The Curator: where I get my book recs
and what I'm reading in 2025
It’s easy to find book recommendations. What is not easy is finding good book recommendations from trusted sources that vibe with your own taste. My most treasured form of book discovery is haunting the shelves of a bookstore, particularly Borders circa 1999, but the interwebs will also do.
Over the years, I have slowly narrowed my recommendation pool to the most compatible sources. I love reading all the bookish content, especially the literati here on Substack, but there are a few that I always turn to for new recommendations beyond what I have encountered elsewhere. The following is a list of great places & people to find book recs and a favorite backlist recommendation from each that I hope to read in 20251.
Substack is obviously one of my favorite places to get recommendations. I am subscribed to 342 individual publications2, of which at least half are book-related. Here are just a few I turn to for off-radar suggestions:
- at has the best recommendations when it comes to contemporary lit fic, classics, and those quiet, timeless novels that eventually end up on every best-of list. One rec that I have been particularly looking forward to is On Beauty by Zadie Smith thanks to Sara’s suggestion in Friday Mood Recs: Messy Family Dramas. If you want a book rec to fit any mood, make sure to subscribe and check out her Mood Readers Almanac.
Mike at
has the most eclectic book taste, and I mean that as an absolute compliment. He is in a league of his own when it comes to weird and obscure book trendsetting. One of my longest-held TBR recs from Mike is Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt. If you want to be ahead of the trends or just be super entertained by his reviews, make sure to subscribe.- at is the place for translated literature no contest. Her deeply smart and passionate reviews will convince you to put one thousand new books on your TBR, but one that has stuck with me recently is Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. Find Martha’s full review here if you need some convincing as well.
- at has been a huge influence in my classics reading life. It can be intimidating to tackle the Western canon on your own, but Haley helps you see the beauty in reading the classics with her close reading guides and generous spirit (not to mention her years of book learning!). Although I’ve owned Middlemarch by George Eliot since undergrad 20 years ago, I did not have the courage to tackle it until now. Read along with her community this spring.
Bookstagram can be your friend or your foe. It’s up to you to tell the algorithm what you want! I see a deluge of the same titles over and over again, but there are a few standout content creators that I would trust with my life.
@ shayebytheshore is a PhD student from Australia who not only has the most aesthetic neutral bookshelves but also reads some of the most challenging novels I’ve ever encountered. A recent rec on my shelf is Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu.
@ thelovelythings505 is another reader slash content creator who takes the most beautiful photos while offering genuine substance through her reading life. She wrote a post about the excellence of The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall by Anne Bronte that convinced me to track down a copy immediately.
@ coolgalreading has a very similar reading taste to mine, so when she recommends something I haven’t seen, it’s an immediate add to cart. Book award longlists are always in my periphery, but I had never considered a Paul Auster novel until she posted about 4 3 2 1.
@ alifeonbooks is my weird, obscure Instagram recommender. I love watching his videos and getting a slightly more masculine perspective on what to read next. One of his recs I added to TBR is Paranoia by Victor Martinovich, which is about “how dictatorships survive by burrowing into the minds of those they rule,” and that seems just perfectly appropriate for the times.
I do not have a ton of indie bookstores near me, but the few that I do have become my favorite places to find new books. I may be giving away too much about my personal location right now but whatever - stalkers gonna stalk amirite.
Laguna Beach Books in (you guessed it) Laguna Beach, CA, is the definition of the perfect indie bookstore. It is always stocked with a combo of popular new & backlist titles and slightly less well-known ones. I implicitly trust the booksellers who write those little shelf rec cards, one of which led me to Greenwood by Michael Christie. Their displays also reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read another Patricia Lockwood, which is appropriate since she has a new book coming out this year (!!).
Half Off Books in Fullerton, CA is my home away from home. Anytime I get the urge to book shop, I take myself on down to get a little coffee treat and then to the local used bookstore to feel better about my consumption habits. The best part is the sense of discovery since at least 75% of what they stock is from resell. Two novels I discovered there on my TBR for this year are The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.
Readers! You are one of my most trusted sources. Granted, some of you are also Substackers yourselves, but regardless of your relation to this platform, I greatly appreciate the recs I get in the comments. Just a few that have stuck with me and landed in the 2025 pile.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, I know recommended by Lauren Flanagan, but I also believe my Uncle Dave as well (please anyone correct me if I have this wrong!). I love dystopian, and this was a top rec a few times, so I would love to get to it this year.
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano was first introduced to me by reader Brian Jordan, and since then, I have seen it explode in popularity. I love getting recs on slightly older books I might have missed but are still worth the time.
Day one subscriber Jenovia of
has single-handedly put Anais Nin back on my radar. I had run-ins with Nin during my undergrad days, but I never thought twice about this feminist powerhouse until Jenovia gave it the ultimate completionist blessing. I am looking forward to reading The Delta Of Venus sooner rather than later.It can be so hard to find good horror3, so when reader Kate Lillie suggested The Fog by James Herbert on my review of Wanderers, I knew it had to go on the TBR. It sounds absolutely perfect for next spooky season.
Book award lists and legacy publications are great ways to find new and old titles you may have missed. While many regurgitate commercially supported titles from the best-selling lists, I still seem to find enough gems to make them worthwhile resources. While the awards are often best for contemporary literary fiction, the generous content lists often include excellent genre recs as well.
The Booker Prize longlists have quickly become a favorite source for backlist lit fic titles. The award aligns fairly well with my taste, and the translated award continues to introduce me to new authors and perspectives. In Ascension by Martin MacInnes is one I am particularly looking forward to because of its speculative bent.
The Pulitzer Prize - always prestigious, sometimes interesting. As we all know by now, I love a messy family drama that sounds like a Wes Anderson title, so here we are with The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen.
I am always on the lookout for new mystery/crime/thriller recs, so when Time released its list of 100 best mystery and thriller books of all time, I paid attention. The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji immediately caught me because of that cute little blurb: “The Japanese cult classic mystery.” Sold.
A friend recently asked what is your favorite book series and it got me thinking that I haven’t been involved with a solid series in quite some time. Of course, Time was there for me again with its 100 best fantasy books of all time, and it reminded me that The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin was sitting on my shelf. Sometimes, we just need a reminder to shop our own shelves.
This is a fairly new source for me, but the more I pay attention, the more I realize my favorite authors are a treasure trove of recommendations. I love seeing what influences them and trickles its way into my favorite works.
In her novel Will & Testament, Vigdis Hjorth mentions The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen. Loving every minute of W&T meant Ditlevsen immediately became a future read.
Karl Ove Knausgaard recently put his stamp of approval on On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, and so did Lauren Groff, so that Nordic literature stack may reach the ceiling now!
I will read just about anything recommended by Ann Patchett at Parnassus books, but Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison seems like one of those seminal works that everybody should read.
As a long-time David Mitchell stan, I curiously looked up some of his favorite titles and added The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness to my ever-growing Nordic list.
Later, I will share some new releases I am looking forward to in 2025, but here are a few trusty resources I use for finding new[ish] and best of books.
The Millions Great Book Previews (quarterly or so)
The New York Review of Books (NYRB)
The Best Books We Read This Week from The New Yorker
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. I also love to get movie, music, and life recs from a few other places, including the Culture Study Friday Threads, anybody I can corner IRL to discuss things with, and my best friend Heather, who keeps me young when it comes to music blessed be.
Hope you found a few places you might like to look for your next book recs (besides me ahem) and enjoyed a peek behind the curtain.
I am solidly halfway through the two ARCs, Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley and Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. I had a chat with
who is also reading Deep Cuts, and we agree on the Tomorrow x3 mixed with Daisy Jones vibes, but I think it’s leaning more Tx3 which is not great. I am missing some level of personality and drama, but the soundtrack it comes with is a banger. Stone Yard is quiet and contemplative, and there have been some moments, but I haven’t felt deeply moved yet. We will see.I’ve been watching Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance on repeat, so enjoy these pieces on the history-making performance
from
@ , “Turn the TV Off” (Substack)What Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show Said (The Atlantic gift link)
The subversive genius of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance by David Dennis Jr. (Andscape)
and cats. a little porch time. ignore the weapons…
Where are your favorite places to get book recs?
American friends, how are you holding up? Has a Canadian adopted you yet?
What are you reading currently, and is it any good?
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See you around the bookshelf!
there are 24 books listed here let’s be real real I am not reading all of these in 2025 but one can dream
yes this is intensely excessive so if you are a substack writer this is why I may miss some of your wonderful pieces UGH
that perfect combination of sexy and cute scary and thrilling
paid subscription access only, but you don’t need it because I will share all the best stuff with ya 😀👻
I fear I am right there with you on the substack subscriptions...at least over 120 last I checked (and now I avoid). I get most of my recommendations from all these places as well along with my fave booksta folks + Tembe's extracurricular substack. I hope you read Enter Ghost this year!
How fun to see my recommendation mentioned! I'll be eager to hear what you think if/when you get to Oryx and Crake. That may be a series I reread, actually!