Seven weeks. That is what stands between the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist and the ceremony at Old Billingsgate on 9 November, and it is enough time to read all six if you start now and pick the order sensibly. I did the reading for the thirteen-book longlist over the summer, so for once I can […]
Divinely romantic, deliciously queer—a high-stakes, haunted magical rescue This second book in Sarah Glenn Marsh’s Rogue Devotions series is a magical adventure about found family and the swoonworthy love interests they meet along the way. “A lot can happen in three days. The whole world can change in less time than that. It has before.” […]
A character-rich small town mystery about how we can’t change the past without deadly consequences Who decides when a story has ended? Who decides which stories get told? And how long can a story stay buried, before it comes back to haunt those who would rather forget? Game warden and part-time constable Nate Briggs faces […]
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Survival Show by Juno Dawson
The queue for the audition snakes around a private clinic in a smog-choked northern city, hundreds of teenage girls in cropped tops, all of them with the same idea about showing their stomachs. Inside the studio, twenty at a time are lined up against the back wall and photographed. Then a producer reads out seven […]
A subversive portrait of female friendship and feminist activism set in the years leading up to and during Prohibition Fueled by a string of expertly managed mysteries (both personal and criminal), The Neighborhood Dames is historical fiction at its grounded best—challenging social norms and hopeful of change. The Neighborhood Dames opens with former songwriter and […]
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Deadly Dilemma by Anthony Gurley
Content warning: suicidal ideation A deeply personal memoir about depression, faith, and the lifelong search for self-worth Anthony Gurley explores suicide, faith, identity, purpose, and self-worth in Deadly Dilemma. The memoir opens with what appears to be a present-day suicide letter. From there, the story traces Anthony “Gene” Gurley’s life from childhood into adulthood as […]
There are a lot of big books coming out this fall, many of which will probably be covered in our round-up of what the biggest book clubs are reading. If your club is looking for something more low-key and comforting, though, you might want to add a new cozy title to your reading list. You […]
A book with an absurd title but a serious pursuit to understand what it means to become whole While some experiments require a laboratory, Rupert Kite conducts his in the messy, unpredictable laboratory of everyday life. Whereas the previous volume in Kite’s Becoming Conscious memoir examined what it meant to feel alienated from the world […]
The balloon comes down at sunrise. It has been drifting all night with three children curled in the bottom of a small wicker basket painted with stars and stripes, and now the ground is rushing up to meet it: church towers, red roofs, a wide stone plaza where a crowd is gathering to stare. The […]
Synopsis: An idyllic paradise. A deadly secret. A detective who can’t escape the past. When Detective Karen Skaryd and her husband arrive at a luxurious Caribbean resort to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, they expect sun, relaxation, and romance. But when a prominent guest drops dead in the middle of lunch—with a cryptic biblical message […]