Must-Read Books That Went Under the Radar in 2023

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8 Must-Read Books That Went Under the Radar Last Year

Of course, “under the radar” is a nebulous term. It can be hard to gauge the popularity of a title, especially in an era of social media bubbles. The book all your friends are talking about might only be popular in your echo chamber, and the biggest bestselling books are often titles getting very little attention from bookish social media. (Think: business books and the latest John Grisham mystery.)

It’s the Ghost Wonderful Time of the Year! 6 Great Ghost Romances

These ghosts would more likely be spooning with you on your bed than standing over it with an axe. (Or like Christian Slater in Untamed Heart, breaking into your house to watch Marisa Tomei sleep. Good grief, y’all, how did we think this was romantic???) Or they may be the ectoplasm that holds your relationship together. And okay, maybe one has a bad ghost.

Read These Cozy, Comforting BIPOC Books

I have several cardigans in different shopping carts and I’m looking at reinforcing my blankie and teddy jacket inventories. Suffice to say, it is Fall, and I’m ready to hand myself over to the coziness of it all.

6 Mysteries For Different October (and Fall) Reading Vibes

With the spirit of fall and the countdown to Halloween in mind, I decided to roundup some books that, while all different from each other, can fit an October reading vibe. Let’s call them different fall reading flavors!

When Disaster Strikes: Children’s Books About Floods & Hurricanes

It’s been horrible to watch the devastation left behind in Hurricane Helene’s wake in the Southeast. I live about four hours away from extensive flooding in East Tennessee and have experienced floods here in Nashville over the years as well. I know many kids will have questions and big feelings about the recent natural disasters, so I rounded up these five children’s books about floods and hurricanes.

These Poems are Visceral, Immediate, and Urgent

You don’t have to “get” poetry to love this book. These poems are visceral, immediate, and urgent. They speak to the impossibility of living in a world full of so much grief and so much joy. Choi is wonderfully inventive with form and their images often startle gasps from me, but what makes this book so special is how it feels to read it. It is heartrending and heart-healing, both. It’s the book I turn to when I wake up wracked with despair, because it reminds me that, yes, feeling despair is natural in these times, and no, despair is not the only thing I have to feel.

Read a BoOOok: Cute Reading Ghosts on Bookmarks, Art Prints, and More

I know there are a lot of Halloween-all-year readers, so I wanted to share some of my favorites from my Etsy deep dive. These are all cute ghosts — nothing too scary here. I’ve started with the small, inexpensive items like stickers and bookmarks, and I’ve finished with a real showstopper.