Trad Wife by Sarah Langan

What a year for #TradWifeHorror! Sarah Langan's Trad Wife is the latest in a series of horror novels tackling the glossy, conservative influencer/lifestyle trend. I wondered if by October I would feel fatigued by the theme, but boy am I glad I gave this one a shot, because this is by far the best take on the theme that I've read this year.  

I haven't read Sarah Langan before, but this book was blurbed by Paul Tremblay, Grady Hendrix, Mariana Enriquez, and Sarah Pinborough, all authors I admire. Also, Alma Katsu was a first reader for this book, and her novel The Hunger is excellent historical horror (a supernatural twist on The Donner Party). 

Trad Wife opens with an ambiguously ominous scene set in 2020 before introducing us to our main character, a New York journalist. Jenny Kaplan goes viral for a personal essay and then just as swiftly is cancelled for the same revelations that made her famous. A chance to get her career back on its feet comes when a beautiful, charming influencer spreading the gospel of "traditional family values" from her Pennsylvania farm invites her to write a feature. 

And here, Langan gives us a nuanced portrayal of the appeal of influencers and trad wifes. From the perspective of Jenny's sister, Melissa, a lonely Jersey housewife; two women sinking into debt after falling for the pernicious allure of Mia's pyramid scheme; and even Jenny herself, we can empathize with the comfort that comes from being seen, even if it is parasocial and illusory.  

Because so many people are lonely. In her own career, Jenny has learned the grim necessity of self-reliance. "There are no guardrails. There is only you." However, life has taught her the value of helping other women: "There's a rule, an unspoken code: At parties and bars, at backyard barbecues and bathrooms at long-haul rest stops, when a woman asks another woman for help, she has to give it." From a combination of these beliefs, she agrees to stay at Black Swan Farm for a week. She feels compelled to stay with Mia out of a sense that she may need outside assistance. 

That same sense of being "seen" that was so comforting takes on a predatory feel as Jenny's stay at Black Swan Farm lengthens. She has increasingly disturbing dreams, she starts losing her hair, and are there words in the yellow wallpaper?? As she observes more concering details about Mia's life, she also grapples with her own life choices and relationships with people. 

This is such an original story, but references horror classics like The Yellow Wallpaper; The King in Yellow; and the OG Trad Wives, The Stepford Wives. I loved this book. Highly recommend. 

-Michael G.  

The Clock Struck One; a Time-Telling Tale by Trudy Harris; illustrated by Carrie Hartman

 

Continues the classic nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock after the clock strikes one and the mouse runs down the clock. When the clock strikes two, a cat gets hungry for mouse-tail stew and then the chase is on! Hour by hour, more animals and people join the chase. With different kinds of clocks on each page, more advanced students can tell the time as this tale goes through each hour of the day.

-Julie B. 

POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme by Betsy Bird; illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi

 

Laugh-out-loud tale of a mischievous weasel who inserts himself into nursery rhymes being recited by a sensible bird. Rhymes include: Jack and Jill, Roses are Red, Little Miss Muffet, Pat-a-Cake, Twinkle Twinkle, and One Two, Buckle My Shoe.  Will the silly weasel ever leave this nursery rhyme book?  Read and find out.

-Julie B. 

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

"The pestilence cooked away pretense and showed people's souls, as surely as it eventually showed their bones." 

While the Black Death stalks Europe, a disgraced knight joins a strange young girl and a wine-sodden priest on a heaven-sent quest. I found this an immensely satisfying read, well-told and moving. The characters are well-developed, the plot compelling, and the writing of the interstitial parts with their Biblical overtone evocative. 

When it begins, you can't tell if the horrors our characters start to hear about are exaggerated Dark Age superstition or supernatural forces until an actual river monster appears, followed soon after by a visitation from a wheezing, bleeding Saint Sebastian. Each chapter is progressively more harrowing as our characters meet a succession of demonic forces and witness the devastation of a plague that makes 2020 seem positively cozy by comparison. 

In a way, the book felt like an Odyssey-inspired video game set in the medieval times, a hellish road trip story with rest stops designed by Hieronymus Bosch. 

-Michael G. 

The Skeleton and the Cat by Brandon James Scott

Skeleton was very content living by herself. She tended her garden, read books and drank tea. Her quiet life was interrupted by a black cat who wants to be her friend. Despite Skeleton’s unfriendliness, the cat persists and comes back everyday.  Will the two become friends? Read this cozy book with adorable illustrations to find out.

-Julie B.

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler; ill. by S. D. Schindler

When Skeleton wakes up, he has the hiccups.  He tries everything to get rid of them including holding his breath, eating some sugar, pressing his fingers over his eyeballs, drinking water upside down and nothing works. With the help of his friend Ghost, the hiccups finally stop.  But how?  Read this book to find out!

-Julie B.

Big Al and Shrimpy by Andrew Clements; illustrated by Yoshi

Big Al is a very large fish and Shrimpy is a very, very small fish. The two become fast friends. When they venture to the Big Deep, they play by throwing rocks down and listening as they tumble down to the bottom. As Big Al pushes on a large white rock, his fin gets stuck in a crack on the rock and down he goes. How will Shrimpy and the other fish save the day?  Read Big Al and Shrimpy to find out!

-Julie B.
 

Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney

 When new neighbor, Nelly Gnu pays a visit to Llama Llama’s house, Llama Llama must learn how to share his toys. But when Nelly Gnu starts to play with Llama Llama’s Fuzzy Llama, there is dolly drama! Llama Llama has decided he doesn’t want to share anymore. Will Llama Llama learn to share his doll? Perfect book for young children learning to share.

-Julie B.

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Appropriately, I finished Sanctuary around five in the morning between two of the last blazing hot days in August. A few years ago I tried and failed to read Absalom, Absalom! but really wanted to give Faulkner another chance after watching Paul Newman simmer through The (very Tennessee Williams-influenced, very Hollywood) Long, Hot Summer. The poster for that barks: "The people of Faulkner...the language of Faulkner...the world of Faulkner!" Well, that's a gross over-simplification. 

While Sanctuary's more straight-forward plot is accessible, his writing still caused me to trip in a way his Nobel Prize in Literature still doesn't convince THIS humble Missourian is entirely artistic and intentional. It gives the impression of a disorienting, kleidoscopic whirl, where not even the characters speaking to each other in the same world seem to be able to connect. Or maybe that was the moonshine. 

The plot is gripping, though, and frightening. It concerns Temple Drake, a college girl who hops from dances with collegiate boys to car dates with the townies. After one of her dates drunkenly crashes his car on the way to a bootlegger, Temple is stranded among dissolute lowlifes in a ruined plantation house. The following events are nightmarish and the novel deals unflinchingly with the aftermath. It's honestly still a shocking, disturbing read, full of sex, violence, and the thankless struggle for justice and love. If you want a "cleaned up" version, the first movie adaptation with Miriam Hopkins is fantastic: The Story of Temple Drake. 

-Michael G. 

Nameless by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Chris Burnham

Recommended to me, if you can call such a dubious statement, with: "Can I show you an illustration I think is hot but might make you think I'm messed up?" Nameless is a nightmare-logic horror story, mostly set in space in an alien prison, but also in haunted minds and a Victorian house of occult abominations.

A layered, existential Lovecraftian story without actual Lovecraft, Morrison draws instead from myths and writings that originated pre-Lovecraft and may also have inspired the master of cosmic horror. It's frightening, disturbing, and the illustrations are excellent. This vision of an omnipotent, invisible lifeform polluting minds and threatening "eternal agonizing torture in a cosmic concentration camp" is a terrifying version of Christian God. 

- Michael G. 

The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark by Deborah Diesen; ill. by Dan Hanna

 Rhyming text about a clam who loses her pearl in the ocean.  Mr. Fish tries to help her find the pearl but there is one problem:  he is afraid of the dark and the further he swims down the ocean, the darker it gets.  Will he be able to save the day and brave the dark to find Ms. Clam’s pearl?  Read this whimsical book to find out.

-Julie B. 

Terry’s Many Hats by Terry Crews with Laura Baker; ill by Tanisha Cherislin

Terry has big dreams and a lot of hats to go with his them including a football helmet, a painter’s beret, and a scientist’s hat, among others.  When everyone tells Terry he can only do one thing, Terry proves them wrong.  Read this book to find out what Terry does!

-Julie B. 

Pure Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

"They are pure men because at any moment, human folly can kill them, can subject them to violence all while sheltering behind one of the many perverted masks it dons to express itself: culture, religion, power, wealth, fame..."

Probably one of my favorite books of 2026, "Pure Men" is an analysis of the homophobia deeply engrained in the city of Dakar, Senegal. This fictional story follows Ndéné, a university literature professor who becomes entranced with a recent video of a violence towards the corpse of a góor-jigéen, otherwise known as a gay man. 

The story deep dives into the dehumanizing treatment of gay men and its roots. It shows how homophobia plants itself in every part of society down to the individuals own personal decisions. It becomes internalized, to where a gay man might not even realize they are upholding the very values that kill those within his own community. This hatred is fostered towards men who are a natural part of humanity, men who want nothing more than to express themselves, men who are harming nobody else by doing so, men who are--by comparison to the societies they live in--pure.

Story aside, the novel is written with incredibly magnetic prose, easily shaping beautiful characters while giving us a vivid look of what is happening inside of both their heads and the protagonist's. The was the fastest book I've read all year, and I would read it again. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested diving into the discussion of homophobia. Just be mindful: this book can be triggering due to the violence and hatred displayed. Please let me know if you've read it because I'd love to discuss!

- Leo