This article initially appeared in a print issue of the Monitor published Oct. 31, 2025.

I’ve been working my way through a lot of books over the last couple of falls and these are the ones that stuck with me. From twisty thrillers to dark academia to nonfiction, here are my top reading recommendations for the season.

Thrillers

If you like fast-paced plots and stories that keep you guessing, these are all worth picking up.

• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter: This one is dark and definitely not for the faint of heart. It follows two sisters who reconnect years after their third sister’s disappearance, uncovering horrifying truths along the way. Slaughter’s writing is intense but totally gripping.
• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera: A fun, modern mystery that combines true-crime podcast vibes with an unreliable narrator. It’s about a woman suspected of murder in her hometown and the podcaster determined to dig up what really happened.
• All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers: A small-town journalist returns home and becomes obsessed with solving a cold case that mirrors her own past. It’s full of secrets, small-town gossip, and that classic “everyone’s hiding something” energy.
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: A classic for a reason. Ten strangers are invited to an isolated island, and one by one, they’re killed off. Even if you think you know the twist, it still holds up.

Fantasy & Dark Academia

For readers who like atmospheric settings, academic rivalries, and a little bit of magic.

• A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid: This is one of my favorite reads of the year. It’s about a literature student who wins a contest to design a cover for her favorite author’s final book. It has gothic vibes and a haunting seaside setting.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: A cozy read about a grumpy academic studying faeries in a fictional remote village. It’s part fantasy, part field journal, and surprisingly funny.
• Babel by R.F. Kuang: A dense but fascinating story about language, power, and colonialism set in an alternate Oxford. It’s a slow burn, but if you like dark academia and big ideas, it’s worth it. (Next up for me is Katabasis, R.F. Kuang’s newest book).

Other Fiction

These are character-driven stories that made me think, and in some cases, cry a little.

• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans: A short story collection about race, identity, and how we talk about history. Every story feels sharp and deeply relevant, and the title novella is especially memorable.
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio: Think Dead Poets Society meets Macbeth. It follows a tight-knit group of acting students whose lives spiral after one of them ends up dead. It’s dramatic in the best way.
• Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka: This book alternates between the final hours of a man on death row and the perspectives of the women affected by his crimes. It’s beautifully written and much more about empathy and understanding than violence.
• Normal People by Sally Rooney: A quiet, emotional story about two people who can’t seem to get their timing right. Rooney captures the awkwardness and intensity of young relationships perfectly.

Nonfiction

These books prove that real life can be just as fascinating (and unsettling) as fiction.

• From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty: A mortician travels the world exploring how different cultures deal with death. It’s oddly comforting and a reminder that death doesn’t have to be taboo.
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande: A thoughtful look at aging, medicine, and end-of-life care. It’s one of those books that changes how you think about what it means to live well.
• American Predator by Maureen Callahan: A chilling deep dive into the case of Israel Keyes, one of the most meticulous serial killers in U.S. history. It reads like a detective story but is entirely true.
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara: True crime at its best. McNamara’s investigation into the Golden State Killer is both gripping and deeply human, especially knowing that her work continued to bring attention to these crimes even after her death.

Whether you’re looking to be spooked, inspired, or just distracted from homework for a while, these books all made an impression on me and I think they’ll do the same for you.

Literature is, and always will be, a valuable tool in learning about the lives of others. Reading can connect us to cultures different and unique from our own. As the month of May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it’s a perfect time to read books written by those of Asian descent while remembering to keep in mind the importance of reading these books year-round. Here are a few books to pick up this May:

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a 2019 debut novel from Vietnamese poet Ocean Vuong. At 246 pages, it’s not necessarily a short novel and has poetic prose throughout. The novel is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read and is an honest exploration of class and race. Vuong writes about people trying to survive while finding joy along the way.

Another book from 2019, “Trust Exercise” by Susan Choi was the winner of the years’ national book award for fiction. Choi’s novel is set in an American suburb in the early 1980s, featuring students at a highly competitive performing arts high school. The characters of this novel face the outside world of family life, economic status and academic pressure in a shocking spiral of events.

First published in 2018, “The Incendiaries” by R.O. Kwon is 214 pages and follows Phoebe Lin and Will Kendall. “The Incendiaries” features a fractured love story as Phoebe is drawn into a cult tied to North Korea that is committing acts of domestic terrorism. Kwon’s novel is an examination of culture and the minds of extreme terrorists.

Michelle Zauner’s “Crying in H Mart” was widely read in 2021 when it was first published. A memoir, Zauner tells of growing up as an Asian American kid in Oregon. She examines struggling with high expectations, her relationship with her mother and their shared love of food and how her life changed when her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Described as vivacious and plainspoken, “Crying in H Mart” is rich and powerful – a novel to cherish and reread.

Linda Hirshman’s novel, “Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World,” follows the lives and careers of Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg. Although O’Connor and Ginsburg have drastically different political views and backgrounds, they both experienced many of the same obstacles in their legal careers.

Ginsburg’s educational career at Cornell and Columbia Law Schools was marked by discrimination based on her gender. She faced discrimination from a professor who asked the female law students to justify taking a man’s spot and from employers who told her they couldn’t hire female attorneys to preserve their firm’s reputation. 

Hirshman follows Ginsburg’s career as an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union where she advocated for women’s rights and gender equality in multiple Supreme Court cases. Her path to the Supreme Court is inspiring for women in the legal field and paved the way for women’s rights.

O’Connor’s career followed a different path. She attended Stanford University but had the same difficulties as Ginsburg when finding employment before becoming a judge and elected official in Arizona. Justice O’Connor is the first female Supreme Court Justice. Although she is not as vocal of a feminist as Ginsburg, Hirshman makes it clear that she played an important role in the fight for women’s rights and representation. 

This book is an enjoyable read because of its engaging writing style and important message. Hirshman does an excellent job of making court cases and the legal system easy to follow and understand for the reader. 

While reading, I learned a lot about different court cases that I was previously unaware of, which was interesting because it demonstrates the long fight for gender equality and the strategies employed to give legal protections to women. Through reading about O’Connor and Ginsburg’s contributions to the legal field and the struggles they endured, I gained a greater appreciation and respect for both women. Hirshman captures the distinct personalities of both Ginsburg and O’Connor while simultaneously connecting both of their careers to illustrate the broader picture of women’s rights and feminism’s impact on society.

I would recommend this book to everyone since I think this topic is important. In particular, I would recommend this book to pre-law students because it helped me gain a broader view of the legal field and gave me a stronger appreciation for the opportunities afforded to me because of Justices Ginsburg and O’Connor.

Given that this pandemic has made it so that many of us are holed up in our abodes, we seem to have an excess of time to kill. Perhaps our first instinct is to reach for our phone, but there’s only so much bandwidth to go around in a particular home. I recommend, then, that we should pick an isolated corner of our houses and cozy it up with blankets, pillows and plush animals galore. Further, we should brew our favorite hot drink – tea, coffee or hot cocoa – and then settle down with a good novel. Ah, but what novels to read? 

I’ve always been a firm believer in the fact that certain novels are best read in circumstances which encourage further immersion and identification with the narrative. As such, many of the novel recommendations which I have given reflect our tumultuous reality, though not all books listed here are all doom and gloom.

The list of book recommendations will be divided into classics, written before 1945, and contemporary novels, written after 1945.  

The Classics

• “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann 

This novel is quite long, but I think its narrative fits in with the times at the moment. Besides, what better time than now to read a long novel? “The Magic Mountain” tells about a man whose failing health condemns him to a sanatorium. I think, given that there’s been numerous jokes online about how the month of March seems to have lasted years, that the novel’s unique time progression will hold an appeal to readers. The novel is also intentionally ambiguous, particularly in its ending, and I think that sort of ambiguity also reflects our current situation.

• “Blindness” by Jose Saramago 

“Blindness” tells the story about the effects an epidemic of blindness has on a community of people. The story delves into aspects of human nature in times of crisis that are in line with the sort of behavior we see today. As a bonus, the story is not quite as gloomy as “The Magic Mountain.”

• “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott

I think this book is quite a joy to read. And with Greta Gerwig’s recently released film adaptation, it would be a good thing to read “Little Women” and engage in some comparative analysis.

Contemporary Novels

• “The Overstory” by Richard Powers

This novel, written as a series of fables spanning from the time before the Civil War to the 20th century, tells the story of a world that we live in, and which we are inextricable from, but that we nonetheless do not see and do not understand – a world of trees.

• “White Noise” by John DeLillo 

A postmodern novel, this book explores the absurdist philosophy and consumerism which so plagued American society in the 20th century. The novel is quite a dadaist ride. The author isn’t making any appeals to change a dystopian American society, but nonetheless the analysis of that which is hectic, confusing and sickly in society may strike a chord with readers, particularly now. 

• “The Discomfort of Evening” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld 

This book has not yet been released, but it has been making waves around the world, given that it was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize. The story is about the grief that a young girl feels in the face of her brother’s death and her subsequent changing desires and views on religion and the inadequacy of her parents as caretakers. 

And if you miss the internet too much, remember that reading books doesn’t have to be a solitary affair. Make a virtual book club with your friends and pick a few novels to discuss together.