Get Lit on Novel Reads: June 2026
Too many books and not enough time. Here are reviews of Recent Reads: Novel Edition from the team at Pages and Panels.
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
The amount of humanity that comes from this autobiography cannot be understated.
War photographers take the impossible task of capturing tragedy in a goal to inform audiences in hopes that some action will change the violence they bear witness too. And in that chaos and blood, there are moments captured that find beauty in horror and give dignity to those who are most vulnerable.
Writer/photographer Addario doesn’t just share insights into her world and her motivations, but pieces together stories from her work in the field beautifully.
In a time where it’s easy to be cynical, to see the commitment of war photographers to be tenacious enough to put their lives on the line as a calling for truth is both inspiring and a reminder of the beauty that still shines—even through the smallest of cracks in the darkest of caves.
-Seth A. Romo
Written by
Lynsey Addario
Published by
Penguin Random House
Cat’s Cradle
See the cradle? See the cat? Despite its age I can’t think of anything that points out the pointlessness of it all better than this!
-Seán Norman
Written Kurt Vonnegut
Published by Penguin Random House
A Touch of Jen
A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan is a thrilling sci-fi, romance, horror novel that pursues the dark twisted minds of Alicia and Remy. They develop a deep parasocial relationship with Remy’s old coworker, Jen. With only a small touch into her life, theirs is altered forever. While reading this, a consistent feeling for anxiety and confusion lingered in my stomach. I was rushing to turn the page in fear of what I would find next. As a lover of mystery and horror novels, this book was a thrill, full of surprises. You never know how obsessed you are with something until it has already consumed you.
-Katelynn Virgous
Written by
Beth Morgan
Published by
Flatiron Books
What Kind of Mother
Madi is a palm reader who gets involved in a missing child case involving her ex-boyfriend Henry, whose son disappeared years ago. It starts off as a simple murder mystery with slight hints of the supernatural, until it goes full blown Lovecraftian in the swamps of Virginia. It has themes of parental grief and the fear of motherhood, with a dash of body horror mixed in. An instant horror classic.
-Derek Mola
