Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/9/26 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Tayari Jones's newest novel, Kin, about childhood friends and the diverging paths of two Southern women; I'm listening to Inside Man, the second book in the Head Cases mystery series about a special FBI unit solving complex mysteries; and I'm listening to memoirist Jennette McCurdy's debut fiction about an inappropriate obsession, Half His Age.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 Alchemised by SenLinYu

This beast of a fantasy novel (it's 1040 pages) tracks a healer and alchemist suffering from significant memory gaps through three periods of time in her life.

When we meet Helena Marino, she is a prisoner. All of her fellow Resistance members have been captured or killed, and Helena is treated cruelly and largely cared for by a staff of animated undead. On paper, she is a figure of little importance, but the deliberate tampering with her memories of the final months of the Resistance lead many to believe she was an essential part of their fight--and that she may be the key to understanding the entire system.

But Kaine Ferron, a dark necromancer who is attempting to release her memories, turns out to be a key part of Helena's past, unbeknownst to her, and the book eventually begin to illuminate their complicated enemy/friend/destroyer/savior history.

The heart of this story was originally a work titled Manacled, and it was dark Harry Potter fan fiction about Hermione, who had an Order secret buried in her mind, and Draco, tasked by Voldemort with unearthing it.

Alchemised is SenLinYu's first published novel. I'm listening to Alchemised as a library audiobook through Libby.

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02 When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén

Bo is an elderly Swedish man living in the woodland cabin where he grew up.

He exists in somewhat of a haze between naps, frequent carer visits, calls and check-ins from his son Hans, short walks with his beloved elkhound Sixten, and vivid memories of his life--which sometimes feel more real than his reality.

His wife, who suffers from dementia, is in a care center, and his memories of her pop up in painful, poignant vibrancy.

Bo yearns for a deeper connection with his son. But when Hans determines that rehoming Sixten is best for all involved, Bo is devastated, angry, and unsure whether his shaky relationship with his son can be repaired.

I'm reading When the Cranes Fly South for my book club.

This is the author's debut novel.

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03 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Young adult Thomas Flett lives a quiet life as a shanker scraping the shore for shrimp with a horse and cart in a small seaside northern English town. He lives with his overbearing mother, who had him when she was quite young and has never revealed much information about his father. They bristle at each other, bicker, yet they live cooperatively: she feeds him and he pays the bills and fixes things around the house.

Thomas's knowledge of the shoreline, its hazards, its topography, and staying safe among its many sinkholes and dangers, proves to be a ticket to adventure when he meets Edgar, a passionate American filmmaker eager to use the setting as a backdrop to his new film.

But all Edgar says may not be the truth, and Thomas becomes more and more deeply entrenched in the drama, inspiration, unexpected twists and turns, and whirlwind of the stranger's orbit of existence.