I had a wonderful 2025. Yes, the world right outside my door was and still is on fire, with impending horrors always on the horizon. But within my sphere things were good, fantastic even, and I’m very grateful.

I finally saw the Redwoods in Northern California, something I have wanted to see for most of my life. It was an emotional, almost spiritual experience for me, and I absolutely want to go back and see other groves.

I had the surreal experience of standing on a mountain highway on a crisp, clear night, and capturing the Milky Way on my phone. I grew up in a rural area but haven’t been able to see the stars like that since I moved away.

I met beautiful neighborhood cats, ate delicious oysters, and baked my first angel food cake. I made new friends and deepened existing friendships. I injured my knee but brought it back even stronger with physical therapy. I can’t hope that next year will be as good as this one, but I truly appreciated the break in the clouds.

Writing-wise, I had some big accomplishments:

• My story “Drosera regina” came out in Lightspeed and was selected by Gizmodo to run on Halloween.

• I sold a story to Reactor/Tor.com. “Not Like Other Girls” is slated for Summer 2026.

• I sold two other pieces that I can’t talk about yet (paperwork pending), but hopefully can in the spring.

• I broke 1k subscribers on this newsletter, thanks to all of you.

I also read a lot of good books this year, mainly literary and horror. I’ve included my favorites below, and I urge you to check them out for yourself or loved ones. Remember, your local public library is always there for you, and you can and should request they order books if they don’t have them. A library purchase is a purchase like any other, and that’s money in authors’ pockets.

Novels

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

I was crying by page 80, so you know it’s good. Saunders’ highly-anticipated debut novel (after a lauded career in short stories) concerns the real death of Lincoln’s young son, imagining the ghost of the young boy during his first night in the afterlife. It’s a tale of love, folly, and intense grief, and plays to Saunders’ short story strength by unfolding through dialogue vignettes. I will say the ending left me up in the air, but 99% of this book is pure gold.

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

Part family drama, part modern gothic, part Appalachian folk horror, this book loved to disrupt my expectations. The story of five siblings caring for a rotting manor as they await the arrival of the eldest son’s bog-made wife is really a story about inheritance, love (and its lack), and abuse. It’s a quick read, and I found myself looking forward to it every night the way one does a messy soap opera. The perfect beach read for those who vacation at the swamp.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)

A story in thirds, each a different viewpoint of someone close to the titular Vegetarian, a woman and wife and sister who stops eating meat after having nightmares. We see the ripple effects through the eyes of her husband, sister, and sister‘s husband, as the Vegetarian is consistently misunderstood and abused. It’s an interesting look at social and gender roles, as well as an exploration of reality and the inevitability of death.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica (translated by Sarah Moses)

What I like most about this book is its comfort with the strange. Strange things happen, supposed Saints give off unearthly auras, nature comes and goes, and no true explanation is given. Instead we are just covered in heavy atmosphere, religion, and gender. It would be unfair to compare this book to the instant classic Tender Is the Flesh, so I won’t try. But this is a slim, beautiful, climate Gothic with some strange and lasting imagery.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

It’s a classic for a reason. A slow, beautiful meditation on life told through the myriad viewpoints of a group of people summering together at the shore. This book is a great example of a novel written before the dominance of film. There are no establishing shots, and the book begins mid-thought inside the mind of a young boy who hates his father. The focalization remains very tight, jumping from person to person, and it took me at least 60 pages to get my bearings. Once everything snapped into place, I loved the trick of it all.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

An eleven-year old girl believes she can use magical powers to protect herself. If you read that and thought, “Sounds cute!” this may not be the book for you. If you thought, “Why does an eleven-year old girl need to protect herself?” you’re on the right track. I was told not to do any research before starting this book, and I give you that same advice. But I will also say, this is a very difficult read. It’s certainly Art, in that it made me ask myself challenging questions about my values and the world. But don’t let the cover fool you; this is the darkest book on the list.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)

An elderly woman with unspecified ailments is caught up in a series of strange murders in her remote Polish village. I have a soft spot for wintertime murder mysteries, and this book is no exception. While certainly a different pace from a traditional detective thriller, this slower, more studious book was a very pleasant and engaging read. I have some quibbles about the book’s structure and execution, but they are not enough to keep me from recommending it. The characters are interesting and the vibe is strong.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison said, “What if I mused poetically about marriage, heritage, and heartbreak, made the winding of time my well-loved jump rope, and dusted each page with sentences sweet as candy?” and I said, “Thank you, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison.”

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin

A repressed queer woman must restore an occult film from the 1940s. This book was made to be read one-handed, leaning out a window while smoking a cheap cigarette. It’s pulpy, it’s hot, it’s a love note to classic horror films and queer culture. It’s a fast, sharp read, and a very good (bad) time.

Novellas

The Employees by Olga Ravn (translated by Martin Aitken)

This novella is Type 2 fun, far more pleasurable to remember than experience. A collection of first person reports regarding the arrival of strange objects aboard a spaceship and their impact on the crew, both human and artificial. The brief vignettes cause a disjointed and distanced reading experience that adds up to something similar to the Spoon River Anthology, where the reader has the pleasure of piecing together a larger narrative from multiple viewpoints. My one critique is a section where something is unnecessarily explained, spoiling the subtle and weird vibes. But overall a clever and interesting book.

Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

A collection of four novellas (well, one short novel and three novellas) this book explores the boundary of gender and identity. I liked them all in different ways and different amounts, although my favorite by far is The Chaser, a boarding school romance written with the deft confidence of an author firmly in her wheelhouse with all her tools sharpened. I want a chapbook of it. You should read the collection, but that one most of all.

Collections

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

After coming across Lahiri’s work in The New Yorker, I decided to give her debut (Pulitzer prize winning) collection a read. What an absolute pleasure. She wields straightforward prose to paint deft portraits of characters that seem pressed between the pages. I admire her ability to depict such subtle emotional arcs. I usually list my favorites in a collection, but I liked them all in different ways. Highly recommend this book.

Mouth by Puloma Ghosh

I picked up this collection based on the cover, so hooray for art direction! Ghosh’s debut collection centers around young women, mostly queer, as they wander into dark landscapes and darker relationships. It’s speculative fiction, mainly horror-tinged fantasy, but my favorite stories were the ones more anchored in reality, where Ghosh’s ability to layer on atmosphere and scenery really shine. My favorites include “The Fig Tree,” “Leaving Things,” “K,” “Natalya,” and “Nip,” but you can find sharp lips and slick sex in nearly every selection.

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

This book is an Internet exorcism. A series of interconnected short stories designed to flush your nervous system with scalding water and purify away all of your worst online neuroses. Tulathimutte paints these portraits of terminally online Millennials so effortlessly that it feels like he copy and pasted something from an Internet forum. It’s the kind of writing where the craft disappears into the truth. Is it a pleasurable read? God, no. But it’s a good one.

Uncertain Sons by Thomas Ha

Since the arrival of Covid, people have been waiting for The Pandemic Book, a literary work that would perfectly reflect those specific troubled times. My vote is for this story collection, which perfectly encapsulates the past five years of illness, death, political unrest, racism, violence, and climate disaster. Each story is great on its own, but taken together they weave a poignant tapestry of isolation and fear, using devices such as uncanny birds and alien fauna to re-create the emotions of those who lived through that time. I can almost see the historical footnotes in future editions. Favorite stories include “The Sort,” “Window Boy,” and “Sweetbaby,” but they’re all great.

“Nonfiction”

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Launching America’s obsession with true crime, this “nonfiction novel” details the events leading up to, during, and after the brutal murder of the Clutter family in November 1959. While Capote flirts with the truth (and one of the killers) on the page to an almost distracting extent, his ability to weave a narrative and pen beautifully sharp prose makes for a captivating read. I couldn’t put it down.

Stories

• “Manifest” by ‘Pemi Aguda. A young woman is accused of harboring a malevolent spirit. Is it magic? Or plausible deniability? Aguda’s debut collection Ghost Roots came out last year.

• “In Connorville” by Kathleen Jennings. Sisters share fantastical stories about the people in their hometown. Jennings’s latest book Honeyeater came out this year.

• “Pearlescent Tickwad” by Samir Sirk Morató. A woman discovers she’s made of millions of ticks. Can she ever be a good mother? Morató’s debut collection Gore Poetics comes out in 2026.

Want to read more?

Has this list inspired you to read more in 2026? Well, now is the time to start! Don’t fret about setting goals or comparing yourself to others. I don’t try to read a specific number of books each year. I just read.

• Get a library card. Your library is an indispensable public service, offering everything from physical books to ebooks to movie streaming and video games.

• Download Libby or Overdrive or an e-reader app to your phone. Don’t doomscroll. Read a book instead.

• Subscribe to short fiction magazines. Short fiction is greatly undervalued, meaning you can get a lot for very little money. Most will send you ebooks, and some still do physical copies.

Happy New Year!