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Showing posts from September, 2026

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 30

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1868 | 📖 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | United States | 449 pages |  1895 | 📖 The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane | United States | 149 pages | 1908 | 📖 The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck | Belgium | 172 pages | 2003 | 📖 Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee | South Africa | 233 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2004 | 📖 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke | United Kingdom | 1006 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @susannaclarke_ 2010 | 📖 Worth Dying For by Lee Child | United States | 400 pages | ✅ 2021 | 📖 Sharpe's Assassin by Bernard Cornwell | United Kingdom | 320 pages | 2025 | 📖 After Midnight by Daphne du Maurier | United Kingdom | 528 pages | 2025 | 📖 Charlie Quinn Lets Go by Jamie Varon | United States | 304 pages | @jamievaron 2025 | 📖 Great Disasters by Grady Chambers | United States | 208 pages | @notesonstrategy 2025 | 📖 I Am You by Victoria Redel | United States | 304 pages | 🏆 | @victoriawriter 2025 | 📖 Oleander Marriage by Eleanor Lerman | Unit...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 29

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1979 | 📖 Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 361 pages | 🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2015 | 📖 Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | United States | 465 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @lbardugo 2020 | 📖 Snow by John Banville | Ireland | 304 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 A Place for People Like Us by Danila Botha | Canada | 279 pages | @danilabotha 2026 | 📖 The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi | United States | 336 pages | @tomiadeyemi 2026 | 📖 The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar | United States | 304 pages | 2026 | 📖 Heavy Cream by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright | United States | 304 pages | @sarblakcart 2026 | 📖 The Weight of Angels by John Boyne | Ireland | 592 pages | @johnboyneauthor 2026 | 📖 The House of Gardenias by Isabel Cañas | Mexico / United States | 288 pages | @isabelcanas_ 2026 | 📖 I Think We Should Kill Other People by L.M. Chilton | United Kingdom | 320 pages | 2026 | 📖 Istanbul Dreaming by Denise Derya Brandt | Turkey / United States | 328 pages | @denisederyabrandt 2026 | 📖 Dodge City ...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 28

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1959 | 📖 Zoo Story by Edward Albee | United States | 42 pages | ✅ 2016 | 📖 The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones | United States | 29 pages | 🏆🏆 | ✅ | @stephengrahamjones 2020 | 📖 One Arranged Murder by Chetan Bhagat | India | 303 pages | @chetanbhagat 2021 | 📖 Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr | United States | 626 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @anthonydoerrwriter

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 27

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1976 | 📖 Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 346 pages | @therealmargaretatwood 1984 | 📖 Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter | United Kingdom | 295 pages | 🏆🏆 | ✅ 2011 | 📖 The Affair by Lee Child | United Kingdom | 427 pages | 🏆🏆 | ✅ 2020 | 📖 Someone's Uncle by Alison Espach | United States | 25 pages | @alison.espach 2022 | 📖 The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt | United States | 69 pages | 2022 | 📖 Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 439 pages | 🏆 | 2022 | 📖 The Furrows by Namwali Serpell | United States | 288 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr | Canada | 216 pages | 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 26

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2013 | 📖 An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris | United Kingdom | 429 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @robertharrishome 2023 | 📖 Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig | United States | 640 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @chuck_wendig 2023 | 📖 Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener | Peru / Spain | 192 pages | 🏆 | @gabrielawiener 2023 | 📖 The Adversary by Michael Crummey | Canada | 336 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Red Flags by J.E. Rowney | United Kingdom | 284 pages |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 25

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1991 | 📖 Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley | United States | 884 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2012 | 📖 Toby's Room by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 320 pages | 🏆 | 2014 | 📖 Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey | United Kingdom | 260 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Carapace by Travis M. Riddle | United States | 241 pages | 2025 | 📖 Identity Crisis by Nicola Gill | United Kingdom | 368 pages | ⭐⭐⭐💫 | My Review | @nicolagillauthor 2025 | 📖 Old Songs by Amy Jeffs | United Kingdom | 247 pages | @amyjeffs_author 2025 | 📖 One of Us by Elizabeth Day | United Kingdom | 336 pages | 🏆 | @elizabday 2025 | 📖 The Blackest Time by Ken Tentarelli | United States | 269 pages | @kententarelliauthor

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 24

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2001 | 📖 One-Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 368 pages | @lisajewelluk 2008 | 📖 When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 388 pages | 🏆 | 2015 | 📖 The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2019 | 📖 The Dutch House by Ann Patchett | United States | 337 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2019 | 📖 The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste | Ethiopia / United States | 448 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @theshadowkingnovel 2019 | 📖 The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates | United States | 416 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 Inside Story by Martin Amis | United Kingdom | 560 pages | 🏆 | 2024 | 📖 Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio | United States | 128 pages | @sureasmel 2024 | 📖 Playground by Richard Powers | United States | 381 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney | Ireland | 464 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2026 | 📖 The Last Library of Paris by Kerry Barrett | United Kingdom | @kerrybean73

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 23

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2008 | 📖 The Given Day by Dennis Lehane | United States | 704 pages | 🏆 | 2013 | 📖 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt | United States | 771 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @donnatartt_ 2025 | 📖 The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai | India | 670 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 A Different Kind of Tension by Jonathan Lethem | United States | 400 pages | @jonathanlethem 2025 | 📖 Circle of Days by Ken Follett | United Kingdom | 704 pages | @kenfollettauthor 2025 | 📖 It's Me They Follow by Jeannine A. Cook | United States | 256 pages | @itsmetheyfollow 2025 | 📖 My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser by Jamie Jo Hoang | United States | 384 pages | 🏆 | @heyjamieis 2025 | 📖 The Dark of the Moon by Fiona Valpy | United Kingdom | 286 pages | @fionavalpy 2025 | 📖 The Guest in Room 120 by Sara Ackerman | United States | 336 pages | @saraackermanbooks 2025 | 📖 The Sapling by Marc Bendavid | Canada | 288 pages | @marcbendavid 2025 | 📖 The Sunflower Widows by Matthew Fults | United States | 213 pa...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 22

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2016 | 📖 Conclave by Robert Harris | United Kingdom | 288 pages | @robertharrishome 2020 | 📖 Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami | United States | 208 pages | 🏆🏆 | @lailawrites 2026 | 📖 The Strangers by Naomi Alderman | United Kingdom | 288 pages | @naomi_alderman 2026 | 📖 Demonology for Overachievers by Lily Anderson | United States | 312 pages | @mslilyanderson 2026 | 📖 Witch Daughter by Tanaz Bhathena | Canada | 320 pages | @bhathenatanaz 2026 | 📖 How to Write a Murder by Jessica Brody | United States | 560 pages | @jessicabrody 2026 | 📖 A Dangerous Bargain by Erin Cotter | United States | 384 pages | @erinseaotter 2026 | 📖 Mazywood by Tananarive Due | United States | 512 pages | @tananarivedue 2026 | 📖 Cloud Six by Amy Fusselman | United States | 224 pages | 2026 | 📖 Bright and Broken Things by Ryan Graudin | United States | 378 pages | @rgraudin 2026 | 📖 Hollywood, Ending by John Green | United States | 416 pages | @johngreenwritesbooks 2026 | 📖 Our Cut of Salt by D...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 21

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1937 | 📖 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien | United Kingdom | 366 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 🎧 2021 | 📖 The Trees by Percival Everett | United States | 309 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 🎧 2021 | 📖 Bewilderment by Richard Powers | United States | 278 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki | United States | 548 pages | 🏆 | @ozekiland 2021 | 📖 The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine | Lebanon / United States | 354 pages | 🏆🏆 | @beirutiguy 2023 | 📖 Ocean Stirrings by Merle Collins | Grenada / United Kingdom | 398 pages | 2023 | 📖 Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain | United Kingdom | 177 pages | 🏆 | 2026 | 📖 The Munich Affair by James Patterson and David Ellis | United States | 528 pages | @jamespattersonbooks @david_ellis_author

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 20

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2001 | 📖 Atonement by Ian McEwan | United Kingdom | 351 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @ianmcewan.author 2022 | 📖 The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li | United States | 348 pages | 🏆🏆 | 🎧 2022 | 📖 Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell | United States | 336 pages | 🏆🏆 | @lkwarrell 2025 | 📖 The Resident by KJ Kalis | United States | 262 pages |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 19

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1983 | 📖 The Burning Book by Maggie Gee | United Kingdom | 304 pages | @maggiegeenovelist 2019 | 📖 The Confession by Jessie Burton | United Kingdom | 455 pages | @jessieburton 2022 | 📖 Never Lie by Freida McFadden | United States | 286 pages | @fmcfaddenauthor 2023 | 📖 North Woods by Daniel Mason | United States | 372 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright | Ireland | 278 pages | 🏆🏆 | @thewrengirl 2023 | 📖 A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare | Albania | 256 pages | 🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips | United States | 276 pages | 🏆🏆 | @jayneannephillips1 2023 | 📖 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll | United States | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @jessicaknollauthor 2023 | 📖 Starter Villain by John Scalzi | United States | 264 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @jscalzi 2023 | 📖 The Old Haunts by Allan Radcliffe | United Kingdom | 208 pages | @allan_radcliffe 2024 | 📖 All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles | United Kingdom | 242 pages | @markbowle...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 18

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2020 | 📖 The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård | Norway | 666 pages | 🏆 | 2024 | 📖 The Mare by Angharad Hampshire | United Kingdom | 322 pages | 🏆 | @angharadhampshirewriter 2025 | 📖 This Queer Arab Family edited by Elias Jahshan | United Kingdom | 256 pages | @elias_jahshan 2026 | 📖 This Much Is True by Katherine A. Sherbrooke | United States | 278 pages |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 17

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1954 | 📖 Lord of the Flies by William Golding | United Kingdom | 202 pages | 2015 | 📖 Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald | United Kingdom | 398 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2015 | 📖 Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter | United Kingdom | 114 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | My Review | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅@maxmaxporter 2019 | 📖 Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes | United States | 448 pages | 🏆 | @valerievaldesauthor 2024 | 📖 Us Fools by Nora Lange | United States | 340 pages | 🏆 | @nora__lange

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 16

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1987 | 📖 Beloved by Toni Morrison | United States | 325pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 1992 | 📖 The Secret History by Donna Tartt | United States | 559 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman | United Kingdom | 422 pages | 🏆🏆 | @misterosman 2023 | 📖 Soft Inheritance by Fawn Parker | Canada | 80 pages | 2025 | 📖 Boy from the North Country by Sam Sussman | United States | 336 pages | @sam__sussman 2025 | 📖 Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey | United States | 208 pages | 🏆 | @officiallymcconaughey 2025 | 📖 The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell | United States | 336 pages | @bymadelinebell 2025 | 📖 The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser | United States | 420 pages | 🏆 | @karinaisreadingandwriting 2025 | 📖 Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha | United States | 284 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy | United States | 304 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @angelaflournoy 2025 | 📖 Good Things by Samin Nosrat | Uni...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 15

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1795 | 📖 Lyrical Ballads by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth | United Kingdom | 118 pages | 1986 | 📖 It by Stephen King | United States | 1184 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @stephenking 2016 | 📖 Beartown by Fredrik Backman | Sweden | 432 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @backmansk 2020 | 📖 Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar | United States | 368 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke | United Kingdom | 245 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | My Review | ✅ | @susannaclarke_ 2025 | 📖 Dead in the Water by AJ Carter | United States | 384 pages | @ajcarterbooks 2026 | 📖 Anger Is Only a Shadow by Elizabeth Acevedo | United States | 336 pages | @acevedowrites 2026 | 📖 Story Telling by Isabel Allende | Chile / United States | 192 pages | @allendeisabel 2026 | 📖 Fallow by Sarah Anderson | United States | 336 pages | 2026 | 📖 Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 352 pages | 2026 | 📖 Still Floating by Tom Deady | United States | 408 pages | @tom_deady 2026 |...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 14

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867 | 📖 The Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx | Germany | 800 pages | 2021 | 📖 Harrow by Joy Williams | United States | 224 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead | United States | 318 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 Palmares by Gayl Jones | United States | 429 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman | United Kingdom | 421 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @misterosman 2023 | 📖 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron | United Kingdom | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 A World Without Trees by Joseph Blackhurst | United Kingdom | 382 pages | 🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 13

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2011 | 📖 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern | United States | 506 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @erinmorgenstern 2022 | 📖 Lessons by Ian McEwan | United Kingdom | 438 pages | @ianmcewan.author 2022 | 📖 Bliss Montage by Ling Ma | United States | 228 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir | New Zealand | 480 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones | United States | 176 pages | 🏆🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 12

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2002 | 📖 The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith | United Kingdom | 347 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2006 | 📖 The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield | United Kingdom | 406 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane | United Kingdom | 340 pages | @marieoregan8101 2023 | 📖 Cocktail by Lisa Alward | Canada | 224 pages | 🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas | United States | 389 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Rouge by Mona Awad | Canada | 383 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @misss_read 2023 | 📖 The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff | United States | 256 pages | 🏆 | @ legroff

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 11

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2025 | 📖 The Lost Garden by Angela Petch | United Kingdom | 406 pages | @angela_maurice

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 10

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2019 | 📖 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 422 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2024 | 📖 The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke | United Kingdom | 256 pages | 🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | My Review | ✅ | @doctoroxford 2024 | 📖 Desert Echoes by Abdi Nazemian | United States | 320 pages | @abdaddy 2026 | 📖 Kitty and Mary by Julia Gray and Imogen Russell Williams | United Kingdom | 352 pages | @imogenrussellwilliams

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (1978): A Review

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Title : The Cement Garden Author : Ian McEwan Publication Year : 1978 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 Pages : 152 Source : physical book Genre : literary fiction First, let me begin with a warning: if you are uncomfortable with taboo subjects in almost any form, The Cement Garden is probably not the book for you. Please protect your peace and maybe go read something with a cottage and a harmless scone. Now that the warning is out of the way: yes, the beginning is disturbing, and yes, the ending is deeply disturbing. But taken as a whole, this is a brilliantly unsettling little book. And I do mean little in size only, because emotionally it is full of decay, grief, neglect, sexuality, family dysfunction, adolescence, isolation, and moral discomfort. The story is narrated by Jack, one of four children who find themselves without parents and decide to hide the truth in order to avoid social services and stay together in the family home. Of course, this disaster is not entirely sudden. These chil...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 9

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1836 | 📖 Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson | United States | 48 pages | 2014 | 📖 The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami | United States | 321 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @lailawrites 2025 | 📖 Hot Wax by M.L. Rio | United States | 400 pages | @sureasmel | ⭐⭐⭐💫 | My Review | ✅ 2025 | 📖 All These Ghosts by Silas House | United States | 128 pages | @silashouse 2025 | 📖 All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan | United States | 360 pages | 🏆🏆 | @hankpryan 2025 | 📖 Does This Make Me Funny? by Zosia Mamet | United States | 256 pages | @zosiamamet 2025 | 📖 Letters to Kafka by Christine Estima | Canada | 384 pages | @cestima 2025 | 📖 Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo | United States | 336 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Little Movements by Lauren Morrow | United States | 256 pages | @lomo_bk 2025 | 📖 Muscle Man by Jordan Castro | United States | 272 pages | @shine_________shine 2025 | 📖 North of the Sunlit River by Jessica Bryant Klagmann | United States | 301 pages | @jessklagmann 2025 ...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 8

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2015 | 📖 Make Me by Lee Child | United States | 428 pages | ✅ 2025 | 📖 Where the Light Flickers by Ryan Burden | United States | 284 pages | 2025 | 📖 The Messengers of Magic by Jessica Dodge | United States | 624 pages | @jessicadodgeauthor 2026 | 📖 Adam, Mine by K. Ancrum | United States | 384 pages | @k.ancrum 2026 | 📖 A Thousand Nights edited by Nafiza Azad and Intisar Khanani | Canada / United States | 496 pages | @nafizareads @booksbyintisar 2026 | 📖 Capsized by Charlotte Lillie Balogh | United States | 480 pages | @charlottelilliebalogh 2026 | 📖 Switzy by Emma Cline | United States | 352 pages | 🏆 | @emmanancycline 2026 | 📖 Evamar by Margarita Engle | United States | 272 pages | @engle.margarita 2026 | 📖 Tell Two Friends by Ann Garvin | United States | 282 pages | @anngarvin_ 2026 | 📖 Every Given Day by Cathy Gohlke | United States | 368 pages | @cathy_gohlke 2026 | 📖 Strange Is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin | Ireland | 400 pages | 2026 | 📖 Acid Green Velvet by Gr...

The Children of Men by P.D. James (1992): A Review

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Title : The Children of Men Author : P.D. James Publication Year : 1992 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 241 Source : book Genre : Science fiction, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic I am going to keep this short and fast, unlike the book, which was extremely slow despite the blurb on the cover boldly claiming it was “fast-paced”. Dear blurb writer, you lied. Not elegantly. Not subtly. You lied with confidence. I liked the premise: the end of humanity through sudden global infertility. That is a brilliant, not-so-terrifying idea. Unfortunately, that is also where most of my enthusiasm ended. What follows is the angry review of a book I somehow did not DNF, and yes, I would like recognition for my endurance. This is science fiction, but there is barely any scientific explanation for why infertility suddenly happens — unless the explanation was hidden somewhere inside the glacial pacing and I simply missed it while losing the will to continue. Then there are the random groups of people who appear...

John of John by Douglas Stuart (2026): A Review

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Title : John of John Author : Douglas Stuart Publication Year : May 5, 2026 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 416 Source : audiobook Genre : literary fiction, LGBT, historical fiction Awards : Finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction; Longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize Have you ever read a book about a deeply personal pain that you know will stay with you for a long time? Douglas Stuart’s John of John is one of those books. It is a novel that shows, rather than tells, how institutions meant to protect the soul and body can become the very forces that condemn both. Stuart does not shout this message at the reader; he lets it emerge through family, silence, shame, faith, and the damage they leave behind. The novel follows Cal, who is summoned back home from the city under the pretence of caring for his grandmother. What he returns to is an oppressive family dynamic filled with secrets, control, and unspoken violence. At first, it may seem that Cal is the one carrying the...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 7

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1996 | 📖 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 468 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2009 | 📖 The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 431 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ | My Review | @therealmargaretatwood 2011 | 📖 The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach | United States | 512 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden | United States | 325 pages | @fmcfaddenauthor 2021 | 📖 Matrix by Lauren Groff | United States | 260 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @legroff 2021 | 📖 Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney | Ireland | 337 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Shades of Yellow by Wendy J. Dunn | Australia | 353 pages | 🏆 | @wendyjdunnauthor

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 6

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2006 | 📖 New Moon by Stephenie Meyer | United States | 563 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2017 | 📖 Sex and Lies by Leïla Slimani | France / Morocco | 176 pages | 2018 | 📖 Transcription by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 343 pages | 🏆 | 2022 | 📖 If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery | United States | 260 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @jonathanescoffery

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 5

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1957 | 📖 On the Road by Jack Kerouac | United States | 307 pages | 🏆 | 2023 | 📖 The Fraud by Zadie Smith | United Kingdom | 464 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Holly by Stephen King | United States | 448 pages | 🏆 | @stephenking 2023 | 📖 Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson | United Kingdom | 384 pages | @thatphoenicia 2023 | 📖 Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine | United States | 240 pages | 🏆 🏆 | @zeineddineg 2023 | 📖 The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger | United States | 432 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @williamkentkrueger 2024 | 📖 Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd | United Kingdom | 272 pages | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ | My Review | @williamboydnovelist

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 4

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2001 | 📖 Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates | United States | 480 pages | 🏆 | @joycecaroloates3146 2006 | 📖 Restless by William Boyd | United Kingdom | 336 pages | 🏆 | @williamboydnovelist 2012 | 📖 NW by Zadie Smith | United Kingdom | 296 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2018 | 📖 Summer Brother by Jaap Robben | Netherlands | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @jaap_robben 2024 | 📖 Cherrywood by Jock Serong | Australia | 400 pages | 🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 3

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1998 | 📖 The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel | United Kingdom | 208 pages | 🏆 | 2007 | 📖 Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee | South Africa | 231 pages | 🏆 | 2013 | 📖 The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee | South Africa | 288 pages | 🏆 | 2013 | 📖 Never Go Back by Lee Child | United Kingdom| 400 pages | 🏆🏆 | ✅ 2018 | 📖 Trust Me When I Lie by Benjamin Stevenson | Australia | 352 pages | @stevensonexperience 2019 | 📖 Dominicana by Angie Cruz | United States | 323 pages | 🏆🏆 | @angiecruz 2020 | 📖 Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze | United Kingdom | 336 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman | United Kingdom | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @misterosman 2024 | 📖 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner | United States | 416 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @realrachelkushner 2024 | 📖 Colored Television by Danzy Senna | United States | 277 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 The First Friend by Malcolm Knox | Australia | 416 pages | 2024 | 📖 Misinterpretation by...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 2

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1990 | 📖 Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd | United Kingdom | 416 pages | 🏆 | @williamboydnovelist 2009 | 📖 Heaven by Mieko Kawakami | Japan | 192 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2010 | 📖 Foster by Claire Keegan | Ireland | 101 pages | 🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ | My Review | @clairekeeganfiction 2014 | 📖 The Children Act by Ian McEwan | United Kingdom | 224 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @ianmcewan.author 2014 | 📖 Personal by Lee Child | United Kingdom | 353 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ✅ 2014 | 📖 The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell | United Kingdom | 624 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason | New Zealand / United Kingdom | 352 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 About Time by David Duchovny | United States | 96 pages | @davidduchovny 2025 | 📖 All Things Under the Moon by Ann Yu-Kyung Choi | Canada | 320 pages | 2025 | 📖 Amity by Nathan Harris | United States | 320 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Bad Juliet by Giles Blunt | Canada | 352 pages | @gilesbluntbooks 2025 | 📖 Boudicca's Daughter...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 1

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1773 | 📖 Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley | United States | 128 pages | 🏆 | 1913 | 📖 Androcles and the Lion by George Bernard Shaw | United Kingdom | 160 pages | 1952 | 📖 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway | United States | 127 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ 1955 | 📖 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov | Russia / United States | 331 pages | 🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ 1982 | 📖 Naira Power by Buchi Emecheta | Nigeria / United Kingdom | 168 pages | 1990 | 📖 Age of Iron by J.M. Coetzee | South Africa | 198 pages | 🏆🏆 | 1992 | 📖 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje | Canada | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 1996 | 📖 We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates | United States | 454 pages | @joycecaroloates3146 2000 | 📖 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 640 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2003 | 📖 The King of Capri by Jeanette Winterson | United Kingdom | 32 pages | 2004 | 📖 Case Histories by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 310...