Here are 61 books that Show Don't Tell fans have personally recommended if you like Show Don't Tell. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Heart the Lover

Jill Fordyce Author Of Belonging

From Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jill Fordyce Why Jill loves this book

I received this book as part of Parnassus’ First Editions Club and although I’ve heard much about Lily King over the years, I had not yet read one of her books. Now I want to read them all. “Heart the Lover” was that rare combination of smart and sentimental, with beautiful fully drawn characters, lyrical prose, literary references, and a narrative arc that followed a transformative college friendship into middle age. A bonus is that it has one of those endings that is at once inevitable and surprising. A very satisfying and thought-provoking novel!

By Lily King ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Heart the Lover as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Lily King has written another masterpiece. This book overflows with her brilliance and her heart. We are so lucky.” —Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow

From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first love

You knew I'd write a book about you someday.

Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.…


If you love Show Don't Tell...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of A Preponderance of Starry Beings

Cameron Walker Author Of How to Capture Carbon

From Cameron's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Cameron's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Cameron Walker Why Cameron loves this book

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.

By Samantha Edmonds ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Preponderance of Starry Beings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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,…


Book cover of Prep

Caroline Wolff Author Of The Wayside

From my list on for adults about being a teenager.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer, I’ve always been drawn to exploring the teenage experience. Maybe that’s because my experiences in high school and college were rife with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows—everything was intensely beautiful and painful at once. That tension played a major role in my self-discovery process, and story-wise, it makes for a compelling character. But in a lot of literature, I find the depiction of teenage characters to be either sensationalized or infantilizing, melodramatic, or unconvincingly flat. When writing my own adolescent subjects in The Wayside, I turned often toward the rich, complex characters in the stories here. 

Caroline's book list on for adults about being a teenager

Caroline Wolff Why Caroline loves this book

Along with Anthropology of an American Girl, this is one of the books that made me want to become a writer. More specifically, it opened my eyes to what a writer can do with a teenage subject.

The story follows a prep-school student, Lee, but Sittenfeld handles her experience with all the nuance of “adult” subjects. I also admire how Sittenfeld captures the labyrinthine social politics of an elite boarding school and comments on class and race hierarchies without ever feeling didactic.

I think people mistake this book as YA—I certainly did when I first picked it up as a thirteen-year-old—but don’t be fooled by that candy-colored ribbon belt on the cover. This is as complex a novel as they come.     

By Curtis Sittenfeld ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Prep as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.

Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.…


If you love Curtis Sittenfeld...

Ad

Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Romantic Comedy

Pamela Spradlin Mahajan Author Of Skye, Revised

From my list on fabulous and painful parts of fame.

Why am I passionate about this?

Hollywood and celebrity gossip can be a fun diversion, from their fabulous clothing and closets to their ability to influence a worldwide audience. It is something I have long been drawn to and love to be immersed in. The idea of fame has always intrigued me. Is it good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Sometimes, the very pop star who the world is idolizing can be tortured behind the scenes—maybe even by fame itself. I am intrigued by the ways one goes from anonymity to notoriety, as well as the ways fame can change one’s life.

Pamela's book list on fabulous and painful parts of fame

Pamela Spradlin Mahajan Why Pamela loves this book

My favorite thing about this book is its realness and authenticity. I have been a fan of Curtis Sittenfeld’s work since reading Prep, her first book. This particular story follows the romance between a comedy writer, Sally, who doesn’t consider herself conventionally attractive, and a famous male singer, Noah. Sittenfeld based the show where Sally works on Saturday Night Live, which was an interesting touch.

This doesn’t feel like a fantasy or as if it could never happen, thanks to Sittenfeld’s relatable characters and situations. Instead, it uncovers the fun, sexy parts of dating a famous celebrity as well as the less-than fun-parts—such as when photos of the couple are shared in the media and Sally’s appearance is dissected by the public. Overall, this was a playful, quick read!

By Curtis Sittenfeld ,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Romantic Comedy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK • A comedy writer thinks she's sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions—a “smart, sophisticated, and fun” (Oprah Daily) novel from the author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep.
 
“Full of dazzling banter and sizzling chemistry.”—People
 
“If you ever wanted a backstage pass to Saturday Night Live, this is the book for you.”—Zibby Owens, Good Morning America

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, BuzzFeed, PopSugar, Harper's Bazaar, Real Simple, She Reads, New York Post

Sally Milz is a…


Book cover of Eligible

Lisa Darcy Author Of The Pact

From my list on books that capture sisterly love, envy, and embracing the unknown.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by sisters, siblings, and my place in the family since I was old enough to realize I had an older sister and a younger brother. I asked my parents a lot of questions. Why am I blonde? Why is my sister taller? Lots of questions my parents didn’t have answers for. At school in biology, we studied genes, familial traits, and nature versus nurture. I was fascinated, and still am today. Why does my sister behave the way she does? Why do I? Is it because of our upbringing, or was she just born with an aversion to cheese? I wanted to know the answers. I’m still searching.

Lisa's book list on books that capture sisterly love, envy, and embracing the unknown

Lisa Darcy Why Lisa loves this book

I laughed a lot reading Eligible. Yes, it’s silly, but this version of Pride and Prejudice had me hooked from the outset, probably for no other reason than that it forced me to consider the Bennet family and the sisters, in a new, twenty-first century light.

Liz, late 30’s, magazine writer, and her older sister, Jane, a yoga instructor, live in New York, whilst youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia, are busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to consider careers. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master's degree. And, yes, Mrs Bennet just wants to marry off her daughters.

I loved the five sisters’ dynamics: at times sweet, bitchy, caring, dismissive, rude, and compulsively dishing out home truths. I also appreciated the women were trying to break away from family expectations and controls. After reading this, I was very glad I only have one sister…

By Curtis Sittenfeld ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Eligible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Wonderfully tender and hilariously funny, Eligible tackles gender, class, courtship, and family as Curtis Sittenfeld reaffirms herself as one of the most dazzling authors writing today.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE TIMES (UK)

This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to…


Book cover of The Hotel New Hampshire

Thomas Ford Conlan Author Of Gentle Spirits

From my list on combining nature writing with an epic story.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a nature writer and poet who lives, writes, and tends his modest grapevines on a small farm in the highlands of northern Michigan. My study and my work delves into the mysterious connections between all living things. I've sailed the world's lakes and oceans and lived on the land from Alaska to California to the Caribbean. The natural world cannot just be described but must be experienced – all the writers on my list have taken this approach – as I've followed the lead of these great writers but in my own unique way. I would enjoy a day on a secluded river with each of them in search of the elusive brook trout.

Thomas' book list on combining nature writing with an epic story

Thomas Ford Conlan Why Thomas loves this book

Just a great novel – you will fall in love and empathize with the characters.

As always, Irving mixes in life and death making the fiction feel real. Irving has a way of surprising the reader. Each plot turn will bring out a new emotion. The reader will feel sorrow, anger, and love while identifying with the characters.

Most importantly, Irving has a real touch with making me laugh at the twists and turns of life.

By John Irving ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Hotel New Hampshire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.'

So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they 'dream on' in this funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel.


If you love Show Don't Tell...

Ad

Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of My Sister, the Serial Killer

Wendy Lee Hermance Author Of Weird Foods of Portugal: Adventures of an Expat

From Wendy's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Wendy's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Wendy Lee Hermance Why Wendy loves this book

Sometimes I just need a light, fun book. The preposterousness of the title grabbed me, and the scenes and characters were similarly over-the-top. But it was thought-provoking throughout. What would we do if we had such a sister? How far would we go to protect her? How are we changed by helping? These are the sorts of real questions that made shows like "Ozark" and "The Wire" so engaging.

By Oyinkan Braithwaite ,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked My Sister, the Serial Killer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sunday Times bestseller and The Times #1 bestseller

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019
Winner of the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller
Capital Crime Debut Author of the Year 2019
__________

'A literary sensation'
Guardian

'A bombshell of a book... Sharp, explosive, hilarious'
New York Times

'Glittering and funny... A stiletto slipped between the ribs and through the left ventricle of the heart' Financial Times
__________

When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber…


Book cover of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

Jill Elaine Hasday Author Of We the Men: How Forgetting Women's Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality

From my list on women at the center of America’s stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I went to law school, so many of the stories we heard in class treated men’s experiences as the ordinary baseline and women’s experiences as something to skip over or briefly mention as a footnote. This narrow perspective warps our understanding of the past, present, and future, and helps perpetuate women’s inequality. I have been studying and writing about sex discrimination for more than two decades. I wanted to write a book that included women in the center of American law and history. In the process, I learned about scores of fascinating women who Americans know too little about or forget entirely.

Jill's book list on women at the center of America’s stories

Jill Elaine Hasday Why Jill loves this book

Another common misconception is that the Nineteenth Amendment extended the vote to all American women. In fact, many women—especially women of color—remained disenfranchised after the Amendment’s ratification in 1920.

Jones’s engaging book tells the story of the black women who continued to fight for enfranchisement and equal rights for decades after the Amendment.

By Martha S. Jones ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Vanguard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“An elegant and expansive history” (New YorkTimes)of African American women’s pursuit of political power—and how it transformed America  
 
InVanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women’s political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work ofBlackwomen—Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more—who…


Book cover of Eleanor & Park

Rebecca Scherm Author Of Unbecoming

From my list on books that give it all away on the first page.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am less interested in what happens than in how and why—to me, that’s where the real suspense is. As a writer, I’m always bickering with traditional plot structures, which I love for their comfort and familiarity and then turn against when a story becomes too obedient to them. As a reader…well, sometimes I flip to the end to see where we’re going so I can slow down and enjoy the journey more. Anytime we think we know what’s going to happen is an opportunity for suspense, and challenges and rebellions to those familiar story arcs can be twists in their own right. 

Rebecca's book list on books that give it all away on the first page

Rebecca Scherm Why Rebecca loves this book

I was wrung out after finishing this book and immediately looked around for someone else who’d read it. I needed a shoulder to cry on. If Endless Love is about lives undone by teenagers driven insane by love and lust, then this book is its counterpoint: two teenage outsiders whose love and understanding help them survive.

There’s awfulness in Eleanor’s life, but there’s also exchanging comics and listening to Joy Division with Park on a shared walkman on the school bus. I loved these characters completely and rooted for them with everything I had. 

By Rainbow Rowell ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Eleanor & Park as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

'Reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love, but what it's like to be young and in love with a book' John Green, author of The Fault in our Stars

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she's never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.

Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and - in Eleanor's eyes - impossibly cool, Park's worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to…


If you love Curtis Sittenfeld...

Ad

Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Seating Arrangements

Lauren Edmondson Author Of Wedding of the Season

From my list on wild family weddings.

Why am I passionate about this?

Weddings are stressful for even the most functional of families. I should know—it took me nearly two years to plan my own! The process of manufacturing the big day, and attending to all the trappings of the wedding industrial complex, really brings out our best and our worst. In my most recent novel, I found that a big, splashy wedding provided such a fun and fascinating way to explore the tensions and enduring love within families, friends, and couples. If done right, plots involving weddings can smash tired “bridezilla” and “monster-in-law” tropes. As we enter the summer wedding season, I hope this list of books keeps you laughing and loving! 

Lauren's book list on wild family weddings

Lauren Edmondson Why Lauren loves this book

No one does family dysfunction in beautiful places like Maggie Shipstead.

In this novel, she sweeps us to a fictional island in New England (I imagined Martha’s Vineyard), and into the Van Meter family who, for all their wealth, have the communication skills of elementary school kids at recess.

Part comedy of manners, part dramatic exploration of our very human obsessions and anxieties, you’ll want to read this book with a lobster roll and a gin and tonic nearby.  

By Maggie Shipstead ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Seating Arrangements as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestselling author of Great Circle

'Joyously good' DAILY MAIL

'A ferociously clever comedy of manners' GUARDIAN

'A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis' MARIE CLAIRE

'A well-observed, hilarious, yet moving novel' WOMAN & HOME

New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and 2012 L.A. Times First Novel Prize

The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt…


Book cover of Heart the Lover
Book cover of A Preponderance of Starry Beings
Book cover of Prep

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?