Bookmarked 2026 Week 24: The Tea is Hot and a Weekly Reading Recap

How was your week? What are you reading? Here’s a look at what I read last week and links I bookmarked this week.

What I Read

I finished A Box Full of Darkness, Simone St. James. It was such a well written, atmospheric, creepy horror book from St. James. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her, and this is no exception. 3 siblings return to their childhood home, drawn by a message from their long dead younger brother. The town where they grew up is a place where a lot of disturbing things happen – and this was the setting for another of St. James’s books – The Sun Down Motel (another must read). The buildup in this novel was just exquisite. I love how the author took the time with the story, teasing it out and drawing out the anticipation. This was done really well – I felt the pacing was spot on and it never lulled, nor was there too much detail to bog down the story. I stayed up well into the night reading, not wanting to put this book down until I got to the end.

I also finished 2 more novellas from the list of 15 Award Award Nominated Novellas in 2026 … A Mouthful of Dust (The Singing Hills Cycle #6), Nghi Vo which I just didn’t really feel a connection to the characters. And Descent, Wole Talabi (I listened to the Audio available FREE online via Clarkesworld Magazine). This one I got into more and more as the story progressed, but I don’t get as into hard science fiction as I do other genres of books.

Currently Reading

I’ve started on American Rapture, C. J. Leede.

A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust. Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must survive the hellscape of the Midwest to try to save her twin brother while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin.

After that, I’m turning to Caribbean authors for the rest of June, which is #ReadCaribbean month – starting with Honey, Imani Thompson.

BookMarked

⮕ A bit of hot girl drama in the bookish world as a creator trademarks “Hot Girls Read” and asks everyone else to stop selling merch with that phrase. The internet did not react kindly to this trademarking of a common phrase.

⮕ The Winners of the 2026 Locus Awards were recently announced, and so glad to see that Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor won for Best Science Fiction Novel. I read this last year and loved it so much – it’s one of my recommendations for Fiction Books by Black Authors To Add To Your Book Club Reading List. The Best Novella winner was The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar, which I also really enjoyed, especially worthy on audiobook, … but I loved Cinder House, Freya Marske more, so that would have been my pick.

⮕ There’s quite a few “best books of the year so far” list. Here’s a nice summary from Book Riot – The Best Books of 2026 So Far Lists Out Now. And if you’re still looking for books to add to your reading list, then check out Goodreads Readers’ Most Read Books of the Reading Challenge (So Far) and Goodreads Readers’ Hit New Books of the Year (So Far).

⮕ For #20BooksofSummer, there is going to be a buddy read in July of YesterYear, Caro Claire Burke. This book seems to be the “it” book of the summer and #1 on Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2026 (So Far). Have you read it yet – is it on your radar?

⮕ There are moer than 500 comments on What Books Have You Begged Friends to Read? This is probably the ultimate “read people” recommendation list.

⮕This is a pretty handy guide to the bookstores owned by your favorite authors. Visiting new bookstores or libraries is also a fun side quest or “micro adventure”. The first time I came across that term was on this reddit thread of What are your favorite micro adventures? How do you add novelty into daily life?

⮕ If you have a Kindle check out this Ultimate Guide to Amazon Kindles for tips and tricks. I personally use the Kindle app – although most eBooks I get through my library’s digital app – CloudLibrary.

⮕ I didn’t know group Audiobook Walks were a thing … but I love it! Since June is Audiobook Appreciation Month, it’s the perfect time to grab a few friends and do a walk, or a picnic, or beach day with audiobooks! Here’s more about Merging Audiobooks With Community.

⮕ Personal curriculums are still trending – are you doing one? I like how this one is set up ->books and movies for a personal curriculum.

⮕ Here’s The Literary Film & TV You Need to Stream in June. Nothing really grabs my attention – what are you most looking forward to seeing?

That’s it from me. Cheers to the week ahead!