Here are 100 books that The Burrow fans have personally recommended if you like The Burrow. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Waiting Room

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why Jacinta loves this book

I loved this evocative and moving novel, winner of the Voss Literary Prize, for its accurate portrayal of the personal conflict that doctors often struggle with (particularly female doctors) as they try to balance the demands of work and family life.

It follows a day in the life of pregnant family physician Dr. Dina Ronen as she attends to the diverse needs of her patients and her young family while struggling to reconcile with the demanding ghosts of her personal and collective past. This is a beautifully constructed and visceral work from Australian family physician Leah Kaminsky.

By Leah Kaminsky ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Waiting Room as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The Waiting Room is both haunted, and haunting.”—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March

The Waiting Room unfolds over the course of a single, life-changing day, but the story it tells spans five decades, three continents, and one family’s compelling history of love, war, and survival

As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Dina’s present has always been haunted by her parents’ pasts. She becomes a doctor, emigrates, and builds a family of her own, yet no matter how hard she tries to move on, their ghosts keep pulling her back. A dark, wry sense of humor helps Dina maintain her…


If you love The Burrow...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

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…

Book cover of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why Jacinta loves this book

I was wowed by these completely compelling interconnected short stories by Canadian emergency physician Vincent Lam. Lam deftly chronicles the lives and relationships of a group of medical students as they move through their grueling studies into the sometimes terrifying world of the hospital doctor.

Wrought as if with the sharpest of scalpels, this fine collection is perfect for those who like their medical dramas, full of real characters and served with grisly detail.

By Vincent Lam ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An astonishing literary debut centred around four students as they apply to medical school, qualify as doctors and face the realities of working in medicine, from a powerful new voice in fiction.

In this beautifully written collection, Vincent Lam weaves together black humour, investigations of both common and extraordinary moral dilemmas, and a sometimes shockingly realistic portrait of today's medical profession. We are introduced to a group of medical students over ten years, following their interlinked stories as they make the transition from medical school to hospital life.

The stories span the unique challenges faced by young, inexperienced…


Book cover of Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why Jacinta loves this book

This haunting collection of stories had me on the edge of my seat as I read. I both recognized the territory and was engrossed by Holt’s approach as he turned on his head the commonly-held wisdom of power and control in the doctor-patient relationship.

This finely-crafted collection has a lot of raw honesty, and the final story is a knock-out. Terrence Holt is an American gerontologist and academic.

By Terrence Holt ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Internal Medicine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Out of the crucible of medical training, award-winning writer Terrence Holt shapes this stunning account of residency, the years-long ordeal in which doctors are made. "Amid all the mess and squalor of the hospital, with its blind random unraveling of lives," Internal Medicine finds the compassion from which doctors discover the strength to care.

Holt's debut collection of short stories, In the Valley of the Kings, was praised by the New York Times Book Review as one of "those works of genius" that "will endure for as long as our hurt kind remains to require their truth." Now he returns…


If you love Melanie Cheng...

Book cover of Coyote Weather

Coyote Weather by Amanda Cockrell,

Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.

Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…

Book cover of The Citadel

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why Jacinta loves this book

I came upon this 1937 bestseller novel recently and was instantly engrossed by the tale of Dr Andrew Manson, a young general practitioner in a Welsh mining town. Medicine might have changed since 1937, but people’s behavior has not changed so much!

Largely autobiographical, full of derring-do and righteous youthful indignation, this book remains an enjoyable, propulsive read. Due to its exposure to the inequities in access to health care in 1930s Britain, this novel is often cited as a major influence in the introduction of the National Health Scheme in 1948. Cronin was a general practitioner who retired in his mid-thirties to write full-time.

By A. J. Cronin ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Citadel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Cronin's distinguished achievement....No one could have written as fine, honest, and moving a study of a young doctor as The Citadel without possessing great literary taste and skill." --The Atlantic MonthlyA groundbreaking novel of its time and a National Book Award winner.The Citadel follows the life of Andrew Manson, a young and idealistic Scottish doctor, as he navigates the challenges of practicing medicine across interwar Wales and England. Based on Cronin's own experiences as a physician, The Citadel boldly confronts traditional medical ethics, and has been noted as one of the inspirations for the formation of the National Health Service.The…


Book cover of Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead

JoeAnn Hart Author Of Arroyo Circle

From my list on horrific fictional floods.

Why am I passionate about this?

I live by the Atlantic Ocean, so the thoughts of floods are never far away, especially as the seas are warming through human-caused climate change. I wrote about storms and floods in my novel Float and, more recently, in my new novel listed below. I did a lot of research on flooding for both, and I am constantly amazed by the power of the natural world, particularly one out of balance as it is now. My passion and purpose is to bring the dangers of this imbalance to my readers. Even if you have never been in a flood before, fiction allows you to know what it feels like. 

JoeAnn's book list on horrific fictional floods

JoeAnn Hart Why JoeAnn loves this book

This is one of my all-time favorite books. It is so darkly funny and strange that I laugh and shiver right through it every time. It begins in the middle of a flood in a small English town, where ducks are swimming and quacking in the drawing room, and I am also a big duck fan. Strange deaths follow. You can’t beat that. 

By Barbara Comyns ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Comyns’ novel is deranged in ways that shouldn’t be disclosed.” —Ben Marcus

This is the story of the Willoweed family and the English village in which they live. It begins mid-flood, ducks swimming in the drawing-room windows, “quacking their approval” as they sail around the room. “What about my rose beds?” demands Grandmother Willoweed. Her son shouts down her ear-trumpet that the garden is submerged, dead animals everywhere, she will be lucky to get a bunch. Then the miller drowns himself . . . then the butcher slits his throat . . . and a series of gruesome deaths plagues…


Book cover of Maame

Kendra Broekhuis Author Of Nearly Beloved

From my list on books that are fearless with formatting.

Why am I passionate about this?

This recommendation list is a celebration of these authors’ creativity! Like every reader I love a good story, and this list highlights five books that not only weave entertainment within their respective genres—but also tell their stories in unique visual ways by being fearless with formatting. I love being into a story and seeing there’s a journal entry or letter coming up—it’s like an intimate view into the characters’ world and experiences, and I want to eat it up! If you’re interested in finding more authors who do this, Googling “epistolary novels” will help.

Kendra's book list on books that are fearless with formatting

Kendra Broekhuis Why Kendra loves this book

I loved Maame not only because it is the perfect concoction of tender and funny, but because the Google searches formatted within the story were like the perfect cherry on top of the perfectly assembled turtle sundae.

I found myself looking forward to every time the main character Google-searched her next new-adulthood obstacle—like friendship, grief, dating, and caregiving.

It was visually stimulating, and hilarious, and a fun edition to the story.

By Jessica George ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Maame as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! • A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick • A February 2023 Indie Next Pick

"Sparkling." ―The New York Times

"An utterly charming and deeply moving portrait of the joys―and the guilt―of trying to find your own way in life." ―Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts

"Lively, funny, poignant . . . Prepare to fall in love with Maddie. I did!" ―Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.


If you love The Burrow...

Book cover of Temple of Dreams: A Novel of Now and Then

Temple of Dreams by Carolyn Mathews,

Homeless following the death of his adoptive parents in a car crash and the subsequent loss of their farm tenancy, Seb decides to enrol as a residential student at the Asklepios Foundation, a College of Natural Medicine, boasting a sanctuary modelled on an ancient Greek healing temple. Spending a night…

Book cover of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Ben Stoddard Author Of Pride of a King

From my list on books that are part of bigger universes.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been an avid sci-fi/fantasy lover and tabletop gamer my whole life. Many of my best memories involve me inventing stories explaining why my buddy’s armies and mine were duking it out on the battlefield or interpreting what the dice rolls really meant for my character. Today, I write for one of my favorite game universes, Kings of War. I have made a living out of stories by writing them or teaching about them. I love making my universes believable while still maintaining integrity to their original source material. I also love making flawed, relatable characters to give readers hope as they read about them overcoming those flaws.

Ben's book list on books that are part of bigger universes

Ben Stoddard Why Ben loves this book

What kind of list would this be about massive universes without mentioning the Cosmere? Brandon Sanderson is the undisputed king of worldbuilding because he is so meticulously obsessed with the details, and is so good at juggling all of them in a way that interweaves like a tapestry of crossing stories.

The fact that this story holds dozens of nods to characters from his other stories that exist within the same universe as the worlds on which this book takes place while not being confusing to someone unfamiliar with all that the Cosmere has to offer is why I want to recommend this book in particular, though.

I will freely admit that I am not a Cosmere aficionado. The task of trying to keep up on everything that Sanderson writes is entirely too daunting for me (how does the man write so much, so well, and so fast?!!). But I…

By Brandon Sanderson ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson―creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn Saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy―comes this gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different cultures must work together to save their worlds from certain disaster.

Yumi has spent her entire life in strict obedience, granting her the power to summon the spirits that bestow vital aid upon her society―but she longs for even a single day as a normal person. Painter patrols the dark streets dreaming of being a hero―a goal that…


Book cover of The Measure

Keith McWalter Author Of Lifers

From my list on challenge how you think about death.

Why am I passionate about this?

My mother’s death from an E. coli outbreak over a decade ago was my wake-up call to an awareness of my own mortality and was the emotional foundation of both my first novel and my latest. I’ve reached a point in my own life where advancing age is a lived experience, and I’ve read broadly about this phase of life that goes largely unexamined despite the fact that we’re all destined for it. My essays have appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Jose Mercury News. I’m a graduate of Denison University and Columbia Law School.

Keith's book list on challenge how you think about death

Keith McWalter Why Keith loves this book

This novel takes an absurd premise (everyone magically receives a string whose length reflects how long they will live) and spins it into a profound thought experiment. I loved it for its complete indifference to the scientific credibility that I tried to build into my novel, which is in part about knowing (if you want) exactly how long you have to live.

I found it liberating to learn that, as a writer, I could have it both ways: be extremely thoughtful and nuanced about the consequences of your premise while being completely arbitrary and absurdist about the premise itself. I don’t have that kind of nerve, so I fell back on mere science for my premise, but I love Erlich’s gall. 

By Nikki Erlick ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Measure as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'GRIPPING AND POIGNANT' RUTH HOGAN, bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things

'CLEVER AND ENTERTAINING' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'A THOUGHT-PROVOKING READ' PRIMA

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like just another morning.

You make a cup of tea. Check the news. Open the front door.

On your doorstep is a box.

Inside the box is the exact number of years you have left to live.

The same box appears on every doorstep across the world.

Do you open yours?

THE MEASURE

IT'S THE DECISION OF A LIFETIME.

'EXAMINES THE BIG…


Book cover of The Bee Sting

Lauren Aliza Green Author Of The World After Alice

From my list on novels about dysfunctional families.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been drawn to family stories, from King Lear to Anna Karenina. The ties that bind us to family—however strained or frayed those ties might be—contain within their fibers the entire spectrum of human emotion. For a writer, this is fertile territory. I could contemplate endlessly the rivalry that exists between a pair of siblings, or the expectations a child has for their parent. Family dynamics are often kept private, which makes encountering them on the page even more thrilling. To be let in on the life of another, granted permission to bear witness to their secrets and innermost longings, is the rare gift that literature brings us. 

Lauren's book list on novels about dysfunctional families

Lauren Aliza Green Why Lauren loves this book

Paul Murray immediately sucked me in with this story about the Barneses, an Irish family who has been hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis. Murray’s writing is propulsive and gripping, as well as hilarious.

I laughed through much of the book and was blown away by the ending. This novel is one I’ve recommended several times since I first encountered it.  

By Paul Murray ,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked The Bee Sting as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023
WINNER OF AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024
ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023

Book of the Year 2023 according to New York Times, New Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, The Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, The Standard, The Times, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M.

'A tragicomic triumph. You won't…


If you love Melanie Cheng...

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS by Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Book cover of The Wind Knows My Name

Joel Bakan Author Of The New Corporation: How "Good" Corporations Are Bad for Democracy

From my list on revealing the inhumanity of authoritarianism and fascism.

Why am I passionate about this?

A decade ago, we could not have imagined a world where democracy would be in existential crisis. Perhaps it’s overly dramatic to think that way – I hope so – but it does seem realistic at this moment. That is why I am so passionate about wanting to defend democracy and the kind of society it makes possible and why I am so drawn to works that express that passion through artful writing and story-telling. With authoritarian and totalitarian regimes dangerously on the rise, books that demonstrate the profound inhumanity and injustice of such regimes and how they extinguish democracy and human rights are needed now more than ever.

Joel's book list on revealing the inhumanity of authoritarianism and fascism

Joel Bakan Why Joel loves this book

Isabelle Allende is truly one of the great writers of our time, a strong recommendation in itself. What I found particularly thrilling about this book, however, was the way she shed light on how authoritarianism and fascism are disproportionately devasting for the most vulnerable among us – children.

By weaving together narratives about the displacement of and harm to children during the Nazi holocaust and under the brutal immigration policies of President Trump, Allende provokes outrage and inspires compassion.

By Isabel Allende , Frances Riddle (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Wind Knows My Name as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE POWERFUL AND MOVING NEW NOVEL FROM LITERARY LEGEND ISABEL ALLENDE PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR 'A grand storyteller' - KHALED HOSSEINI 'A new novel by Isabel Allende is always a treat' - DAILY MAIL 'What a joy it must be to come upon Allende for the first time' - COLUM MCCANN No, we're not lost. The wind knows my name. And yours too. Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht - the night their family loses everything. As her child's safety seems ever harder to guarantee, Samuel's mother secures a spot for him…


Book cover of The Waiting Room
Book cover of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories
Book cover of Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories

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