Welcome to issue no.11 of The Deep Read, where you can find news, bookish fun and articles from Mr B’s booksellers and authors.
This month, fantasy sensation V.E. Schwab takes us through her favourite books, Ashton Politanoff takes our author Q&A, and two of our booksellers create a reading venn diagram…
V. E. Schwab’s Favourite Books
When we asked the bestselling superstar of fantasy fiction V. E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, to take part in our Curated By… feature celebrating 20 years of Mr B’s, we expected her to send a list. But, to our delight, she went one step further, and included notes on why she picked each book!
The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher. An absolutely delicious novel, wickedly funny but sharply barbed. Briar Jones follows two best friends who dream of going to a magical school together, only for one of them to be accepted, the other left behind. Seven years later, the latter gets a temp job as a custodian on campus, only to learn her once-best friend is now the school’s most powerful–and most evil–student.
Blacktail by Scott Hawkins. Reader, be warned, this book is NOT for the faint of heart. As an animal lover, I feel a responsibility to warn you, there is violence on the page. But I can also say, it is essential to the story Hawkins is telling, and it is very much a story worth your time. As gorgeous as it is gruesome. Months later, I haven’t stopped thinking about this book.
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh. As a huge fan of Some Desperate Glory, I knew I’d enjoy this one, but I was still surprised by how much. Another magical school tale, this time from the perspective of a beleaguered teacher whose job is (among many other things) protecting the school and its students from demons. The problem is, she’s also playing host to one.
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson. This was an absolute romp, a slasher-meets-romcom set at a speed-dating event, where the killer seems to be courting one of the attendees, our lead, Jamie, who has to use her knowledge of both horror AND romance to survive the night.
Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman. My running coach recommended this one to me while I was training for my first marathon, and it’s such an excellent memoir about moving through the world, but especially the sports world, in a femme body, and trying not only to navigate but change the landscape.
The Antidote by Karen Russell. An absolutely spellbinding novel set in the Great Depression and following an incredible cast, from a “prairie witch” who uses her mind as a vault for other people’s memories and her new apprentice to a New Deal photographer with a camera that can capture other times, past and future. Exquisite.
By V. E. Schwab
V. E. Schwab in the bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil & A Darker Shade of Magic. Her latest book is The Ending Writes Itself, written with Cat Clarke under the pseudonym Evelyn Clarke.
Browse V. E. Schwab’s books here!
Ashton Politanoff Answers Our Questions
Dad Had a Bad Day, the new novel from American author and ex-tennis player Ashton Politanoff has been flying off the shelves at Mr B’s and is one of our Fiction Lead Tom’s best books of 2026. Telling the story of Ned, a suburban stay-at-home dad who rediscovers his love of tennis when he is made redundant from his job – cue obsession and ever more unhinged behaviour! We were delighted that Ashton sat down to answer our (mostly) bookish questions…
You are on a long train journey but can only take one book. Which of your existing book collection would you choose to take to re-read?
William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, a travel memoir of sorts albeit with a surfboard under one’s arm, in this case Finnegan’s, seems fitting for a long journey. It also has an episodic feel to it, warranting long window-gazing ruminations.
What’s your favourite place/song/film?
This is everchanging but as I write this I’d say Biarritz, Quang Nam by Daughn Gibson or the latest Kacey Musgraves album for the slow summer state of mind, and revisiting sports classics like Hoosiers with my 9-year-old who has a burgeoning interest in basketball.
Where do you do most of your reading?
As of late, in bed. Not a wise choice as I usually don’t get too far into what I’m reading. A few pages, sometimes just a few paragraphs, and I begin to doze.
What is on your “to be read” pile currently?
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch and What I Know So Far by Gordon Lish. There are unread stacks everywhere, but these are my next reads.
What would your Mastermind subject be?
The history of surfboard shapers in the beach cities that comprise the South Bay (where I’m from and where I reside).
When you visit a bookshop, which section do you go to first?
Fiction.
What three words on a book blurb would make you want to pick it up?
I don’t look at blurbs. What carries more weight for me is if the recommendation came from an editor I admire, or a friend whose opinion I trust.
What was the last book that made you laugh or cry?
Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea had me doing both.
What did you do before you became an author?
I played tennis.
The ultimate dinner party – who would your top three guests be?
Roberto Bolaño for the tales, Stanley Kubrick for the vision, and Dale Velzy for the wild west beach culture local history.
Bookseller Venn Diagrams: Sam and Charlie
Ever wondered which of the Mr B’s team you share a similar reading taste with? Well, so have our booksellers. They’ve taken it upon themselves to track down their bookish bestie, and figure out where the overlap lies. This time, we’ve got Charlie and Sam…
With a shared love of fun factoids and pop science, the natural world, nebulous numbers and marvelous mathematics, and the history of medicine, it makes sense that books such as Ed Yong’s An Immense World, Graham Farmelo’s The Universe Speaks in Numbers, and John Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis would appear on their shared lists. Less expected, but also present, are some YA bangers: Jordan Ifueko’s epic Raybearer duology, and Ali Hazelwood’s rom-com set in the cut-throat world of chess, Check & Mate.
But where Charlie’s followed her love of the stars into sci-fi blockbusters by Becky Chambers and Anne Leckie, Sam’s stayed close to home, favouring hard-hitting non-fic about the current issues affecting our planet, and the people on it. Who knows where their tastes might align next…