Sitemap - 2025 - FictionMatters
Friday Mood Recs: Every book I wish I had read on my trip to England
Reading in Public No. 78: Margin Notes for Brandy Sour by Constantia Soteriou
Old and new books for eclectic summer reading
Reading in Public No. 77: Literary elitism and literary egalitarianism
A classic revisited and a perplexing work of true crime
Friday Mood Recs: 10 books from the queer canon for Pride Month and beyond
Reading in Public No. 76: If you don't have a complete sentence, you don't have a complete idea
A revelatory reread and a haunting ending
Friday Mood Recs: Playing favorites with the 2025 Paperback Summer Reading Guide
Staving off a slump with quick reads
Summer reading vibes and summer reading guides
Reading in Public No. 75: How can you tell if someone is a skilled reader?
A poetic, light-filled modern classic
REPLAY: Paperback Summer Reading Guide Roundtable
Summer Reading Guide Chat with Sara Hildreth
The 2025 Paperback Reading Guide is here!
Reading in Public No. 74: My recipe for a satisfying summer reading season
Friday Mood Recs: Five favorites from Paperback Summer Reading Guides past
Reading in Public No. 73: Trying to hack our reading is leading to stagnation
A nursing home novel and a big change of plans
Seriously good genre fiction and classics that challenged me
Thoughts and questions on the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
May Literary Society selections, deep reading on Substack, and a spring sale
Friday Mood Recs: Just trust me, round two
Voice-driven novels, timely nonfiction, and what-if premises
A classic epic, a haunting post-apocalyptic novel, and a great mystery of history
Friday Mood Recs: Research-based mystery novels I stayed up late reading
Reading in Public No. 72: 6 styles of reading slumps
Celebrating Ordinary Time with Annie B. Jones
A linguistically playful novel about language, books, and revolution
Friday Mood Recs: 6 works of fiction that explore faith
Reading in Public No. 71: Intimacy, authenticity, and reliability of point of view
A violent, voicey Booker winner
Friday Mood Recs: Not-so-sappy books about books
Reading in Public No. 70: Is knowing your reader "type" helpful or limiting?
The lasting legacy of an American classic
March Ranked Reading Recap and April Anticipated Books
Reading in Public No. 69: A reading and writing goal check-in
First quarter superlatives and April book club selections
Surprise wins, backlist novellas, and a present tense rant
Reading in Public No. 68: Five year anniversary "Ask Me Anything"
Beautiful and brutal books about bearing witness
Friday Mood Recs: Just trust me, round one
Reading in Public No. 67: Eight tips for getting started with the classics
Two books that illuminated my POV crisis
Friday Mood Recs: Three infinitely discussable short novels
Reading in Public No. 66: How to criticize a book well
Five years of FictionMatters on Substack
Friday Mood Recs: Classic and contemporary reads for White Lotus watchers
Reading in Public No. 65: Why I can't accept the phrase "I won't accept criticism"
Diverting surprises and unmet expectations
Modern classics and a Nobel winner
Friday Mood Recs: Anticipated March releases
Speculative novels, timely nonfiction, and books that challenged our expectations
An impressionistic modern classic and a Regency romp
Friday Mood Recs: How to plan a Jane Austen year
Reading in Public No. 64: Low effort, high reward strategies for better annotations
Two books exploring the power and peril of stories
Friday Mood Recs: What's your favorite love story?
Reading in Public No. 63: It's not an English teacher's job to make you love reading
Publishing predictions and two books that stretched my mind
Friday Mood Recs: A preorder list for building a satisfying 2025 TBR
A mini author study, a timely novella, and a well-done book I hated
Reading in Public No. 62: On starting books well
Deep backlist reading and keeping my TBR (somewhat) in order
Friday Mood Recs: Three underrated classics to add to your reading list
Big feelings about books and books with big feelings
Writing in Public: Layne Fargo on why ice dance and Wuthering Heights are the perfect pair
An enticing and problematic classic and a scarily relevant novella
Friday Mood Recs: What bucket list book should you read this year?
Reading in Public No. 61: Jeremiads and the American imagination
Friday Mood Recs: 25 ideas to start your 2025 reading year strong
Reading in Public No. 60: 2025 reading intentions
From the earnest and soulful to the ironically depraved
A nonfiction favorite, compelling high fantasy, and a cult classic I did not love
A compendium of end-of-year posts and playing catch up
Friday Mood Recs: Most anticipated books of January and my no-frills top ten