Looking for your next read?

57 book recommendations from me and my baller community

Oct 01, 2024

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I didn’t enjoy reading as a kid. Maybe my mind was too mired in chaos or I wasn’t ready developmentally, but I struggled with reading—so much so that I dreaded reading comprehension exercises in school and on standardized tests.

It occurs to me that reading didn’t interest me until I could tie it to two things I desperately wanted as an adolescent—romance + material things to call my own. Unbeknownst to my mom, I squirreled away my lunch money so that when it was book fair time I could purchase teen romance books. Over time, I built up my stash in a gold bowling bag I found on the sidewalk on trash day. When some of my siblings got wind of this bag of saucy delights and wanted in, I developed an orderly check out system on a piece of paper to track who was borrowing what.

No one leaned into my system, btw. LOL.

When I got to college I stopped reading recreationally altogether (survival mode will do that to you) and picked reading back up as a PhD student (grad school procrastination will do that to you). During my first year living in Kingston, Ontario, I lived on the main downtown strip steps away from an Indigo Books, and began to absorb the magic of browsing colorful book jackets, staff recommendations, and bestsellers across verticals.

Ever since that time I have been hooked on books, and one of my great delights as a parent has been reading hundreds (possibly thousands) of books to and with my kids. And then eventually, once they moved on to their own chapter books, came the joy and delight of cuddly reading time. We call it QRT—quiet reading time.

Now, there is a notable shift I have implemented in more recent years, as a grown-ass adult reader. I used to slog my way to the end of books I wasn’t enjoying out of respect for the author or the feeling that I needed to justify a book purchase, but I just don’t do that anymore, regardless of a book’s stars or accolades or impressive blurbs. Life is too short—and we do enough hard shit in life—to have recreational reading time feel like a struggle.

At first I established an arbitrary 50-page litmus test; meaning, if I wasn’t feeling it by page 50, I gave myself permission to bounce. Now if I’m not captured in the first chapter, or even the opening page, I’m out.

Tough audience, I know! But listen, I am reclaiming my time.

Every now and then I do get in book slumps, where I will bounce out of five or more titles in a row. I imagine there’s something to be said for headspace in these slumps, and they are a total bummer.

But the one thing that is not a bummer is how my amazing community shows up when it’s crowdsourcing time. Last week I shared about my slump on Instagram Stories and asked if people had recommendations. I have done this before and people are always freaking amazing. The amazingness also extends to things like underwear and pajama recommendations.

And so, slump or not, if you are looking for some reading options, I am extending the love through this post. The 57 recommendations from me (I added a handful of pre-slump favorites) and my baller community are organized alphabetically if you want to take the list to the library stacks. The titles are also linked to Amazon; if you purchase something I would receive a tiny commission at no cost to you. I have indicated any anecdotal commentary shared in quotes, as well as indication of multiple recommendations.

What a source of joy this process was! As I was putting this list in order, I added some titles to my library queue and also looked up some options on the Libby app since my paper stack was depleted and I was desperate for something to read. I ended up trying Starter Villain by John Scalzi based on the slump-busting anecdotal note and it did not disappoint! I devoured 7 chapters that night and finished it within a matter of days. Also, scroll to the bottom of this post for additional cat-related content inspired by reading this book. 🐈

Happy reading, and if you have recommendations to share, please add them to the comments!

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
A Place Called Home by David Ambrose
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Heroic Measures by Jill Ciment
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
James by Percival Everett [2 recommendations]
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay
The Guest List by Lucy Foley (“zippy thriller”)
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (“zippy thriller”)
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (“Original. Weird premise but I loved the writing and story execution.”)
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (“Anything by Matt Haig)
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (“OBSESSED”)
The Women by Kristen Hannah [5 recommendations]
Funny Story by Emily Henry
The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand (“read then watch show on Netflix!”)
The Amish Wedding Promise by Laura V. Hilton (“I just got into Amish romance. Deeply unsatisfying but sooo fascinating. The sexual tension!”)
Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday (“delightful”)
The Word Is Murder (Hawthorne and Horowitz series) by Anthony Horowitz
Just for the Summer by Abby Jiminez
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Yellowface by R. F Kuang
Every Day by David Levithan
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna [2 recommendations]
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (“gooooood!”)
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore [2 recommendations]
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Sandwich by Catherine Newman [3 recommendations] (“I laughed and cried.”)
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue (“But audiobook because it’s read by an Irish narrator”)
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel (“HIGHLY recommend. Boston/Fall/Chai/Family such a cozy book. I am definitely re-reading this fall”).
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
The Modern Fairies by Clare Pollard
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (“Anything by John Scalzi to get out of a slump. Starter Villain is excellent.”)
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt [2 recommendations]
Five Star Stranger by Kat Tang
Radiant Rebellion by Karen Walrond
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries series) by Martha Wells (“Highly recommend”)
Educated by Tara Westover (“OBSESSED”)
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

P.S. Similar to when I read The Art of Racing in the Rain and started to imagine that dogs have evolved inner narratives, reading Starter Villain made me think the same about cats. I am, regretfully, not often in cat spheres due to my allergies, but on Sunday when I was thinking about a feature photo for this post, I texted my sisters Steph and Sharon, “A weird question: do either of you have a photo of your cat reading or sitting on a book that you would be willing to let me use (with credit of course) in my Substack post this week? LOL.”

They delivered. I am pretty sure these cats have a whole communication system and could very well take over the world. I am here and ready for it—see captions for my imagined cat narratives. And thank you, Steph and Sharon, for sharing your cats with us.