This Season’s Reading
Fiction / ThrillerSomething in the Water
Catherine Steadman2018
Erin and Mark are newlyweds on a dream honeymoon in Bora Bora, celebrating a marriage as glamorous as their careers — she a documentary filmmaker on the edge of a breakthrough, he a banker plotting his next big move. But while scuba diving in the crystal-blue water, they discover something that will upend everything: a secret with the power to make them rich, or destroy them. As Erin and Mark weigh whether to come forward or stay silent, their decision sets off a chain of lies, blackmail, and violence that threatens to unravel their marriage and their lives. Catherine Steadman's gripping debut, a New York Times bestseller and Reese's Book Club pick, is a twisting thriller about ambition, morality, and how far ordinary people will go to protect what they've built.
Rate this bookDiscussion · September 10
Horror / Gothic FictionDracula
Bram Stoker1897
When young solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to finalize a real estate transaction with the mysterious Count Dracula, he quickly discovers his client is no ordinary nobleman. Told through diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, the novel follows Dracula as he journeys to England and begins preying on the unsuspecting residents of London — including Harker's fiancée, Mina, and her friend Lucy. As the body count rises, a small band of unlikely allies, led by the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, race to stop Dracula before he can spread his curse across the country. Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece defined the modern vampire and remains one of the most influential horror novels ever written, a chilling exploration of fear, desire, and the thin line between civilization and darkness.
Rate this bookDiscussion · October 8
Horror / Gothic FictionFrankenstein
Mary Shelley1818
Obsessed with unlocking the secrets of life and death, young scientist Victor Frankenstein assembles a creature from salvaged body parts and, in a moment of triumph, brings it to life — only to recoil in horror at what he has made. Abandoned by his creator and shunned by everyone he meets, the nameless creature is driven to devastating violence, setting off a deadly pursuit that stretches from the icy Arctic to the mountains of Switzerland. Told through a nested series of letters and first-person accounts, Mary Shelley's 1818 novel is at once a Gothic thriller, a meditation on the perils of unchecked ambition, and one of the first true works of science fiction. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus remains a haunting exploration of creation, responsibility, and what it means to be human.
Rate this bookDiscussion · October 8
Classics / Epic PoetryThe Odyssey
Homer (trans. Emily Wilson)2017 translation
Having survived ten years of war at Troy, Odysseus must now survive the journey home — a decade-long odyssey through monsters, gods, and temptations that keeps him from his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, waiting in Ithaca. Meanwhile, a house full of suitors overruns his palace, certain he is dead and vying for his wife's hand and his throne. Emily Wilson's landmark 2017 translation, the first published English translation by a woman, renders Homer's ancient epic in swift, contemporary verse without sacrificing the poem's depth. Blending adventure, homecoming, and reckoning, The Odyssey is a foundational work of Western literature and a timeless meditation on identity, loyalty, and what it means to find your way home.
Rate this bookDiscussion · November 12