Here are 19 books that How to Read a Book fans have personally recommended if you like
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The multi-million bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings and The Book of Longings
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted Black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina-a town that holds the secret to her mother's…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Heartbreaking story of the horrifying role cartels have in Mexico and the terrifying path to safety that some people are forced to make. Lydia and her son hide in the bathroom while their ENTIRE family is gunned down in Acapulco. Somehow they escape and begin the trek to el Norte and some semblance of safety. But the path is fraught with peril. This was a compelling story and an unforgettable one.
*NOW A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME* 'Breathtaking... I haven't been so entirely consumed by a book for years' Telegraph 'I'll never stop thinking about it' Ann Patchett
FEAR KEEPS THEM RUNNING. HOPE KEEPS THEM ALIVE.
Vivid, visceral, utterly compelling, AMERICAN DIRT is an unforgettable story of a mother and son's attempt to cross the US-Mexico border. Described as 'impossible to put down' (Saturday Review) and 'essential reading' (Tracy Chevalier), it is a story that will leave you utterly changed.
Yesterday, Lydia had a bookshop. Yesterday, Lydia was married to a journalist. Yesterday, she was with everyone she loved…
Each of us at times has felt isolated or disconnected. What does it take to pull us out of it? Sometimes reconnecting happens in ways that are unexpected. When we look back, we see we couldn’t have mapped out the path back with the most sophisticated GPS.
Then again, we’re not Monica Wood, who in, “The One-In-a-Million Boy” connects dots and lines between places and people so adroitly, we end up looking back at our crucial crossroads, the choices that have led us to where we are today.
One in a Million seems early as if it’s going to be a sad book. I found the opposite. I found that Wood gives hope to those who feel alone. Through her characters, she suggests we will likely find purpose and bridges in the most unlikely places. An 11-year-old boy and a 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant? Come on. And yet…
She may be 104 years old, but Ona Vitkus is on a mission and it's all because of THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION-BOY...
Monica Wood's unforgettable novel about a boy in a million and the 104-year-old woman who saves his family is not to be missed by readers who loved THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, ELIZABETH IS MISSING or THE SHOCK OF THE FALL.
'A lovely, quirky novel about misfits across generations' Daily Mail
'A bittersweet story about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places' Good Housekeeping.
The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don't they teach you…
Sine, a professor of creative writing, accompanies Sam, a neuroscientist, on a conference trip to a Hotel Castle. Sam wants to present a new device, the "monitor." Sine hopes to recover from tending to her mother who just passed away.
When they arrive, Sine is in a dream-like state. Real…
From the engaging (mostly—except for the villains!) characters to the twisty plot, this book challenged assumptions and preconceptions, and, as a true author will do, Tartt's conclusion is both unexpected and well-planned for.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2014 Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the…
Quirky characters. Found familyss. Sweeping saga of art and music. And a love letter to Firenze . I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, separated into chronological titled vignettes with threads of the characters deftly woven throughout. Evelyn meets Darnley and Ulysses in a tuscan villa during WWII and this random connection frames a lifelong friendship. The characters were deftly drawn, their relationships realistic and ultimately hopeful and loving, albeit often not traditional.
A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man.
Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her…
My passion for novels about war with a love-related component is rooted in my upbringing. My father served in the military and suffered from PTSD all his life as a result. He regaled me with stories of his time in the army during World War II, but those stories were wildly comic or compelling tales of adventure in exotic, faraway lands. The darker aspects of his experience came out in his nightmares, and later in life, in the flashbacks he experienced after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. My mother’s life was also impacted by war. Her first marriage ended when her husband was killed in battle, and she had her own kind of PTSD as a result.
Here is another book about strong women who supported each other as they served in battle, not as soldiers, but as nurses.
Reading The Women, I got to experience the evacuation hospitals designed to provide rapid trauma care near combat zones. The war-torn love represented in these pages is both platonic and romantic.
This is not a YA novel, but it is a very accessible read, and it raises important ethical questions. What makes a good war, exactly?
From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”
When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected…
In an age of splendor, a heretic king strips Egypt bare—forcing his queen to quell rebellion and plunging his children into a conspiracy against the crown.
Salvation in the Sun follows Nefertiti as she ascends the throne beside Pharaoh Amenhotep—soon to become Akhenaten—just as he declares war on Egypt’s ancient…
Before becoming an author, I’d dabbled in almost every other genre—science fiction, western, coming-of-age, fantasy, and the like. When I wrote, published, and won awards for my first two mystery thrillers, I felt like I had finally found my niche with mystery readers. Good writers are good readers, so for years, I read only the genre for which I was writing. After a time, all those mysteries started to become rather formulaic, so I decided to branch out into other genres I used to enjoy. When I heard that other mystery fans were experiencing “genre burnout,” I built this list to encourage them to enjoy the fruits of all genres.
This is a book that simply cannot be siloed into one genre, and it resulted in many precious hours of lost sleep.
I was captivated by the story’s ability to shift effortlessly between a serial killer thriller and an unrequited love story spanning four decades in the lives of an artistic would-be pirate and his beekeeper-turned-FBI agent best friend.
What I loved most about this book were the extremes the author went to regarding 3-dimensional characterization. While there are several prevalent characters throughout, no two are alike; each has his/her own ambitions and pitfalls, and all eventually become interwoven in an explosive climax and an immensely satisfying, full-circle ending that left me thinking long after I put the book down.
A missing persons mystery, a serial killer thriller, and an epic love story - with a unique twist on each...
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Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of local teenager Joseph 'Patch' Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who is broken by her best friend's disappearance. Soon, she will eat, sleep, breathe, only to find him.
But when she it will break her heart.
Patch lies in a pitch-black room - all alone - for days or maybe weeks. Until he feels a hand in his. Her name…
I live in a 200+ year old house and have always been drawn to stories with dual timelines where the past and present intersect. Living in an old house where people lived and died, and exploring historic sites for my blog Past Lane Travels, I’m constantly aware of the lives that came before mine. I love the idea that something hidden in the past can still shape the present – and sometimes it seems like it’s just waiting to be uncovered by the right person. When stories are set in real places, it adds even more intrigue—I can visit, walk the same ground, and experience it for myself.
What I loved the most about this book was setting and time-period of colonial America.
Since I’ve written some historical fiction, I know how much research it takes to create a plot in a different era, and this book not only entertains, but educates! It’s chock-full of history and mystery – and kept me guessing until the end.
The author also has a very distinct writing style that is a joy to read.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.
"Fans of Outlander’s Claire Fraser will enjoy Lawhon’s Martha, who is brave and outspoken when it comes to protecting the innocent. . . impressive."—The Washington Post
"Once again, Lawhon works storytelling magic with a real-life heroine." —People Magazine
Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…
Given the blank canvas and infinite palette, many authors, perhaps hankering for a blockbuster movie deal, choose romantasy, thrillers, or sci-fi. Monica Wood finds her thrills – and ours - in everyday folk. The owner of a beauty shop. The district manager for a dental supply company.
So it is in, “My Only Story,” where Rita Rosario inserts herself into another family’s tragedy as she seeks fulfillment in her own life.
You might be thinking, hmm, pass, doesn’t sound like much. If so, revise your thinking. Wood is an insightful storyteller with a gift for making the routine feel extraordinary. No wasted words. Incredibly original. If you read or write a lot, you’ll spot it instantly.
Pick nearly any page. Rita thinks of the sound of her lover’s old car as a “balm.” Her sister is having a meltdown. Her man gives her a wide berth, “as if she were…
He came to me first in a dream, as a crippled dog angling down a country lane, puzzled by his sudden age, his bum paw, the dry stick clamped between his teeth. I'd been expecting this dream for a very long time, and I woke up moving. . . .
Rita Rosario has a gift, a way with people. She listens to them and really sees them for who they are–warts and all. And sometimes, she even knows how to guide them toward a new beginning. Women, even men, come to Rita's beauty shop for perms, town gossip, and the…
