ReadersBlock

by Jo Murray (May 5) A young lawyer is tasked with her very first murder case: the defense of a man on trial for the killing of a high profile judge. The defendant is insistent upon using her, despite her inexperience and the fact that he won’t say a word about the crime. To make matters worse, the big time prosecutor she’s facing in court is her very own husband. Expected to be a twisty, brilliantly murky courtroom thriller.

by Edward Carey Read it if you’re into: Revolutionary France, Madame Tussaud, illustrated fiction An imaginative recreation of the life of Marie Grosholtz, the diminutive Swiss orphan who would go on to become the legendary Madame Tussaud. Apprenticed to an eccentric wax modeler, she learns, under his tutelage, to craft realistic waxwork heads. As the world around her shifts in revolution, Little’s fortunes take her from the gutters of Paris to the hallowed halls of Versailles.

Let me preface this by saying: Reading is a deeply personal endeavor and I never want to yuck another person’s yum. Everyone should read whatever they damn well please. For that reason, I rarely dedicate so much energy and space to a negative review. But this must be said! I have to spare others from hundreds of pages of dull, repetitive drivel. Thanks for reading ReadersBlock! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Happy 2026 my fellow readers (and aspiring readers)! Thanks for reading ReadersBlock! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I’ve kept you waiting long enough, so without further ado, here are the six best books I read in 2025: by Scott Anderson I sort of can’t believe I’m obsessed with a book about the Iranian Revolution, but here we are.

It’s freeeezing, and we’re all ready for a break, so I’m throwing it back this issue with some favorites. I’ve rounded up a few thick beauties for you to cozy up with, ideally in front of a fire as you embark on a full week of not leaving the house. by Edward Rutherfurd Read it if you’re into: Multigenerational sagas, the history of New York City, place-driven narratives Thanks for reading ReadersBlock! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Apologies, all, for the radio silence! I spent the last few months completely unplugged after welcoming my first baby. Giovanni arrived suddenly and with a good bit of drama, but he’s home now, safe and healthy, and I’m back — with plenty of books to tell you about. I’ve also decided to add a Currently Reading section to my newsletters, so you can see what I’m getting into and tell me if you’re interested in a review.

Wild islands and cranes and oysters and crocs! These five recent reads are all wildly different, but all of them feature the natural world as a vital part of the book. by Charlotte McConaghy Read it if you’re into: Haunting and isolated settings, reverence for the wild, grief and resilience Thanks for reading ReadersBlock! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Widower Dominic Salt and his three children are the only ones living on remote, storm battered Shearwater Island.

by Pallavi Sharma Dixit Read it if you’re into: Indian culture, television & film, feel good stories Sweet and sensitive Prem, the black sheep son of one of New Delhi’s most successful business magnates, has never really fit in with the rest of his high-powered family. While he’s content to watch and dream of Indian cinema day in and day out, his father is intent on having him join the family business and finally make something of himself.

By Jesse Q. Sutanto Read it if you’re into: Uplifting murder mysteries; A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman; dramedies Thanks for reading ReadersBlock! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. An elderly Asian widow running a dusty old teashop in San Francisco’s Chinatown has but a single customer for whom she opens her store each and every day.

My unlikely, life-changing, standout out of the year. Who would have thought? This Pulitzer Prize-winning doorstop, clocking in at over 1,000 pages, was part of my (slow) mission to read a biography of every president. I’d thought little about Harry Truman — man or president — before picking it up. Like all good biographies, it’s a study of a life but also a colorful history of a complex time. More than anything, I was blown away by Truman as a man (I cried at the end).