Marginalia: May 2025 Updates
Marginalia: March-May 2025
It’s been a little quiet here over the past few months — in March, I unexpectedly lost my father, and since then I’ve been taking time to be with family, reflect, and navigate the mountain of “sadmin” (that’s death admin, and it’s even more exhausting and depressing than it sounds).
I’d been working periodically on an article about something we don’t often like to think about: what happens to our book collections when we’re no longer around to enjoy them, and what can we do to future-proof them. This experience gave me the additional perspective I needed to finally finish and share it — I'll be posting it next week.
But as always, life (and publishing!) keeps on moving. So let’s dive into some of the interesting announcements and series updates from the past couple of months…
Jump to: Literary News | Advance Notice | Series Watch | Pop-Ups | Page to Picture | Shelf Life
📖 Literary News
Bookish headlines you may have missed.
- Despite books being exempt from recent U.S. tariffs, publishers and distributors are bracing for significant supply chain challenges, anticipating potential delays and increased costs in the coming months. (Lock in your preorder discounts while you can…)
- Transworld announced an immersive virtual reality experience at London's Capital Crime Festival to promote Thomas R. Weaver’s debut novel, Artificial Wisdom, allowing readers to step directly into the story’s setting. Would love to hear feedback from anyone who's able to attend!
- Technology and literature intersected further with BBC Maestro’s release of an AI-generated Agatha Christie masterclass, sparking industry-wide discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in creative fields.
🔥 Advance Notice
Publisher announcements, whispers in the hallways, and highly anticipated collectible titles coming soon.
The Rose Field – Philip Pullman
The highly anticipated conclusion to Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy (Oct 25).
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
Gone Before Goodbye – Reese Witherspoon & Harlan Coben
A celebrity author mash-up thriller – the UK rights auction hit low six-figures (Oct 25).
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
Always Remember – Charlie Macksey
A full-colour illustrated follow-up to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Oct 25).
➤ Find US ed at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Find UK ed at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Find exclusive edition at Waterstones, also signed.
📚 Series Watch
Highlights on series' status, new matching editions, publisher sets, etc.
☞ Check out the articles changelog for all updates.
MinaLima's Interactive Classics – Frankenstein: It's been a while since the last entry in this series (Snow White and other Grimm's Fairy Tales in November 2022), so I'm excited to see new title Frankenstein coming out in October 25.
DK Ancient Myths – Celtic Myths: I love myths and legends, and Katie Ponder's illustrations in this series are stunning.
Penguin Clothbound: A couple of new titles announced in both the Clothbound Classics series (Shapiro design is particularly pretty), and unexpectedly the Little Clothbound Classics has been revived as well.
☞ Penguin Clothbound Classics
☞ Penguin Little Clothbound Classics
Puffin's 85th Anniversary: Puffin is releasing 8 special clothbound editions as part of their anniversary celebrations, with sprayed pages edges and cloth covers in Puffin's signature yellow hue.
Painted Editions: Harper Muse is bringing back it's ‘painted edition' classics, with 4 new favorite titles. (My collector's article linked below includes a video review of some of the earlier titles if you're curious.)
Chiltern Classics: More of Chiltern's handy pocket-sized tactile classics have been announced for October 25, with their usual beautiful cover designs.
Agatha Christie Special Eds: A few more titles are coming out this year in the HarperCollins Christie series, including new releases of her first and last novels (Styles and Curtain) with new cover art by Tom Adams (covers coming soon).
⚙️ Pop-Ups & Paper Engineering
Upcoming pop-up books and other paper wonders
I made a few changes to the pop-up books navigation on the site in preparation for some new upcoming paper engineering articles, I hope this doesn't confuse anyone too much!
Paper Engineering By Year: I've gathered every pop-up book recommendation onto its own annual page, and added a brand-new section for books with removable letters – which will link up with the collector's article I'm writing on this niche.
Gilded Fairytale Pop-Ups: I'm particularly looking forward to the next fairy tale pop-up adaptation of Sleeping Beauty in this pretty series by Templar Books (which doesn't seem to have a US distributor yet for some reason).
🎬 Page to Picture
Books in adaptation.
Murderbot – Martha Wells: I’m loving Apple TV’s new adaptation of Martha Wells’ award-winning Murderbot Diaries — part sci-fi thriller, part sarcastic therapy session for introverts.
Dungeon Crawler Carl – Matt Dinniman: One of the funniest series-in-progress at the moment is getting a cartoon adaptation. I'm addicted – the audiobooks are brilliant, and you should get the hardbacks if you can afford them because they actually contain a whole bonus series.
💌 Shelf Life
Spotlight on some books I've recently loved reading.
As you can imagine, my recent reading direction these past few months has been influenced by loss, so it's been a mix of meditative contemplation, and looking for works that uplift my spirits.
When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi
Paul's posthumous memoir left me in tears, yet somehow stiched me back together too. Paul writes with the steady hand of a neurosurgeon, and the heart of a poet. He shares his journey as doctor becomes patient, and the gentle philosophy of a life cut short. It's a quiet reminder to savour our days, value our work, and cherish the people who make it all matter. Random House, 2016.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher
The Saint of Steel books came back into the spotlight recently thanks to some charming new ‘retro' UK paperback cover designs (illustrated by Anna Moshak). I still love my hardbacks though, which I have gorgeous cover artwork by the multitalented author herself (who also publishes children's books as Ursula Vernon).
Paladin's Grace is the opening title (although all can be read as standalaones) in this delightful cozy fantasy series, which pairs wounded warriors with competent heroines in stories that balance sly humor, swordplay and slow-burn (low-spice) romance. Beneath the banter beats a tender exploration of trauma and kindness when the world feels cruel.
HB: Argyll Productions, 2020; PB: Orbit, 2025.
➤ Find US hardback at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find UK paperback at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
1 Comment
BeeReads8 · 25 June 2025 at 6:28 am
Daisy,
So sorry to hear about your father passing. That is truly a shock. Thank you for still posting and communicating. An article on that topic would be kind – I’ve often thought about that, too.
Perhaps if you would like to share some of your father’s favourite books, or one’s you shared, as well? Books hold so much for us all.
Thinking of you kindly
Xxx