A little bit historical fiction, a little magical realism, and throw in some grief for good measure, and you’ve got The White Octopus Hotel. If you enjoyed The Ministry of Time last year, this is the book for you.
The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell, (List Price: $19, Del Rey, 9798217091799, October 2025)
Reviewed by Claire McWhorter, River & Hill Books in Rome, Georgia
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House of Day, House of Night is a reversal of a common narrative structure; here, the setting, the rural Polish town of Nowa Ruda, is the main character, and the townsfolk are the setting within which the town’s legacy is formed. Each story fragment contributes to the never-ending cycle of life and death, of dreams and waking — from an old lady next door with elusive platitudes, to a gender-dysphoric monk on a journey to canonize a saint, to a knifemaking cult that worships the process of decay. Tokarczuk’s brilliant prose highlights the struggles of returning to a post-World War Poland, of feeling like a stranger in your own home, of sensing the ceaseless draw of entropy. Universal and bittersweet, this novel is a work of anthropology: a future classic in my book!
House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk, (List Price: $28, Riverhead Books, 9780593716380, December 2025)
Reviewed by Catherine Pabalate, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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This novel is uber-Murakami, the author back to the magical best of his earlier novels such as Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (note: this makes sense, as the author writes in an afterword that this novel was a second attempt at reworking a novella, the first attempt being Hardboiled Wonderland). You don’t read a Murakami novel; you live it, holding on for dear life until it lets you off at the end, slightly confused but highly entertained. A magical world slowly unravels through an unnamed girl, while everyday life interweaves with it, featuring all the traditional Murakami Bingo tropes (loneliness, high school, jazz, pasta recipes, The Beatles, wells, libraries, cats…all the greatest hits!) There were a few minor logical bugbears, but plot logic was never Murakami’s strong suit. The simplicity of his language has long been a feature, but lately has felt more like a bug at times, with the repetition of banal thoughts (‘it was just my conjecture, but I was sure of it’; I nodded vaguely’ etc.) – perhaps as one of my all-time favourite authors I have come to expect more, but it was still great to be back in Murakami world.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, (List Price: $19, Vintage, 9780593687840, November 2024)
Reviewed by Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
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This is a heartwrenching story that will bring you to tears. Graciela and Consuelo are two Indigenous sisters who were taken from their homes to serve under a dictator. When genocide strikes their community, they flee in an effort to make new lives for themselves. Both believing each other to be dead, fate brings them back together years later. This story feels like a fresh wound, and waiting for time to let it heal. This story explores the dark colonial past of a nation while still exploring hope, love, and the importance of family in the end.
The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera, (List Price: $28, Pantheon, 9780593317235, August 2025)
Reviewed by Gabriela Warner, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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A sad book that makes you feel starry-eyed and sweet doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong, and if it did, do you even want to read right? Bringing romantic realism and magical realizing to the table, Shadows gives us love in the time of gentrification, at a pace somewhere between meandering and stopping-to-look-for-the-rose-smell, sparking the part of your brain that releases the morose and dreamy warm fuzzies. Also, unruly shadows: Gotta keep an eye on those.
One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, (List Price: $16.95, Erewhon Books, 9781645661450, July 2025)
Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
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Shark Heart is one of the most tender and unusual books I have ever read. Wren and Lewis are only beginning to settle into their married life when Lewis is told that he is rapidly turning into a literal great white shark. This book blurs the line between fiction, romance, and magical realism. It’s a story of love as persistence through uncertainty. Its short chapters read like the script for a play. Shark Heart is going to be one of my favorites for a long time.
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck, (List Price: $18.99, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, 9781668006504, June 2024)
Reviewed by Kat Baltisberger, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Nikki Erlick has again written a book like no other. Who could forget The Measure after reading it? The same can be said about The Poppy Fields. Ava lost her grandmother and didn’t have her sister Ellis to help with the grief. Ray lost his brother Johnny and can’t get past the loss. Sasha’s fiancé dies just before their wedding. These three find themselves on a road trip to the Poppy Fields. After picking up Sky, they all share their stories of grief and love and fears and joys. Can the magical release of the Poppy Fields help the grieving process? All who read this book will question whether they would choose some release from the pain of loss.
The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick, (List Price: $32, William Morrow, 9780063349339, June 2025)
Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
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I have had relationships with humans, but I’ve also loved a lot of people in stories. I’ve been told by my doctor not to talk about this too much, but ever since I was a child, I’ve had 30 or 40 imaginary friends who live on a different star or planet with whom I have shared love and sexual experiences. ……Some say that the worlds I write about are dystopian, but a lot of people think that actually reality is worse… I’ve often felt love, obsession, desire, friendship, a kind of faith, or almost a prayer-like relationship with these men – and they’ve always been men, so it’s a heterosexual relationship – who live inside stories. With Vanishing World I was trying to create a place where it might be easier for people who find it difficult to live in this world.
― Sayaka Murata, Interview, Guardian
What booksellers are saying about Vanishing World
About Sayaka Murata
SAYAKA MURATA is the author of many books, including Convenience Store Woman, winner of the Akutagawa Prize, Earthlings, and Life Ceremony. Murata has been named a Freeman’s “Future of New Writing” author and a Vogue Japan Woman of the Year.
GINNY TAPLEY TAKEMORI has translated works by more than a dozen Japanese writers, including Ryu Murakami. She lives at the foot of a mountain in Eastern Japan.
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Told via a fairytale pitch-perfect unreliable narrator (who continues to shift the story in acquiescence to the ghost chorus), Sour Cherry brings the reader along to witness the hauntings and the haunted, complicit women trapped in violent cycles, and the rot and decay that are apparent when the stories are stripped away. If Angela Carter and Carmen Maria Machado were trapped in House of Leaves, you’d be holding this book in your hands.
Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou, (List Price: $17.95, Tin House Books, 9781963108194, April 2025)
Reviewed by Julie Jarema, Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg, South Carolina
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I’m noticing a trend with either my reading preferences or books coming out soon because this is the second locked-room, Glass Onion murder mystery Clue game book I’ve read this past couple of weeks. I AM NOT COMPLAINING. I loved how it opened up with Esther, then Mullory and the strange. I was instantly pulled into the intrigue. But then, when everyone came together at the Stoutmire Mansion for the game to begin, I couldn’t really get behind any of the characters. They were all “whimpering” or “screaming.” Like I get that it’s scary and we’re all angry but it just put distance between the reader, the characters, and the plot. (Seriously, if I had played a drinking game with those two dialogue tags I probably wouldn’t have made it through the start of the story. I’d be like Saffron Stoutmire with her martinis) Fortunately, those character arcs started kicking in and I began to really get into the story. Their worries were my worries, their stakes were my stakes sort of thing. I started caring about what happened to them, especially Mullory and Lyric. They turned into a grumpy x sunshine done right. So if you feel the same way, STICK WITH IT. Those clues won’t solve themselves.
Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia, (List Price: $18.99, Disney Hyperion, 9781368099080, January 2025)
Reviewed by Candice Conner, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama
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This novel is uber-Murakami, the author back to the magical best of his earlier novels such as Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (note: this makes sense, as the author writes in an afterword that this novel was a second attempt at reworking a novella, the first attempt being Hardboiled Wonderland). You don’t read a Murakami novel; you live it, holding on for dear life until it lets you off at the end, slightly confused but highly entertained. A magical world slowly unravels through an unnamed girl, while everyday life interweaves with it, featuring all the traditional Murakami Bingo tropes (loneliness, high school, jazz, pasta recipes, The Beatles, wells, libraries, cats…all the greatest hits!) There were a few minor logical bugbears, but plot logic was never Murakami’s strong suit. The simplicity of his language has long been a feature, but lately has felt more like a bug at times, with the repetition of banal thoughts (‘it was just my conjecture, but I was sure of it’; I nodded vaguely’ etc.) – perhaps as one of my all-time favourite authors I have come to expect more, but it was still great to be back in Murakami world.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, (List Price: $35, Knopf, 9780593801970, November 2024)
Reviewed by Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
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I’m happy to report that Women! In! Peril! lives up to its obsession-worthy title and cover. This short story debut is full of smart, fresh fiction that I wanted to savor. Marshall brings a hilarious voice to inventive literary stories about women whose struggles range from divorce to the destruction of the human race. Singular characters like a former ballerina with memory loss and a lesbian whose girlfriend thinks she’s carrying the baby Jesus make up this exciting and unabashedly queer collection!
Women! In! Peril! by Jessie Ren Marshall, (List Price: $17.99, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781639732272, April 2024)
Reviewed by Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
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This book is a delight for both intellect and emotion. The characters are sensitive and believable. Family relationships resemble those in Practical Magic, but are more focused on understanding one’s place in life. Each individual has a specific purpose and intent… life happens the way it was intended (eventually). Highly recommend!
The Magic All Around by Jennifer Moorman, (List Price: $17.99, Harper Muse, 9781400240487, January 2024)
Reviewed by Liz Perkins, Blinking Owl Books in Fort Myers, Florida
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Sometimes we just need a little magic like this! Mattie returns to the Russell family home for a brief stay at the sudden passing of her mom, Lilith. But Lilith’s will keeps Mattie in Ivy Ridge longer. In carrying out her mom’s wishes, Mattie and her aunt Penelope uncover secrets in the old Victorian house that unsettle them both and lead to new possibilities. I enjoyed this wonderful story of homecoming, family, and love!
The Magic All Around by Jennifer Moorman, (List Price: $17.99, Harper Muse, 9781400240487, January 2024)
Reviewed by Cathy Graham, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida
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This book was made for autumn. A community who clings to ghosts, unable to move on, stuck in their grief, comes together in such a lovely way with the introduction of a new resident. Revisiting this brought such a warmth to my heart, and is one I’ll keep in my back pocket for quiet days.
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen, (List Price: $18, St. Martin’s Griffin, 9781250019875, September 2023)
Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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