Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read & Reading This Week.
Finished:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh [2025]
If you’ve read Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, you’ll know that the mundane isn’t quite as mundane as the story portrays. I’m not sure where my thoughts and feelings sit after finishing it. At the moment, it feels like an experiment that didn’t quite have the results I expected. But I don’t know what I expected – so is it me or the work?
Currently Reading:
???
As of this post, I’m still deciding. Do I call it quits on my 2025 reading and start afresh in 2026? I have a reading streak on The StoryGraph to keep up, so I will be reading something.
DNF’d:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir [2021] (in Audiobook format)
I went in with an open mind. I knew I might not like it after trying The Martian, but so many people love the audiobook that I thought we might have got on. We don’t. Partly, it’s a humour mismatch. I don’t find it funny (that’s on me). But also, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough.
Book-ish Thoughts
The only thing that springs to mind right now is that there are still 10 days left, and making a best of the year book lists feels disrespectful to what you might pick up before midnight on New Year’s Eve.
That Broke into Shining Crystals by Richard Scott via the guardian
The Book of Jonah by Luke Kennard via the guardian
And a special shout-out to Womble for their Santa Womble series, highlighting gifts that someone could get you, you could get someone else, or for yourself across the genres.
Cover(s) of the Week
Outro
I hope Santa brings you gift vouchers or books from your wish list, and more importantly, time to read your backlogs.
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read & Reading This Week.
Finished:
Physical: When the Museum Is Closed by Emi Yagi [Trans. Yuki Tejima] [2023/2025]
This is about a woman who falls in love with a statue and has a full-blown conversations with it. If you’re into slightly surreal and weird fiction, this is 100% for you. I loved it.
Audiobook/e-book: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie [2025]
For those who have been following along, finishing The Devils has taken me a while. It’s not the book, it’s the fact that it was an audiobook (I just haven’t found the right situations to listen to anything). Well, it was slightly the book; it’s episodic, so once you finish one block, there isn’t a hook into the next section. However, switching to the ebook, I picked up the pace and found the ending perfect for the story. I am really glad I made it to the end. I wonder what book 2 will bring?
Currently Reading:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
I have picked this back up after Womble’s instance that it’s not what I think it is – I’m back into it and curious again – I wonder what’s going to happen?
Book-ish Thoughts
I do love the lists that prizes present, especially when they include books I might not otherwise encounter. The TFR Awards is one on them:
I own, but have yet to read, Lessons in Magic and Disaster and Black Flame, and until checking the availability of Woodworking, I didn’t own that either, but I do know thanks to a silly ebook sale.
Anyway, I’m intrigued by Stag Dance and A/S/L but I’m not sure that they are books I’ll end up reading.
Here’s the 2025 Longlist for Best Transfeminine Fiction for you to check out:
Lessons in Magic and Disaster – Charlie Jane Anders
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan via @bookbinch
Cover(s) of the Week
Outro
We’ve almost at the end of the year, which is making me reflective.
I’ve kept track of my 2025 reading thanks to thestorygraph.com and updated my Read in ’25 page list. Of the 32 books, only 6 were published in 2025. 14 books were from 2024, so if this pattern continues, I’ll be catching up with 2025 next year!
I’m still figuring out what I want to post in 2026, but for now, I think I want to keep doing these weekly posts, though they do take more time than you’d think. Not sure what I’m doing with reviews, though.
Anyway, I hope you find time to do some reading despite the pre-Christmas week chaos.
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Quick Note
I missed last week’s update because I picked up a bug that I’m still recovering from, so this is a two-week update, and it wasn’t because it was cold in Paris, but that may not have helped.
Visiting Shakespeare and Company, Paris
Towards the end of November, I spent the weekend in Paris and I got the chance to visit the English-language bookshop, Shakespeare and Company
They keep the numbers inside manageable so there is enough space to peruse. This means there was a queue, and I waited around 20 minutes for people to filter in and out. Once inside, I was delighted by the selection, as it had something from all genres.
I picked up Vampires at Sea by Linsay Merbaum, At the Louvre, and Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer [trans. Katy Derbyshire], and got them stamped (I didn’t know this was a thing they did until they offered it at the counter).
If you’re in Paris, I recommend making a pilgrimage.
Books Read & Reading This Week.
Finished:
the long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers [2015]
Currently Reading:
Physical: When the Museum Is Closed by Emi Yagi [Trans. Yuki Tejima] [2023/2025]
Audiobook/e-book: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie [2025]
I’ve been listening to The Devils intermittently since May this year. I’m now 72% through it. I am determined to finish it before the year ends. It’s not a DNF, but something isn’tquitecompelling me to keep reading to find out what happens next. I am interested in the characters, and I want to discover what happens to them by the end of the book, so I’m keeping on going.
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis [2025]
The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso [2024]
I need to finish The Devils and decide whether to read the other 60% of The Incandescent by Emily Tesh.
I am unlikely to finish The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023) & Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology so I am likely to carry those over to the new year.
What about you? Have you made any 2026 reading plans yet?
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read/Reading This Week.
Finished:
The Trees by Percival Everett [2021]
Currently Reading:
the long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers [2015]
Book-ish Thoughts
I deleted my NetGalley account this week. That’s the end of an era.
I also treated myself to a remote page turner for my Boox Palma and Kindle. I hope it will make for easier reading.
Books Out This Week (and Last)
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) [Bobiverse: Book 1] by Dennis E. Taylor
The Sacred Space Between by Kalie Reid
On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle [Trans. Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell]
Slow Gods by Claire North
Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz
Outlaw Planet by M. R. Carey
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow: A Novel by Kelley Armstrong
The Haunted Library: Tales of Cursed Books and Forbidden Shelves [Compiler Tanya Kirk]
Woman in the Pillory – Penguin Modern Classics by Brigitte Reimann [Trans. Lucy Jones]
Books That Others have Tempted Me With:
Collective: The Collaborative Art of Anthologies, edited by Dan Coxon and Pete W Sutton [Out Oct 2026] via Ann VanderMeer
The Delusions by Jenni Fagan [Out March 2026] via Jenni Fagan
The nominees for best anthology have had individual reviews, but I’ve decided to comment on the novellas as a group.
As a reminder the nominees for World Fantasy Awards 2025 Novella are:
Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire/Titan Books)
In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael F. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine)
Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications)
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom/Titan Books UK)
Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire/Titan Books)
This is a re-read. I originally read this in November 2024 and enjoyed it. On the second reading, it felt more powerful. I was vaguely anticipating certain events, but I was convinced that I had also misremembered them. I hadn’t. It was more disturbing.
The opening challenges you to suspend your disbelief. A woman is accompanied to the hospital by her husband for treatment of her affliction by hospital staff. So far, this is typical for a late nineteenth or early twentieth-century novel. However, this hospital is on the moon. It is also reported to be situated at the entrance to the burrow of a long-dead spider.
What fascinates me about this story is Ballingrud’s exploration of memory and how reality can be reshaped through misremembering. There are spiders and body horror, but also themes of empowerment, rage, and revenge.
I highly recommend this.
In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael F. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine)
An assignation attempt goes very wrong.
There is no other way of saying this; I Did Not Finish this. I barely made it to the end of the second chapter.
I also checked the ending to see if I’d been unkind or impulsive in my assessment. But I hadn’t.
The opening had me hooked: following the third-best assassin in the city on a mission was quite thrilling. However, the voice, the point-of-view shift, and ultimately the story itself wasn’t for me.
I’m sure it’ll have its fans. I am not one of them.
Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications)
A linguist has an interview with an assassin at the School of Assassins. Stonee Orphan greets the individual with their first assignment. As they try to understand who they are to kill, we gain insight into both the assassin and their client.
Lemberg made me work. Since this was my first Birdverse story, I had to grasp the world being presented—a world of Stars and personified storylines: Song, Stone, Fish, Moss, Feeder, Boater, and Weaver.
I’m curious how that lore is used, if at all, in other Birdverse works.
The interview format allows the characters to swap stories, giving Stone, the assassin, and the reader insight into why Ulín, the linguist, wants someone killed. It also explores why Ulín is coy about stating it outright.
It’s one of those stories that gets under your skin because it feels unfair. Ulín and Stone end up where they are because of what others see in them, not because of what they’ve built for themselves.
Ultimately, it’s an exploration of story, gender, language, and understanding.
Outstanding, and my winner (it was the actual winner too).
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
A nurse volunteers to work in a small rural community in the Appalachian Mountains. There, she discovers she is unwelcome, despite the benefits her work could bring.
This is a tough one. Billed as a blend of historical horror, trans romance and blood-soaked revenge, it certainly delivers all three.
Mandelo handles the fluidity of pronouns used by the main character – a nurse sent to an Appalachian settlement – with ease. The romance becomes spicy, and the sense of dread remains palpable.
Yet Mandelo’s story has some blind spots. At certain points, they create magical (and impossible) safety bubbles and pull back from fully exploring the truly horrific moments. I’m unsure whether this was a conscious or subconscious attempt to protect the characters – or the readers – from additional trauma.
However, by holding back, some awkward moments arise where threats seem to vanish unnaturally. I also felt slightly short-changed by the lore surrounding the forest, which was only hinted at rather than fully explored or utilised.
There is a lot to enjoy here, and it’s worth reading, but you may come away feeling slightly short-changed.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom/Titan Books UK)
The children of the Tyrant vanish into a wood—a wood the locals know never to enter. The only person who has ever ventured into those woods and returned is sent in after them.
Perhaps I’ve been reading too many stories set in dangerous, mythological forests—thanks to Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology—but, as with The Woods All Black review above, I felt Mohamed held something back here and didn’t dig quite deep enough.
Veris Thorn enters the woods with a knack (or folk instinct) for knowing the right or wrong way to proceed. There, she encounters tricksters, helpers, monsters, and impossible things. I liked Veris as a character—stoic and stalwart as she marched through the woods.
But the set pieces didn’t add up for me. Should it have been grimmer? More fantastical? Perhaps the children should have been more damaged. Personally, I would have preferred it to be darker, more dangerous, and more unsettling.
Again, as with The Woods All Black, I’m left wondering whether this was a deliberate or subconscious attempt to shield the readers—or perhaps the writer—from the trauma at the heart of the story.
A sequel might well change my view, but for now, it’s a pleasant afternoon read—provided you don’t expect too much.
The winner, Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg, was announced on Sunday, 2 November, at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read/Reading This Week.
Finished:
Volative Memory by Seth Hadon [2025]
Currently Reading:
The Trees by Percival Everett [2021]
Book-ish Thoughts
We’re thinking of 2026 already?
To be fair a couple of weeks ago I was thinking of 2026 as Waterstones had a 2026 pre-order promotion as I was looking at books coming out in 2026.
Some most anticipated in H1:Glyph, Ali Smith (Jan)Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley (Feb)If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (Mar)Nonesuch, Frances Spufford (Mar)What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr)The End of Everything, M John Harrison (Jun)Isabel J. Kim, Sublimation (Jun)
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read/Reading This Week.
Finished:
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Currently Reading:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh [2025] – edit Now Paused
Volative Memory by Seth Hadon [2025]
Booker-ish Thoughts
Dan Hartland has a blog post on The Booker Prize 2025 and raises the point and explores that,
‘this year’s shortlist, it seems to me, is not making a statement. It is instead asking a question.’
I am not in any rush to read this year’s selection, though I will get Flesh in paperback, and I keep tempting myself with The Land in Winter.
But if you want to get an idea of what this year’s offers are and what question Dan believes it’s asking, I’d highly recommend reading his post.
Out This Week-ish in the UK
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
The Haunted Library: Tales of Cursed Books and Forbidden Shelves
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
The Strength of the Few by James Islington
Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher
The Echo of Crows by Philip Rickman
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
The Whisper of Stars by Cristin Williams
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn [Trans. Martin Aitken]
The Moon Glow Bookshop by Dongwon Seo [Trans. Shanna Tan]
The Shapeshifter’s Daughter by Sally Magnusson
The Tower of the Tyrant by J. T. Greathouse
Ice by Jacek Dukaj [Trans. Ursula Phillips]
Herculin: A Novel by Grace Byron
Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood
The Burning Queen by Aparna Verma
The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París [Trans. Christina MacSweeney]
Wow! Signal column collects examples of diverse critical voices from around the web. This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list, but rather a scattershot snapshot of interesting discussions, hopefully introducing ARB’s readers to new critics, books, topics, and venues.
Outro
If you’ve been following my StoryGraph profile, you might have noticed that I’ve paused reading both The Incandescent by Emily Tesh at 40% and The Devils by Joe Abercrombie at 61%. There’s nothing wrong with either of them, apart from the devils.
I am craving some space, or science fiction, or something murderous. I may have overdone the horror-like fantasy, which surprises me since I have all these haunted houses to see.
But rather than becoming jaded, I’m taking a break in the hope I’ll return to them refreshed and less jaded.
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read/Reading This Week.
Finished:
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good [Loki: A Bad God’s Guide #1] by Louie Stowell
Currently Reading:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Newsy Things
The British Fantasy Awards 2025 where announed yesterday.
Best Anthology WINNER: BURY YOUR GAYS, EDITED BY SOFIA AJRAM
Best Non-Fiction WINNER: QUEER AS FOLKLORE BY SACHA COWARD
One is the only anthology I haven’t dipped into yet, but it is very queer, and the other is an outsider to the genre, yet another queer work. A lovely surprise. Thank you, BFA voters.
Locus has the full list of winners but I wanted to call out a couple:
Best Novella WINNER: Yoke of Stars, R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
Best AnthologyWINNER: Heartwood, Dan Coxon, ed. (Drugstore Indian)
I am still working on my post about this year’s Novella shortlist, but Yoke of Stars is a worthy winner. I also haven’t yet finished Heartwood, but it’s a powerful collection of works by talented writers, so I can see why it won.
Out This Week-ish in the UK
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (paperback release)
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson
It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey
Alien: Perfect Organism by Shaun Hamill
Titanchild – The Talon Duology by Jen Williams (paperback release)
The Black Crow Book of Best New Horror. Volume 1
The Samurai Detectives. Volume 1 – The Samurai Detectives by Shotaro Ikenami [Trans Yui Kajita]
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (author) [Trans. Daniel James Bowles]
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Hazelthorn by C. G. Drews
Alien: Cult by Gavin G. Smith
Fallen City by Adrienne Young
The Tower of the Tyrant by J. T. Greathouse
The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgård [Trans. Martin Aitken]
Vaim by Jon Fosse [Trans. Damion Searls]
Books That Others have Tempted Me With:
The Fate of Mary Rose by Caroline Blackwood via bewareofpity
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Books Read/Reading This Week.
Finished:
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo – I have this 3.75 – there was a lot to like, but ultimately it didn’t fulfil its potential.
Currently Reading:
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good [Loki: A Bad God’s Guide #1] by Louie Stowell – I’ve borrowed this (and the next two) from the library, and I’m really enjoying the mix of silliness and seriousness.
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh – off to a cracking start in terms of pages read – not sure where this magic/modern world school mix is going, but I keen to find out.
Paused:
I am going to read The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed so I can complete half of my challenge but I’m not going to complete the anthologies in time
I may have to admit to myself that I’m not going to finish reading all the stories contained in the BFA 25 Best Anthology Category before next week’s announcement. I can’t seem to blast through them: Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, ed by Dan Coxon – is deeply impactful and needs room
I am struggling to switch between immersive worlds when I start a new story. I think this is a strength of the collections, but it also means that I don’t want to rush just to meet a deadline. I’m taking a break. I’ll carry on after the award announcement. But I do recommend you read all the finalists.
Newsy Things
FUNDED!!!
They Are Still Here (Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd) has Funded!! There is still time to back the Kickstarter and help it reach some unannounced stretch goals.
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation longlist 2025
Johanna Ekström and Sigrid Rausing, And the Walls Became the World All Around, translated from Swedish (Sweden) by Sigrid Rausing (Granta)
Evelyne Trouillot, Désirée Congo, translated from French (Haiti) by M.A. Salvodon (University of Virginia Press)
Fatma Aydemir, Djinns, translated from German (Germany) by Jon Cho-Polizzi (Peirene Press)
Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium, translated from Polish (Poland) by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Maylis Besserie, Francis Bacon’s Nanny, translated from French (France) by Clíona Ní Ríordáin (The Lilliput Press)
María Bastarós, Hungry for What, translated from Spanish (Spain), by Kevin Gerry Dunn (Daunt Books Publishing)
Elsa Morante, Lies and Sorcery, translated from Italian (Italy) by Jenny McPhee (Penguin Press)
Krisztina Tóth, My Secret Life, translated from Hungarian (Hungary) by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe Books)
Kim Hyesoon, Phantom Pain Wings, translated from Korean (South Korea) by Don Mee Choi (And Other Stories)
Liliana Corobca, Too Great A Sky, translated from Romanian (Romania) by Monica Cure (Seven Stories Press UK)
Laura Wittner, Translation of the Route, translated from Spanish (Argentina) by Juana Adcock (Bloodaxe Books and Poetry Translation Centre)
Sara Mesa, Un Amor, translated from Spanish (Spain) by Katie Whittemore (Peirene Press)
Lucija Stupica, Vanishing Points, translated from Slovenian (Slovenia) by Andrej Peric (Arc Publications)
Han Kang, We Do Not Part, translated from Korean (South Korea) by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House UK)
I only planned to read The Empusium. Are there any others you’d recommend?
Out This Week in the UK – ish
Too many books are being released, and I can’t keep up or list them all, but these are the ones that stood out.
Unquiet Guests ed. Dan Coxon
Queen Demon – The Rising World by Martha Wells
What Stalks the Deep (The Sworn Soldier Series) by T. Kingfisher
Absolute Zero
Absolution: by Jeff VanderMeer (Paperback)
The Albino’s Secret by Michael Moorcock & Mark Hodder
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri comes
What have you seen coming out that I’ve missed?
Books That Others have Tempted Me With:
I do love the thrill of finding interesting books or seeing others discover them. These are some books that have rang a bell along with the person who rang it.
The Albino’s Secret by Michael Moorcock & Mark Hodder via Reactor’s
Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.
Keeping Everything Tracked
I sought Bluesky’s advice on tracking books, as I am feeling a mix of lost, confused, or overwhelmed due to all the options.
Do you keep a list of books you want to read/buy? How long is that list? Could you make it ten or less and keep it that long on a constant basis?
The following discussion prompted me to compile a spreadsheet of all my pre-orders, clearly showing that I have enough pre-orders to keep me occupied until June.
Tufty McTavish reminded me of the power of tags in the Story Graph and why it’s good to invest time in adding them.
I’m also going to try more immediate (the next week or two) reading lists to see if that cuts through the ever-growing physical TBR.
Newsy Things
Introducing a new bona new quarterly literary magazine:
FANTABULOSA!
Pushing the boundaries of bold, authentic, QUEER storytelling. Bringing you stories of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical.
& thanks to our brilliant #WrathMonth backers, we’re fully funded for 2026 🤘
The UK’s largest book chain, Waterstones, had a pre-order sale on releases for 2026 this week. Did I fall into the trap and order some books? Yes. Did I also get a bit too invested in what is coming out in 2026? Also, yes.
I placed orders for various new releases and paperback reprints.
Thanks to the spreadsheet mentioned above I now know when to look out for post.
And the offer wasn’t all the books coming out in 2026, but I now expect to stay busy with new releases from January to June.
But the reason for mentioning it was that I had to sift through many books to decide on those I chose.
Which is probably why I felt the urge to look at all the books coming out this week… there are a few.
Gav Reads 