Earlier this week, I read The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh. It’s a thriller about a couple whose marriage is falling apart. I thought, “Their relationship is so messy.” And since I love reading about messy people and situations, I was delighted by the messiness. That thought inspired this post. So today, I’m sharing ten books about relational, mental, or physical messiness. I’ll start with one of my all-time favorites.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I read Gone Girl shortly after its release in 2012. Before that, I’d only read a couple of mysteries or thrillers. I only picked up Gone Girl because it was getting so much hype. But, as I read it, I understood why.
The story follows Nick and Amy Dunne, a couple who look perfect on the outside. When Amy vanishes, Nick is the prime suspect, though he swears his innocence. As with any good thriller, nothing is quite as it seems. The Dunne’s relationship is incredibly messy, and reading about it made me realize how much I like stories that show behind-the-scenes glimpses of seemingly idyllic lives. We’ve all got our messes; some are just more obvious than others.
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Frankie and Zeke are two misfits who come together one fateful summer. They’ve never fit in, but they find acceptance in each other. When they create mysterious posters and hang them all over their small town, rumors and fear-mongering immediately follow, causing repercussions they could never have anticipated.
Everything feels so intense when you’re a teenager. The lows are lower, and the highs are higher when you’re young and trying to figure out who you are. It’s easy to make a mess of things because you sometimes don’t know any better. But, you learn as you live, and Frankie and Zeke spend many years wrestling with what they learned from the messes their art created.
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Have you ever spilled something and had to use a thin, non-absorbant paper towel to clean it up? As a result, the mess sometimes gets worse, even though you’re trying to tidy. June, the protagonist in R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface, knows a lot about trying to clean up a mess. When her friend Athena, a fellow writer, dies in her presence, June takes the printed manuscript she finds on Athena’s desk. She’s just going to edit the novel but then claims the work as her own. The mess June created threatens to bury her alive when the book becomes a huge success. June quickly learns that you can’t hide from the chaos you create for yourself. This page turner is one of my favorite reads of 2023 so far.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Shaker Heights, Ohio, was designed as a sort of utopian paradise. The city was meticulously planned, and the impressive homes belong to the most successful residents, including Elena Richardson and her four children. Mia and her daughter Pearl are new to Shaker Heights and rent a house from Elena. The two families quickly become enmeshed, but the messiness of a controversial custody battle and Mia’s unexplained past cause ruptures that aren’t supposed to happen in Shaker Heights. If you like novels with large casts of characters and stories full of messy drama, you’ll love this well-written gem.
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
A sentence about halfway through The Eden Test struck me: “How weird that the person who transgresses has the freedom of being unburdened.” I thought about that idea concerning She Said and Harvey Weinstein’s crimes.
Many women were preyed upon by Weinstein; his abuse continued for years. Yet he still made money, had famous friends, and got thanked by Oscar winners. Weinstein made the messes, but his victims had to live in the filth. And yet, they told the truth. Kantor and Twohey pursued a story that involved people far more powerful than they were and gave survivors a chance at justice. She Said is a powerful book about women raising their voices.
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison
I don’t drink alcohol. That’s true for several reasons, but chief among them is the knowledge that alcoholism has deeply hurt some of the people I love. The messes from addiction can be the most damaging because they affect everyone in the addict’s orbit. Decisions made decades before can still cause pain, even if the one who caused the pain tries to clean up the mess.
In The Recovering, Leslie Jamison explores her own relationship with alcohol while also discussing how substance abuse affected beloved writers such as Raymond Carver and David Foster Wallace. This brilliant, well-written book seamlessly blends memoir and criticism. The Recovering is one of those books that continues speaking to me years after I’ve read it. Jamison’s writing reads like poetry.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
The Recovering talked about true stories of substance abuse and the consequences of it, but Transcendent Kingdom is about a fictional family scarred by addiction. The novel revolves around Gifty, a Ghanaian immigrant who grew up in Alabama with her mom and brother. When her brother overdoses on heroin, Gifty turns her scientific interests toward addiction research. She’s studying neuroscience in California when her mother arrives to stay with her. Her mom has been a shell of herself since her son’s death, and the two women have to wrestle with their loss and how their religious faith seems to have failed them. Transcendent Kingdom is a stunning novel about the messiness of grief, disappointment, and separation.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
There are few topics more controversial or divisive than religion and politics. Believers and voters cling tightly to what they believe to be true and often try to persuade others to join their side. But, unfortunately, religion and politics create messes when one fuels the other. Kristin Kobes Du Mez explores this in her brilliant book Jesus and John Wayne.
Du Mez unpacks decades of religious and political movements and shows how entangled evangelicalism and conservative politics have become. A mess inevitably follows when people begin loving power more than they love their God or their fellow citizens. This book is a must-read if you don’t understand how so many evangelicals could love a man as messy as Donald Trump.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by K. C. Davis
Most of the other books on this list focus on internal messiness, but How to Keep House While Drowning addresses the physical messes in our homes. What I appreciate most about K. C. Davis is her focus on people struggling with mental health. The messiness in our homes can often mimic the messiness in our heads. But, according to Davis, messiness is morally neutral. Her book is full of brief thoughts about dealing with the messes we make, even when our minds are also cluttered.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
In Salvage the Bones, a poor Black family in Mississippi is trying to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. Esch is a fourteen-year-old girl who’s pregnant and dealing with morning sickness. Her father isn’t around much, and her brothers are mostly left on their own. This family is dealing with the messiness of addiction, a natural disaster, and no parental supervision. While many novels are about the wealthy and elite, Jesmyn Ward’s story of poverty in the rural South is a reminder that stories need to be told about all kinds of families and situations.
Those are my ten messy books. What titles would make your list? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Friendship can be such a complicated thing, yet it’s essential to our happiness and sense of belonging. I’m an introvert who needs a lot of alone time to feel like myself, but even I know how important it is to spend time with my friends. Romantic and familial relationships are the ones that get the most focus, yet friendship can sustain us even when our partners or family fail us.
This post was born when I was looking through my recent reads on Goodreads and realized how many books have friendship at the center, so today, I’m sharing 20 titles that show the good and bad in friendships. The books on this list celebrate or explore friends in all their complexities and shortcomings. I hope you’re inspired to pick up one of these books and to maybe even text that friend you haven’t talked to in a while.
The All-Night Sun by Diane Zinna
Bonding with a charismatic student during a summer trip to Sweden, a writing teacher at a Washington, D.C. college discovers the student’s dark nature during a Midsommar’s Eve seaside camping trip that takes an ominous turn.
The first book on this list is about a codependent friendship that gets incredibly messy. I appreciate novels about complex women, which I found in this underrated gem from Diane Zinna. Thanks to the setting, this book makes for a great summer read.
The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend’s struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn’t easy. Bell River’s literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.
I’m usually out if I hear a book described as “heartwarming,” but my love of books about books drew me to this novel anyway. I tend to prefer darker stories, yet I was utterly delighted by The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks. Seeing a diverse community come together in the name of literacy and the freedom to read made for a feel-good and satisfying story.
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Alice, a novelist, encounters Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is recovering from a break-up and starts flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.
This book got more mixed reviews than Sally Rooney’s earlier novels, but I loved this one. The interactions of the four protagonists, specifically the relationship between the two women, were consistently engaging, thanks to Rooney’s excellent prose. Readers more interested in characters than plot will enjoy this book the most.
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Two young couples, Sid and Charity and Larry and Sally, from different backgrounds–East and West, rich and poor–befriend each other in 1937 Madison, Wisconsin.
Crossing to Safety is a lovely character study that explores marriage and friendship. (In some ways, it reminds me of Stoner by John Williams because of its excellent simplicity.) When I read this book, I didn’t love it at first, but I still remember these characters and how Stegner made me feel, so I knew it earned a place on this list.
Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet
After walking from New York to Arizona to recover from a failed relationship, Gil discovers new neighbors in the glass-walled house next-door and finds his life meshing with theirs.
I read Dinosuars toward the end of 2022 and promptly recommended it to friends I knew would appreciate it. Like Beautiful World, Where Are You, this novel is a character study that takes relationships seriously, both long-term friendships and new ones. Lydia Millet shows how friendship can give us roots when we’re just wandering through life.
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
A tale loosely inspired by Robert Lowell and Flannery O’Connor traces the intense friendship and literary bond shared by two mid-20th-century New York writers through an exchange of letters that explores their respective writing forms and beliefs about faith, passion and the nature of acceptable sacrifice.
Flannery O’Connor is one of my favorite writers, so I knew I’d love this book before I read a paragraph. Thankfully, I was right. Books and creativity can unite people in powerful ways, which this novel beautifully explores.
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
Distancing herself from an intense best friend who inspired her scientific ambitions before divulging a life-changing secret, Kit competes for a dream research job and finds herself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Megan Abbott writes suspense so well. I keep coming back to her work because it’s atmospheric and surprising; I can feel the tension her words create. Give Me Your Hand shows what happens when friendship turns into rivalry. I read this book several years ago, but I still remember how unsettled it made me feel.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
A novel set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris follows the director of a Chicago art gallery and a woman looking for her estranged daughter in Paris who both struggle to come to terms with the ways AIDS has affected their lives.
The Great Believers is an outstanding novel about all kinds of relationships, but friendship is at its heart. I’ve read many books over the years that didn’t stick with me, but the characters Rebecca Makkai created still live in my head. After reading the excellent I Have Some Questions for You, Makkai has become one of my favorite novelists.
The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman
Reconnecting with a group of childhood friends after one of them committed suicide, Mikey needs to confront dark secrets from his past involving his father to assess how much of this is impacting his current emotional stupor.
Making and keeping friends often seems more challenging as I get older, which is one of the reasons I like The Gunners so much. The story is about a group of friends in their 30s, and I appreciate the exploration of adult friendship and the changes that occur as we age.
The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine
Author and podcaster Laura Tremaine offers women a new way to think about friendships and practical ways to find, build, and keep the right friend for every season of their lives.
Laura Tremaine consistently provides wise guidance on friendship, whether on her podcast, Instagram stories, or books. I’ve learned much from Laura about being a better friend. She writes without judgment or shame, gently encouraging her audience to give their friendships the care they deserve.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Moving to New York to pursue creative ambitions, four former classmates share decades marked by love, loss, addiction and haunting elements from a brutal childhood.
A Little Life wins the award for the most devastating novel I’ve ever read. It took me days to mentally move on from this book. It’s bleak and heartbreaking, but that makes the friendships even more powerful.
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
It’s 1988. Frank owns a music shop, jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre–as long as it’s vinyl. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need. Then into this shop arrives Ilse Brauchmann, and Frank falls for this curious woman.
If you just finished A Little Life and need a pick-me-up, try The Music Shop. This book has some romance, but my favorite part of the story is the relationships between the townspeople.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
The year: 1988. The place: Charleston, South Carolina. Abby and Gretchen have been BFFs since fifth grade, but now that they’re in high school, Gretchen seems different. After a series of bizarre events, Abby realizes that Gretchen has a demon living inside her — and it’s up to Abby to rescue her friend.
And now for another novel set in the 1980s! I’m not entirely sure what inspired me to pick up My Best Friend’s Exorcism since it differs from what I usually read, but I’m so glad I encountered this wild story. Grady Hendrix writes about female friendship incredibly well.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
A reunion with two childhood friends–Ruth and Tommy–draws Kath and her companions on a nostalgic odyssey into the supposedly idyllic years of their lives at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the serene English countryside, and a dramatic confrontation with the truth about their childhoods and about their lives in the present.
Never Let Me Go is one of the most emotional friendship stories I’ve read. This novel is the type of book that could be discussed for hours. Ishiguro raises interesting questions in his work, and this book is no exception.
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Twenty years after secretly causing panic in her hometown through the written word and artwork, along with a fellow loner named Zeke, famous author, mom and wife Frances Eleanor Budge gets a call that brings her past rushing back, threatening to upend everything.
Common obsessions make it easy to bond with certain people, and that’s what serves as the glue for this novel’s protagonists. I recently saw this book at a thrift store and was appalled that someone got rid of it because I love it so much.
The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
Daniel, a troubled man who lives alone, detached from the world, passes his time filling out contest applications and counting ceiling tiles, until his attachment to Clarissa and Teddy helps him rediscover the outside world.
This slim book is such a joy, especially on audio. Of course, since Steve Martin writes it, it has moments of humor, but The Pleasure of My Company also has a lot of heart. Of all the books on this list, this friendship might be my favorite.
Providence by Caroline Kepnes
A tale of two childhood best friends—part love story, part detective story and part supernatural thriller—follows Jon, a boy with a strange power that can harm those he most loves, as he aims to protect his friend, Chloe, from it.
Providence is super weird, and I’ve never heard another person talk about it, but I stand by my adoration. I have such love for my childhood friends that I can’t help but root for friendships that got their start in those early years.
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Returing to Mexico City to attend her father’s funeral, Meche runs into an old friend, with whom she discovered she could cast spells using music, reviving buried memories that cause her to question her estrangement from her loved ones.
Music has been a big part of my life, which is one of the reasons I like this story about its power. This book recently got rereleased, and I’m happy it gets another chance to shine and find an audience.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, this is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.
When I started reading this book, I worried it couldn’t live up to the hype. Thankfully, it does. Gabrielle Zevin has written an unforgettable story about friendship and all its difficulties and triumphs.
Vintage Contemporaries by Dan Kois
Pulled back into her past when a posthumous work needs a publisher, reconnecting her with an old friend, successful bookeditor and new mom Emily is forced to reckon with her decisions, her failures and what kind of creative life she wants to lead.
Vintage Contemporaries focuses on two friendships: one between peers and one between a woman and the friend of her mother. As someone with intergenerational friendships that are dear to me, I love seeing that type of bond represented in fiction.
All summaries are from NoveList.
What books would you add to this list? What’s the best book a friend has ever recommended to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
This year, in an attempt to read more of my unread books, I’m participating in a monthly challenge from Whitney at the Unread Shelf. Each month has a one-word prompt, and the goal is to read a book I own that ties into that prompt. March’s word is “enough.” As I thought about what “enough” means to me, I decided to read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. I kept thinking of other books that fit this theme, though, which inspired me to start a new 10 on a Theme series today by sharing ten books that mean “enough” to me. (You can read Whitney’s thoughts on the prompt here.)
March’s word resonated so strongly because I find that I’m constantly feeling the tug of wanting less and more at the same time:
I want less clutter but more stuff (clothes, shoes, makeup, books, etc.).
I want less stress but often take on more projects or responsibilities.
I want less pressure but hold myself to more ever-growing standards.
If you relate to those dueling desires, I hope you find a book in today’s post that will inspire and remind you that you are and have enough.
Content note: Some of these books address sexual assault, eating disorders, and suicide.
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
This quirky novel about an office worker who pretends to be pregnant might seem like an odd choice for this list, but I chose it for a reason. As an unmarried woman who doesn’t want children, I’ve been on the receiving end of pity. “One day, it will happen for you,” some people have said. I smile politely, but what I want to say is, “I really hope it doesn’t.”
Emi Yagi’s protagonist knew she would have to become a mother to get respect in her male-dominated office. She knew she would have to become a mother to please her family and form the connections she longed to have. This darkly humorous story reminds me that women should never feel pressured to procreate to be taken seriously. Diary of a Void reminds me that I’m enough without kids.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Essentialism is the title that inspired this whole list. I haven’t finished the book yet, but within a few days of starting it, I said no to something someone asked me to do. It was for a good cause, something I had done in the past, but I knew I already had too much on my plate. This image toward the beginning of the book struck a nerve:
I knew I was doing too much, but seeing the visual of what that looked like was powerful. This book is the right one at the right time because it advises me that I’m already doing enough. More isn’t always better.
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
As I pondered this list, I kept returning to Brené Brown’s idea of hustling for worthiness. I do it, and you probably do, too. We think we have to be a certain way or do specific things to be worthy or whole. I love this quote from Brown:
When we spend a lifetime trying to distance ourselves from the parts of our lives that don’t fit with who we think we’re supposed to be, we stand outside of our story and hustle for our worthiness by constantly performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving. Our sense of worthiness—that critically important piece that gives us access to love and belonging—lives inside of our story.
Brown’s work points out how vulnerability is powerful, and perfectionism is dangerous. The latter comes to me easier than the former, but I’m working on ceasing the hustle and embracing the rest that comes with living fully in my story.
Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
There are moments when I put pressure on myself to succeed in significant, splashy ways. I’ll believe I need a more impressive job, a new, expensive car, or a certain kind of home. But I find great joy and contentment in my day-to-day life. It’s a life that isn’t exciting, but it’s a life I love.
Glaciers is a short but powerful book about a day in the life of Isabel, a twenty-something woman who works in library archives. She, too, has a quiet life in which she goes to cafes, thrift stores, and pines for the man down the hall. The ordinariness of her life emphasizes the beauty in the everyday familiarities we often take for granted. Glaciers tells me my life is enough just like it is.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
I recently told a friend that I try to do most of what Roxane Gay tells me to do. She’s a brilliant cultural critic and writer, and Hunger is an incredible book. In it, Gay describes a tragic sexual assault that happened to her as a girl. As a result, she developed an eating disorder. (Hunger doesn’t shy away from details, so if you’re sensitive to those topics, this might not be the book for you.) Though much of this book is heartbreaking, Gay’s resilience and vulnerability convince me that my body is enough just as it is, no matter its size, wounds, or scars. Hers is too, and so is yours.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
For a while, Chanel Miller was known as Jane Doe in the sexual assault case against Brock Turner. Throughout the trial, her body, behavior, and everything else about her life were up for scrutiny and debate. What must have felt powerless at the time fuels this gorgeous memoir in which Miller claims her voice. Know My Name is a book I’d eagerly hand to any woman who needs a nudge to use her voice too.
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer by Christian Wiman
Several years ago, Christian Wiman was diagnosed with cancer. Yet, as he faced mortality, he rediscovered faith. This book is a collection of essays in which he talks about his faith and how complex it truly is. Wiman is a poet, and that’s obvious on every page. His prose is exquisite, and his musings are relatable to any person of faith who’s been a believer for longer than a week. He addresses contradictions and questions with tenderness and curiosity, never settling for sweeping uncertainties under the rug. Wiman’s thoughts on belief tell me that faith isn’t always a big emotion or production; sometimes it’s a crumb that you guard with your life, and that’s enough.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
“You’re so quiet.”
I’m never sure how to respond when someone says this to me. “Yes, I know,” seems rude. “What would you like me to say?” does too. This is another moment when I smile and shrug my shoulders, knowing the person who spoke those words doesn’t know me and has likely shut down the possibility of me wanting to know them.
In Quiet, Susan Cain explores the nature of introversion. This book is a gift to those of us who need plenty of aloneness to recharge, who weigh our words carefully or who choose not to use them at all. It celebrates introverts and explains what extroverts can learn from their quiet peers. Cain’s work tells me that what some people may view as a deficiency is actually a strength.
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
Matt Haig is a prolific writer who also struggles with depression. He’s exceptionally open about his battles, and in this book, he shares the ups and downs of his life and explains how he found the will to go on after a suicide attempt. This book is written in short vignettes, perfect for those who are anxious or have trouble focusing. Haig’s book isn’t a self-help guide that includes 8 Steps to a Happier Life. Instead, he gives readers an honest account of how depression can be endured and managed and shares what joy exists on the other side of its darkness. Reasons to Stay Alive is an important book about how the small, ordinary things in our lives can be enough for us to keep going, even when there’s pain.
Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More by Erin Boyle
All the other books on this list address the internal idea of enoughness; this book addresses our physical spaces. Part of me wants a minimalist home, a capsule wardrobe, and only essential items in my drawers or cabinets. But another part wants to purchase the entirety of Barnes and Noble and Anthropologie. My maximalist side usually wins out, and this can be a problem.
Simple Matters is a beautifully written and photographed book that speaks to my maximalist self and gently nudges me toward the minimalist life that is probably better for me in the end. Erin Boyle is never preachy or condescending to those of us with 11 backup hand soaps or 17 half-burned candles. (I only have seven backup hand soaps now, so I’m doing great.) I return to this book when I need a gentle reminder that I have enough stuff.
How do you interpret this theme? What books would make your “enough” list? I’d love to know!
According to my reading spreadsheet charts from last year (jealous?), 70% of the books I read were written by women. The stats are looking the same for my 2023 reading so far. I love women writers, so I thought Women’s History Month was the perfect time to share some of my favorite authors. I wanted to keep this post at a reasonable length, so some tough decisions were made, but I feel good about this list. I’ve divided it into several categories, which shouldn’t surprise you since I mentioned spreadsheet charts in the first sentence. Anyway, let’s get to it!
All summaries are from NoveList.
Mysterious Ladies
A good mystery or thriller is one of my greatest reading pleasures. I want unputdownable books combining an exciting plot, excellent prose, and believable character development, and that’s what these writers provide.
Katrine Engberg
Recommended reads:
The Tenant: Two police detectives struggle to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge.
The Butterfly House: Detectives Jeppe Karner and Anette Werner race to solve a series of sordid murders linked to some of the most vulnerable patients in a Danish hospital.
The Harbor:When a 15-year-old boy goes missing, leaving behind a strange note, detectives Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner become trapped in a web of lies that could prevent the boy from ever being found.
Gillian Flynn
Recommended reads:
Dark Places: After witnessing the murder of her mother and sisters, 7-year-old Libby Day testifies against her brother Ben, but twenty-five years later she tries to profit from her tragic history and admit that her story might not have been accurate.
Gone Girl: When beautiful Amy Dunne disappears from her Missouri home, it looks as if her husband Nick is to blame. But though he protests his innocence, it’s clear that he’s not being entirely truthful. Gone Girl is not only the story of a disappearance, but a truly frightening glimpse of a souring marriage.
Sharp Objects: Returning to her hometown after a long absence to investigate the murders of two girls, reporter Camille Preaker is reunited with her neurotic mother and enigmatic half-sister as she works to uncover the truth about the killings.
Tana French
Recommended reads:
In the Woods: Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories.
The Likeness: This novel finds Detective Cassie Maddox still scarred by her last case. When her boyfriend calls her to a chilling murder scene, Cassie is forced to face her inner demons. A young woman has been found stabbed to death outside Dublin, and the victim looks just like Cassie.
The Witch Elm: Left for dead by burglars while partying with friends, a happy-go-lucky charmer takes refuge at his dilapidated ancestral home before a grisly discovery reveals an unsuspected family history.
Jane Harper
Recommended reads:
The Dry: Receiving a sinister anonymous note after his best friend’s suspicious death, federal agent Aaron Falk is forced to confront the fallout of a twenty-year-old false alibi against a backdrop of the worst drought Melbourne has seen in a century.
Force of Nature: When one member of a five-woman team of co-workers goes missing during a corporate retreat, federal police agent Aaron Falk uncovers dark secrets in his search for the woman, a whistleblower and major contributor to his latest case.
Exiles: At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespies’ absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.
Lisa Jewell
Recommended reads:
The Family Upstairs: Inheriting an abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, 25-year-old Libby Jones is soon on a collision course with her birth family’s past that is linked to long-ago murders.
The Girls in the Garden: Deep in the heart of London, in a lush communal square, as a festive garden party is taking place, a thirteen year-old girl lies unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?
Watching You: When a murder occurs in Melville Heights, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England, dangerous obsessions come to light involving the headmaster at a local school, in this place where everyone has a secret.
Prolific Queens
Sometimes I get tired just writing a paragraph, yet there are writers out there with many books to their names. This category celebrates some of those women.
Louise Erdrich
Recommended reads:
The Night Watchman: A historical novel based on the life of the author’s grandfather traces the experiences of a Chippewa Council night watchman in mid-19th-century rural North Dakota who fights Congress to enforce Native American treaty rights.
The Round House: When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, fourteen-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family.
Shadow Tag: After she discovers that her husband has been reading her diary, Irene America turns it into a manipulative farce, while secretly keeping a second diary that includes her true thoughts, through which the reader learns of Irene’s shaky marriage, its affect on her children and her struggles with alcohol.
Anne Lamott
Recommended reads:
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope: Presents an inspirational guide to the role of hope in everyday life and explores essential truths about how to overcome burnout and suffering by deliberately choosing joy.
Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life: A step-by-step guide to writing and managing the writer’s life covers each portion of a written project, addresses such concerns as writer’s block and getting published, and offers awareness and survival tips.
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith: Combining elements of spiritual study and memoir, the author describes her odyssey of faith, drawing on her own sometimes troubled past to explore the many ways in which faith sustains and guides one’s daily life.
Toni Morrison
Recommended reads:
The Bluest Eye: Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, an African-American girl in an America whose love for blonde, blue-eyed children can devastate all others, prays for her eyes to turn blue, so that she will be beautiful, people will notice her, and her world will be different.
Jazz: In Harlem, 1926, Joe Trace, a door-to-door salesman in his fifties, kills his teenage lover. A profound love story which depicts the sights and sounds of Black urban life during the Jazz Age.
Recitatif: In this 1983 short story about race and the relationships that shape us through life, Twyla and Roberta, friends since childhood who are seemingly at opposite ends of every problem as they grow older, cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.
Zadie Smith
Recommended reads:
Grand Union: A first collection of 10 original short stories and selections from her most-lauded pieces as first published in The New Yorker and other prestigious literary magazines.
Intimations: Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality–or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it? Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened–and what should come next.
White Teeth: Tells the story of immigrants in England over a period of 40 years.
The Poets
Poetry doesn’t have to be complicated or hard to read. You don’t need to analyze every line to enjoy a poem. These women write beautiful, approachable poems that will bring you joy or make you think.
Recommended reads:
What Is This Thing Called Love by Kim Addonizio
What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
Second Sky by Tania Runyan
Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
The Best of the Best
These writers have delivered some of my all-time favorite books. I bet even their thank you notes are full of gorgeous prose.
A few years ago, I had no desire to be part of a book club. Even though I love reading, I never wanted to feel obligated to read a certain book. (Earning my English degree might have something to do with that.) But when the opportunity arose to get involved in one of my school’s book clubs, I found myself surprisingly excited about it. Now the book club I’m in is one of my favorite things. I look forward to each meeting and have grown to love discussing all kinds of different books with my fellow readers.
If you’re in a book club, you know choosing a book for a group can sometimes be challenging. Today I’m sharing 30 titles that I think would make fantastic book club picks; 20 are fiction and 10 are nonfiction. I think this list has something for everyone, whether you’re looking for a book to discuss with your club or simply want something to enjoy on your own.
Fiction
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Summary: Separated by respective ambitions after falling in love in occupied Nigeria, beautiful Ifemelu experiences triumph and defeat in America while exploring new concepts of race, while Obinze endures an undocumented status in London until the pair is reunited in their homeland 15 years later, where they face the toughest decisions of their lives.
Why I chose this book: Americanah raises important questions about race and belonging, but it’s also a beautiful love story at its core. Adichie’s writing is wonderful.
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Summary: When the cast of a local theater group raises money for an experimental treatment for the director’s granddaughter, who has a rare form of cancer, one member raises her concerns, creating tensions within the community, which leads to murder.
Why I chose this book: This is an epistolary novel written in emails, text messages, and notes. It’s a fun page-turner and keeps readers guessing. The large cast of characters will make for a great conversation.
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
Summary: In a rural East Texas town of fewer than 200 people, the body of an African American lawyer from Chicago is found in a bayou, followed several days later by that of a local white woman. What’s going on? African American Texas Ranger Darren Mathews hopes to find out, which means talking to relatives of the deceased, including the woman’s white supremacist husband — and Mathews soon discovers things are more complex than they seem.
Why I chose this book: I love a good mystery novel, and this book delivers an unputdownable story featuring a vibrant protagonist.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Summary: A five-decade saga tracing the impact of an act of infidelity on the parents and children of two Southern California families traces their shared summers in Virginia and the disillusionment that shapes their lasting bond.
Why I chose this book: Commonwealth is engrossing from beginning to end. We can all relate to complex families and how they hold each other’s secrets.
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Summary: It’s December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless―unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem’s sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who’s been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.
Why I chose this book: IT’S SO GOOD, THAT’S WHY! Crossroads is long, so this book is only for the most dedicated book clubbers, but Franzen has given us so much great stuff to discuss thanks to the oh-so-complicated Hildebrandt family.
Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe
Summary: Newly involved in his daughter’s life shortly after she suffered a breakdown, Lucas takes the teen on a trip to Europe in the hopes that an immersion in regional history and culture will help her forget his past mistakes and her uncertain future.
Why I chose this book:Dear Fang, With Love is an underrated gem. It’s sweet, surprising, and the European setting gives readers a nice sense of escapism.
Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
Summary: A work of fiction goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans, and America as a whole.
Why I chose this book: This novel addresses important and heavy themes, but it’s Jason Mott’s use of magical realism that makes this novel a memorable must-read.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Summary: Two half-sisters, unknown to each other, are born into different villages in 18th-century Ghana and experience profoundly different lives and legacies throughout subsequent generations marked by wealth, slavery, war, coal mining, the Great Migration and the realities of 20th-century Harlem.
Why I chose this book:Homegoing is one of the most important books written in recent years. It’s incredible how much story and characterization Yaa Gyasi fit into 320 pages. The fact that this is a debut novel continually blows my mind.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
Summary: A woman must reckon with her past when new details surface about a tragedy at her elite New England boarding school.
Why I chose this book: The best book club books are page-turners that also have a lot of important themes to discuss. The mystery at the heart of I Have Some Questions for You will keep readers turning the pages, and themes of class, justice, and homecoming will keep any book club talking.
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Summary: When a pregnant Tish’s boyfriend Fonny, a sculptor, is wrongfully jailed for the rape of a Puerto Rican woman, their families unite to prove the charge false.
Why I chose this book: Baldwin is a genius whose skill is on full display in this classic. Though it was published in 1974, Beale Street’s look at the American justice system is as important as ever.
In the Woods by Tana French
Summary: Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories.
Why I chose this book: In the Woods is the mystery novel to which I compare all others. The writing, characters, and moody setting are utter perfection.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Summary: Waiting to be chosen by a customer, an Artificial Friend programmed with high perception observes the activities of shoppers while exploring fundamental questions about what it means to love.
Why I chose this book: Even the sci-fi haters will like this thought-provoking story about a future that seems all too possible.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Summary: Four famous siblings throw an epic end-of-summer party that goes dangerously out of control as secrets and loves that shaped this family’s generations come to light, changing their lives forever.
Why I chose this book: Malibu Rising looks like a breezy beach read if you judge it by the cover, but Taylor Jenkins Reid delivers a powerful story about a family whose famous father left tragedy in his wake. I read this in one sitting.
The Nix by Nathan Hill
Summary: Astonished to see the mother who abandoned him in childhood throwing rocks at a presidential candidate, a bored college professor struggles to reconcile the radical media depictions of his mother with his small-town memories and decides to draw her out by penning a tell-all biography.
Why I chose this book: This book got a bit of buzz when it came out in 2016, but it’s my literary mission to keep The Nix alive and well. There’s a lot happening in this book, but it’s the complicated mother/son story that anchors the narrative.
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Summary: This powerfully imagined tour de force of fiction of what-might-have-been follows Hillary Rodham as she takes a different path, blazing her own trail – one that unfolds in public as well as in private – and one that crosses paths again and again with Bill Clinton.
Why I chose this book: Who hasn’t wondered what their life would be like if they’d made different choices? There’s so much to talk about throughout Sittenfeld’s reimagining of Hillary’s destiny.
Sam by Allegra Goodman
Summary: Grappling with self-doubt and insecurity as she grows into her teens, Sam, yearning for her climbing coach’s attention, dealing with her father’s absence and raging against her mother’s constant pressure, must decide who she wants to be in the face of what she’s expected to do.
Why I chose this book: Have you ever finished a book and knew you’d be thinking about it for a long time? That’s exactly how I felt when I finished reading Sam. I love this moving coming-of-age story.
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich
Summary: After she discovers that her husband has been reading her diary, Irene America turns it into a manipulative farce, while secretly keeping a second diary that includes her true thoughts, through which the reader learns of Irene’s shaky marriage, its affect on her children and her struggles with alcohol.
Why I chose this book:Shadow Tag isn’t one of Erdrich’s most popular novels, but it’s one of my favorites. Readers who love stories about messy marriages will like this one.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Summary: A story of how the past affects the present, and of deeply entrenched racism, Sing, Unburied, Sing describes the life of a biracial boy, his addicted, grieving black mother, and his incarcerated white father. A road trip to Dad’s prison kick-starts the novel, which offers deeply affecting characters, a strong sense of place (rural Mississippi), and a touch of magical realism in appearances by the dead.
Why I chose this book: Jesmyn Ward is an incredibly talented writer whose gift shines in this novel. The prose is beautiful, the story is heart wrenching, and familial love pierces through the bleakness of the subject matter to infuse the story with hope.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Summary: Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store’s security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.
Why I chose this book: Despite its themes, this novel really is a fun read. Plus, it provides an interesting look at influencer culture, which I find endlessly interesting.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Summary: Her world upended by the death of a beloved artist uncle who was the only person who understood her, fourteen-year-old June is mailed a teapot by her uncle’s grieving boyfriend, with whom June forges a poignant relationship.
Why I chose this book: This book came out in 2012, and I always thought it deserved more buzz. It’s a deeply emotional novel about grief and the relationships that sustain us.
Nonfiction
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
Summary: The editor-in-chief of Gourmet recounts her visits to some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants, both as herself and as an anonymous diner in disguise, to offer insight into the differences in her dining experiences.
Why I chose this book: Few things unite people as much as food. This memoir is a quick, delightful read that any foodie will adore. Have snacks on hand.
Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas
Summary: A humorist and playwright provides a heartfelt and humorous memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope and every awkward, extraordinary stumble along the way.
Why I chose this book: This is the perfect book if you need some good laughs but also love stories with a lot of heart. Here for It is one of those books that I think most readers will enjoy.
Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession edited by Elizabeth Benedict
Summary: These twenty-seven “hair pieces” offer up reflections and revelations about family, race, religion, ritual, culture, motherhood, politics, celebrity, what goes on in African American kitchens and at Hindu Bengali weddings, alongside stories about the influence of Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, and the Grateful Dead. Layered into these essays you’ll find surprises, insights, hilarity, and the resonance of common experience.
Why I chose this book: Hair is a big deal, but we don’t often talk about why. This essay collection is funny, illuminating, and will start great conversations about female beauty standards.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Summary: An award-winning poet and essayist offers a ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged exploration of the psychological condition of being Asian American.
Why I chose this book: I read Minor Feelings two years ago, and I’m still thinking about it. Essay collections can make excellent book club picks because there’s sure to be at least one piece with which each reader will connect.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Summary: Hemingway’s memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him – James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald – he recalls the time when, poor, happy, and writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation. Written during the last years of Hemingway’s life, his memoir is a lively and powerful reflection of his genius that scintillates with the romance of the city. –Goodreads
Why I chose this book: Classics might not be a book club’s first choice, but there’s something special about reading and discussing a work from the past, especially when it takes place in Paris. Hardcore book nerds will love the literary elements of this memoir.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Summary: Demonstrates how introverted people are misunderstood and undervalued in modern culture, charting the rise of extrovert ideology while sharing anecdotal examples of how to use introvert talents to adapt to various situations.
Why I chose this book: As an introvert, this book made me feel seen. Extroverts will benefit from better understanding the quiet folks in their lives and learning why they behave the way they do.
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower
Summary: An intimate account of White House life from the perspectives of the service staffs of the Kennedys through the Obamas details their friendships, marriages, everyday activities and elaborate state dinners.
Why I chose this book: I love presidential history, but even if you don’t, I think you’ll find this book to be an entertaining read. We’re all familiar with images of the White House, and this account gives readers behind-the-scenes access to the chefs, florists, gardeners, and other important people who make life and events possible for the President and their family.
The Shelf: From LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading by Phyllis Rose
Summary: Can you have an Extreme Adventure in a library? Phyllis Rose casts herself into the wilds of an Upper East Side lending library in aneffort to do just that. Hoping to explore the “real ground of literature,” she reads her way through a somewhat randomly chosen shelf of fiction, from LEQ to LES. The shelf has everything Rose could wish for–a classic she has not read, a remarkable variety of authors, and a range of literary styles. In The Shelf, Rose investigates the books on her shelf with exuberance, candor, and wit while pondering the many questions her experiment raises and measuring her discoveries against her own inner shelf–those texts that accompany us through life.
Why I chose this book: If you’re in a book club, you probably love books. And if you love books, you’re likely to enjoy reading books about other books. I adored this fun literary adventure and think most book lovers will too.
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran
Summary: In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.
Why I chose this book: This memoir is such a joy, especially for book and music lovers. It’s funny, insightful, and will give any book club much to discuss.
Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv
Summary: Raising fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress, the author draws on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs to write about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are.
Why I chose this book: A lot of books on this list are lighthearted; this one definitely isn’t, but it’s a great and important look at mental illness. This book would be wonderful to discuss in a group of thoughtful readers.
Most summaries came from NoveList.
Have you read many of these? What titles would you suggest for a book club?
Andrea Is Reading 