My Winter Reading List

My ever growing TBR is crashing under its own weight, but this winter, I’m determined to put a dent into it.

Here are some of the books on my TBR and why I’m eager to read them.

HEART THE LOVER by Lily King, because I’m a sucker for literary love stories (especially love triangles), and because I’m a big fan of Lily King’s earlier work. Also, because — curiosity: I read WRITERS & LOVERS five years ago, and I used it as a comp when I queried SLANTING TOWARDS THE SEA. Will Heart THE LOVER hit me the same way WRITERS & LOVERS did? Or have my preferences shifted and changed since?

WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy, because I read and really liked MIGRATIONS, and because this is the book that’s been on everyone’s reading list this year, and I’m not immune to its allure. I love climate fiction, and no one does it better than McConaghy (and Richard Powers).

LITTLE ONE by Olivia Muenter, because I was lucky enough to snag an advance reader copy (thank you, Olivia 🫶, it is absolutely gorgeous!) and because complicated father figures and the impact that traumatic childhoods have on our adult lives will always have me reaching for a book.

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Onto the next stack. I’ve read all over media that white male writers are severely marginalized these days, so I’m including these as my diversity reads. Jokes aside, I’m eager to get to these three books from this years’ Booker Prize longlist/shortlist.

THE LAND IN WINTER by Andrew Miller, because my writing & reading bestie Mary Incontro, whose taste in books I trust with my life, told me to read it. Yep, that’s it. I was not particularly drawn to this book until she said I needed it in my life.

FLESH by David Szalay. Another one that was not an instant YES. But I’m drawn to it because I want to see what it is that the Booker Prize judges deemed worthy of awarding the prize for. And because I heard it’s written very sparsely, with almost no interiority, and I want to see how that worked out on the page. And because the Booker Prize IG account published short videos where renowned actors read a paragraph or two from shortlisted books, and I could not tear myself away from the Flesh’s clip.

SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood, for which the Booker judges said was “the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows,” which is the ground I explored in SLANTING TOWARDS THE SEA, albeit in a completely different way, but still, it piqued my interest.

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Onto the underdog stack — books that are not as mainstream/ internet favorites as some of the previously mentioned titles, but that I am very eager to read.

JUST A LITTLE DINNER by Cecile Tlili, because I find it extremely hard to write a whole book set over the course of just one dinner shared among four characters. The skill and the character work that had to be done to pull it off have to be off the charts.

SUPPORTING ACT by Agnes Lidbeck, because I’m currently writing a book in which one of the main themes is the disbalance between the roles men and women are expected to play in marriage and parenthood, and as I understand from trusted readers (Clare Reynolds 👋) this book is all about that disbalance, and it’s “thought provoking and compelling novel which … will resonate deeply with many people.”

Lastly, WINTER IN SOKCHO by Elisa Shua Dusapin, because it’s published by my UK publisher, DAUNT BOOKS, whose taste in books is infallible, and whatever they publish goes straight to my TBR. Also, because I believe Elisa Shua Dusapin is a rising star who’s been building her career steadily; over the course of several books, she has cultivated a fierce fanbase, which I find extremely inspiring. Her new novel is coming out from DAUNT BOOKS (their first hardcover edition!) in January 2026 in the UK, and from SUMMIT BOOKS in the US, and I have a feeling this might be Dusapin’s big-breakthrough novel so I’m jumping on that train early.

I’ve already started reading WINTER IN SOKCHO, and it’s a marvel. Atmospheric, distinct, compulsively readable. I can see what all the hype is about!

Have you read any of these? Are any of these on your TBR?

What are you reading this winter?

SLANTING TOWARDS THE SEA is available wherever you get your books! You can find it at Barnes & Noble; Amazon; Books-A-Million and Bookshop, or at your local bookstore. You can also add it on Goodreads. Get the UK edition at Daunt Books, or at any of the wonderful independent bookshops across Commonwealth!