Here are 62 books that Strangers fans have personally recommended if you like
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I've always been drawn to books that ask difficult questions instead of offering easy answers.
Growing up, I became fascinated by how quietly society shapes who we become—and how difficult it can be to figure out which parts are truly ours. Books have taught me to sit with complexity in a world that often wants everything to be black and white. The books I return to are the ones that make me question, reflect, and better understand human nature, society, and what it truly means to be unapologetically yourself. That's the kind of conversation I hope my own writing can contribute to.
Few books have made me question my own life quite like Untamed.
I didn't connect with this book because my life is anything like Glennon Doyle's—it isn't. I connected with it because she puts words to something I think many of us experience: the quiet pressure to become the person everyone else expects us to be. It made me ask myself a deeply uncomfortable question: Whose life am I actually living?
I found myself thinking about all the ways expectations can slowly shape who we are, often so quietly that we don't even realise it is happening. How much of who we are is actually us—and how much of it is the version we've learned to perform for everyone else?
I kept thinking about how much courage it takes to stop performing and start listening to yourself instead.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! “Packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today.”—Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick)
In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • Cosmopolitan • Marie Claire • Bloomberg • Parade •…
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…
I'm addicted to memoirs. I love to peek inside another person's life, especially when the author embraces radical transparency, and I can’t resist being swept into the heart and mind of a courageous midlife woman. I admire writers who take risks, who remind me that sometimes our decisions, our humanness, take us down difficult roads. I'm a Professor of Communication Studies, and I author a Substack called Life Talk, which explores human connection—with others and with ourselves. The books on this list reflect both personal and professional passion: I'm endlessly drawn to self-reflexive inquiry, to stories that help me understand identity, resilience, and the courage it takes to transform.
I’m a sucker for a book that asks big questions, and this book does just that.
Shapiro investigates a family secret that she uncovers by chance, prompting her to probe topics that I find fascinating: How does heritage impact identity? Do we really know our parents? What happens when the world one knows is turned upside down?
I was drawn to this book because Shapiro doesn't just tell her story—she uses it to interrogate decades of secrecy in fertility treatment, and I couldn't stop thinking about other lives that were shaped by those silences.
When I finished this book, I picked up the phone and called my mother—I wanted to dig into my own heritage and ask questions about branches in our family tree that seemed askew.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of Inheritance and host of the hit podcast Family Secrets: a memoir about the staggering family secret uncovered by a genealogy test, an exploration of the urgent ethical questions surrounding fertility treatments and DNA testing, and a profound inquiry of paternity, identity, and love.
“Memoir gold: a profound and exquisitely rendered exploration of identity and the true meaning of family.” —People
In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had casually submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her beloved deceased father…
I'm addicted to memoirs. I love to peek inside another person's life, especially when the author embraces radical transparency, and I can’t resist being swept into the heart and mind of a courageous midlife woman. I admire writers who take risks, who remind me that sometimes our decisions, our humanness, take us down difficult roads. I'm a Professor of Communication Studies, and I author a Substack called Life Talk, which explores human connection—with others and with ourselves. The books on this list reflect both personal and professional passion: I'm endlessly drawn to self-reflexive inquiry, to stories that help me understand identity, resilience, and the courage it takes to transform.
I adore writers willing to show me their soft underbelly, who make themselves truly vulnerable, and Frangello does this with intensity.
Reading this memoir made me want to strive for deeper honesty in my own writing. It made me feel less alone with secrets from my past, the experiences and youthful decisions that caused me shame in adulthood. I have also enjoyed talking with others about Frangello's willingness to go there in print.
In fact, this memoir facilitated the best book club discussion I've had in years! My book club members had incredibly diverse opinions, but one thing we all agreed on: none of us had read anyone braver.
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A Good Morning America Recommended Book • A LitReactor Best Book of the Year • A BuzzFeed Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Rumpus Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Bustle Most Anticipated Book of the Month
"A pathbreaking feminist manifesto, impossible to put down or dismiss. Gina Frangello tells the morally complex story of her adulterous relationship with a lover and her shortcomings as a mother, and in doing so, highlights the forces that shaped,…
Famed Australian literary critic Peter Craven has included Mural in his best books for 2024. He called it "dark and brilliant." Rod McLary in the Queensland Reviewers Collective says it's "breath-taking," a "tour de force of literary fiction." On her blog This Reading Life, Brona was "fascinated" by this confession…
I'm addicted to memoirs. I love to peek inside another person's life, especially when the author embraces radical transparency, and I can’t resist being swept into the heart and mind of a courageous midlife woman. I admire writers who take risks, who remind me that sometimes our decisions, our humanness, take us down difficult roads. I'm a Professor of Communication Studies, and I author a Substack called Life Talk, which explores human connection—with others and with ourselves. The books on this list reflect both personal and professional passion: I'm endlessly drawn to self-reflexive inquiry, to stories that help me understand identity, resilience, and the courage it takes to transform.
I love this book because it reminded me that we are more than our worst mistake.
Good, smart people do bad, dumb things—and sometimes end up in prison. I heard stories like this every day when I ran a program for formerly incarcerated students on my college campus, but never told as eloquently as the one Love Hardin writes.
Her story is raw, and her transformation feels earned rather than tidy. Plus, she offers an important insider's view of the criminal justice system, one that left me fired up about how the system could do better.
I returned to Love Hardin’s examples of resilience when I advised my own students—when I encouraged them to strive for success. Her memoir filled me with hope and compassion.
“Once you start reading, be prepared, because you won’t want to stop.” —Oprah Winfrey
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.
No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards. …
Since I was a child, my imagination would run rampant with ideas and fantasies I had no idea how to channel. Then, when I was fifteen, I joined my high school’s creative writing class, and suddenly, every fantasy I’d ever concocted in my head had somewhere to develop. Sweet romance books have always fulfilled me, and I love it when, from the first page, you can feel the sparks between the main characters. They have a wholesomeness that leaves me feeling refreshed and hopeful, and I love that, for a few hundred pages, I can dive into another world and experience love through someone else’s eyes.
Sometimes I just want to read a book that is lighthearted and adventurous—no angst or tragic happenstances—and this book checked that box for me. The characters’ banter and youthful tones had me smiling frequently. This book was a great summer read, and having the plotline center around a game of Assassins made for a lot of laughs.
"The feel-good summer read of my dreams!"-Alicia, Goodreads Reviewer "Boy, did it also give me all the summer feels."-Larissa, Goodreads Reviewer "This book is bound to become a favorite of all who love contemporary romance."-Kelly, Goodreads Reviewer "If beachy contemporary romances are your jam, then trust me-you do NOT want to miss this book."-Jessica, Goodreads Reviewer Meredith's family's annual game of assassin at Martha's Vineyard during a summer wedding is the perfect chance to honor her sister's legacy, and finally join the world again. But when she forms an alliance with a cute groomsman, she's at risk of losing both…
I was born and bred on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in South Florida, so I am passionate about beach reads. There is nothing I love more than to get lost in a great book with themes of summer, the beach, love, and loss. Spending the whole day on a lounge chair by the shore, devouring a book, is my idea of heaven.
As a teacher of creative writing, I enjoy books with deep and complex human relationships. I also love books with a strong sense of place, where the setting is almost a character in its own right. Beach reads are great at giving the reader both!
I love this book because of Judy Blume’s gift for rendering deeply truthful portrayals of coming-of-age stories.
Judy Blume does not shy away from the gritty aspects of growing up and portraying sex in all its awkward and, sometimes, embarrassing glory. I love that the characters do not get a “happy ever after” just to end the book on a positive note. The characters have complex lives and there is no line between love and hate, only a grey, messy soup of emotions that feels so real, your skin will prickle with goosebumps as you follow along.
I am especially fond of the story’s two timelines, which allow the reader to feel all the angst of coming-of-age while also experiencing the repercussions in adulthood.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Summer Sisters is a book to return to again and again.”—Colleen Hoover
“As warm as a summer breeze blowing through your hair, as nostalgic as James Taylor singing ‘How Sweet It Is.’ You remember. So does Judy Blume. How sweet it was.”—Chicago Tribune
In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege,…
In River City, loyalty is everything—and nothing defines it more than warcheck, the elegantly violent game that unites the town.
Terra Laclem, daughter of a retired warcheck legend, is raised to honor family, faith, and tradition. But when her father betrays the ideals he’s always preached, Terra is forced to…
My mom says I always had my head in a book. In fact, I got in trouble once for reading a questionable book while sitting in the choir stand at church. I’ve always been a reluctant rule-follower. Reading allowed me to explore worlds that I wasn’t allowed to talk about, let alone visit. Even now, as an adult, my life is pretty boring. But the books I read and the stories I write—that’s where it all goes down, baby!
Whew–this family took me through some changes! This was my first novel by Sunny Hostin, which lived up to all the hype.
First of all, Martha’s Vineyard. The setting alone is intriguing because of the history of the elite Black inhabitants of the land. Secondly, I knew some secret would come out when these three goddaughters were called to the property for one last summer together.
The setting and plot alone had me hooked from the beginning, and I kept reading to learn more about each character’s pain and promise.
The View cohost and New York Times bestselling author Sunny Hostin dazzles with this brilliant novel about a life-changing summer along the beaches of Martha's Vineyard.
Welcome to Oak Bluffs, the most exclusive Black beach community in the country. Known for its gingerbread Victorian-style houses and modern architectural marvels, this picturesque town hugging the sea is a mecca for the crème de la crème of Black society—where Michelle and Barack Obama vacation and Meghan Markle has shopped for a house for her mom. Black people have lived in this pretty slip of the Vineyard since the…
I am a Lifetime member of Bordentown Historical Society (NJ) and have written four non-fiction books about Bordentown history. I am a Lifetime member of New Egypt Historical Society (NJ) and have written a non-fiction book about New Egypt history. I have written and published short stories about my ancestors and the part they lived in New Jersey history.
The book explores the cultural differences in the 1600s of Martha’s Vineyard of Native Americans and Puritans.
It is inspired by the story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, as narrated by his friend Bethia. She is forbidden education but learns from him.
Brooks, as always, has characters teeming with excited tension and reveals historical life set in that time and place. I love her depiction of the early settling in of the Puritans.
A bestselling tale of passion and belief, magic and adventure from the author of The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Bethia Mayfield is a restless and curious young woman growing up in Martha's vineyard in the 1660s amid a small band of pioneering English Puritans. At age twelve, she meets Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret bond that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's father is a Calvinist minister who seeks to convert the native Wampanoag, and Caleb becomes a prize in the contest…
I’ve been obsessed with political thrillers since reading All The President’s Menwhen I was far too young to understand it all. What I didknow was that at the upper echelons of society there were often shadowy conspiracies at play, and brave souls fighting to expose the truth. Something about Woodward and Bernstein’s quiet heroism and bravery in investigating a story that everyone told them to drop really stayed with me. That’s why I write political thrillers: in an attempt to tip the scales back in favour of good versus evil. And to make heroes of those who risk it all to tell truth to power.
This one was a game-changer for me, taking thinly-disguised characters and events from real life – an obvious Tony Blair-type, fleeing prosecution for war crimes in a clear nod to the Iraq War – Harris wisely ushers us into the world of high-stakes politics via the innocent and unnamed Ghost Writer, hired to write a disgraced Prime Minister’s memoirs.
It’s a brilliant and clever mechanism that makes the reader feel at home. And when murder appears, puts you squarely in the shoes of a terrified man on the run.
As a technical piece of thriller writing, it’s stunning stuff. Harris’s decision to base a fantastical conspiracy around real-life events and characters was inspiring – and it’s something I use in every book.
'An unputdownable thriller about corrupt power and sex' Sunday Telegraph
'Guaranteed to keep you awake' The Times
A body washes up on the deserted coastline of America's most exclusive holiday retreat. But it's no open-and-shut case of suicide. The death of Robert McAra is just the first piece of the jigsaw in an extraordinary plot that will shake the very foundations of international security.
For McAra was a man who knew too much. As ghostwriter to one of the most controversial men on the planet - Britain's former prime minister, holed up in a remote ocean-front house to finish his…
An inspiring, hilarious, and much-needed approach to addiction and self-acceptance,
You’re Doing Great! debunks the myth that alcohol washes away the pain; explains the toll alcohol takes on our emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being; illustrates the steps to deal with our problems head-on; exposes the practices used…
There have always been disabled people shaping my worldview and understanding, however, I am an expert only about my own disabilities. Disabled storytellers, including Helen Keller, sometimes utilize tactical silence to scream… I value that! However, barriers confronting the disabled require broad and sometimes loud collective action from many people in many communities and not just a marginalized few. Disability activism is a complex, tactical fight over time for self-determination that touches all of us at some point. COVID, world events, and experiencing some barriers disabled and marginalized groups face all the time have compelled me to share a few of my favorite reads related to disability and inclusion.
Paul Longmore assignedEveryone Here Spoke Sign Language for the “Disability in America” course I took. As a folklorist this book hooked me. It is totally unique, combining science (genetics), history, maritime culture,and community. It consolidates sign language “oral histories” documenting a Deaf community’s cultural heritage in Martha’s Vineyard passed through generations. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language offers an essential message from this tight-knit community where deafness was more a trait than a disability. Understanding how Helen Keller had a Deafblind destiny shaped by her times (as earlier were Deafblind woman should be women Julia Brace and Laura Bridgman), I sometimes wonder if Keller would have been less stressed if she had not been pressured by proponents of auralism like Alexander Graham Bell to learn to speak aloud.
From the seventeenth century to the early years of the twentieth, the population of Martha's Vineyard manifested an extremely high rate of profound hereditary deafness. In stark contrast to the experience of most Deaf people in our own society, the Vineyarders who were born Deaf were so thoroughly integrated into the daily life of the community that they were not seen-and did not see themselves-as handicapped or as a group apart. Deaf people were included in all aspects of life, such as town politics, jobs, church affairs, and social life. How was this possible?
