Books of October–2026

The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

*sniffles* This was so good. This story follows two sisters who love each other dearly. They come from a family that sings to the trees to thank them for their magic. They reside in a strange land full of fantasy and delight. Despite this, danger lurks in the shadows. One of the sisters falls in love with someone outside of their land, and she is overjoyed to introduce her lover to her family. Unfortunately, life has a funny way of playing in people’s faces right when things are going their way. This is a lovely story about the power of sisterhood, love, and spirituality. The audiobook version that I listened to also had a short story by Amal El-Mohtar at the end that was awesome, as well. Given recent circumstances, this is a great story for men to read in order to understand why you should take “no” as an answer.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53 from the King James version of the Christian Bible. Have you ever wondered what life would be like if we were all cannibals? Well, I have the perfect book for you! This book imagines a world where people choose to subjugate other humans in a lower class system, exploit them, and carve them up like animals. If this sounds familiar, it is because it actually happened throughout history. If I was not already vegetarian, this book would have definitely changed my mind about eating animals. There is so much cruelty, senseless violence, hypocrisy, and torture in this book. I cried at the end because I was hoping for a kind ending, but I really should have known better. Please read all the trigger warnings before picking up this book! It is a tough book to get through, but I think it is insightful and poignant.

Vampire Forensics by Mark Collins Jenkins

Everybody get out of your coffins and have a party! This book was not a party. In fact, it was very solemn and sad. This book examined the real stories and people behind vampirism rumors throughout Europe (and parts of Asia). So many people died because they were accused of being vampires. People across religions, race, ethnicity, and age were burned dead or alive, staked through the heart, or even had their mouths stuffed with a brick to prevent them from terrorizing the living. Looking back on it, everything that they did feels silly because I know that decomposing bodies do weird things and not properly sanitizing can lead to the spread of disease. But for the people hundreds of years ago, all they knew was that something was wrong, and they had to act before the unknown consumed them. This is book is gruesome and vivid in its descriptions so beware. Sometimes vampires are the unknown and the misunderstood.