"Experience: A History"

New from the University of California Press: Experience: A History by Lawrence Kramer.

About the book, from the publisher:

A lyrical, provocative journey into the art, memory, and meaning of experience.

What does it mean to have an experience? When did we begin to believe we could “have" one at all? In Experience: A History, Lawrence Kramer traces the cultural birth of experience as a singular, life-defining event. Moving lyrically between criticism and memoir, he guides readers from Petrarch and Nietzsche to Virginia Woolf and Anne Carson; from Haydn’s luminous Creation to Billie Holiday's searing “Strange Fruit.” Along the way we encounter Niagara Falls and the Galápagos, Parisian department stores and Manhattan nightclubs, and luminaries such as Franz Schubert, Henry and William James, and Benjamin Britten.

As early as the fourteenth century and accelerating after the eighteenth, records of concentrated, unforgettable moments begin to proliferate―until the possibility of having an experience becomes a demand for one. Experience turns into something to seek, curate, even consume. Yet its power lies in its particulars: the convergence of history, art, memory, and self. At once personal and tender, challenging and vulnerable, Experience fuses philosophical argument with intimate recollection. The result is both a sweeping intellectual history and a deeply human reckoning with the experiences that shape and unsettle modern life.

Visit Lawrence Kramer's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Alma Vampires"

New from Berkley: Alma Vampires (The Icarus University Series) by Elena Armas.

About the book, from the publisher:

An unsuspecting heiress with a target on her back must enlist the protection of a vampire whose wealth and secrets rival her own, in a brand-new paranormal romance series from New York Times bestselling author Elena Armas.

Valle Cepeda's life changes drastically over the course of a winter break, when she goes from being an Ivy League scholarship student one day to inheriting a fortune from the mother she’s never met by the next. The fate of Alma, a coveted fashion empire, is now in Val's hands.

Hadrian Cruz presents himself as a calculating, self-serving player in the game of who takes over Alma, but that isn't his true aim. A blood debt that chains him to a hundred-year-old wound is finally being collected, and it involves Val.

Furious at everyone who has tried to manipulate her, Val returns to Icarus University, only to see her world has changed shape dramatically, and Hadrian is now at the center of it. She doesn’t trust him, but there are things only Hadrian can provide: protection, and a way to satiate the longing she craves more than fears.

Plagued by nightmares, can Val decipher the secrets of her legacy? And can she accept that what she feels for Hadrian runs deeper than attraction? Answers always come at a cost, and these could shatter her heart...or bind her soul to the monster she desires the most.

Visit Elena Armas's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Glass Houses"

New from Oxford University Press: Glass Houses: Choosing Grace in a Judgmental World by Jason Brennan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Most of us believe we should judge others less. Few of us manage it. The problem isn't simply a lack of kindness or willpower. The deeper problem is that we are bad at moral judgment. We are biased, self-deceived, tribal, and often more interested in protecting our own status than in discovering the truth. We exaggerate our virtue and inflate the faults of others. We are not impartial referees of the moral life; we are players quick to call fouls on one another.

In Glass Houses, Jason Brennan defends the neglected virtue of grace. Grace means not merely forgiving others after the fact, but often refusing to rush to judge their character in the first place. It means extending goodwill as a default-treating people well without first auditing whether they deserve it-and resisting the urge to publicize every fault or turn disagreement into moral exile.

Grace is not naïveté or moral apathy. It begins with a simple recognition: flawed people judging flawed people should proceed with humility. Given our cognitive limits and our incentives to posture and punish, restraint is often wiser-and more just-than righteousness.

Drawing on moral psychology and political philosophy, Brennan shows that grace is not weakness but strength: a disciplined refusal to weaponize moral certainty. In a world eager to throw stones, he invites us to look again at our own glass houses-and set the stones down.

Visit Jason Brennan's website.

The Page 99 Test: In Defense of Openness.

The Page 99 Test: The Ethics of Voting.

The Page 99 Test: Against Democracy.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Out, Damned Scot"

Coming December 1 from Severn House: Out, Damned Scot (A Last Ditch Mystery, 9) by Catriona McPherson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Pregnant Lexy Campbell races to hunt down a killer before she goes into labour in this hilarious cosy mystery from award-winning author Catriona McPherson. A Burns Night to die for . . . literally. Pregnant and a week overdue, Lexy Campbell’s hope for a quiet Burns Supper at the Cuento Celtic Society is dashed in minutes. The haggis is ceremonial only. The actual dinner is disappointing. And then the haggis cutter’s missing dagger turns up in the back of a dead guest no one can identify ― because of course it does. With a room full of potential suspects, and contractions potentially minutes away, Lexy together with the rest of Trinity for Trouble must untangle a mystery involving old grudges, family feuds, and some very convincing magical misdirection. But as the trio race to uncover a killer, Lexy’s running out of patience, time, and possibly all dignity. A Burns Night celebration, a mysterious dead guest, and an extremely overdue Lexy Campbell who came for haggis but left with a murder to solve. Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich, M.C. Beaton, and Clare Chase who love laugh-out-loud cosy mysteries featuring chaotic heroines, awkward situations and messy murder cases.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

My Book, The Movie: Scotzilla.

The Page 69 Test: Scot's Eggs.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2025).

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Room.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (May 2026).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Unmaking Eden"

New from Cambridge University Press: Unmaking Eden: Genesis and the Domestication of the World by David M. Carr.

About the book, from the publisher:

Domestication is not just something that humans impose on animals, but an ancient structure binding both creatures within shared systems of subjugation. Advancing trenchant new ideas, David Carr unpacks Genesis 1–11 to reveal ways in which embedded human–animal, gender, and group hierarchies constitute our world. Drawing on animal studies and Indigenous perspectives alike, he treats the Bible's origin stories as an invitation to rethink inter-species flourishing and re-imagine community based on intrinsic worth rather than mere utility. Tracing human rule over creation in Eden to slavery and concentrated human power at Babel, the author exposes an escalating trajectory of domination. Yet these foundational stories also suggest that global subjugation is not inevitable, but instead the consequence of a fall from an earlier relational, reciprocal mode of living. Here is a hopeful framework that recognizes this crisis while offering alternatives rooted in respectful relations and multispecies kinship.

The Page 99 Test: Holy Resilience.

Writers Read: David M. Carr (November 2014).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Revenge Plot"

Coming November 10 from Berkley: Revenge Plot by Stephanie Wrobel.

About the book, from the publisher:

A desperate writer’s pursuit of a powerful literary agent takes a dark turn in this new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Hitchcock Hotel and Darling Rose Gold.

All Arnie Tenderton wants this Christmas—all he’s ever wanted—is to be a published author. For decades he has toiled over one novel after another. Each was missing something. Until now.

He’s finally written his perfect book.

What he needs next is a literary agent, someone who can get his book into publishers’ hands. Not just any agent will do, of course. Arnie wants the best. Arnie wants Claudia Conley.

She already rejected him once, and Arnie has never forgiven her. He could move on. Instead, he finds out where Claudia is spending the holidays: alone in a remote house in the Catskill Mountains. He decides to show up there to make his pitch.

Claudia may try to turn him down again, but this time Arnie won’t take no for an answer.

Because his book is about her.

And he’s not leaving until the story ends the way he wants.

Visit Stephanie Wrobel's website.

The Page 69 Test: Darling Rose Gold.

My Book, The Movie: Darling Rose Gold.

Q&A with Stephanie Wrobel.

The Page 69 Test: The Hitchcock Hotel.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Seeing Like a Supply Chain"

New from Yale University Press: Seeing Like a Supply Chain: The Hidden Life of Logistics by Miriam Posner.

About the book, from the publisher:

A history of the technology of supply-chain management from punch cards to neural nets, and how the ambiguity built into that technology helps companies and exploits workers

Seeing Like a Supply Chain is a compelling investigation into the hidden networks that drive our global economy. Miriam Posner presents a blow-by-blow account of the technology of supply-chain management from punch cards to neural nets, revealing how the system’s built-in ambiguity shields companies from accountability while exploiting workers.

Drawing on more than a decade of research, Posner shows how computation converged with the growth of global trade to allow for a lightning-quick, astoundingly efficient supply chain that lets corporations source products without any notion of where their goods are actually being produced. At a time when multinational firms fear the reputational damage of human rights violations in the making of their products, the supply chain’s shroud of vagueness is a feature, not a bug. Posner shows how this is technically accomplished―and how the strategic disavowal of information extends through every step of that chain.

Visit Miriam Posner's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Queen of Roses"

New from Gallery Books: The Queen of Roses by Julia Kelly.

About the book, from the publisher:

Spanning the ballrooms of Pasadena and the sunlit gardens of Altadena, a new novel of love and sacrifice from the internationally bestselling author of The Light Over London and The Last Garden in England.

1960: Frustrated reporter Theresa Johnson’s life changes when she receives a phone call from a Miss Pearce who claims her obituary about one of Pasadena’s last great hoteliers is wildly inaccurate. Seeking the truth, Theresa drives to the mysterious Rosewood House nestled high in the Altadena foothills. Even more intriguing than the house’s beautiful garden is Miss Pearce’s proposal that Theresa help her settle old scores by writing her biography.

1903: Beautiful but haughty, Adele Pearce is reluctant to leave the London Season and her last hope of a proposal. When she arrives in California, she discovers the startling truth of why her mother has called her there: her father has squandered his fortune and Adele must marry a wealthy American to save the family.

Stifled by expectation as Pasadena’s newest doyenne, Adele’s only comfort is Rosewood House and the beautiful garden she creates with the help of taciturn gardener Alexander Macalister. However, as Adele’s feelings for Alex flourish, a fire ignites in the San Gabriel Mountains above Rosewood House, threatening everything Adele holds dear, while in 1960, Miss Pearce learns that history has a terrible habit of repeating itself.

Visit Julia Kelly's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Lost English Girl.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Wallace Terry"

New from High Road Books: Wallace Terry: A Reporter's Journey from Selma to Saigon to Bloods by Ray E. Boomhower.

About the book, from the publisher:

Award-winning biographer Ray Boomhower tells the story of a journalist who spent his life smashing barriers, from his childhood in Indiana and his Ivy League education at Brown to his reporting on the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South in the 1960s and, finally, covering what he described as “the biggest story in the world” of his time, the Vietnam War.

Pioneering Black journalist Wallace Terry risked his life on the battlefield writing for Time magazine during the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam, he captured the voices and experiences of Black soldiers and used the insights he gained to produce Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans. The book remains a classic reflection of a war that fractured US society and cost the lives of nearly fifty-eight thousand Americans.

Before risking his life on the front lines, Terry became deeply involved in reporting about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in the United States. “It was a story that I passionately cared for because it was going to affect me, my family, my children, and generations of Black people to come,” said Terry. Working for the Washington Post, he wrote the first newspaper series about the Nation of Islam, during which he interacted with Malcolm X, who sheltered him from harm when his stories upset some members of the movement. He also grew close to those who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for equality, including Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr., who became godfather to Terry’s eldest son. Making civil rights his focus gave him the opportunity to report on such seminal events as the Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

During his two years covering the Vietnam War, Terry traveled overseas to conduct numerous interviews with Black fighting men—soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines—that he later used as the basis for Bloods. He sought with his work to topple the conviction that “white soldiers are invincible and black soldiers are invisible.” Terry faced numerous challenges, including rejections from publishers who believed the public did not want to read about Black veterans from the conflict. Finally published in 1984, Bloods became a bestseller and remains a landmark work of military and oral history.

Boomhower has written the first-ever biography of one of the first Black national correspondents to be hired in the overwhelmingly white mainstream media, a reporter whose name belongs with the greats in American journalism. Wallace Terry lived a life filled with danger and betrayal, scoops and cover-ups, while immersing himself in events that changed the course of US history.

Follow Ray E. Boomhower on Instagram and Threads.

The Page 99 Test: Richard Tregaskis.

The Page 99 Test: The Ultimate Protest.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Girl in the Glasshouse"

Coming November 16 from Lake Union: The Girl in the Glasshouse by Anna Stothard.

About the book, from the publisher:

A perfect family. A missing child. But everyone is lying.

On the idyllic island of Guernsey, twelve-year-old Celeste Everett vanishes from her bed during a storm.

The last people to see Celeste were her best friends―identical twin sisters who refuse to tell the whole truth about that night.

The Everetts are one of the island’s wealthiest and most powerful families, while the twins’ mother, Jess, is a struggling single parent with secrets of her own. But when suspicion begins to circle her daughters, Jess is drawn into the search for the missing girl―and into the orbit of a family used to getting exactly what they want.

As the magical island turns in on itself, Jess must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her children. Because in a small community, you’re always being watched. And someone knows exactly what happened that night.

Visit Anna Stothard's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Pink Hotel.

--Marshal Zeringue