Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/13/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading R. F. Kuang's dark academia novel Katabasis; I'm reading Virginia Evans's charming epistolary novel The Correspondent; and I'm listening to Karin Slaughter's mystery We Are All Guilty Here.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

In Kuang's dark academia fantasy novel, Alice Law is a graduate student in a ruthlessly competitive analytic magick program at Cambridge. She is intrigued and also deeply irritated by her academic rival, Peter Murdoch, who seems to be showing her up at every turn in their relentless slog of blood, sweat, and tears. Luckily, recommendations from their selfish, brilliant advisor, Professor Grimes, should set them up for successful careers.

But Grimes dies a grisly death while trying to enter the Underworld, and Alice and Peter are separately, secretly convinced that they are the one who killed him.

What else is there to do but journey to the underworld to try to get him back--and preserve their precious recommendations?

R. F. Kuang is also the author of Yellowface, The Poppy War, Babel, The Burning God, and The Dragon Republic.

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02 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

I had in my possession a prepublication version of this book in the spring, but it slipped through the cracks until two friends shared their rave reviews of the title this summer, whereupon I fell in love with the idea of the novel and bought the audiobook on Libro.fm because the Libby list was so long at the library. Just recently I realized that I owned that prepublication edition and began reading, until a third friend strongly suggested I listen to my audiobook version, which I then did.

Anyhoo, I feel like this book and I have been circling each other since early May, and I am so delighted as I finally dive into this charming novel.

Sybil Van Antwerp has written letters her whole life--letters to dear friends and family, letters of complaint, letters of praise and wonder to authors of books she's loved, and more. She reflects, sorts out her thoughts and makes sense of the events of the world.

Now Sybil is in her late 70s, and she's facing immense changes. She's never welcomed change before, but maybe, just maybe, she will be able to shift her perspective and open herself up to some pivotal new experiences in the life she has left.

I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Crown Publishing.

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03 We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1) by Karin Slaughter

In Karin Slaughter's We Are All Guilty Here, Emmy Clifton is a police officer for whom the job is all in the family--her father is the sheriff.

It's the Fourth of July, and all hands are on deck for the fireworks, crowd control, public nuisances, traffic snarls, and who knows what else.

So when Emmy's best friend's teen daughter Madison brushes her off, then shows up, needy and asking for help, Emmy doesn't have time for the drama.

But when Madison and her best friend go missing that night, Emmy realizes the girls have been keeping dark secrets and tangling with sinister figures.

I'm listening to this story as an audiobook. Karin Slaughter is the author of approximately 25 books.