Six Regency-era titles that aren’t romances

Katie Moench is a librarian, runner, and lover of baked goods. A school librarian in the Upper Midwest, Moench lives with her husband and dog and spends her free time drinking coffee, trying new recipes, and adding to her TBR list.

At Book Riot she tagged six Regency-era novels that aren’t romances, including:

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

If you like your historical fiction mixed with fantasy, pick up the first book in Cho’s Sorcerer Royale series. Zacharias Wythe is a magician and formerly enslaved person who is the respected Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers, a position he inherited from his adoptive father. England’s magic is beginning to wane, and those who conspire against Zacharias blame him, forcing him on a quest to find the reason for the decreased stocks of magic. On his journey, Zacharias will encounter gentle witches, magical schools, and a fantastical world that fuses fantasy and Regency-era customs.

Read about the other novels on the list.

Also see Celeste Connally's six Regency-era historical mysteries with headstrong heroines and Tara Sonin's fifty best regency romances.

--Marshal Zeringue

A Jane Austen reading list

One title from Tertulia's list of books that offer "multiple ways into Jane Austen’s enduring world:"

What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Essential Questions Answered
John Mullan

“A box of 20 literary chocolates for Austen fans to savor,” wrote Kirkus Reviews, while The Atlantic called this “the next best thing” to having more Austen novels. Guardian Book Club columnist John Mullan builds each brief chapter around a deceptively simple question, from sex before marriage to characters who never speak, using curiosity and close reading to reveal the pr

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Rebecca Romney's list of six books that owe a debt to Jane Austen’s work, Melissa Albert's list of the top fifteen male characters in Jane Austen's novels, and Paula Byrne's list of the ten best Jane Austen characters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles that embody resilience

William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series. His books have won many literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and the Costa Book Award. He was named a Granta Best Young Novelist in 1983, and in 2005, he was awarded the CBE. Boyd's newest novel is The Predicament.

In 2020 at GQ (UK) he tagged "five books that, for him, embody and inspire resilience like no others," including:

A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark was a survivor. Born into a Scottish, Jewish family in Edinburgh she sought, like many Scots, a form of early exile abroad. But life was hard initially, before her novels eventually brought her fame and financial security. This novel (published in 1988) is particularly autobiographical, set in London in the 1950s. Its central character, Mrs Hawkins, is a mesmerising self-portrait of the author at this particular juncture in her life. Scraping a living on the fringes of the literary world, Mrs Hawkins (a young widow) is very overweight, supremely confident and a life force. People are drawn to her; her judgements rival Solomon’s; she is indomitable. The book is a kind of hymn to self-sufficiency – or resilience – and a model handbook of how to overcome what look like adverse situations. And it is written in Spark’s unique tone of voice: terse, funny, adamantine.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Far Cry From Kensington is among Joanna Biggs's top ten books about working life.

--Marshal Zeringue

"CrimeReads" -- best speculative mysteries and thrillers of 2025

At CrimeReads Molly Odintz tagged fifteen of the best speculative mysteries and thrillers of 2025, including:

Hole in the Sky, Daniel H. Wilson

This book is an essential addition to the growing canon of first-contact literature, crafted from Daniel H. Wilson’s singular perspective as an indigenous writer and robotics engineer, and featuring a perfect mixture of technical know-how, native history, and dynamic character interactions. Lyrical, creative, and truly original!

Read about the other titles on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Hole in the Sky.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 5 novels of 2025 -- "Electric Lit"

One of Electric Lit's top five novels of the year:

Audition by Katie Kitamura

A performance, a love triangle, and an unnamed actress quietly dissecting her internal world. These are the constituent parts of Katie Kitamura’s Booker Prize-shortlisted fifth novel, which opens with a young man declaring himself the nameless narrator’s long-lost son. Quickly, the book plunges into the murky territory of identity, where nothing is quite fixed or true. With sentences sharp as knives, Audition does everything possible to slip up the reader, asking: If identities transform, why shouldn’t stories transform too?

Read about the other novels on the list.

Audition is among Tertulia's ten critically acclaimed books you can read in a weekend.

--Marshal Zeringue

"CrimeReads" -- best horror fiction of 2025

One novel on the CrimeReads list of the best horror fiction released in 2025:

My Ex, The Antichrist, Craig DiLouie

Craig DiLouie’s new novel is a particularly fun take on the rise of religious horror. Metal band The Shivers, self-described as a “demon disco” ensemble, find out their lead guitarist is the antichrist after a series of violent riots break out at their live shows. When the guitarist leaves to form another band, the Shivers must pivot to the only musical style capable of preventing the apocalypse: pop punk. Honestly, makes sense!

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 16 best books about music from the last decade

Emma Glassman-Hughes (she/her) is the associate editor at PS Balance. At PopSugar she tagged the sixteen best books about music from the last decade. One title on the list:

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton and Robert K. Oermann

Not only does this memoir provide the context and history behind country music icon Dolly Parton's most beloved songs, it's also chock full of visuals that had not been seen by the general public until publication.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Bob Stanley's top ten music histories, Holly George-Warren's ten essential music biographies, and Jarvis Cocker's top ten music books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven titles for "Stranger Things" fans

At the Waterstones blog, Mark Skinner tagged eleven top books for Stranger Things fans, including:

The Cabin at the End of the World
Paul Tremblay

An exercise in extreme narrative tension, The Cabin at the End of the World throws a quartet of highly disquieting strangers into the harmonious world of young Wen and her two fathers, and forces them to make a horrifying choice.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Cabin at the End of the World is among Stephanie Wrobel's six top thrillers and horror novels set in hotels and Jane Hennigan's six top quiet apocalypse titles.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best legal thrillers of 2025: "CrimeReads"

One novel on the CrimeReads list of the best legal thrillers released in 2025:

Pro Bono, Thomas Perry

An attorney with a skill for recovering assets takes a new case to help a recent widow and soon finds himself shot at, followed, and generally tangled up in a dangerous mess. Perry, a master storyteller, unspools the mystery at breakneck speed and the financial crime at the heart of Pro Bono makes for genuinely compelling suspense.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

The Page 69 Test: Pro Bono.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books to read while basking in a food coma

At The Huffington Post Maddie Crum tagged seven books "that suit the [holiday] season, either because they're about family, or because their gripping plots will keep you awake," including:

Us by David Nicholls

You may remember Nicholls from One Day, his love-story-turned-rom-com starring Anne Hathaway. In his latest novel, a Booker Prize nominee, he once again chronicles a struggling relationship, but this one centers on a couple who, after nearly two decades, has realized that their marriage has grown stale. Unfortunately for them, but luckily for the sake of plot, this epiphany coincides with a trip they've planned to take their 17-year-old son on a tour of Europe's artistic monuments. The ensuing clever family saga might be the best way to take a quick break from your own family this week.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top 25 books for 2025: "Christian Science Monitor"

One title on the Christian Science Monitor's list of the top twenty-five books for 2025:

The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami

In Laila Lalami’s unnerving speculative novel, archivist Sara Hussein is detained for having a problematic “risk score” due to violent dreams. Baffled, desperate, and increasingly enraged, Sara builds alliances, battles hopelessness, and strains to demonstrate her innocence in the face of institutional suspicion and weaponized data. Privacy never sounded so good.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Dream Hotel is among Fred Lunzer's ten realist novels that integrate futuristic topics.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best noir fiction of 2025: "CrimeReads"

One title on the CrimeReads list of the best noir fiction released in 2025:

The Felons’ Ball, Polly Stewart

In this follow-up to Stewart’s acclaimed debut, The Good Ones, tension boils over at an annual birthday summit where a pair of old friends recount past misdeeds for a raucous and appreciative gathering. In The Felons Ball, Stewart paints a lively portrait of small-town secrets and generational entanglements. Stewart is proving herself a master of suspense.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Good Ones.

The Page 69 Test: The Felons' Ball.

--Marshal Zeringue