I’m trying to accomplish this goal in 2025-2026! Thanks to Pickles Jr., I’ve already gotten started. He picked out a blind date with a used bookstore for me (shout out to Capricorn Books!), and I’ve already started this list.

1. Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
2. Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky
3. Let Us Descend: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
4. NEXT UP: All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
5. NEXT UP: Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger