January 2026 Staff PicksLike this list

18 items

• Big Kiss, Bye-bye

  Bennett, Claire-Louise

  Add Big Kiss, Bye-bye to your for later shelf

  Claire Louise Bennett processes a recent relationship with a man significantly older than herself in this short novel which is structured and plotted more like a journal than a traditional narrative. Bennett includes stream-of-consciousness passages…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Moses

  a Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State /

  Gayle, Caleb

  Add Black Moses to your for later shelf

  Gayle's work of history and biography, one of the more acclaimed books of the year, focuses on Edward Preston McCabe, a leading Black figure in the late 1800s U.S. After working for a time on Wall Street, he spent a stint of time in Chicago, working…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Guilt

  a Novel

  Chidgey, Catherine, 1970-

  Add The Book of Guilt to your for later shelf

  New Zealand novelist Chidgey adds to her impressive range of work with a dystopian novel set in an alternate 1979 Britain, where WWII ended with a treaty with Germany, and the sharing of scientific knowledge allowed experiments with human subjects…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Coffin Moon

  a Novel

  Rosson, Keith (Novelist),

  Add Coffin Moon to your for later shelf

  With recent films like Sinners and Nosferatu, TV series like Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, and novels like Stephen Graham Jones's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, we are experiencing a vampire renaissance. Add to the list Keith Rosson's latest,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Conjuring of America

  Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic

  Stewart, Lindsey (Lindsey L.),

  Add The Conjuring of America to your for later shelf

  Just in case you doubted that Black culture is American culture, along comes Lindsey Stewart to make the case with passionate, wit, and meticulous research. Drawing largely on her knowledge of West African mythology and Depression-era interviews…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Correspondent

  a Novel

  Evans, Virginia, 1986-

  Add The Correspondent to your for later shelf

  In this word-of-mouth phenomenon, Sybil Von Antwerp is a divorced law clerk, long ago retired. Her children are grown, her brother lives in France with his husband, she lives alone in a big house in Maryland, and it might seem at first that Sybil's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Guardian and a Thief

  Majumdar, Megha,

  Add A Guardian and a Thief to your for later shelf

  In this literary/thriller blend, it's the near future in Kolkata, India, and the climate has become a constant emergency. Ma runs a shelter and takes care of her two-year-old daughter and aged father. She's preparing them to leave the country and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I, Medusa

  a Novel

  Gray, Ayana

  Add I, Medusa to your for later shelf

  This surprisingly quick read that's packed with lots of emotionally charged moments and tragic scenes is the kind of novel that makes you want to dive deeper into Medusa's myth, especially after reaching the epilogue. If you're familiar with Greek…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• King Sorrow

  Hill, Joe,

  Add King Sorrow to your for later shelf

  After being forced to steal a book bound in human skin from the college library he works at, Arthur Oakes and his friends use it to summon a dragon, King Sorrow, who will kill the people blackmailing Arthur. What they don't realize, however, is that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

  a Novel

  Desai, Kiran, 1971-

  Add The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny to your for later shelf

  At the center of Desai's richly imagined novel is a love story. It unfolds slowly and unconventionally, but the story is so multifaceted and engaging, the romance is almost secondary. The novel opens in the late 1990s when Sonia, who is attending…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Queen Esther

  a Novel

  Irving, John, 1942-

  Add Queen Esther to your for later shelf

  With Queen Esther, Irving is in top form. Inside these book covers, readers will find an intensely complex family melodrama tinged with dark humor, tragedy, bizarre twists of fate, and idiosyncratic characters. Queen Esther treads all of Irving's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Seascraper

  Wood, Benjamin, 1981-

  Add Seascraper to your for later shelf

  In this Booker nominated novel, Thomas lives with his mother in a coastal town in Northern England in the early 60s. He is 20 years old, never knew his father, and he follows his grandfather's trade as a shanker, gathering shrimp at low tide and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Simultaneous

  a Novel

  Heisserer, Eric,

  Add Simultaneous to your for later shelf

  Grant is a straightlaced FBI agent. His department, Predictive Analytics, is tasked with trying to predict future disasters and crimes. When he investigates an explosion at a gas pipeline, he certainly doesn't appreciate being dragged down an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave

  My Cemetery Journeys /

  Enriquez, Mariana

  Add Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave to your for later shelf

  Part history book, part memoir and full travelogue, horror fiction author Mariana Enriquez takes us on an adventure around the world to some of the most fascinating cemeteries. From famous cemeteries like Highgate in London and St. Louis No. 1 in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Tragedy of True Crime

  Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us

  Lennon, John J.,

  Add The Tragedy of True Crime to your for later shelf

  John J. Lennon is currently serving a 28-year sentence for murder, and it is within the walls of prison that he became a successful and well-regarded journalist. In his first book, Lennon explores personal history and profiles three men he has…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Unveiling

  a Novel

  Barry, Quan,

  Add The Unveiling to your for later shelf

  Striker, a Black location scout, is on a luxury trip to Antarctica to find a location for an Ernest Shackleton documentary. When disaster strikes during a boat tour and the group she's with, mostly wealthy American tourists, become stranded on a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Wayfinder

  Johnson, Adam, 1967-

  Add The Wayfinder to your for later shelf

  One of the most harmful myths about indigenous cultures is that they exist outside history, or that their history only begins with colonization. With this epic novel, Cheyenne River Sioux author Adam Johnson paints indigenous history in the colors…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Wilderness

  a Novel

  Flournoy, Angela,

  Add The Wilderness to your for later shelf

  Four Black female friends struggle to create meaningful, fulfilling lives for themselves over two decades starting in 2008, contending with grief, childhood trauma, and the fraught political and technological landscape. The novel moves backward and…Read moreRead more of this annotation