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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 24

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...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 23

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1975 Absent Friends by Alan Ayckbourn | United Kingdom | 96 | 2019 The Last Astronaut by David Wellington | United States | 364 | 🏆🏆 2013 The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt | United States | 336 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 2024 The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Miéville | United States / United Kingdom | 352 | 2024 Feh: A Memoir by Shalom Auslander | United States | 368 | 2024 Liars by Sarah Manguso | United States | 272 | 🏆🏆🏆 2024 The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu | United States | 304 | 2026 Tell Tale by Claire Parkin | United Kingdom | 448 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ In Keanu Reeves and China Miéville’s genre-defying contemporary epic The Book of Elsewhere , the narrative follows an immortal warrior traversing millennia of combat to unpack the burdens of eternal life, blending high-octane sci-fi mythos with deep philosophical inquiry. ⭕ Sarah Manguso’s fiercely structured novel Liars utilizes razor-sharp, hyper-focused prose to map the slow, systemic degrada...
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Departure[s] by Julian Barnes (2026): A Review

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Title : Departure[s] Author : Julian Barnes Publication Yea r: 2025 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 165 Source : ebook Genre : literary fiction, essay, memoir First, please do not judge me for saying this is my first 2026 release. I will not be taking questions about why. Let’s just say it feels very ironic that my first 2026 book is Departure[s] and that by the time I read the last word, I was emotionally very far from where I started. How did I choose it? Simple rule: if Julian Barnes writes, I read even if I arrive late. This round, Barnes beat out Winterson, Mary Costello, Douglas Stuart, Caro Claire Burke, and Ann Patchett. They will cope. I picked up the book (well, tablet), saw "Julian Barnes," and, in my usual responsible fashion, did not bother to check the genre, topic, or anything resembling context. A few pages in, I started thinking: this doesn’t feel like a novel; this feels like an essay or a lecture on memory, illness, and Proust. Which, to be clear, I love. ...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 22

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1997 The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman | UK | 370 | 🏆🏆 | 2019 Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp | Germany | 122 | 🏆 2021 The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 416 | 🏆🏆 2021 12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next by Jeanette Winterson | United Kingdom | 336 | 2025 Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi | Israel / United States | 208 | 2025 Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee | United States | 200 | 🏆 💡 Did you know? ⭕ In Philip Pullman’s masterful fantasy sequel The Subtle Knife, the narrative introduces the iconic Telemonic blade, a tool so sharp it can slice through the fabric between parallel universes, bridging Lyra Belacqua’s world with modern Oxford. ⭕ Katja Oskamp’s quietly brilliant German masterpiece Marzahn, Mon Amour subverts traditional coming-of-age templates by tracking a middle-aged writer who becomes a manicurist in a Berlin suburb. ⭕ Interrogation of human curiosity and architecture flows seamlessly into Jean...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 21

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2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling | United Kingdom | 784 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 2022 The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty | United States | 339 |🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 2026 Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead | United States | 368 | 2026 Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins | United States | 256 | 2026 Capital From Zero: Reading Marx in the Age of Climate Catastrophe by Kohei Saito | Japan | 240 | 2026 The Lord of the Wood by E.M. Anderson | United States | 320 | 2026 With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick | United States | 336 | 2026 Give Me Everything You've Got by Imogen Crimp | United Kingdom | 304 | 2026 Our Marriage Is Murder by Carol Goodman | United States | 320 | 2026 Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kumar | United States | 352 | 2026 The Mortons by Justine Larbalestier | Australia | 384 | 2026 I Know the Ants by Lang Leav | Australia / New Zealand | 288 | 2026 How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz | United Kingdom / South Africa | 336 | 2026 Three Reasons for Revenge by...
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