiple readings with delightful background details and visual jokes. Mixed text formats—traditional narrative combined with comics-style speech bubbles—create an engaging reading experience that bridges the picture-book and early graphic novel formats. Takac cleverly puts a fresh spin on the typical “pet needs a home” narrative by exploring what happens when wishes go awry, leading to wonderfully absurd situations and offering silly visual gags for young readers while providing more sophisticated humor for older ones. Rose is brown-skinned, while Annabell is pale-skinned.

Amore, co-author of Stealing Rembrandts (2011) and head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, here describes the colorful life of Myles Connor, a rock musician who turned to a life of crime throughout New England in the 1960s and ’70s. The author details many of Connor’s early exploits, including impersonating an art expert, stealing works from museums, escaping from a jail cell in Maine (“using a fake gun he fashioned from a bar of soap and some shoeblack”), and exchanging gunfire with the police. The book is steeped in Greater Boston lore; Amore name-drops people and venues as well as bands managed by Connor’s best friend, Al Dotoli. The book vividly recounts Myles’ dramatic 1975 theft of Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, a risky attempt to secure a reduced sentence, and the heist’s aftermath. Although the book offers much in the way of insider baseball as to how law enforcement, the FBI, and criminal gangs operated in the area at the time, Amore’s regard for Connor and Dotoli overshadows the seriousness of Connor’s crimes, as though Connor and his co-conspirators were merely juvenile delinquents pranking family friends. Amore writes: “Is there anything more complex than a man with a genius-level IQ whose love for Japanese swords would consume him to the point where there was no risk too great to keep him from consuming them? Someone gifted enough to impress art curators with doctorates about their shared passions only to entrust millions of dollars’ worth of his beloved objects to obvious scoundrels who would betray him. In my line of work, I can’t think of anything more complicated.”

After spending a year convalescing, 14-year-old Ella finds herself changed. Her left leg is weak, leaving her with a limp and requiring her to wear a special shoe. Being around a lot of people is overwhelming, which makes crowding into the Underground every night to shelter from air raids nerve-wracking—especially because the tunnels trigger memories of being immobilized in an iron lung. Soon, however, three unexpected friends show Ella she doesn’t “have to spend the rest of [her] life being afraid.” Outspoken feminist Quinn, the daughter of a lord from a country estate, is determined to travel and “do a job that matters.” Quinn’s estranged brother, Sebastian, wants to live openly as someone who’s attracted to men at a time when such relationships are illegal. Angry, wisecracking Jack schemes to save money to emigrate to America—and makes Ella wonder if he can see her old self. But when tragedy strikes, Ella struggles to move forward. Though some characters feel thinly drawn, Woltz poignantly explores topics including privilege and the “cages” of class and gender norms. While the author doesn’t sugarcoat the grim physical and psychological effects of war, she lightens the darkness with banter, romance, and acts of kindness. Historical photos help bring the setting to life.

Half a century ago, a young Ugandan, expelled from the country for being of Asian origin and a refugee in England, refused to be relocated from London to a distant camp, saying, “We protest at being treated as objects or, at best, as cattle.” This affords development economist Easterly a starting point addressing the question of agency: Do the recipients of aid not deserve some voice in the aid they receive and what they do with it? The violence of his title speaks to assumptions made under the rubric of the “Development Right of Conquest”: I conquer your land, you refuse to develop it to Western industrial standards, and you are displaced so that, if you will not be improved, the land can. Thus the European conquerors of the Americas “could then justify the replacement of the unprogressive people by progressive people in the name of progress.” Easterly, in a spritely text, invokes Adam Smith, a hero throughout, for his insistence that the right of choice in trade is fundamental, and a fundamental check against the illiberal tendencies of those urging conquest, such as the French philosopher Condorcet, who “put Enlightenment intellectuals in charge” of deciding the fates of non-European peoples. A few twists of metaphor, and one might say that slavery was a kind of developmental aid—more anti-Smithian violence, but a point vigorously argued by the Southern elite before the Civil War. As Easterly charts, most development aid is less draconian than all that these days, although there is still plenty of politics: The post–Cold War Washington Consensus, for instance, offered financial aid only if the recipient country “agreed to reforms decreed by [World] Bank and [International Monetary] Fund staff.” Easterly concludes that aid is one thing, but agency and dignity in the face of systemic paternalism are quite another.

In Volume 1, Akira, a trans girl, started wearing a skirt to school, while her best friend, Hime, donned a boy’s uniform in solidarity. Now Akira pushes herself to join the soccer club, but she confronts the fact that many of her classmates, including her crush, still see her as a boy. In one scene, which may feel unsettlingly familiar to many trans people, her dad explains why he won’t allow her to grow her hair out, demanding unrealistic levels of self-assurance from Akira while emphasizing societal prejudice and possible future regrets. By contrast, Hime’s parents give her priceless advice: Doubt can open up options, you won’t know how you feel until you act, and you aren’t bound by your initial decision. This story touches on a variety of experiences with identity, including being jealous of others for things you may not even want and the danger of judging others’ appearances, even positively. This volume, which features clean, expressive artwork, also widens the spectrum of identity and gender expressed by the characters. This continuation of the popular webcomic is a must-read for those who enjoyed the first volume.

Laura, an art history professor, lives a comfortable life in 21st-century Santiago with her partner, Felipe, and their newborn, Antonia, but Laura’s late mother, Esther, was a communist who fought against a repressive government and took her then-adolescent daughter to visit Cuba. Now Laura, who is clearly experiencing some postpartum depression, alternately ruminates on her faults as a mother and her dislike of her new role: “Motherhood hit me blindside,” she says. She makes some halfhearted attempts at going out with single friends but finds she’s more interested in thinking about Esther than she is in smoking weed or sleeping with a woman named Daniela. Her memories of her family’s time in Europe (her mostly absent father, Michel, is French) and of her longtime friend Blanca’s kind, bourgeois parents swirl around the void Laura feels from her own mother, whose revolutionary dreams were subsumed by parenting and teaching. “My mother could never wrap her head around the idea of working less,” says Laura, at once proud and ashamed of herself for reducing her own course load. When Esther grew ill from cancer, she told Laura bluntly, “You have a house, and you have your things, and you’re going to be fine, don’t cry.” Toward the end of the novel, Laura asks the visiting Michel for directions to Esther’s childhood home. When she and Felipe and Antonia make the trip, Laura has a realization that may or may not make things better for her little family. What remains true are her therapist’s words about relationships, that they’re “full of cracks…pieced back together over and over again.”

P.J. Larkin is a 35-year-old rideshare driver in Colorado who fears the sun is setting on her life goal: to become a published novelist. P.J.’s agent has been with her through multiple books that have failed to sell, but P.J. has high hopes for her latest, Halls of Power. The novel is “loosely based on the sexual assault of her sister, Mia, by the state senator she’d interned for while in college.” That loosely is debatable and will get P.J. in a whole lot of trouble, especially with her family. When P.J. sees an announcement that a novel called Up the Hill has sold for $1 million, she’s furious, not only because this book has similarities to hers, but also because the author, George Dunn, is an editor at a small press who'd rejected P.J.’s own book more than a year ago. P.J. posts a “nibble” on social media site Crave accusing George of stealing her book, which sets off a cascade of speculation, frozen contracts, protests, renewed interest in P.J.’s book, and, of course, social media backlash. George’s book is based on his own assault by a female senator while working as a page when he was a teenager. His parents did not believe him, and he told no one else, though attacks on his credibility now force him to reconsider his silence; his long-delayed journey to processing his assault is poignant despite his flaws. Author Maizes aims for biting commentary on the state of the publishing industry, #MeToo, power imbalances (particularly between men and women), and who has the right to tell a story. Unfortunately, the prose is too wooden and heavy-handed to adequately address these topics. P.J. is an unlikable and profoundly selfish protagonist, and while these traits in a main character can sometimes make for successful satire, this book can’t handle that challenge.

Maven Blackthorn hasn’t been home since her mom died under suspicious circumstances 12 years ago, but the death of her grandmother, Lorinda, forces her return to Solstice, Vermont. Maven’s daughter, Beatrix, has never seen where her mother grew up, but she quickly learns the Blackthorns have a reputation for witchcraft, largely fueled by a centuries-long feud with the powerful Croft family, whose heir apparent, Ronan, was Maven’s forbidden teenage love and “worst nightmare.” Maven hopes to bid farewell to her grandmother and visit with her aunts without running into Ronan, but he proves hard to avoid. Maven’s hatred for Ronan runs deep and she believes the feeling is mutual. From Ronan’s perspective, it’s clear their painful unraveling was full of misunderstandings. When Lorinda’s body goes missing from the funeral home, Maven is forced to accept Ronan’s help in discovering what happened. While Maven dives into her family history and the many unfortunate events befalling Blackthorn women, Ronan is forever in her ear, seducing her back to him. The push and pull of their romance feels immature, which isn’t helped by the first-person present narration. At times, it’s easy to forget Maven and Ronan aren’t still teenagers, until the erotica is punched up a thousand percent in the final third. Controlling lines from Ronan like “Don’t test my patience, woman” might read better if his perspective were explored more, though fans of Geissinger’s dark erotica, including Brutal Vows (2025), may not be fazed. Maven’s perspective dominates, and though her investigation into family lore and increasing paranoia are the most compelling arc, the million and one ways in which she threatens Ronan with physical violence—“What I really want to do is tie you to a tree, disembowel you with my bare hands, feed your guts to the wolves, and cut off your head”—is a bit one-note. Trigger warnings abound.

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The post Interview with Martin Wilkins, Author of Access: Gaining Entry to the C-Suite appeared first on NewInBooks.

Hold on to the edge of your seat as we hunt for clues and solve the case with these exciting new mystery and thriller books for the week! There are so many bestselling authors with new novels for you to dive into this week, including Corey Lynn Fayman, Charlie Tyler, David...

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Looking to fall in love with some new romance reads? You’ll adore these exciting new novels! This week you can get your hands on books by bestselling authors Ivy Davis, L.J. Shen, Gloria Holt, and more. Enjoy your new romance books and happy reading! Sign up for our email and we’ll send...

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Literary fiction readers are in for a treat. This week’s latest releases list is full of intriguing reads you won’t want to miss! The new releases list includes so many bestselling authors like A Mohit, Timothy Underwood, Erica Lucke Dean, and more. Enjoy your new literary fiction books. Happy reading! Sign up...

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Set off on an adventure to new worlds this week! This selection of new science fiction and fantasy books will surely please! Science Fiction fans should be excited about the latest from bestselling authors Clayton Graham, David E Graham, Timothy Ellis, and more. If Fantasy is what your library needs, you’ll be...

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Are you an avid reader of Young Adult books? This week you are in luck! With all of these new novels, you’re bound to find a new favorite book to add to your reading list. This week includes new novels from bestselling authors Kemi Emmanuel, Alisse Lee Goldenberg, Rebecca Royce, and more....

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Looking for some new biography and memoir books for your library? There are so many new releases this week that you’re bound to find a new favorite. You can pick up new books from Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, Kareen Poole, Barry Darsow, and more. Enjoy your new biography and memoir books. Happy reading! Sign up...

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Looking for some new business and finance books for your library? There are so many new releases this week that you’re bound to find a new favorite. You can pick up new books from Jeffrey Jaime, Martin Wilkins, and Travis Weather. Enjoy your new business and finance books. Happy reading! Sign up for...

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Romance book reviews. Reviews of books that make my heart race, have a beautiful love story, and a happy ending.

After a decade of reading and reviewing books, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to take a step back from blogging. Running this book blog has been such a huge and wonderful part of my life. I’ve written over 600 book reviews and loved the experience of getting to share my love of reading ...Read More  >

After a decade of reading and reviewing books, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to take a step back from blogging. Running this book blog has been such a huge and wonderful part of my life. I’ve written over 600 book reviews and loved the experience of getting to share my love of reading with so many other readers from around the world. Blogging was quite an unexpected journey for me though as I never set out to “start” a blog at all. Back in 2011, I simply began reading so much that I wanted a way to remember which books were my most favorites… and that’s when I started writing reviews. At first, my reviews were written more for my own sake than anyone else’s. They began as a way for me to keep track of the books I enjoyed and remember what I loved most about each one. You see, I was quite picky about the types of books I wanted to read and had a hard time finding anywhere specifically recommending what I was looking for. I was drawn to romantic books that made my heart race, but I also strongly preferred no stupidity powering the storyline or eye-roll-enducing drama, and of course I needed a happy ending as I’ve always been quite allergic to cliffhangers. At that time, there weren’t many romance book review sites out there in general and none that focused on the particular type of books I personally wanted to read so my reviews were a way for me to catalogue the books I’d found that fit within the criteria I was looking for. At first, I really didn’t expect anyone else to read my reviews, but as I began to realize that my reviews were actually helping other readers find books they loved as well, I decided to officially begin blogging and started this website to hold all my reviews. Writing reviews was also quite cathartic for me because, after reading a truly wonderful book, I was often overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings so writing my thoughts down in reviews helped give me closure from a story and highlight/remember what I loved most about a book. I also found that I genuinely loved helping other readers find new books. So my blog began and I continued reading and reviewing books for it for almost a decade. However, the truth is that in the last while, I found myself falling in love with fewer and fewer books — I don’t know if it’s because I started to feel like I’d basically read every plotline within the types of stories I loved so many times over, or maybe if the other parts out my life just became too busy and I began having less time to read, but, regardless of the reason, I was falling in love with fewer and fewer books. And here’s the thing – this blog has always been a passion project for me so if I genuinely wasn’t falling in love with as many books, I didn’t want to continue to review books just for the sake of reviewing them. That was never what this blog was about so I just felt myself naturally drifting away from reviewing and blogging. A few months ago, I decided to try taking a break from blogging and honestly I have really been enjoying the mental freedom that came from that decision. So, least for the immediate future, I’m going to officially step away from my blog. I may begin reviewing books again one day – and that might be in a month, a year, or never… I can’t say for sure, but that door will always remain open. My blogging goal was always to put a spotlight on the wonderful books I loved and to share them with other readers. So even though I’m not reviewing new books at this time, I will leave this whole website up in the hope that it will continue to help new readers find new favorite books to fall in love with. I have 630 reviews and recommendations of books I’ve personally loved and would love for other readers to fall in love with too and I can see through my analytics that, even though I’m not actively blogging, readers continue to come to my blog every day and read my older reviews so it makes me happy to know that my reviews are still connecting readers with awesome books. I also want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to the thousands of amazing readers who’ve followed my blog over the years, and THANK YOU to the wonderfully talented authors who’ve written the beautiful stories that we’ve all fallen in love with. You’ve all given me so much joy and I’m so very grateful for all of it. I may return to blogging one day, and I may randomly post a surprise review/recommendation every now and again, but for now I wanted to officially make a statement that explains why my blog hasn’t been updated in a while and why it won’t have new content for the foreseeable future. If I ever start reviewing again, I will announce it by email, so please subscribe to my email list if you’d like to get a notification should that day come. I will not be sending emails out via that list until then though. In the meantime, if you’re looking for my top recommendations, here’s a list of my standout favorite books: The Bronze Horseman Trilogy by Paullina Simons (My Review) – this will always and forever by my #1 fav! The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay (My Review) – one of the most powerful endings ever! The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel (My Review) – incredibly unique love story with all the feels! Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – this has possibly my favorite epilogue ever! Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – gorgeous, heart-warming romance! Slammed & Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (My Review) – one of my first reviews, and still a top fav! Devney Perry books: reading list – heart-warming, gorgeous romance perfection every single time! Kristen Ashley books: reading list – badass alpha romance – pure epic, great families, much variety! Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon: reading list – addictive paranormal romance, my fav PNR world! On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – just a truly beautiful story! The Starcrossed series by Leisa Rayven (My Review) – the best purely angsty romance I’ve read! A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole (My Review) – ugly cry romance perfection! Crossfire series by Sylvia Day (My Review) – hot sexy romance but deeply emotional and addictive! Addicted series by Krista & Becca Ritchie – great romances and one of the best family dynamics ever! Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (Series Overview) – fantasy, fantastic morals and world building! Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost (Series Overview) – action-packed vampire romance fun! Mists of the Serengeti by Leylah Attar (My Review) – an ugly cry favorite! Becoming Calder & Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – another ugly cry favorite! Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward: reading order – badass/epic paranormal vampire romance! The Girl He Used To Know by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – second half of the book hit me so hard! In The Stillness by Andrea Randall (My Review) – the feels… literally all the feels! Wallbanger by Alice Clayton (My Review) – most I’ve ever laughed reading any book! The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – stunning wartime story! A full list of all my reviews can also always be found at this link. Happy reading! ~Aestas

BOOKWORM NEWS: Juniper Hill by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done. ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Juniper Hill by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done. But maybe it takes a little crazy to build a good life. If putting the past behind her requires a thousand miles and a new town, she’ll do it if it means a better future for her son. Even if it requires setting aside the glamour of her former life. Even if it requires working as a housekeeper at The Eloise Inn and living in an apartment above a garage. It’s there, on the fifth worst day of her life, that she meets the handsomest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Knox Eden is a beautiful, sinful dream, a chef and her temporary landlord. With his sharp, stubbled jaw and tattooed arms, he’s raw and rugged and everything she’s never had—and never will. Because after the first worst day of her life, Memphis learned a good life requires giving up on her dreams too. And a man like Knox Eden will only ever be a dream.” The Girl in the Mist by Kristen Ashley is now live!! — “Renowned author Delphine Larue needs a haven. A crazed fan has gone over the deep end, and she’s not safe. Her security team has suggested a house by a lake. Secluded. Private. Far away. In a beautiful area of the Northwest close to the sleepy town of Misted Pines. It’s perfect. So perfect, Delphine has just moved in, and she’s thinking she’ll stay there forever. Until she sees the girl in the mist. After that, everything changes. Delphine quickly learns that Misted Pines isn’t so sleepy. A little girl has gone missing, and the town is in the grips of terror and tragedy. The local sheriff isn’t up for the job. The citizens are up in arms. And as the case unfolds, the seedy underbelly of a quiet community is exposed, layer by layer. But most importantly, girls are dying. There seems to be only one man they trust to find out what’s happening. The mysterious Cade Bohannan.”” The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland is now live!! — “The first time I met Max Yearwood was on a blind date. Max was insanely gorgeous, funny, and our chemistry was off the charts. He also had the biggest dimples I’d ever laid eyes on. Exactly what I needed after my breakup. Or so I thought… Until my real date arrived. Turned out, Max wasn’t who I was there to meet. He only pretended to be until my real date showed up. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Before he left, he slipped me a ticket to a hockey game a few blocks away, in case things didn’t work out on my actual date. I tossed the ticket into my purse and went about trying to enjoy the man I was supposed to meet. But my real blind date and I had no connection. So on my way home, I decided to take a chance and stop by the game. When I arrived, the seat next to me was empty. Disappointed again, I decided to leave at the end of the period. Just before the buzzer, one of the teams scored, and the entire arena went crazy. A player’s face flashed up on the Jumbotron. He was wearing a helmet, but I froze when he smiled. You guessed it: Dimples. Apparently, my fake blind date hadn’t invited me to watch hockey with him, he’d invited me to watch him play. And so began my adventure with Max Yearwood. He was everything I needed at the time—fun, sexy, up for anything, and only around for a few months since he’d signed with a new team three-thousand miles away. Max proposed we spend the summer helping me forget my ex. It sounded like a good plan. Things couldn’t get too serious when we had an expiration date. Right? Though, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.” Only One Mistake by Natasha Madison is now live!! — “Two pink lines changed all my plans. So did the guy I had a one-night stand with, a man who made me laugh and smile, a guy who I called to share my unexpected news with, only to find out his number was no longer in service. Once more letdown by the opposite sex, I figured I was doing this on my own. Then one day, I was staring into the eyes of the man I hated, the father of my baby. All it took was only one mistake to change everything.” Baden by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “While my injuries are physical, the same can’t be said for the woman I rescued. Suffering from wounds that can’t be seen, Sophie Winters has withdrawn from the world in fear and guilt. I didn’t know Sophie before that fateful night and have only met her once since, but I refuse to let her face her demons alone. Determined to be a friend, I support Sophie in the only way I know how… by simply being there. Through our shared trauma, Sophie and I begin to find peace within one another. As we grow closer, what started as friendship becomes more intimate until our broken pieces become one. But can a love born of anguish endure, or will the pain of our past prove too much to overcome?” Shielding Sierra by Susan Stoker is now live!! — “No one knows she’s been taken. Her missing belongings point to desertion—which means no one is looking for her, either. But someone is. Fred “Grover” Groves never forgot the redheaded spitfire working the chow line on a base in the desert. He’d felt an instant attraction to the petite woman, a connection deep in his bones…which Sierra herself clearly didn’t feel, since she’d promised to keep in touch after his mission ended, only to ghost him—and seemingly her job. But she didn’t. When several contractors go missing from the base, it looks more and more like Sierra didn’t abandon her post. Then a long-lost letter proves she’d followed through on her promise to stay in touch with Grover—and suddenly, all bets are off. He bucks every protocol he’s ever known… If Sierra’s still alive, he’ll find her. Or die trying.” Flame by Helen Hardt (Steel Brothers Saga) is now live!! — “Callie Pike always considered herself the plain sister—stuck in the middle between beautiful Rory and vivacious Maddie—so she still can’t believe gorgeous perennial bachelor Donny Steel has fallen in love with her. She should be the happiest woman on the planet, and she is…but her nemesis from ten years ago seems intent on destroying her newfound bliss. Donny Steel will do anything to protect his family, even sacrifice his ethics and his own happiness. As much as he loves Callie, he knows he can’t be the man she deserves—not until he solves the mysteries of his family’s past and finds out who shot his father. Though the two erupt in flames whenever they’re together, the secrets they both harbor could destroy any chance for a future together.” Wright Rival by KA Linde is now live!! — “No one on this planet pushes my buttons like Hollin Abbey. I don’t know if it’s the rugged, sexy cowboy look or the Harley Davidson motorcycle or the cocky swagger. Or just him. But whenever we’re together we fight like cats and dogs. Now our vineyards are rivals in the annual wine competition, and I’m determined to win. I just have to take out my Wright rival.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Juniper Hill by Devney Perry (small town neighbors to lovers romance, standalone in The Edens series) The Girl in the Mist by Kristen Ashley (romantic thriller, Misted Pines series) The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland (sports romance, standalone) Only One Mistake by Natasha Madison (surprise pregnancy romance, standalone in Only One series) Baden by Sawyer Bennett (hockey romance, standalone in Pittsburgh Titans series) Wright Rival by KA Linde (enemies to lovers romance, standalone in Wright Vineyard series) Shielding Sierra by Susan Stoker (romantic suspense, standalone in Delta Team Two series) Flame by Helen Hardt (romantic suspense, Steel Brothers Saga) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 24 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Feb 01 Pre-Order Feb 01 Pre-Order Feb 08 Pre-Order WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: Shelter by Kristen Proby is now live!! — “Remi Carter has survived her fifteen minutes of fame and is putting LA in her rearview mirror. As a former reality show contestant, she’s trading staged expeditions and faked wilderness tours for real adventures. Only one fluke storm in Glacier National Park has her stranded ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Shelter by Kristen Proby is now live!! — “Remi Carter has survived her fifteen minutes of fame and is putting LA in her rearview mirror. As a former reality show contestant, she’s trading staged expeditions and faked wilderness tours for real adventures. Only one fluke storm in Glacier National Park has her stranded with a handsome man, and adventure takes on a whole new meaning. Seth King is as rugged and sexy as he is annoyed to be trapped with Remi. Probably because she ghosted him at the local bar not three days ago. But she’s got her reasons for ditching him, and twenty-four hours in an abandoned Montana cabin with the wildlife biologist isn’t nearly enough time to explain. As tempting as he is by firelight, she’s been burned too many times. Except one day together and suddenly her travel van doesn’t hold as much appeal. The open road feels lonely. Remi’s about to learn that shelter is more than a safe place to weather a storm. Shelter might just be the man himself. If he can give her a reason to stay.” Code Name: Disavowed by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “Life works in mysterious ways. Jameson Force Security has just received notice of a disavowed CIA agent in need of rescue in Central America. My blood runs cold when I learn that agent is none other than Greer Hathaway—my former fiancée. Having gone our separate ways more than a decade ago, I still have bitter feelings toward Greer and the demise of our relationship. Those feelings don’t change the fact that I loved her more than anything, so I’m on the next flight out to embark on a rescue mission. Besides, Greer once saved my life, so now it’s time to return the favor and put her firmly in my past. Face-to-face for the first time since ending our engagement, Greer and I are left with not only anger, unanswered questions and regrets, but also the undeniable chemistry we apparently still have. Will the promise of a new future together be enough, or will the same obstacles tear us apart again?” Homecoming King by Penny Reid is now live!! — “Rex “TW” McMurtry’s perpetual single-hood wouldn’t bother him so much if all his ex-girlfriends didn’t keep marrying the very next person they dated, especially when so many of those grooms are his closest friends. He may be a pro-football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, but the press only wants to talk about how he’s always a groomsman and never a groom. Rex is sick of being the guy before the husband, and he’s most definitely sick of being the best man at all their weddings. Bartender Abigail McNerny is the gal-pal, the wing-woman, the she-BFF. She’s dated. Once. And once was more than enough. Privy to all the sad stories of her customers, ‘contentment over commitment’ is her motto, and Abby is convinced no one on earth could ever entice her into a romantic relationship . . . except that one guy she’s loved since preschool. The guy who just walked into her bar. The guy who doesn’t recognize her. The guy who is drunk and needs a ride home. The guy who has a proposition she should definitely refuse.” My Unexpected Surprise by Piper Rayne is now live!! — “I never thought of myself as dad material. Until my one-night stand showed up in my small Alaskan town five months pregnant. But I don’t shy away from responsibility. First, because I’m a Greene and not to boast but we’re kind of a big deal in Sunrise Bay. Second, I’m the Sheriff. I couldn’t have predicted how protective I’d become for the safety of her and my unborn baby to the point of asking her to move in with me and be my roommate. Just when I think I have the situation under control, another surprise knocks me over, but it only spurs me to double down. I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t think it through. Somewhere between the dinners, the TV show binging, the doctor appointments, and me walking in on her naked, lines blurred. In what feels like warp speed, my bachelor for life status is in jeopardy and I’m fighting for the most important thing of all—my family.” Dark Alpha’s Silent Night by Donna Grant (Reapers series) is now live!! — “There is no escaping the Reapers. We are elite assassins, part of a brotherhood that only answers to Death. But when Death says it’s our time to live, we are more than happy to obey. We have suffered betrayal, heartbreak, chaos, and even death. Despite another foe lurking around the corner, most of us have found happiness and love. While some still search, there is contentment—a sense of peace and purpose. And with the holidays upon us, it is time to celebrate the family we have made. The one we chose. The season is for revelry, and we intend to take advantage. Whatever may come next will still be there after the last present is unwrapped.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Shelter by Kristen Proby (close proximity romance, standalone in Heroes of Big Sky series) Code Name: Disavowed by Sawyer Bennett (second chance romance/suspense, standalone in Jameson Force Security series) Homecoming King by Penny Reid (small town romance, standalone in Three Kings series) My Unexpected Surprise by Piper Rayne (pregnancy/roommates, standalone in The Greene Family series) Dark Alpha’s Silent Night by Donna Grant (paranormal Christmas tale from Reapers series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (Dream Team series) is now live!! — “Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (Dream Team series) is now live!! — “Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it happen again. Not to her or her little girl, even if this hero could melt any woman’s resolve. Augustus “Auggie” Hero can’t deny his attraction to beautiful, warm-hearted Pepper or how much he wants to make a home with her and her little girl, but Pepper’s mixed signals have kept him away. That is, until Juno decides to play matchmaker. Her efforts finally bring Pepper into his arms, but they expose the danger Pepper is in. To protect Pepper and Juno, Auggie will have to live up to his last name and prove happy endings aren’t just for fairy tales.” Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series) is now live!! — “Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same. It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible. Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s teakettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep. Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the twentieth century might catch up to them. Sometimes they question whether risking the perils of the 1700s—among them disease, starvation, and an impending war—was indeed the safer choice for their family…” Change With Me by Kristen Proby (With Me In Seattle series) is now live!! — “Zane Cooper. Hollywood royalty. Fourth generation superstar. He knows what it is to be one of the biggest celebrities in the world. And how lonely that title truly is. When scandal hits, his career hangs in the balance, and Zane flees LA for Seattle, laying low with his newly married best friend. Things will eventually blow over, and he’ll have his life back soon enough. Aubrey Stansfield arrives in Seattle excited to start a new job, and eager to settle into her new home. But when she arrives at her rental, Aubrey’s sure she’s imagining things because the uber sexy Zane Cooper is unpacking in her new bedroom. Thanks to a rental snafu, and unwilling to relocate on such short notice, Aubrey and Zane are thrust into being roommates…” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (alpha romance, Dream Team series) Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (latest book in Outlander series) Change With Me by Kristen Proby (novella in With Me In Seattle series) Wrapped in Black by Tiffany Reisz (Christmas novella in Original Sinners series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) is now live!! — “Return to the sizzling glymera’s prison camp in this dark and sexy second novel in the new Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward. In the next ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) is now live!! — “Return to the sizzling glymera’s prison camp in this dark and sexy second novel in the new Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward. In the next installment of bestselling author J.R. Ward’s Prison Camp series, things get steamy when Lucan, a wolven forced into bartering drug deals for the infamous Prison Colony, meets Rio, the second in command for the shadowy Caldwell supplier, Mozart. After a deal goes awry, a wolf with piercing golden eyes swoops in to save her from certain death. As shocking truths unfurl, Rio is uncertain of who to trust and what to believe—but with her life on the line, true love rears its head and growls in the face of danger.” Next Time I Fall by Scarlett Cole is now live!! — “Love rocks. Heavy guitars, a voice with the burn of pure single malt, and lyrics that distill the meaning of love are the greatest things. If only the man singing didn’t have a temperament as foul as the Michigan winter. Jase sitting in her car while yelling at her to get him out of there is a surprise. Why she hits the accelerator and takes him to her father’s cabin on the lake is an even greater mystery. How was she supposed to know they’d end up snowed in for days? Or that when they got out again, their relationship, and her views on love, would be changed irrevocably?” 14 Days of Christmas by Louise Bay is now live!! — “I hate Christmas. As CEO of my company, I’ve banned decorations from the office, festive music from the lobby and any kind of secret Santa gifts between employees are strictly forbidden. I’m heading to the airport, away from the Christmas lights and the mulled wine, heading for sunshine and margaritas when I get a call from Granny. She’s sprained her ankle and needs my help filling in for her as head of the village Christmas Committee. Snowsly is the Christmas Capital of England and the last place I want to be in the lead up to Christmas. But there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Granny. When I arrive in Snowsly, I’m introduced to Celia Sommers who is Christmas’ biggest fan and therefore my own personal nightmare before Christmas. Worse than that, I have to work with her to make Snowsly’s Christmas market a success. Celia is determined to get me in the festive spirit. It’s not going to work. It doesn’t matter if she’s smart and funny and easy to flirt with—if she doesn’t stop looking at me with her sparkling eyes and pouting her completely kissable lips, Celia is going straight to the top of my naughty list.” The Enigma by Jodi Ellen Malpas is now live!! — “After leaving her fiancé at the altar and quitting her job as a Miami cop, Beau Hayley stumbles through life, feeling only resentment. Injustice. Loss. Her mom’s death was called an accident. She’s not convinced. Grieving, she becomes numb to everything except the constant, biting pain of heartbreak and hate. She can see no light. Until she meets James Kelly, a man who seems as damaged as she is, inside and out. And yet despite his twisted, cold façade, he stimulates feelings. Pleasure. He is a respite from her own flaws. A complete mystery.” The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan is now live!! — “Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal. Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job. Thrown rather suddenly into the inner workings of Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the picturesque streets of historic Edinburgh, Carmen is intrigued despite herself. The store is dusty and disorganized but undeniably charming. Can she breathe some new life into it in time for Christmas shopping?” Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid is now live!! — “Propositioning the Iron Wraiths’ money man seemed like a good idea at the time… Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name. Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses. But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough. Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen?” Head Over Hooves by Erin Nicholas is now live!! — “You know in movies where the big city girl lands in a small town for the holidays and falls for the hunky guy who saves Christmas? This isn’t that story. But this guy does look fantastic in flannel. And out of flannel… Finding true love with his one-and-only soul mate? Drew Ryan’s given up on that. But a hot holiday fling in Louisiana, far from his responsibilities and good guy image back home, is now on the top of his list for Santa. So when he’s knocked on his ass—literally—by a Christmas elf who’s stealing a sleigh full of gifts and using his reindeer to commit the crime, he definitely doesn’t expect to fall head over heels.” The Singles Table by Sara Desai is now live!! — “After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara Patel is determined never to open her heart again. She puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find their happily-ever-afters. She’s never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn’t match, until she crosses paths with the sinfully sexy Jay Dayal. Former military security specialist Jay has no time for love. His life is about working hard, staying focused, and winning at all costs. When charismatic Zara crashes into his life, he’s thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of chaos he wants to avoid. Worse, they’re stuck together for the entire wedding season. So they make a deal. She’ll find his special someone if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But when their arrangement brings them together in ways they never expected, they realize that the perfect match might just be their own.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) Next Time I Fall by Scarlett Cole (rockstar romance, standalone in Excess All Areas series) The 14 Days of Christmas by Louise Bay (CEO/small town holiday romance, standalone) The Enigma by Jodi Ellen Malpas (romantic suspense, Unlawful Men series) The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (heartwarming holiday novel, standalone) Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid (small town romcom, Green Valley world) Head Over Hooves by Erin Nicholas (holiday fling, standalone in Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild series) Kingdom Come by Aleatha Romig (dark romance, standalone) The Singles Table by Sara Desai (romantic comedy, standalone in The Marriage Game series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase LATEST BOOK SALES UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

  BOOKWORM NEWS: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is now live!! — “Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready. Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is now live!! — “Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready. Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness. Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more. Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?” Just One Chance by Carly Phillips is now live!! — “As a former Marine, Xander Kingston’s writing keeps him sane. Bonus? His thrillers made him one of Hollywood’s most desired screenwriters—and also introduced him to a fledgling starlet who broke his heart. With his close-knit family in New York, Xander returned home and found peace. Until Sasha Keaton shows up at his Hamptons retreat. Now an A-Lister, she’s as beautiful as he remembers. And just as dangerous to his heart. Sasha learned from watching her mother to never sacrifice her dreams for anyone—only to discover how empty life could be without the man she loved. Now cast in Xander’s latest movie, she needs his insight to play the part, but secretly hopes for a second chance.” My Sister’s Flirty Friend by Piper Rayne is now live!! — “I broke the cardinal rule and slept with my sister’s best friend. Granted, I’d just found out that I was now a single father to a three-year-old little girl and was low on willpower. It should also be noted that there’s been sexual tension between us for years. There’s no way it would be a surprise if anyone in our small town found out. That is if we were telling people, which we’re not. We’re in agreement to keep our affair a secret, especially since neither one of us do relationships. You’ve probably figured it out already, but things didn’t go as planned.” More Than Hate You by Shayla Black is now live!! — “I’m Sebastian Shaw—CFO, pragmatist, and moneymaker. I’ve mismanaged love in the past, but when it comes to business, I’m pure shark, able to cut down any threat to my success…except Sloan O’Neill. We’re vying for the same major client, so I do what any self-respecting cutthroat does to gain the upperhand: spy on the ball-busting piece of work. She may be gorgeous and unnervingly clever, but I have skills. My gutsy roadblock doesn’t stand a chance. Until I realize I’m falling for her. Suddenly, everything from my objectives to my morals is cloudy. Stay loyal to my best friend and boss to win this critical client at any cost…or give my heart another chance? But the more time I spend with my redheaded adversary, the more I realize she’s not just ambitious but kind, vulnerable…and perfect…” Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan is now live!! — “Sandu Berdardi continues to exist only to protect his people. An ancient Carpathian, his entire long life has been dedicated to honor above all else. He knows his time has passed, especially since he has not been able to find his lifemate—the anchor to keep him sane in a world he no longer understands. But just as he truly starts to give up hope, a voice reaches out to him in the night and his world explodes into color. Adalasia enters Sandu’s mind seamlessly, as if she has been a part of him forever. While she can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. The true course of Sandu’s quest remains unclear, with danger waiting at every turn. She cannot see everything the future holds, but she does know it is a journey they will take together.” The Rhythm Method by Kylie Scott (Stage Dive novella) is now live!! — It all started in Vegas… After a wild and tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Evelyn Thomas and her rock star husband David Ferris have been happily married for years. Nothing needs to change, their life together is perfect. Which means that change in the shape of an unexpected pregnancy is bound to shake things up some. But could it be for the better? WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves (starting over & second chances, standalone) The Rhythm Method by Kylie Scott (novella in Stage Dive series) Just One Chance by Carly Phillips (second chance romance, standalone in The Kingston Family series) My Sister’s Flirty Friend by Piper Rayne (single dad romance, standalone in The Greene Family series) More Than Hate You by Shayla Black (enemies to lovers, standalone in Reed Family Reckoning series) Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan (paranormal romance, The Dark series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

  BOOKWORM NEWS: Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Winslow Covington believes in life, liberty and the letter of the law. As Quincy, Montana’s new chief of police, she’s determined to prove herself to the community and show them she didn’t earn her position because her grandfather is the mayor. According to ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Winslow Covington believes in life, liberty and the letter of the law. As Quincy, Montana’s new chief of police, she’s determined to prove herself to the community and show them she didn’t earn her position because her grandfather is the mayor. According to her pops, all she has to do is earn favor with the Edens. But winning over the town’s founding family might have been easier if not for her one-night stand with their oldest son. In her defense, it was her first night in town and she didn’t realize that the rugged and charming man who wooed her into bed was Quincy royalty. Sleeping with Griffin Eden was a huge mistake, one she’s trying to forget. He’s insufferable, arrogant and keeps reminding everyone that she’s an outsider. Winslow does her best to avoid Griffin, but when a woman is found dead on Eden property, the two of them have no choice but to cross paths. As clues to the murderer lead to one of Quincy’s own, Griffin realizes Winslow is more than he gave her credit for. Beautiful and intelligent, she proves hard to resist. For him. And the killer.” Riggs by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “As a professional hockey player, people think I live a charmed life. On the surface, I do. But they don’t know the horrors of my childhood, or the real reason that I have custody of my seventeen-year-old sister, Janelle. And that’s exactly the way I like it. They may think I’m a prick because I don’t like to share, but that’s fine. They don’t know me, and they don’t need to. In an effort to help Janelle get settled in Phoenix and stay out of trouble at school, I set her up with a job at Clarke’s Corner, the local bookstore owned by the girlfriend of a teammate. It’s there that she makes friends with Veronica Woodley, the extremely annoying, arrogant, money-hungry divorcee who I don’t want anywhere near my sister. Janelle insists I’m completely wrong about Veronica, but I refuse to accept that. I have to keep reminding myself that that the gorgeous blond with legs for days is off limits. Through a series of events, I start to see Veronica for what she really is—an amazing woman who has survived her own hell to come out even stronger. I have to admit, we’re more alike than not…” Until April by Aurora Rose Reynolds is now live!! — “With happily ever after being something that happens to other people, April Mayson has decided to put all her energy into her career and living her best life, and things are better than ever. Little does she know that her world is about to be turned upside down when she’s asked to help out a family friend, Maxim Kauwe. Now, she’s dealing with a man unlike any she’s ever met before, her ex—a famous musician who’s decided he wants her back—and a possible serial killer. With all the drama suddenly swirling around her, she will have to figure out if she is brave enough to trust Maxim with her heart and maybe even her life.” Rebel North by JB Salsbury is now live!! — “In a city where image is everything, Gabriella turns heads for all the wrong reasons. The marks that slash across her neck and face turn people away. But I see the beauty that lies beneath, feel a kinship to her pain. I regret the way she found me—mugged and left for dead. I should walk away, follow the rules, but I can’t. I want to see her again. There’s only one problem. My brother convinced her I’m gay. I use that lie to my advantage, persuade her to be my pretend girlfriend, to help protect my fake-sexual identity from my judgmental family. But what starts as a shameless excuse to be near her leads to crossed lines and midnight confessions. I’m not who I led her to believe. I’m sin wrapped in silk. Betrayal masked by beauty. And she’s not the only one with scars…” Inked Devotion by Carrie Ann Ryan is now live!! — “Brenna Garrett watched her best friend fall in love with another woman all the while keeping his darkest secrets from her. Now she’ll have to figure out who she is without him while not letting the rest of the Montgomerys see her break. When her family forces her on a road trip, she finds herself bringing Benjamin Montgomery with her. The problem? He’s her best friend’s twin, so there’s no escaping that familiar face. Benjamin didn’t want to leave his family in a lurch, but Brenna isn’t the only one who needs a break. Only a drunken mistake leads to a night of passion with unintended consequences. When it turns out they can’t walk away, they’ll have to make a choice: remain just friends or start something new and possibly risk everything. Including themselves.” Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard is now live!! — “Born to a life of privilege, Lady Ravenna Huntley rues the day that she must marry. She’s refused dozens of suitors and cried off multiple betrothals, but running away—even if brash and foolhardy—is the only option left to secure her independence. Lord Courtland Chase, grandson of the Duke of Ashvale, was driven from England at the behest of his cruel stepmother. Scorned and shunned, he swore never to return to the land of his birth. But when a twist of bad luck throws a rebellious heiress into his arms, at the very moment he finds out he’s the new Duke, marriage is the only alternative to massive scandal. Both are quick to deny it, but a wedding might be the only way out for both of them. And the attraction that burns between them makes Ravenna and Courtland wonder if it’ll truly only be a marriage of convenience after all…” Man For Me by Laurelin Paige is now live!! — “Brett Sebastian is the very best kind of friend. Who else would get me a job at one of the biggest corporations in America? And hook me up with his uber-rich cousin to boot? And let me cry on his shoulder every time said cousin blows me off? Okay, it’s pretty obvious that Brett cares about me in a different way than I do for him, but he seems fine with how things are, and our friendship works. Until one fateful night when I’m mooning over his cousin, and Brett utters four words that should make me happy for him, should make me relieved, should balance out our uneven relationship: “I met a girl.” Suddenly my world is crashing down around me, and I’m forced to ask myself—am I only interested in Brett now that he’s taken? Or have I been looking at the wrong man all along?” Moonstone by Helen Hardt is now live!! — “As Moonstone, she was held captive. Now Katelyn Brooks is starting fresh and is determined to reclaim her life. With the help of the Wolfe family, she’s working toward healing…which doesn’t necessarily include falling for a gorgeous waiter. Luke Johnson is a recovering alcoholic who just wants to fly under the radar. He’s not looking for love, but when Katelyn walks through the doors of the restaurant where he works, he’s struck by her beauty and her meekness. Circumstances throw them together, and neither is able to resist the attraction that sparks between them. But Luke has a secret—a big one—that could spell danger for both of them.” Archangel’s Light by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter series) is now live!! — “Illium and Aodhan. Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium. As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.” Home for a Cowboy Christmas by Donna Grant is now live!! — “Tis the season—for everyone except Emmy Garrett. She’s on the run after witnessing a crime. But when it becomes clear that trouble will continue following her, the US Marshal in charge takes her somewhere no one will think to look–Montana. Not only is Emmy in a new place for her protection, but now, she’s stuck with a handsome cowboy as her bodyguard…and she wants to do more than kiss him under the mistletoe. Dwight Reynolds left behind his old career, but it’s still in his blood. When an old friend calls in a favor, Dwight opens his home to a woman on the run. He tries to keep his distance, but there’s something about Emmy he can’t resist. She stokes his passion and turns his cold nights into warm ones. When danger shows up looking for Emmy, Dwight risks everything to keep her safe.” One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson is now live!! — “Vaughn Miller’s Wall Street career was abruptly ended by a wrongful conviction and two years in prison. Since then, he’s returned to his hometown, kept his head down and forged a way forward. When he is exonerated and his name cleared, he feels he can hold his head up once again, maybe even talk to the beautiful café owner who sets his blood to simmering. Sierra Crane escaped a disastrous marriage—barely. She and her six-year-old goddaughter have returned to the only place that feels like home. Determined to make it on her own, Sierra opens a soup café. Complication is the last thing she needs, but the moment Vaughn walks into her café, she can’t keep her eyes off the smoldering loner.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry (small town enemies to lovers romance, The Edens series) Riggs by Sawyer Bennett (hockey romance, standalone in Arizona Vengeance series) Until April by Aurora Rose Reynolds (contemp romance, standalone in Until Him/Her series) Rebel North by JB Salsbury (NA romance, standalone in The North Brothers series) Inked Devotion by Carrie Ann Ryan (roadtrip romance, standalone in Montgomery Ink series) Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard (historical romance standalone) Man For Me by Laurelin Paige (friends to lovers, standalone novella in Man in Charge series) Moonstone by Helen Hardt (love after hardship, new series) Archangel’s Light by Nalini Singh (paranormal romance, Guild Hunter series) Home for a Cowboy Christmas by Donna Grant (holiday romance, standalone) One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson (small town holiday romance, Catalina Cove series) now live Purchase now live Pre-Order now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! 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BOOKWORM NEWS: Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey is now live!! — “Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin. I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store, when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor. It’s a tragedy in ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey is now live!! — “Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin. I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store, when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor. It’s a tragedy in tinsel, I say, unable to lie. He asks for a better idea with a twinkle in his eye. Did I know he owned the place? No. He put me on the spot. Now I’m working for that man, trying to ignore that he’s hot. But as a down on her luck girl with a difficult past, I know an opportunity when I see one—and I have to make it last. I’ll put my heart and soul into dressing his holiday windows. I’ll work without stopping. And when we lose the battle with temptation, I’ll try and remember I’m just window shopping.” Only One Regret by Natasha Madison is now live!! — Him: “My name came with big skates to fill. . At the top of my game, I had everything I wanted, or so I thought. . Being traded to Dallas was not what I was expecting but neither were the divorce papers I was served. . Now I’m a single dad in a city that isn’t my home.” | Her: “Handed my biggest client when I was twenty-two made my dreams come true. . Over time, our work relationship changed, and we grew closer, leaning on each other for support. . He was my rock, my best friend.. Then one drunken night changed everything, and I saw what was in front of me all along. . I just hope that when the dust settles, we won’t regret it.” Promise Me Forever by Layla Hagen is now live!! — “As a divorced single father, I live by three rules: 1. Make sure every day my daughter, Paisley, knows she’s number one in my life. No. Matter. What. 2. Keep contact with my cheating ex-wife to a minimum. 3. Turn Maxwell Wineries into a legacy that keeps Paisley set for life. When I hire Lexi to look after my daughter, I realize I need another rule: don’t pursue Paisley’s nanny. But even if I had that rule it wouldn’t matter. Because I’m breaking it already.” Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen is now live!! — “The hottest player on the Moo U hockey team hangs a flyer on the bulletin board, and I am spellbound: Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will talk hockey with your dad. I will bring your mother flowers. I will be polite, and wear a nicely ironed shirt… Now everyone knows it’s a bad idea to introduce your long-time crush to your messed-up family. But I really do need a date for Thanksgiving, even if I’m not willing to say why. So I tear his phone number off of that flyer… and accidentally entangle our star defenseman in a ruse that neither of us can easily unwind. Because Weston’s family is even nuttier than mine. He needs a date, too, for the most uncomfortable holiday engagement party ever thrown. There will be hors d’oeuvre. There will be faked PDA. And there will be pro-level awkwardness…” Sealed With A Kiss by Erin Nicholas is now live!! — “What’s a girl to do when faced with a hurricane, her celebrity crush, and a power outage in their shelter? Keep her damned feelings to herself. And her clothes on… Naomi LeClaire is just a small-town girl who loves her quiet, simple life. Donovan Foster is a sexy, charming, wildlife rescuing internet sensation who loves the spotlight. What do these opposites have in common? Only an impossible-to-resist chemistry that, when they’re stuck together in a storm becomes, well, impossible to resist. But the aftermath of the storm gives them something else in common—a rescue mission to help victims. Oh, and a heat-of-the-moment kiss caught on camera by the local paparazzi. Not to mention an offer for a reality TV show documenting them falling in love while saving animals from crazy, dangerous situations…” Well Matched by Jen DeLuca is now live!! — “Single mother April Parker has lived in Willow Creek for twelve years with a wall around her heart. On the verge of being an empty nester, she’s decided to move on from her quaint little town, and asks her friend Mitch for his help with some home improvement projects to get her house ready to sell. Mitch Malone is known for being the life of every party, but mostly for the attire he wears to the local Renaissance Faire—a kilt (and not much else) that shows off his muscled form to perfection. While he agrees to help April, he needs a favor too: she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at an upcoming family dinner, so that he can avoid the lectures about settling down and having a more “serious” career than high school coach and gym teacher. April reluctantly agrees, but when dinner turns into a weekend trip, it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s been just for show…” Serendipity by Kristen Proby (Bayou Magic series) is now live!! — “My sight is a gift and also a curse. It cost me the love of my life. We may have been young, but some things you don’t get over. Like being the cause of the biggest tragedy of your boyfriend’s life. It’s something I’ll never forget, and a reflection of who I am. But now that Jackson’s back in town, with scars and a hero’s badge of honor, it’s time for me to be brave, too. A malevolent evil hell-bent on making my sisters and me pay for rebuffing him is still stalking my family, and some ancient writings portended that the six were the only ones who could defeat him. Jackson Pruitt and I round out that magical number, which means I have to face the evil and the things Jack makes me feel, to save my family and my city…” Infamous Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie (Like Us Series: Billionaires & Bodyguards) is now live!! — “22-year-old Sullivan Meadows knew dating Akara & Banks would be complicated, but now that her relationship is public, everything has been put on blast: @HeatherB: Can’t believe Sullivan Meadows is dating TWO men and they’re like all together. Like OMG. Totally didn’t think the rumors were true. @YuiK: anyone know what happened to Sullivan Meadows? News is saying something bad went down. Seems bad. @PaulieP: Why is there no reporting on the thing that “allegedly” happened to that Meadows girl? They aren’t saying whether her boyfriends were there??? @TiffanyW: Y’all I can’t with Sullivan’s boyfriends. They just sandwiched her in PUBLIC to avoid cameras lmao @RiverT: Banks Moretti & Akara Kitsuwon are totally banging. I don’t make the rules @CarlaR: OMGOMGOMG Sullivan Meadows qualified for the Olympics! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! @LacieA: Celebrity Crush is saying ALL the families will be at the Olympics to root for Sullivan. Im dead #HalesMeadowsCobalts @GeorgieO: Dude no way she wins a gold medal. Sulli the Slut is too busy screwing anything that walks @VenusQ: I bet her boyfriends will distract her. Last Olympics, she was single. This one, she’s a MESS. Messiness isn’t getting gold #sorrynotsorry” A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout is now live!! — “Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort. However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him…” House of Shadows by KA Linde (Royal Houses series) is now live!! — “Kerrigan Argon, a half-human, half-Fae, has joined the Dragon Society against almost everyone’s wishes. A year of training is required with her dragon. First she must travel with the dark Fae prince, Fordham Ollivier, back to his home in the House of Shadows. Nothing but slavery and death has ever awaited a half-Fae in their halls. But something is wrong within their wicked world. A thousand year old spell is weakening. Cracks forming in the foundation. And Kerrigan may just be their ruin or their salvation.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey (feel-good holiday romance, standalone) Only One Regret by Natasha Madison (single dad hockey romance, standalone in Only One series) Promise Me Forever by Layla Hagen (single dad romance, standalone) Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen (hockey romance, standalone in Moo U Hockey series) Sealed With A Kiss by Erin Nicholas (opposites attract romcom, Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild series) Well Matched by Jen DeLuca (friends to lovers romance, standalone) Serendipity by Kristen Proby (paranormal romance, Bayou Magic series) Infamous Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie (Like Us Series: Billionaires & Bodyguards) A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout (spinoff of Blood and Ash series) House of Shadows by KA Linde (fae romance, Royal Houses series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels is now live!! — “I was totally over Joshua Parkerson. Sure, I had a teenage crush on him way back when—and everyone knew it—but he never saw me as anything but his little brother’s friend, the girl who got tongue-tied any time he walked into a ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels is now live!! — “I was totally over Joshua Parkerson. Sure, I had a teenage crush on him way back when—and everyone knew it—but he never saw me as anything but his little brother’s friend, the girl who got tongue-tied any time he walked into a room. I had long ago accepted the fact that his strong arms would never hold me, his lush lips would never claim mine, and his blue eyes would never see me as anything more than who I used to be. But now he’s back in Willow Creek Valley, and there’s a brand-new spark between us—even he can’t fight it. Our chemistry is explosive, and every time we’re together, I swear I can feel the earth shake. It doesn’t mean anything… how could it? I’m over him. Until I see that little pink plus sign, and the earth stops turning completely. Now I want it all again, a life with him. But Joshua built walls around his heart for a reason, and his secrets haunt him. How can I show him that the ghosts of his past don’t have to define our new family’s future?” Not Without Your Love by Lexi Ryan is now live!! — “Two and a half years ago, I hit rock bottom and lost everything. Since then, I’ve turned my life around—no more booze, no more drugs, no more self-sabotage. With a new business to run and old promises to keep, the last thing I need is smart-mouthed hellcat Veronica Maddox disrupting my world. Veronica’s as beautiful as she is infuriating. She pushes all my buttons. Maybe that didn’t matter before, but now she’s working for me. She keeps this place running. As a business owner, I appreciate that. As the man she hates and the one who can’t forget our wild night together, I’m slowly losing my mind. I told myself I could resist her, but we only get along when our hands are doing the talking. Before I know it, our relationship is anything but professional [and] no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, what started as two enemies has developed into something neither of us imagined possible. And while Veronica’s a complication I never wanted, she is exactly what I need.” Hold On To My Heart by Bella Andre is now live!! — “Nash Hardwin has been on the road full time since leaving his rough childhood behind when he was sixteen. Beloved by millions of fans around the world, he’s never had a real home and never trusted anyone enough to fall in love. Not until he meets Ashley Sullivan. After she unexpectedly steps in to help him out of a very tricky situation, he ends up having the best day of his life with her in Vienna. Ashley is sweet, beautiful and intelligent…with the biggest heart of anyone he’s ever met. When their perfect day together inevitably turns into an even more perfect night, there’s no denying that they make incredibly beautiful music together. But is there even the slightest chance that the small-town single mom and the road warrior rock star can make things work? Or will the realities of lives that are polar opposites make it impossible to hold on to each other’s hearts?” Fallen Royal by Rachel Van Dyken (Mafia Royals #4) is now live!! — “I grew up knowing it would happen one day. Believing that I would fall into my father’s footsteps… So I fought it. I lived. I loved. I teased. And then one day… I destroyed… She saw my rage, my madness, and tried to stop me from destroying myself, and I hated her for it, pushing her away past the point of no return. She was supposed to be mine. But there are some things people can never come back from. I hurt her, she hurt me, and now I’m living a lie. Telling the ones I love that I’m on one side when for years I’ve been forced to play both. I’m no angel. I’ve fallen… I will win her back… She fell for the bad one. She fell for the sinner. So why does that make me smile?” The Blood That Binds by Madeline Sheehan & Claire C Riley (Thicker Than Blood #3) is now live!! — “Two brothers. A childhood sweetheart. Life has never been easy for this trio, and especially not after the end of civilization as they knew it. Having had their formative years ripped from them, they were thrust into a shattered, savage world, a world where they only had each other. Love and loss. Weary travellers on the brink, there is a storm brewing, a turbulent tempest that has nothing to do with the weather. When tragedy strikes, everything changes in the blink of an eye– facades come undone, and loyalty is pushed to a breaking point. A diamond in the rough. Immersed back into something akin to normal society, a safe-haven in the midst of misery, our travellers are forced to finally confront their demons–long-kept secrets that have been haunting them for nearly a decade. Love is never easy; And love during the end of the world is a hell of a lot more complicated.” The Butler by Danielle Steele is now live!! — “Joachim takes a job working for Olivia as a lark and enjoys the whimsy of a different life for a few weeks, which turn to months as the unlikely employer and employee learn they enjoy working side by side. At the same time, Joachim discovers the family history he never knew: a criminal grandfather who died in prison, the wealthy father who abandoned him, and the dangerous criminal his twin has become. While Olivia struggles to put her life back together, Joachim’s comes apart. Stripped of their old roles, they strive to discover the truth about each other and themselves, first as employer and employee, then as friends. Their paths no longer sure, they are a man and woman who reach a place where the past doesn’t matter and only what they are living now is true.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels (surprise baby/unrequited love romance, standalone) Not Without Your Love by Lexi Ryan (enemies-to-lovers office romance, standalone in The Boys of Jackson Harbor series) Hold On To My Heart by Bella Andre (single mom/rock star romance, standalone in The Sullivans series) Fallen Royal by Rachel Van Dyken (mafia romance, Mafia Royals series) The Blood That Binds by Madeline Sheehan & Claire C Riley (love triangle, Thicker Than Blood series) The Butler by Danielle Steele (women’s fiction, standalone) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase LATEST BOOK SALES 45% OFF ★ Purchase 65% OFF ★ Purchase under $2 ★ Purchase 50% OFF Purchase 50% OFF Purchase under $1 Purchase under $2 Purchase under $1 Purchase under $3 ★ Purchase under $3 ★ Purchase 50% OFF ★ Purchase under $1 ★ Purchase UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES Oct 13 Pre-Order Oct 18 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Nov 02 Pre-Order WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure is now live!! — “It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York’s Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure is now live!! — “It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York’s Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a Swedish-Brazilian guest named Astrid Virtanen. But the affair is cut short and the young lovers permanently parted, first by Astrid’s family obligations, then by America’s entry into the war. The rigors of military life help dull his heartache, but when Kennet’s battalion reaches France, he is thrown into the crucible of front line combat. As his unit crosses Europe, from the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, Kennet falls into a different kind of love: the intense camaraderie between soldiers. It’s a bond fierce yet fragile, vital yet expendable, here today and gone tomorrow. Sustained by his friendships, Kennet both witnesses and commits the unthinkable atrocities of warfare, altering his view of the world and himself. To the point where a second chance with Astrid in peacetime might be the most terrifying and consequential battle he’s ever fought…” Wild at Heart by Zoe York is now live!! — “Everyone in Pine Harbour loves Will Kincaid—except the one person he cares about actually impressing. Can grown men have crushes on their frenemies? When Catie joins the small town’s Search and Rescue team, Will finds himself spending every Thursday night swapping glares with the hairdresser while they get in each other’s way. Catie Berton has a long list of reasons why Will is an arrogant jerk. But the more time she spends with him, the more she’s forced to admit sometimes they make a good team. That doesn’t change the fact that Will has always been her right crush, wrong guy. When the SRT goes on a road trip to a competition, she surprises herself by agreeing to ride shotgun in his truck. The long drive could be a chance to repair a shredded friendship, if Catie can get past her complicated feelings for the too-attractive-for-his-own-good school principal.” Mr. Park Lane by Louise Bay is now live!! — “I haven’t seen him in over a decade, but Joshua Luca can still get to me. And I hate it. At twenty-nine, I’m a doctor and I’ve traveled the world, but just the thought of him has me sliding my sweaty palms down my jeans and wishing I could steady my racing heartbeat. Joshua was an almost obsession until, at seventeen, he cost me my future. In one night, I grew up and let go of my silly crush. My infatuation for Joshua is dead and buried. Forever. It doesn’t matter that he’s my new roommate. Or that he still has that same sexy smile. I barely notice how, despite his billions, he’s the kindest man I know. Or that when he touches me, a thousand tiny fireworks explode all over my body. I’m completely over Joshua Luca.” Spark by Helen Hardt (Steel Brothers Saga) is now live!! — “Donovan “Donny” Steel is on a partnership track with a major Denver law firm. He loves his city career and his luxurious downtown loft, and life is going just how he planned it…until his mother, the city attorney for his hometown of Snow Creek, Colorado, asks him to move back and work for her when her assistant retires. Mom asks? Donny goes. Because he’ll do anything for the family who took him in twenty-five years ago. The fact that he can pick up where he left off with gorgeous Callie Pike is simply a fringe benefit. Caroline “Callie” Pike was looking forward to finally beginning law school at age twenty-six, but the western slope fire that destroyed most of her family’s vineyards put that plan on hold. At least she has Donny Steel’s return to look forward to. After she spent an evening with him at a recent party, he hasn’t strayed far from her mind…” Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis is now live!! — “On a snowy evening in March, thirty-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone. All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence.” A Reckless Match by Kate Bateman is now live!! — “Madeline Montgomery grew up despising––and secretly loving––the roguish Gryffud “Gryff” Davies. Their families have been bitter rivals for hundreds of years, but even if her feelings once crossed the line between love and hate, she’s certain Gryff never felt the same. Now, she’s too busy saving her family from ruin to think about Gryff and the other “devilish” Davies siblings. Since he’s off being scandalous in London, it’s not like she’ll ever see him again…” Wild Heart by Laurelin Paige (Dirty Wild #3) is now live!! — “Secrets, surprises, and second chances. This trip down memory lane with Jolie has mended as much as it’s torn up. I promised her I could handle anything. Whatever she was hiding, my wild heart would always belong to her. But I could never have imagined this truth. And she can’t blame me for how this will all end.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure (military/love/family fiction) Wild at Heart by Zoe York (frenemies to lovers romance, standalone in The Kincaids of Pine Harbor series) Mr. Park Lane by Louise Bay (second chance/roommates romance, standalone) Wild Heart by Laurelin Paige (contemp romance, book #3 in Dirty Wild series) Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis (snowstorm/strangers romance, standalone) More Than Possess You by Shayla Black (romance novella, standalone in More Than series) Spark by Helen Hardt (romantic suspense, Steel Brothers Saga) A Reckless Match by Kate Bateman (historical romance, Ruthless Rivals) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! 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196 countries, countless stories...

I’m very fortunate to receive messages from readers and writers around the world telling me about books I might like to read. Many of the titles I’ve featured on this blog are the result of conversations with people in parts of the planet from which we English speakers rarely hear stories. Examples include: Glimmer of […]

I’m very fortunate to receive messages from readers and writers around the world telling me about books I might like to read. Many of the titles I’ve featured on this blog are the result of conversations with people in parts of the planet from which we English speakers rarely hear stories. Examples include: Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame, sent to me by Colin after a discussion with a bookseller at Libraria Dukagjini in Pristina, Kosovo; and The Golden Horse, the manuscript translation of which was emailed to me by author Juan David Morgan after it was recommended to me by the Panama Canal on Twitter. (Yes, really.) Sometimes, however, I’m lucky to stumble across amazing stories from elsewhere closer to home. This latest Book of the month is a case in point: a few weeks ago, I spotted a new shop on the Old High Street near where I live in Folkestone, UK. It was, according to a sign in the window, a bookshop, gallery and publisher. Intrigued, I went inside and got talking to Goran Baba Ali, an author and co-founder of Afsana Press, which seeks to publish stories that have a direct relation to social, political or cultural issues in countries and communities around the world. After a pleasant chat, I bought one of their titles, The Last Pomegranate Tree by Kurdish writer Bachtyar Ali, translated by Kareem Abdulrahman, and headed home. I was excited to read the book but also a little nervous. I really hoped it was good. It could be a little awkward the next time I bumped into Goran otherwise… The novel begins with the release of 43-year-old peshmerga fighter Muzafar from a desert prison after 21 years. Yearning to reconnect with his son Saryas, who was only a few days old when Muzafar was arrested, he embarks on a quest to discover what happened to the boy. In so doing, he confronts the horrors visited upon his homeland and compatriots, the truth about love, loss and compassion, and what it means to be human. Magical realism is a term I treat with some suspicion. In certain contexts, it can be used by critics to lump together and diminish anything in stories from elsewhere that doesn’t conform to certain Western norms. It is a term that has been applied to this book by some reviewers and I can see why: the story features many extraordinary creations and happenings. There is a character with a glass heart. There are women with hair that tumbles, Rapunzel-like, from windows down to the ground. The rules of the world are liable to tilt and twist. But in Ali’s hands, these happenings do not feel curious, exotic or strange, but rather expressions of deep truths, ‘that something always remained unexplained’, that when you live in a world where everything can be taken from you nothing is impossible. One of the first things about this book that thrilled me (and there were many), was the beauty of the writing. Ali and Abdulrahman’s prose glitters with exquisite imagery. The pomegranate tree of the title stands on a mountaintop, ‘which rises up above the clouds like an island surrounded by silver waves’. Muzafar’s former friend Yaqub has ‘a strange gentleness in his words, as if you were standing near a waterfall and the wind was spraying the water towards you or you were asleep under a tree and the breeze had awoken you with a kiss’. Upon gaining his freedom, Muzafar ‘felt like a fish that had leapt back into the water from a fisherman’s net, its heart still filled with the recent shock of its probable death’. This beautifully direct, expressive prose carries brilliant insights. Many of them centre on the enmeshment of humanity with all beings, ‘that the earth and life are a single interconnected whole’. Some reveal the mechanisms we use to deny this and insulate ourselves from others’ suffering. One of the sharpest examples of this is a passage in which a character advocating for the marginalised streetseller community is interviewed by a journalist: ‘That night by the fire, the journalist spoke about the wealth of agriculture and the yield of livestock, but Saryas spoke about the neglected and forgotten wealth of the thousands of abandoned children who found themselves on the streets from the age of four. The journalist talked about the charm of the cities, of clean pavements and the right of drivers to sufficient space for cars, but Saryas talked about the lost beauty of those children, himself included, who were forced to wash in filthy swamps because they had no access to clean water. The journalist argued for the return of the villagers to the countryside, Saryas for the return of people to a decent life.’ The writing is so powerful here. You can hear the conversation unfolding. The shift in register between the presentation of the two speakers’ statements shows us how they miss each other, the distance between them, and the way privilege and partisanship deafen those who imagine themselves openminded and fair. Time marches to a beat that will be unfamiliar to some Western readers in this novel. Instead of the clockwatching chronology of many anglophone stories, there is a sense of a larger scope. A kind of deep time is at work, in which individual human destinies are only small parts of a much larger picture. ‘A person is a star that does not fall alone,’ reflects Muzafar. ‘Who knows where the echo will reverberate when we leave this earth? Perhaps someone will rise from our ashes in another time and realise they have been burned by the flame of our fall.’ The storytelling is similarly expansive. Over the course of the novel, it becomes clear that we readers are in the story too, cast as fellow refugees on a ferry Muzafar is taking to England in an effort to complete his quest. We are listening to Muzafar, whose account loops back on and contradicts itself, dented by his preoccupations and fears. The effect is marvellous. This is honestly one of the best books I have read in a long time – so humane, so moving, so engrossing and so beautiful. To me, it is a reminder that we can find extraordinary, underrepresented voices anywhere. I live in a small town on the south coast of the UK and there is someone publishing world-class Kurdish literature a few minutes’ walk from my house. The Last Pomegranate Tree by Bachtyar Ali, translated from the Kurdish by Kareem Abdulrahman (Afsana Press, 2025; US first edition Archipelago Books, 2023)

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing that happened during my 2012 quest to read a book from every country (and there were many extraordinary things) involved the small African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe. Of the 11 or so UN-recognised countries that had no commercially available literature in English translation at the time, this proved by far […]

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing that happened during my 2012 quest to read a book from every country (and there were many extraordinary things) involved the small African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe. Of the 11 or so UN-recognised countries that had no commercially available literature in English translation at the time, this proved by far the trickiest to source a book from. So much so that, as you can read in my original blog post, in the end a team of nine volunteers translated A casa do pastor, a collection of short stories by Santomean-born writer Olinda Beja, especially for me. Now, 13 years later, that collection of short stories, is finally available to buy in English. Edited by leading Spanish and Portuguese translator Margaret Jull Costa OBE, one of the generous nine volunteers who answered my 2012 appeal, it has just been published by new Canadian indie Arquipélago Press. The creation of this translation remains one of the most heartwarming and encouraging examples I’ve encountered of how stories can bring us together. It is wonderful to see these beguiling tales finally available in the world’s most published language. As I say in my foreword to the book: ‘every so often, I receive a message asking if the collection of stories I read for São Tomé and Príncipe back in 2012 is available to buy in English. It is now my great joy to be able to answer: Yes, here it is.’ The Shepherd’s House by Olinda Beja, ed. Margaret Jull Costa, translated from the Portuguese by Yema Ferreira, Ana Fletcher, Tamsin Harrison, Margaret Jull Costa, Clare Keates, Ana Cristina Morais, Robin Patterson, Ana Silva and Sandra Tavares (Arquipélago Press, 2025)

It’s out! My fourth book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, officially hits the shelves today. It’s available worldwide in English and can be ordered through all the usual channels and bookshops, as well as directly through my publisher’s website. Drawing on the interactions I’ve had through this blog and through the reading workshops I’ve […]

It’s out! My fourth book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, officially hits the shelves today. It’s available worldwide in English and can be ordered through all the usual channels and bookshops, as well as directly through my publisher’s website. Drawing on the interactions I’ve had through this blog and through the reading workshops I’ve been running for the last four years, it explores how embracing not-knowing can enrich our reading of ourselves and our world. Each chapter takes an extract from a different book likely to be outside most anglophone readers’ comfort zones as a launchpad for exploring themes such as how do we read books written from political viewpoints or based on religious views we don’t share? What do we do if we don’t know if a story is funny? And why might taste sometimes lead us astray? I hope it’s playful, mischievous, a bit subversive and thought-provoking. In the spirit of this, the book comes in three slightly different covers, reflecting the fact that there is more than one way of reading. If you order one, you won’t know what you’re going to get! And as a bonus, Renard Press is running a promotion: if you add Relearning to Read and the signed, limited-edition version of my novel Crossing Over to your basket on their website, and use the coupon ‘relearning’, you’ll get the novel half price. The offer runs until the end of October, so hurry if you like the sound of this. Every book will have its pound of flesh – at least that’s my experience. This one certainly had some twists and turns in the early days of developing the idea. Once I had the form clear in my mind, however, the writing process was a joy. There’s been some wonderful feedback. We’ve already had an international rights inquiry from a publisher in another territory. (If you would be interested in translating or publishing the book in another language, please drop Will at Renard Press a line.) Relearning to Read has already been included on the syllabus of a university course in the UK and I’ve been invited to speak about it at festivals in the UK, India and Hong Kong. What’s more, I’ve been particularly thrilled to see writers I admire supporting the book with generous endorsements. These include superstar translator and novelist Anton Hur, who called Relearning to Read ‘a lively discussion on how to read books from around our increasingly fractured world – and how to live within the chaos,’ and novelist, professor, translator and former English PEN president Maureen Freely, who wrote: ‘Living as we do in the golden age of surveillance marketing… it has become ever more difficult to negotiate uncertainty – in life as on the page. With this beautifully imaginative guide, Ann Morgan makes an eloquent case for reading beyond the bounds of our understanding, not just to broaden our horizons, but to better understand ourselves. I shall be taking it to my next book group! I urge you to do the same.’ Not everyone has been impressed, however. When I told my eight-year-old that my fourth book was being published today, she pulled a face. ‘What? You mean you’ve only written four books in your adult life?’ she said. Still, I hope other family members approve. In particular, my Dad. Sadly I can’t ask him: he died unexpectedly as I was preparing to write the final chapter, and this changed the shape of the ending a little. One of the earlier chapters also features the story of how his father, a native Welsh speaker, moved into the English-speaking world. I hope Dad would have enjoyed reading it. Certainly Dad would have enjoyed the international angle. Travelling was one of the things he most wanted to do in retirement. He had renewed his passport a few weeks before he died and was looking forward to several trips. I have dedicated Relearning to Read to his memory. As it sets off around the world, it makes me smile to think that, in a way, Dad is travelling with it too.

One of the lovely things about this project is the interactions I’ve had through it with writers around the world. The Chinese literary master Ning Ken is a great example. After I gave a quote to support Thomas Moran’s English translation of Tibetan Sky, I received a copy of the finished book sent from Beijing, […]

One of the lovely things about this project is the interactions I’ve had through it with writers around the world. The Chinese literary master Ning Ken is a great example. After I gave a quote to support Thomas Moran’s English translation of Tibetan Sky, I received a copy of the finished book sent from Beijing, inscribed with a message of thanks from the author as shown above. His publisher tells me it means: ‘If my humble work surprised you, that is exactly what I hoped for. Rarity makes it all the more precious. Thank you for your poetically concise critique.’ The novel certainly did surprise me. Like the image that its title suggests – of a Tibetan sky burial, in which a dismembered body is left on a stone plinth for eagles to bear aloft – this is a book that turns many accepted (Western) norms upside down. On the face of it, the novel is a love story. The troubled divorcé Wang Mojie, who came to rural Tibet on a ‘Teach for China’ scheme, encounters the alluring and mystifying Ukyi Lhamo, who has spent time studying in France. Both are on a quest for meaning, and they bond over their lack of fulfilment and conviction that answers may be found in mystical Tibet, but as Wang Mojie urges Ukyi Lhamo to satisfy his masochistic fantasies, they find themselves pushed to and beyond the limits of human connection. Through all this run Wang Mojie’s interior monologues and authorial reflections. ‘As the author of this novel, I will interrupt the narrative from time to time with thoughts and comments,’ Ning Ken, or whoever he is positing as the author, informs us near the start. They certainly make good on this promise, filling the text with thought-provoking and sometimes mischievous asides that often undermine and sometimes soften the characters, as well as sharing some of their own struggles with and doubts about the process of writing. Indeed, it’s no spoiler to say that the book ends with a lengthy authorial disquisition on the unreality of endings, bringing in reflections on Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out and discussions with the characters in the novel about what would have been a fitting resolution. ‘While fiction is, of course, made up, we should think of it as the art form of the exploration of the possible, fiction imagines different possible lives,’ the authorial voice tells us. In Ning Ken’s hands, fiction can imagine impossible lives too – at least to those of us used to looking from a Western perspective. In Tibet, the novel shows us, rules work differently, and this is partly a question of language. The concept of selfhood remakes itself, ghosts exist and people have very different views on life’s purpose and meaning, partly because the language of the nation fosters other ways of thinking – ‘We place strict limits on what we think is possible and impossible, but Tibetans do not acknowledge these limits. They don’t accept, or one might say their language does not accept, that death exists.’ In its difference and singularity, Tibet provides a brilliant setting in which to bring together Western and Eastern philosophy. Ning Ken does this through the visit of Robert, a Paris-based academic keen to debate his son who has embraced Buddhism. This is done through at times dense but often hearteningly frank and sometimes irreverent discussions – we’re told at one stage that we’re better off skipping Derrida, as he only really has meaning for exceptional intellectuals like Wang Mojie, and he’s an overthinker. For a reader like me, it was fascinating to see this culture clash filtered through a Chinese perspective. Yet even Tibet cannot resist the pull of globalisation. Despite the hunger for authenticity that Wang Mojie and Ukyi Lhamo share, the novel bristles with examples of a trend towards ‘cultural hybridity’. Historic rituals are staged for tourists who look on listening to music played through boomboxes and sipping coke. This performative ‘postcard culture’, we learn, has arisen partly because of the hiatus in Tibetan practices brought about by ‘what we may call, euphemistically, the “intervention of history”.’ Reading lines like this, along with references to people being imprisoned for praying and the events of ‘the Square’, I found myself feeling strangely anxious. Was it safe for an author in mainland China to write about the actions of the government in this way? Then I shook my head and smiled. Whether intentionally or not, Ning Ken was once again turning things upside down for me, forcing my assumptions into the light in the process. Why did I imagine I knew what the Chinese government would or wouldn’t allow? (This is something I examine in the politics chapter of Relearning to Read, where I look at some of the mental labyrinths we go through when we read works written under censorship or in political systems different to our own.) What resonated most for me was how Tibetan Sky explored the experience of not-knowing. In a way I’ve rarely encountered in fiction before, it captured what it’s like to feel bewilderment in the face of cultural artefacts we don’t know how to ‘read’ – books written in scripts we can’t decode, songs in tonal systems to which our ears are not attuned. What’s more, it showed the value of staying with these experiences – exploring them and turning them around in our minds to notice how we respond. Indeed, not-knowing seems to be fundamental in the journey towards enlightenment – when the 29-year-old Buddha began his spiritual quest, we learn, he did so in confusion. This is a book that works on you in ways that it is only possible to articulate in part. ‘Reading in Tibet is really reading,’ Wang Mojie informs us. ‘You feel as if no one else exists, you are outside of time, away from the world. It is a peaceful, dreamlike state. This dreamlike reading, the dreamlike thoughts that came to me while I was reading, made me feel as if I were floating in air, everything around me filled with my own soaring thoughts.’ The experience of reading Tibetan Sky is similar. Tibetan Sky by Ning Ken, translated from the Mandarin by Thomas Moran (Sinoist Books, 2025)

Many of those I interact with about books through this project, both virtually and at my Incomprehension Workshops, are young people. Even now, all these years after I set out to read the world, I sometimes find my inbox flooded with messages from students whose teacher has asked them to write to me recommending a […]

Many of those I interact with about books through this project, both virtually and at my Incomprehension Workshops, are young people. Even now, all these years after I set out to read the world, I sometimes find my inbox flooded with messages from students whose teacher has asked them to write to me recommending a story. A while ago, I received a wonderful video from a young boy in Beijing advising me to read a book that explained why tomatoes can sometimes be quite dangerous. Statistics bear out the enthusiasm for reading internationally that I’ve seen among the young: according to data compiled by Nielsen for the Booker Prize Foundation, ‘book buyers under the age of 35 account for almost half (48.2%) of all translated fiction purchases in the UK‘. So it was a delight to be invited to contribute an essay to a new collection celebrating the importance and joy of reading for children and young people. The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation is the second such anthology put together by editor Jennie Orchard. Like the first volume, The Gifts of Reading, it was inspired by an essay by the UK nature writer and scholar Robert Macfarlane, who wrote the foreword to this new collection. Other contributors include such household names as William Boyd, Michael Morpurgo, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Imtiaz Dharker and Horatio Clare, and all royalties go to Room to Read and U-Go. Founded by John Wood, these organisations promote literacy and education for girls and women. Indeed, U-Go’s aim is to fund the university education of 100,000 young women in the world’s lowest income countries. We celebrated the UK publication of The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation with a launch at London’s Daunt Bookshop. Also published in the US and Australia, the collection is widely available. BUT I have one copy that I am happy to sign and send anywhere in the world. If you’d like it, simply message me or leave a comment below telling me about a book you gave or received that was important to you. Looking forward to hearing your stories! Photos © Amber Melody

This month, a dream came true. I spent two weeks visiting Greenland with my hero, legendary Togolese explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie, sixty years after he first arrived in the country that became his home from home (an experience recorded in his landmark memoir, An African in Greenland, tr. James Kirkup, and recently rereleased as a Penguin […]

This month, a dream came true. I spent two weeks visiting Greenland with my hero, legendary Togolese explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie, sixty years after he first arrived in the country that became his home from home (an experience recorded in his landmark memoir, An African in Greenland, tr. James Kirkup, and recently rereleased as a Penguin Modern Classic, titled Michel the Giant, with a new afterword, tr. Ros Schwartz). It will take me a while to process this incredible experience and I am working on several projects to tell the story of it. Watch this space! In the meantime, however, I decided it would only be right to make Greenlandic literature the focus for my latest Book of the month. And, it being #WITMonth, I knew I would feature a book by a female author. If you ask anyone about contemporary Greenlandic literature, one name will dominate: Niviaq Korneliussen, a young Greenlandic writer hailed widely as the leading light of a new generation of voices telling stories on the world’s largest island. Her writing is fresh, daring and confronting, and having started the month reading her novel Last Night in Nuuk, I would have found it an easy choice to feature one of her books. (And she is extremely well worth reading – if you are looking for Greenlandic literature you should absolutely start with her.) But as I try to highlight lesser known voices on this blog, I decided to look further afield. This brought me to Nauja Lynge’s Ivalu’s Color, adapted from the Danish by the author and International Polar Institute Press. Lynge is something of a hybrid writer. Describing herself as a Danish Greenlander, she is the descendant of several figures who were instrumental in establishing Greenlandic identity, including Henrik Lund, author of the national anthem, and Hans Lynge, who promoted independence. At first, given her Danish heritage, I was hesitant as to whether to include her in my reading. But as many of the conversations I have had over the past few weeks have involved the influence of colonialism and other political agendas on Greenland, and the way those stories are woven into the Inuit experience (and, as we have seen over the thirteen years of this project, storytelling is a messy, cross-pollinated business that rarely fits neatly in a single box), I decided to give Ivalu’s Color a try. From the pitch, the novel sounds as though it follows a familiar formula. In 2015, three women are found murdered in the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk. Whodunnit? Yet, the similarities with anglophone crime fiction end with the premise. Even before you turn to the first page, it’s clear that this is a book that marches to a different beat. In place of a blurb, the back cover has a lengthy endorsement from Martin Lidegaard, former Danish foreign minister. And on the inside flaps we are told that the true victim of the crime will turn out to be the Inuit people. This political focus continues in the body of the book. In place of an epigraph, we find an unattributed paragraph appealing for a moderate approach to Greenlandic independence: It’s almost as if there is a chapter in our common history missing. My major concern is that we open the doors to outsiders before we are ready to welcome them. Things take time. This applies to Greenland to such an extent that we might be better off seeing ourselves as a developing country, not co-opted immediately into the international economy. The characters of the book take a similar tone. Indeed, rather than focusing on the grisly fate of the three women whose bodies have been found in a shipping container (two of whom are barely mentioned), most of the dialogue rehearses political concerns, feeding off the fact that Ivalu, the most prominent victim, was a blogger on issues connected to independence. Unlike the traditional anglophone detective novel, there is not one sleuth on the trail of the culprit but many. They include the Chinese agent Hong and the Russian agent Nikolai (both of whom do little to disguise their roles in trying to further their countries’ interests in controlling the Arctic), as well as local figure Else. Like the murder victims, these characters remain relatively faceless. What seems to interest Lynge is not so much the personal stories of the figures she portrays but the bigger forces that drive them. These she explores by choosing to focus on aspects a mainstream anglophone writer would not normally centre, and selecting and ordering details in a way that might seem bewildering or even irrelevant to a Western eye. It is as though the apparatus of a European crime novel has been commandeered and turned to different ends. As a reader, I found this challenging. The old knee-jerk irritation I often feel when I struggle to understand literature that works on other terms rose in me, and I was tempted to dismiss the book as bad. Indeed, there are aspects of Ivalu’s Color that will be deeply problematic for many anglophone readers, particularly when it comes to the presentation of Hong. Lynge describes him and his actions in terms that betray a strikingly different, even shocking, approach to presenting otherness. There is also a challenging discussion of femininity and ‘primal’ womanhood running throughout the book, which at times seems to take a stand against ‘the modern age’s fussily democratic women’. This, when set against Hong’s shocking encounter with Else, raises uneasy questions. However, as I continued on through the pages of this book, I found another Greenlandic title that I was reading in conjunction with it beginning to shift my thinking. Knud Rasmussen’s The People of the Polar North, tr. and ed. G. Herring, features the verbatim accounts of many Inuit myths collected by the great explorer on his expeditions through his homeland. Striking and strange, these tales share some of the hallmarks of Lynge’s writing. There is a similar relative effacement of the individual and focus on bigger forces. Extreme and sometimes shocking acts are presented baldly and with little ceremony. They inhabit a framework that calibrates ideas of community, duty, tradition, physicality and individuality very differently. Perhaps Lynge was fusing the storytelling ethos of the country of her birth with the commercial structures of European literature? Wasn’t that, in itself, thought-provoking and subversive? For me, Ivalu’s Color wasn’t an easy or enjoyable read, but it was a valuable one. It was fascinating to see Nauja Lynge testing the limits of a familiar genre and trying to reshape them to accommodate her aims. It was a reminder that truly reading widely (far beyond the offerings that the mainstream outlets curate for us) requires openness, and a readiness to embrace gaps and questions. There is still so much we don’t know. Ivalu’s Color by Nauja Lynge, adapted from the Danish by the author and International Polar Institute Press (IPI, 2017)

This writer came onto my radar thanks to Keith Kahn-Harris, author of The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language, with whom I did a musical incomprehension experiment a few years back. He shared some information with me about Llanito, the language of Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of the Iberian […]

This writer came onto my radar thanks to Keith Kahn-Harris, author of The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language, with whom I did a musical incomprehension experiment a few years back. He shared some information with me about Llanito, the language of Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula). It was, he told me, an amalgam of Spanish and English with bits of Maltese and Genoese thrown in. In fact, the literary scene in Gibraltar was similarly fascinating, a kind of experiment in answering the question of how small a population you need to establish a literary culture. Yorkshire-based M.G. Sanchez is a key player in this, having co-founded Patuka Press, which publishes anthologies of Gibraltarian writing. Indeed, several of Sanchez’s own books feature Llanito and his most recent has both an English and a Llanito edition. The title that caught my eye on his back catalogue, however, was Diary of Victorian Colonial and other Tales, my latest Book of the month. Originally published in 2008 through Rock Scorpion Books, a now-defunct publishing forum that Sanchez also founded after he struggled to find an outlet for Gibraltarian work, Diary is Sanchez’s second work of fiction. It features one novella and two shorter works that, according to its marketing material centre on ‘themes of emotional and geographical displacement’. The title work is the most ambitious piece. Chronicling the return of ex-convict Charles Bestman to Gibraltar, the land of his birth, in the nineteenth century, it explores what it means to belong and how history can entrap us in many senses. After this comes ‘Intermission’, a stream-of-consciousness account of a UK-based magazine publisher’s snap decision to give up the world and enter a French monastery. Last and, for my money, least is ‘Roman Ruins’, the story of an Italian lawyer’s attempt to save a homeless Kosovan man. Voice is one of the key strengths of Sanchez’s writing. The first two pieces lift off the page thanks to compelling, energetic and distinctive first-person narrators. The diary form is not easy to pull off and sustain for a whole work of fiction, and it’s credit to Sanchez that Bestman’s account is engaging, and peppered with telling observations. Meanwhile, the would-be monk of ‘Intermission’ is often extremely funny. His claim that the notorious British serial killer Fred West looked ‘a bit like an ugly Tom Jones’ had me laughing out loud. Although his spiel is occasionally repetitious and tips over into raw ranting on a few occasions, lines like this meant that I was more than happy to stay with him for the ride. There is a rich, mischievous seam to the writing in the first two-thirds of the book that put me in mind of anglophone authors such as Helen DeWitt and C.D. Rose, as well as the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. It’s also fascinating to see colonialism and Britishness discussed from fresh angles, as Sanchez does in the first two pieces. There is a Trojan horse element to many of the passages, with certain ostensibly harmless or familiar formulations being used to smuggle in sentiments that challenge the status quo or reframe ideas. Some of these, such as the magazine publisher’s reflections on political correctness gone mad, now feel a little dated, but many are still disconcertingly fresh. There’s a meta element to the title work too. At the end of the text, an editor’s note informs us of the way in which the diary was discovered and praises Rock Scorpion Books for publishing it after it was rejected by many other outlets. Finding a way to be heard and recognised is, it seems, part of the story. Language has a big role to play in this. Llanito and Spanish feature in dialogue in the opening piece, while French appears in ‘Intermission’, and Italian and Serbian ring the changes in the final story. Multilingualism and pluralism are part of the fabric of this literary world, with Sanchez rarely choosing to translate on the page. Bewilderment and codeswitching are de rigueur. All that said, the final story is an odd fit in this collection. Whereas the first two pieces complement each other tonally, stylistically and thematically, ‘Roman Ruins’ feels as though it is out on a limb. From the retail blurb, I see that a story called ‘The Old Colonial’ is listed in its place in the collection, and I wonder if a late need for a substitution has led to this piece being shoehorned in. Certainly, there is a stilted, slightly unfinished quality to it. Characters often seem to exist to make arguments rather than to act in their own right, with several conversations featuring long expositions of the history of the former Yugoslavia and the atrocities committed during and since its collapse (although as I write this, I’m conscious that numerous literary traditions have a much higher tolerance for political and historical discussion than is generally accepted in anglophone literature – it may be that Gibraltarian literature does too). Coming after the mischievous, subversive antics of the first two pieces, the straightness of ‘Roman Ruins’ is hard to take. I also found the female lawyer less convincing than Sanchez’s male creations. All in all, the story felt uneven. But then perhaps evenness isn’t necessarily a virtue, or a quality essential to every work or literary tradition. It may be that Sanchez and his fellow Gibraltarian writers are nurturing a literary culture that works according to other standards – one that has no need to appeal to the sensibilities of a citizen of the country that once colonised their homeland. Sanchez has since published numerous works that may have taken his writing in any number of directions. I’m intrigued to learn more. Diary of a Victorian Colonial and other Tales by M.G. Sanchez (Rock Scorpion Books, 2012) Picture: ‘Gibraltar’ by John Finn on flickr.com

Last Thursday, I had the unusual experience of giving a paper at an academic conference. The event was about the future of English studies, and I was there because of a call for papers put out in association with Wasafiri magazine, a British publication championing international contemporary writing. I suggested that I might speak about […]

Last Thursday, I had the unusual experience of giving a paper at an academic conference. The event was about the future of English studies, and I was there because of a call for papers put out in association with Wasafiri magazine, a British publication championing international contemporary writing. I suggested that I might speak about my work with embracing not-knowing in reading, which forms the basis of my Incomprehension Workshops and forthcoming book, Relearning to Read. The organisers liked the sound of this, and so, last Thursday morning, I found myself joining other speakers and delegates in the gracious surroundings of York’s Guildhall for the start of the three-day event. The University of York’s Professor Helen Smith opened proceedings, saying that she felt the event was about survival and finding positive ways that the field of English studies could continue. As an English literature graduate myself, I was a bit taken aback – surely the subject couldn’t be in so much trouble? But as the discussion opened up and academics from universities across the UK began to speak, it became clear that there are many challenges facing those teaching English literature, language and related disciplines today. From the declaration last year that the English GCSE isn’t fit for purpose and the increased testing of performance all through school, to the encroachment of AI on students’ work practices, the sector seems increasingly restricted and hobbled. The main issue, as several of the people sitting near me said, was a lack of joy in the classroom these days. This made me sad. For me, reading has always been about joy. I was eight when I decided that I wanted to study English literature at university, having been entranced by L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. Reading was magic, it seemed to me. I couldn’t imagine a better thing than spending three years reading stories. How miserable to think of today’s young readers having all that pleasure squashed out of them. Still, when I thought about it, I could recognise what was being said. Last year, I ran an Incomprehension Workshop at a sixth-form college near where I live in Folkestone. It being World Book Day, I started the session by asking participants to write down how they would complete three sentences: Reading is… The world is… Stories are… At the end of the session, I invited students to read out what they’d written. One said this: Reading is boring The world is crazy Stories are exciting It was clear that something of that disconnect the university lecturers were describing had happened for that sixth-former. Although they still felt the power of stories, this had somehow become separated from reading for them. Books were not the source of connection and electricity they had been for me. I hope my panel helped propose some ways in which that gap might be rebridged. Titled, ‘Incomprehension and Living Between’, it opened with Turkish writer and translator Elif Gülez reading from her memoir about the culture clash she experienced growing up. The extract was powerful and resonated with the small but highly engaged audience, showing how personal narrative can cut through barriers and make experience live in other minds. Then, I spoke about incomprehension and how I try to foster a spirit of play in my work with this. I was particularly touched when one audience member said afterwards that the demonstration I had given had taken her back to the wonder of reading like a child once more. Lastly, we were joined remotely by Indian academic Gokul Prabhu, who delivered a fascinating paper on ‘Queer Opacity in Translation’ – considering how the attempt to make things legible and understandable may sometimes work against the spirit of a text, and how translators may sometimes need to leave gaps and jolts in work that does not intend to make its meaning plain. There was a marvellous electricity in the room, and this carried on into the afternoon, in a session on teaching creative writing, chaired by poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo, whose work-in-progress memoir I read as my Trinidadian pick back in 2012. The panel featured four writers who all teach at UK universities: J.R. Carpenter (University of Leeds), Joanne Limburg (University of Cambridge), Juliana Mensah (University of York), and Sam Reese (York St John University). They were honest about the challenges facing the industry and sector, but so full of enthusiasm and powerful insights that it was impossible not to be encouraged. I was particularly struck by Carpenter’s statement that a poem ought to unfold in the same way that it was gathered up, although, as Mensah observed, this idea is faintly terrifying when I think about the chaotic nature of my own creative process! I came away heartened to think that the academic branch of the field I love has such people working in it. And grateful that so many of those labouring under such pressure at the UK’s universities felt it was worth taking three days out of their hectic schedules to consider how better to foster and share a love of reading stories. I also felt a renewed energy for and commitment to the possibilities of embracing not-knowing and incomprehension too. More soon! Picture: ‘Municipal Offices and Guildhall, York, North Riding of Yorkshire, England’ by Billy Wilson on flickr.com

‘I’ve got a book I think you’d like,’ said bookseller Erin when I wandered into my local bookshop, The Folkestone Bookshop, a few weeks back. They were right. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, translated by Joshua L. Freeman, is a memoir by Tahir Hamut Izgil, one of the leading contemporary Uyghur poets. It tells […]

‘I’ve got a book I think you’d like,’ said bookseller Erin when I wandered into my local bookshop, The Folkestone Bookshop, a few weeks back. They were right. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, translated by Joshua L. Freeman, is a memoir by Tahir Hamut Izgil, one of the leading contemporary Uyghur poets. It tells the story of his decision to flee his homeland, along with his wife and children, in the late 2010s, following decades of mounting discrimination and persecution of the Uyghur population in Xianjiang, a nominally autonomous region in northwestern China. Through Izgil’s eyes, we live the experience of seeing your world contract to the point where there is no longer space for you to exist. The accounts of the imprisonments of many of Izgil’s friends and associates – often for minor or even unspecified breaches of the ever-shifting rules – are chilling and heartrending, yet it is the cruel absurdity of many of the directives that restrict everyday life that sticks in the mind. The requirement, for example, for Muslim clerics to participate in televised disco dancing competitions (and the brave attempt of one to embrace this insult as good exercise). Or the Looking Back Project, under which ‘many previous legal things had become illegal’, rendering authors vulnerable to being arrested for books that had been published with the censors’ blessing in previous years. Perhaps most horrifying of all is the List of Prohibited Names, a sporadically updated inventory setting out which names may no longer be used. In light of this, anyone may suddenly find themselves banned from using the appellation by which they have been known all their lives. ‘A name is a person’s most personal possession,’ as Izgil, writing through Freeman, reflects. ‘If he cannot hold on to his own name, what hope does he have of keeping anything else?’ The way language is weaponised to curb and control is similarly disturbing. As the Chinese government’s restrictions on the Uyghurs grow ever tighter, seemingly innocuous words turn traitor. People called in for questioning are said to be taking ‘tea’, those removed to the concentration and re-education camps have been sent to ‘study’, if you have a black mark on your record, you are said to carry a ‘dot’. Uyghurs too, learn to bury their meaning to keep safe: ‘A political campaign was a “storm”, while innocent people caught up in mass arrests or in a Strike Hard Campaign were said to be “gone with the wind”. A “guest” at home often meant a state security agent. If someone had been arrested, they were “in the hospital”. Yet, language is also a source of great joy and beauty in this book. As Freeman explains in his introduction, poetry is a way of life in Izgil’s homeland: ‘Verse is woven into daily life – dropped into conversation, shared constantly on social media, written between lovers. Through poetry, Uyghurs confront issues as a community, whether debating gender roles or defying state repression. Even now, I wake up many mornings to an inbox full of fresh verse, sent by the far-flung poets of the Uyghur diaspora for me to translate.’ Poetry is central to this memoir too. Several of Izgil’s poems appear. What’s more, there is a beautiful litheness and directness to the prose, which captures key moments in the story with memorable clarity. When Izgil’s wife, Marhaba, learns that after years of fighting bureaucracy the family have finally received the visas that will enable them to escape to the US, her face opens ‘like a flower’. Because of the quality of the writing, we feel the Izqil family’s bravery and the loss that goes with uprooting yourself from all you know (including necessarily severing ties with those who stay behind for their safety). As the best writing does, the story speaks for itself, urging itself on the reader, making the pages fly past. Nevertheless, as I read, I found a question surfacing repeatedly in my mind. There are many urgent and brilliant stories by writers from persecuted minorities in the world today. Most of them do not find homes with some of the English-speaking world’s biggest publishers as this one has (coming out through Penguin Random House on both sides of the Atlantic). If they make it into English at all, such stories are usually released by small presses, which, as I often say on this blog, are where most of the risky, exciting, boundary-pushing publishing happens these days. (Books like Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse’s The Convoy, translated by Ruth Diver and published in February by Open Borders Press, for example.) So what is it about this story that has enabled it to cut through? I think there are a couple of reasons. The first is that the book paints the West in a relatively flattering light. Although Izgil likens the contempt of the Han Chinese authorities to the attitudes of European colonialists and quotes a friend saying they wish China would conquer the world because the rest of us are so ignorant about the realities they are facing, the US is a place of safety for Izgil. It is where he can finally taste freedom once more and thrive. I think this is a picture that fits with what many of us in the English-speaking global north would like to believe about our homelands. The second is that the story necessarily reinforces certain narratives about China that happen to serve Western agendas. This portrayal of the Chinese authorities as harsh and unpredictable feels familiar and relatively comfortable. In this respect, although it may challenge other preconceptions, this book will resonate with significant aspects of many people’s prevailing world view. This is not to call into question anything Izgil has written: the atrocities he describes are well documented. Nor is it to detract at all from the brilliance of this book. Rather, it is to say that this may be a story to which many in the English-speaking world may be able to listen to more easily than we can to comparable narratives that do not align with Western agendas so neatly. If anything, this may make this book even more important. It may speak more directly and powerfully about the refugee experience to many anglophone readers because it will not invite the sort of resistance that can often arise when we read challenging books from elsewhere. By happening to echo ideas that feel familiar and safe, it may move us to deepen our sense of humanity and connection with those forced to leave their homelands. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated from the Uyghur by Joshua L. Freeman (Vintage, 2024)

This book came on my radar through fellow international bibliophile Suroor Alikhan, who kindly hosted me at an online event organised by the Hyderabad Literary Festival last year. A few weeks ago, she contacted me saying that she had found a website that she thought I’d be interested in, featuring a list of more than […]

This book came on my radar through fellow international bibliophile Suroor Alikhan, who kindly hosted me at an online event organised by the Hyderabad Literary Festival last year. A few weeks ago, she contacted me saying that she had found a website that she thought I’d be interested in, featuring a list of more than 100 books by Pacific Islanders. I was intrigued. The Pacific Island nations were among the most difficult countries to source stories from during my 2012 quest to read a book from every country. And although the criteria of the list’s compiler were a little different from mine – she included a number of titles by writers with Pacific Island heritage (including herself) – there were many fascinating-sounding works. The book I’ve picked to feature – Is Anyone Out There? And Other Stories by Julian Maka’a from the Solomon Islands – didn’t strike me as the most satisfying of those I read from the list, but I found it interesting for several reasons. The Solomon Islands are hard to source stories from: back in 2012, the best option I could find was The Alternative, a 1980s boarding school novel. So I was curious about what this much more recent short story collection would be like. My interest was also piqued by Maka’a’s statement on the back cover that the collection – which he self-published in 2012, 27 years after his first collection was brought out by the University of the South Pacific – draws on various aspects of his professional life, including efforts to build staff understanding about sexual reproductive health in his capacity as the manager of Wantok FM, part of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation. This is reflected in frank descriptions of the treatment of and stigmas around sexually transmitted diseases in several of the earlier pieces. As with many of the books I read ‘from’ Pacific Island nations in 2012, the collection seems written with a consciousness of needing to represent its nation. ‘The themes and general messages [of the stories] are different and varied,’ writes Maka’a, ‘but the one thing that is common is they reflect what life is like in Solomon Islands’. To an outsider like me, this manifests itself most tellingly in the glimpses into local beliefs and customs, presented most richly in the title story, in which a legend about a philandering man ritually killed for breaking taboos haunts the narrator. The emphasis on education, so apparent in The Alternative, is also strong in Maka’a’s work. The most ambitious piece in the collection, a three-part story called ‘Is This Fair?’ centres on a teenage pregnancy at a boarding school and makes clear the sacrifices that the nation’s geography and economic situation demand of families keen to give their children opportunities. Some eight thousand students drop out of education every year, we learn, and just getting to school at the start of term often requires many stomach-churning hours in a boat. As is so often the case in books from elsewhere, it is the assumptions and things taken for granted that prove most intriguing. One of the central characters in ‘Is This Fair?’, for example, seems not to bat an eyelid at the notion that her parents will decide her career path, as set out in a letter her mother sends her: ‘In her brief letter which she wrote in language and pijin, she explained that she and dad always discussed about me. About the future that I would give them from my education – benefits to cut a long story short. She said they had differences in the job I should take up after I graduate in form five. My mother said she wanted me to become a nurse – that way I would help her when she gets sick or even my father. My father on the other hand wanted me to be a teacher.’ For all its interest, however, this book is a challenging and occasionally bewildering read. My knee-jerk reaction is to pin this on the fact that it has probably not been through the editorial processes of many traditionally published books in mainstream anglophone literature, with the result that there are structural idiosyncrasies, and spelling and grammatical oddities that are sometimes distracting. There seem to be some inconsistencies in the character names between the different parts of ‘I Am Fair?’ that make it hard to follow. There is also an abruptness to certain emotional shifts and transitions that risk interrupting the flow of the story. But I’m also aware that what I read as errors or idiosyncrasies may in many cases not be considered as such by readers in the Solomon Islands. There, a different form of English is used, one in which certain formulations and word uses that sound odd to me may be customary. Similarly, shifts between registers and emotional states that jar for me may simply reflect different norms or storytelling traditions beyond my experience feeding into this book. Regardless of how I read it, what remains is a sense of urgency. A desire to communicate. A hand stretched out from this place we in the UK rarely hear of, seeking connection and the chance to convey something. This is me, this book says. This is us. This is where we are. Is Anyone Out There? And Other Stories by Julian Maka’a (Xlibris, 2012)