Jul 22 2026
I am having a lot of THOUGHTS about this book that have me trying to second guess my younger self, and it is a WEIRD experience. This children’s picture book is about a little mouse who inhabits the Outermost House, a cottage on a section of beach that juts out into the sea, alongside the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/22/the-outermost-mouse-by-lauren-wolk-kristen-adam/
Jul 07 2026
with the most charming illustrations by Breanna Chambers! This world does not have enough kindness and empathy, and certainly not enough readily available mental health support, so it’s wonderful that books like this exist for young readers. Tony, Mia and River are all fourth-grade classmates at Los Angeles’ Sycamore Elementary. Their teacher Mr Ortega wants …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/07/pooch-on-the-loose-the-after-school-kindness-crew-1-by-goldie-hawn-lin-oliver/
May 13 2026
Choosing this to read rn was 100% due to my recent coverage of it in the latest Tantalizing Tales column reminding me that it’s a manageably quick, grown-up read. Which is just what I need while my doctors puzzle out what’s been keeping me sick since mid-January, with only occasional bursts of energy that would …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/13/the-dogs-of-venice-by-steven-rowley/
May 09 2026
At the end of January, I wrote that I was not sure I was going to finish Ehen in Philippsburg (Marriages in Philippsburg). It’s not that the book was bad, as such, it’s just that more than six months had elapsed since I had started reading, and that was a good indicator that the novel …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/09/ehen-in-philippsburg-by-martin-walser/
Apr 04 2026
The Tailor of Panama is Harry Pendel, half of the Savile Row partnership of Pendel & Braithwaite, relocated to Panama City some years back. A large portrait of the late Arthur Braithwaite — shipped over from England at his widow’s insistence and damn the expense — presides over the premises just off the prestigious Via …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/04/the-tailor-of-panama-by-john-le-carre/
Mar 12 2026
Every time I think parts of my Malaysian Muslim upbringing were strict, I run up against really weird shit from other Muslim cultural denominations and I’m all “wow.” Which isn’t to run them down at all! And perhaps nowhere is this sort of reflection more appropriate than in a book about a twelve year-old Muslim …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/12/hail-mariam-by-huda-al-marashi/
Mar 08 2026
Well I suppose that Jakob von Gunten is a bildungsroman because it follows its young and eponymous first-person narrator through his later school years and ends with his departure from the Institut Benjamenta. On the other hand, its 144 pages raise some doubts about whether it qualifies as a Roman, although the Süddeutsche Zeitung published …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/08/jakob-von-gunten-by-robert-walser/
Jan 22 2026
I tend to read a lot more female authors than male, which apparently puts me in the minority of readers worldwide. It’s especially unusual for me to read “serious” fiction by men, and while there’s a touch of the supernatural in each story collected here, this is still very much the kind of literary writing …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/22/wandering-souls-and-other-stories-by-philip-caputo/
Jan 20 2026
The next few months are giving us a lot to look forward to, book-wise! Authors we already know and love are coming out with new works in new worlds, offering that delightful combination of known quality in form with exciting novelty in content. Nightshade and Oak by Molly O’Neill coming in February, Wolf Worm by …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/20/upcoming-speculative-fiction-by-beloved-authors/
Jan 14 2026
translated from the original German by Imogen Taylor. Iris runs the only hotel left open in Bad Heim, a once-thriving (and fictional) spa town that now lives under constant threat of the forest fires that burn just beyond the river. Every summer seems to stretch for longer and longer, as the heat waves allow the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/14/eternal-summer-by-franziska-gansler/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire