Here are 73 books that Heart the Lover fans have personally recommended if you like
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Whenever in Oxford, I feel I’ve come “home.” It’s a magical city steeped in beauty, history, literature, culture, and fascinating people. I’ve been blessed to have taken graduate courses at the University, participated in numerous conferences, brought tour groups, lived “in college,” and conducted walking tours of the town. My familiarity with the city enabled me to write the original chapter on Oxford for Rick Steves’ England guidebook, and it’s where I set my fictional series, The Oxford Chronicles. When I can’t be there in person, I love to visit vicariously through good books. I hope these novels will enable you to experience some of the magic of Oxford too.
I’ve always been fascinated by the “dreaming spires” of Oxford University and enjoy Gaudy Night because it immerses me in the world of a (fictional) women’s college set in 1930s Oxford.
As a former professor, I’m intrigued by the internecine political and personal battles in the Senior Common Room (SCR), or college faculty lounge, as well as the friction between those professors devoted entirely to an academic career versus those trying to maintain the challenging balance of work and family, the same issues women struggle with today, nearly one hundred years later.
Sayers weaves together these tensions with a mysterious “poltergeist” who torments the college with poison-pen letters, pranks, vandalism, and violence into a compelling mystery under the dreaming spires.
The twelfth book in Dorothy L Sayers' classic Lord Peter Wimsey series, introduced by actress Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE - a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot and Margery Allingham's Campion Mysteries.
'D. L. Sayers is one of the best detective story writers' Daily Telegraph
Harriet Vane has never dared to return to her old Oxford college. Now, despite her scandalous life, she has been summoned back . . .
At first she thinks her worst fears have been fulfilled, as she encounters obscene graffiti, poison pen letters and a disgusting effigy when she arrives at sedate Shrewsbury…
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
I love books that reimagine a story that is well known, challenging reader's assumptions about the characters or the circumstances they find themselves in, while also standing on its own for readers that haven't read the inspiration. JAMES brings Huck Finn's companion to life, giving him wit, intelligence, and agency. I read it twice, back-to-back. Easily my favorite read of 2025!
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
As a career coach and artist-advocate, who had a successful career as an artist, I am always on the lookout for books to recommend to clients that offer excellent guidance about facets of developing a career as an artist, including the innerworkings of the artworld. I am very picky! Each book that I recommend contains advice, and/or observations that can help artists make wise career plans and decisions, develop realistic expectations, and soothe anxieties.
As a career coach and artist advocate, I was curious about what the author had to say about the inner workings of the art world. Quite happily, I read an insightful and humorous probe from a writer who sincerely wanted to understand art and its importance.
Bosker is not afraid of naming names when discussing critics, gallery owners, curators, collectors, and artists. She goes undercover, so to speak, and writes about her experiences as a gallery assistant, an artist’s assistant, a museum security guard, and a sales assistant at Art Basel Miami. And to add to her experiences, she tackles the use of the foreign language of “art speak.”
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
I seem to be drawn to epistolary novels (Guernsey Literary and 84 Charing Cross) though I resist it! It takes a great author to create a fascinating whole out of fragments. The main character is someone I feel I'd like to know IRL--and like I already do. The conclusion of the major plot point was unexpected. I've speculated about how it would affect me.
Finally, I know what happened to Lee, the main character of Sittenfeld's first novel, Prep! I've been worried about her for all these years (and now, I don't have to be ;) Sittenfeld's stories are just as delightful as her novels.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The bestselling author of Eligible and Romantic Comedy "blends acerbic wit, shrewd insight and sharp-eyed observation [in this] bravura collection" (The Washington Post), including a story that revisits the main character from her iconic novel Prep"Each of these witty, intelligent stories is a slice of modern life."--People A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceIn her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she's as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their…
These fantastical stories turn celestial events into intimate explorations of family, friendship, and home. I can't wait to see what Samantha Edmonds will write next.
Genre-bending stories of the cosmos and the worlds within our own skin
Blending fairy tale and science fiction with the otherworldliness of adolescence, A Preponderance of Starry Beings is a collection for anyone preoccupied with looking skyward. These stories probe the experience of coming of age on the outskirts of the universe, whether that be a small Midwestern town or a distant galaxy, and of weighing earthly obligations against the vast promises of space.
In a sleepy Ohio neighborhood, two girls seek refuge from their homophobic schoolmates in an antiques shop filled with Star Trek memorabilia. On a generation spaceship,…
This book is is a masterful example of the power of multiple points of view. For the entire first half of the book, I thought the husband was a complete jerk, and there didn't seem to be any way to redeem his character; then, we switch into his point of view, and suddenly I saw everything differently. Although very little happens in this book in terms of plot (spoiler alert, they get a divorce!), there is so much going on emotionally and character-wise, that I found myself completely immersed and could not stop reading.
Gripping and emotional, THE DIVORCE explores the unravelling of a marriage from first the wife, then the husband's point of view.
Together for more than thirty years, Bea and Niklas live a comfortable life in Stockholm. But one evening, following a trivial argument, Niklas disappears. Weeks pass before it emerges that he has met someone else. To Bea's horror, he insists they must divorce.
But is this divorce really coming out of the blue? Is the person who does the leaving always…
I read this book in less than 48 hours, and if I'd had the opportunity, I would have read it in a single sitting. The writing is beautiful, the characters are fully imagined and relatable, and it's equal parts a complicated love story and a murder mystery. For much of the book, the author manages to keep secret both who is on trial for murder and who was killed, but the mystery unfolds naturally and as a reader I never felt annoyed that the author was withholding information. Trigger warning: there are graphic scenes of accidental death, one involving a dog.
*****AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR ***** INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK AMANDA LAMB BOOK CLUB PICK
'An unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives . . . but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming' REESE WITHERSPOON
'This story of a love affair is so addictive it could be at home with the thrillers . . . A simmering book of secrets,…
I'm a huge Ann Packer fan. Years ago, "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" deeply affected me and changed the way I thought about writing and telling a coming of age story. In "Some Bright Nowhere," Packer does such a beautiful job expressing the interiority of characters who often make unexpected, controversial decisions. She deftly portrays the life of Eliot and Claire, past, present, and future, as Claire is suffers from a terminal illness and their life together is coming to an end. Packer avoids sentimentality altogether, giving the story a grace and weight that kept me thinking about it long after I finished the novel.
Although I'm a fan of music journalism and memoir, there was a lot I didn't know about the journey of Cameron Crowe. His memoir is filled with great stories and characters from his decades as a music journalist, beginning when he was a young teenager. (His encounters with Gregg Allman and David Bowie stand out as particularly wonderful). I appreciated Crowe's ability to both convey his youthful sense of wonder and his adult reflection on his life as a journalist and filmmaker into this powerful memoir. A particular joy is the description throughout of his mother, including quotes of her singular wisdom and humor at the beginning of each chapter. (Many of us will remember a version of her from the film "Almost Famous"). A bonus if you listen do the audio book is Crowe's warm and funny narration.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Cameron has written a book that feels like music, an intimate souvenir, like a song you can't stop listening to.” —Stevie Nicks • “A delicious tale of a devotee who worships at the altar of rock and roll....It's a love letter to fandom, sealed with Cameron's trademark sincerity and heart.” —Maggie Rogers • “Such a joy and so well written...My favorite book in a long, long time.” —Anderson Cooper
The long-awaited memoir by Cameron Crowe—one of America's most iconic journalists and filmmakers—The Uncool is a joyful dispatch from a lost world, a chronicle of the…
