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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 27

2015 Noonday by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 272 | 2017 Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 356 | 🏆 2020 The We and The They by Kyra Ann Dawkins | United States | 139 | 2021 Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena | Canada / United States | 349 | 🏆 2023 Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner | United Kingdom | 160 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ In Lisa Jewell’s dark, psychological bestseller Then She Was Gone , the story unravels the ten-year disappearance of a teenage girl through a chilling web of secrets, obsession, and maternal intuition when her mother meets a man whose young daughter bears an uncanny resemblance to her missing child. ⭕ Isabel Waidner’s surrealist novel Corey Fah Does Social Mobility uses a time-bending, bizarro-world quest involving an eight-legged deer to hilariously and radically interrogate late capitalism, literary success, and class precarity. “Today in History (July),” on Fable. https://fable.co/list/e57c57be-7d9f-49bc-bf34-ba6cab34f191/shar...

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell (2025): A Review

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Title : Don’t Let Him In Author : Lisa Jewell Publication Year : 2025 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (fun rating) Pages : 361 Duration : 12 hrs 15 mins Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : mystery, thriller Awards : Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense (2026), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Mystery/Thriller (2025), She Reads Best of Award Nominee for Audiobook (2025) There are books with unlikeable characters… and then there are books where you actively, passionately wish fictional death upon them. Don’t Let Him In is very much in the second category. The “him” in the title is so repulsive that I’m convinced the only appropriate justice would be every woman he abused or killed taking a turn. Individually. Repeatedly. Let’s just say: maximum consequences. Anything less feels disappointingly mild. And this is coming from a pacifist. I hated every single relationship in this book so much that I kept reading purely to make sure he got what he deserved. He does get some kind of comeuppance, ...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 26

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2016 The Unseen World by Liz Moore | United States | 451 | 2022 Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah | United States | 258 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 2022 The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 452 | 🏆 2022 An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy | United States | 288 | 2022 A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys | United States | 352 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ In Oscar Hokeah’s PEN/Hemingway Award-winning debut Calling for a Blanket Dance, the polyphonic narrative structure mirrors the traditional Kiowa custom of a blanket dance, where community members lay down blankets and offer gifts to support a young person, with each family voice contributing a piece of strength to help the protagonist navigate intergenerational trauma. ⭕ Liz Moore’s sweeping novel The Unseen World connects 1980s computer science innovation with early artificial intelligence to build a heartbreaking investigation into family secrets, memory loss, and legacy. “Today in History (July),” on Fable. https://fable.co/list/e57...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 25

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2023 An Honest Man by Michael Koryta | United States | 373 | 🏆 2023 One of Us Is Back by Karen M. McManus | United States | 368 | 🏆 2023 Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat | United States / Iran | 304 | 🏆 2023 Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena | Canada / United Kingdom | 336 | 2023 Her Little Flowers by Shannon Morgan | United Kingdom | 368 | 🏆 2023 King of Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner | United States | 336 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ In Shideh Etaat’s vibrant coming-of-age debut Rana Joon and the One and Only Now , the narrative follows an Iranian-American teenager in 1990s California who navigates grief, queer identity, and cultural expectations while entering a rap competition to honor her late best friend. ⭕ Wendy Chin-Tanner’s historical novel King of Armadillos draws deeply on her own family history to illuminate Carville, a real-life 1950s Hansen's disease (leprosy) medical sanctuary in Louisiana, demonstrating how independent publishers and fresh liter...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 24

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1997 A Complicated Woman by Sheelagh Kelly | United Kingdom | 592 | 2007 Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff | United States | 230 | 🏆🏆🏆 2012 Dispatch from the Future by Leigh Stein | United States | 144 | 🏆 2018 I Can't Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux | US | 256 | 2018 What Remains of Her by Eric Rickstad | United States | 416 | 2025 Men in Love by Irvine Welsh | United Kingdom | 528 | 2026 A Lark's Gambit by Lynn Messina | United States / United Kingdom | 419 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ Matt Ruff’s mind-bending psychological thriller Bad Monkeys subverts traditional secret-agent tropes by following an interrogation suspect who claims to work for a covert organization dedicated to fighting evil—utilizing high-tech equipment like memory-erasing guns to keep the public unaware. ⭕ Michael Arceneaux’s acclaimed essay collection I Can't Date Jesus delivers a razor-sharp, humorous exploration of faith, identity, and modern culture. ⭕ Leigh Stein's poetry collection Dispatch from the Fut...