The Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1979)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A series of improbable events leaves an Englishman on an adventure in deep space.

Review: Shocking as it may be, I‘d never read this, and boy did it ever live up to its weird and wonderful reputation. ⬇️

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench and Brendan O‘Hea (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: One of our greatest living actors reflects on her career and Shakespeare‘s plays.

Review: I mean… This is just perfect. I‘m a respecter of Shakespeare far more than a lover, but this made me wish I loved him as much as the authors do. ⬇️

Booked for Murder (Juniper Book Store Mysteries 1), by P.J. Nelson (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: An actress returns to her Georgia hometown to run her late aunt‘s bookshop, only to be beset by arson and murder. And, alongside a professor and a priest, she takes it upon herself to solve the case.

Review: This is VERY much a cozy mystery, with all the joys and the ridiculousness of the genre. But it‘s a very good one.

Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A boy gets pulled into a magical world just in time to collaborate to save it from a horrible threat.

Review: For me, this was well done but a bit of a struggle as an adult reader. The premise was very “fantasy 101”, and there were so many twists and turns that it was hard for me to keep up with the plot. ⬇️

Brownstone, by Samuel Teer (illustr. Mar Julia) (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A New York teenager meets her father for the first time one summer and learns about her Guatemalan heritage.

Review: This is sweet and effective, if very, very simplistic. It does deal with some hard subject matter — child abandonment, biracial identities, homophobia, and gentrification — but in ways that came off a bit too easy. ⬇️

Things in Nature Merely Grow, by Yiyun Li (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An insightful, intellectual, literary, and unflinching memoir about life after losing two children to s—cide.

Review: This is obviously a book that deals with very serious and traumatic life experiences. So it feels a bit gross to swoon over it, but I simply cannot express how brilliant this is. ⬇️

The Call of Cthulhu (and other stories), by H.P. Lovecraft (1928 etc)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Classic tales of terror and dread about the potential awakening of a long-dormant power.

Review: This is as powerfully atmospheric and dread-inspiring as reputed. It‘s also as unabashedly racist as reputed. It‘s a telling window into the anxieties of an age that has sadly proven to be not as bygone as we‘d thought. Yikes. ⬇️

Take Two, by Danielle Hawkins (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A woman answers an SOS from her long-time ex‘s family, only to fall for her ex‘s brother.

Review: It‘s becoming increasingly hard for romances (or other light genre books) to stand out from the crowd, but this really blew me away. ⬇️

Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom (2003)
⭐️⭐️

Premise: A crusty amusement park worker has five transforming encounters when he enters the afterlife.

Review: Stories about the afterlife are generally either cynical or sentimental, so I was expecting a certain amount of cringe here. But wow. ⬇️

The Axeman‘s Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A magpie raised by the wife of a competitive log cutter rises to viral fame that masks darkness in the household.

Review: This is wild but still a soft recommendation. It tackles possibly too many issues in one story. ⬇️

The Grief of Stones (The Cemeteries of Amalo 2), by Katherine Addison (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A cleric who advocates on behalf of the dead inherits an apprentice just as he takes a case about the murder of an aristocrat.

Review: I was critical for the first book in this series for being diffuse. This was much the same, but it didn‘t bother me as much since I had a better sense of the world and the protagonist‘s job..This was very satisfying.

The Bookseller‘s Tale (Oxford Medieval Mysteries 1), by Ann Swinfen (2016)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: In an Oxford deeply divided between town and gown, and still recovering from the Black Death, a bookseller discovers the body of a student in the river and takes it upon himself to ensure justice is done.

Review: Overall, this was a satisfying amateur detective murder mystery, with a unique and fascinating setting and a strong set of characters. ⬇️

A Terribly Nasty Business (Beatrice Steele 2), by Julia Seales (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Newly arrived in London to start work as partner to Inspector Drake, Beatrice Steele gets sucked into a case involving the upper echelon of society.

Review: I was excited to read this, as the first in the series was good charming fun with a twinkle in its eye. Sadly, for me, this sequel was a compete dud. ⬇️

This Is Your Mind on Plants, by Michael Pollan (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An exploration of humanity‘s longstanding relationships with three plants that produce mind-altering substances

Review: Part memoir, part popular science, this is very effective. I could have used less memoir to allow for him to include more plants and more types of mind-altering effects, but it does what he wanted it to do.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 7, by Beth Brower (2023)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The still continued journals of a bright young woman navigating her uncommon life amidst the mores of Victorian London.

Review: It‘s a testament to his good these are that I‘m still excited to spend every moment I can with these characters. Here we have quite a bit of plot development in addition to the delightful sensibility and voice of the series.

Ruth, by Kate Riley (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The life of a devout yet independent-spirited woman living in a traditionalist Christian commune.

Review: This novel does a wonderful job in crafting its feisty and irreverent, yet deeply devout, protagonist. This sympathetic realism extends to the community itself, as it shows what life in one of these Anabaptist communities, scattered across Great Lakes region, is like, in all their idiosyncrasy. ⬇️

The Forsaken and the Fated, by Camilla Raines (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: In this duology conclusion, our hero tries to save his enemy-turned-boyfriend from his fated doom.

Review: I was upset with the first book in this duology for not having a proper ending, and this one made it worse by not really having enough plot to warrant the second book.⬇️

The Dog Who Followed the Moon, by James Norbury (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A kids‘ picture book about a lost puppy who is accompanied by an aging wolf as he tries to find his family

Review: I don‘t read a lot of picture books these days, but this felt special. It conveys profound truths about creativity, resilience, the journey of life, and equanimity, in memorable and age-appropriate ways. It‘s also accompanied by stunning illustrations.

The Witness for the Dead (Cemeteries of Amalo 1), by Katherine Addison (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A cleric with the ability to communicate with the dead is brought into several mysteries upon his arrival in a remote region of his world.

Review: I was intrigued to read this spin-off from The Goblin Emperor, which follows one of that book‘s most compelling characters in his new adventures. ⬇️

Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Over the course of four decades, secrets connect and divide two families in a small Ohio city

Review: There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of novels telling the ‘Story of America‘ in the 20th C, so any novel that does this today needs to do it really, really well, in order to make its mark. And this does just that. ⬇️

Dating and Dragons, by Kristy Boyce (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: After moving to a new school, a teenager develops a crush on a member of her new D&D party, which has a strict no-dating policy.

Review: This was a mixed bag for me. On the plus side, it has some great intergenerational family content and an easy-to-root-for couple. ⬇️

Wildful, by Kengo Kurimoto (2024 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Premise: A suburban teenager learns to connect with nature, and with her grieving mother in the process.

Review: This is a delightful graphic novel powered by its illustrations more than its writing. There‘s nothing new or startling in this book but it‘s a great reminder of the wonder that is available all around us if we choose to see it.

The Fall of Egypt and the Rise of Rome, by Guy de la Bedoyere (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A history of the Ptolomaic Empire, from its beginnings in the aftermath of Alexander the Great‘s death to its end under the famed queen Cleopatra

Review: There‘s a lot of excellent content here and I was excited for a volume focusing on one of the great Hellenistic kingdoms. ⬇️

Beowulf, by Anonymous (ca. 8th C CE, transl. by Maria Dahvana Headley 2020)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A contemporary interpretation of the classic Old English epic poem about the heroic exploits of a Norse warrior named Beowulf.

Review: To say this recent translation is polarizing is an understatement. It‘s won awards for both translation and poetry yet has been largely ill-received by specialists and readers. ⬇️

Night Side of the River, by Jeanette Winterson (2023)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A collection of ghost stories and personal reflections on the paranormal by a contemporary master of short fiction.

Review: The worst thing I can say about this is that it‘s uneven. It starts off strong, with some seriously disturbing tales of haunting by AI and other virtual technology. ⬇️

Comedic Timing, by Upasna Barath (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A bisexual woman fleeing an unhealthy relationship struggles to adjust to life in New York and to developing feelings for a man for the first time.

Review: This is a fascinating book that deserves better than its abysmal Goodreads ratings. I think why it‘s been controversial is because its strengths lie outside the customary romance tropes. ⬇️

Days by Moonlight (Quincunx 5), by André Alexis (2019 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A quiet botanist accompanies a family friend on a road trip through southern Ontario to uncover the story of a vanished poet and discovers a far stranger set of places than he could have imagined.

Review: This is such an odd series of books that I enjoy more in retrospect than in the reading. ⬇️

Reluctant Saint, by Donald Spoto (2002)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A faithful yet demythologizing account of the life of St. Francis of Assisi

Review: While this biography is a bit long in the tooth now, it absolutely holds up. So much of what has been written about St. Francis is caught up in one myth-making venture or another. ⬇️

“It's always exhausting when you're trying to get someone to do something they're lying about wanting to do.”—Julius Julius, by Aurora Stewart de Peña (2025 ??)

Julius Julius, by Aurora Stewart de Peña (2025 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A loving satire centered on a (very) established advertising agency, its employees, and ghosts.

Review: Satire rarely works for me, since so much of it seems ungracious and mean-spirited. This was a great exception to that rule. ⬇️

The Nightmare Before Kissmas (Royals and Romance 1), by Sara Raasch (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The notoriously unserious crowned prince of Christmas is thrust into an unwanted (and totally fake) competition with the Halloween prince for the hand of the Easter princess.

Review: I thought this would be a fun transition between the seasons and it worked.⬇️

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison (2014)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Long exiled to a remote backwater and abused by his guardian, a young halfling is suddenly thrust onto the imperial throne and must quickly learn the byzantine politics of the court.

Review: This is a brilliant piece of light fantasy set in a lightly steampunk world. ⬇️

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An undead fox who ushers the souls of animals into their best fit of four afterlifes (peace, pleasure, progress, and pain) is disturbed by a prophecy of great upheaval followed by the arrival of a plucky badger who can‘t seem to enter any of the realms.

Review: This is so charming, with a dash of spooky, and a powerful message for kids of all ages. ⬇️

The Hidden Keys (Quincunx 3/4), by André Alexis (2016 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️?

Premise: A thief is drawn into a series of heists intended to solve a puzzle about gifts given by an eccentric billionaire to his grown children.

Review: This wasn‘t at all what I was expecting it to be. It‘s a fun heist story with a satisfying mystery.⬇️

Hi, It‘s Me, by Fawn Parker (2024 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A young woman goes to visit the feminist commune where her mother spent her final months, while battling grief and demons of her own.

Review: This is a strange book and I don‘t know what to make of it. ⬇️

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 6, by Beth Brower (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Even more journals of a young woman navigating her assortment of handsome and charming men in her whimsical neighbourhood in Victorian London.

Review: I reiterate my claim that these get better with every volume. I appreciated how this one is more intentional about moving the overall plot forward. I‘m excited for what comes next!

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Dunk & Egg 1-3), by George R.R. Martin (2015)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Three novellas about the adventures of a fledgling knight and his young squire, set in Martin‘s famed fantasy world of Westeros.

Review: These are exceptional tales of chivalry and battle. ⬇️

Wylding Hall, by Elizabeh Hand (2015)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A (fictional) oral history of a folk band‘s greatest album and the tragic mystery involved in its recording.

Review: This has a great premise, and it absolutely delivered in the haunted atmosphere. Unfortunately, this had pretty severe pacing issues. ⬇️

The Ghoul of Windydown Vale, by Jake Burt (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: Questions abound when a terrified girl arrives in a small town claiming to have been attacked by the village ghoul—a monster those in the know know for a fact is not real.

Review: This was a fun middle grade novel that felt a bit like a reverse-Sooby Doo (though don‘t let that make you think its plot is simplistic, because it‘s not!).

A Room Above a Shop, by Anthony Shapland (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Two men quietly and secretly build a tenuous life together in 1980s rural Wales.

Review: If you come to this looking for plot or character, you‘ll leave disappointed. But this is an absolute triumph in atmosphere and in the way its spare writing style reinforces the secrecy of the men‘s lives. ⬇️

The Hollow and the Haunted, by Camilla Raines (2024)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (a half point taken off for it not having an ending)

Premise: A young seer is torn about what to do when he sees a vision of a dying young man begging for him to save him, then discovers it‘s the son of his family‘s sworn enemy.

Review: This does so much well: it‘s a fun, queer, YA, paranormal adventure with just the right balance of spooky and romance. ⬇️

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 5, by Beth Brower (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The still continued journals of a bright young woman navigating a fascinating assortment of handsome and charming men in her whimsical and slightly magical neighbourhood in Victorian London.

Review: I reiterate my previous pronouncement that these get better with every volume. ⬇️

Midnight Timetable, by Bora Chung (2023, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Interconnected short stories about a secret Korean facility that houses cursed objects.

Review: There are some wonderfully creative and creepy stories in this volume, which is a good fit for those who want to engage in spooky season content but are tired of the normal Western fare.

Bookish Pair: Uketu‘s Strange Pictures (transl. 2025)

The Sapling, by Marc Bendavid (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A man looks back on the unusually close and life-changing friendship he developed with his junior high art teacher.

Review: While at times repetitive, overall I think this odd little novel is a wonderful success. It describes a relationship that crossed professional boundaries but remained completely innocent, and something both people held precious for decades after. ⬇️

What Mother Won‘t Tell Me, by Ivar Leon Menger (2022, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A teenager living with her family on a remote lake becomes increasingly convinced that her parents aren‘t telling the truth about their circumstances.

Review: There‘s a lot that this does well: It‘s perfecly atmospheric, I was hooked immediately and the propulsive plot helped me get through it in two short sittings. ⬇️

Ordinary Saints, by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An Irish lesbian living in London faces an overdue reckoning with her homeland and family when she finds out her parents are leading a charge to have her late brother canonized as a Saint.

Review: I have no words to describe how beautiful this is. The long shadow of the Church over Irish life is common literary fare, but never have I seen it handled the tenderness it is here⬇️

On Social Justice, by St. Basil the Great (ca. 370, transl. 2007)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Collected sermons by one of Christianity‘s most influential theologians on the theme of social justice

Review: A lot of ancient Christian writing can be difficult for people today to understand, either because of awkward translations or the complexity of the theological controversies the authors were engaging. But this volume feels fresh and accessible. ⬇️

The Dogs of Venice, by Steven Rowley (2025)
⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A newly single New York man travels to Venice to learn to be comfortable being alone and finds his teacher in a street dog.

Review: Over the past decade Steven Rowley has been among my favourite authors, and I love short fiction, so I was excited to pick up this new novella. But, even the greats strike out some times, and wow was this ever a miss for me.⬇️

Brothers of the Wild North Sea, by Harper Fox (2011)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: After a Viking raid leaves his monastery in ruins and his mentor dead, a young monk takes in a wounded raider to heal him, but the two bond in ways that have lasting impacts on the world around them.

Review: This is an ambitious book, which is an odd thing to say for what is ostensibly queer historical romance⬇️..

Taaqtumi, by various authors (2019 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An anthology of horror stories from the Arctic

Review: This is an impressive collection of stories, especially considering the small population of the Canadian Arctic regions from which it drew its contributors. I really appreciated the varied threats, from the supernatural to the natural to the human and everything in between. Like any anthology, it‘s uneven, but overall I enjoyed this.