Here are 100 books that The Do-Over fans have personally recommended if you like
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I started to garden seriously when we had three young kids and little income. We had limited space and had to be ingenious about how and what we grew. A flock of chickens soon joined the effort, adding fresh eggs, compost-fueling manure, and plenty of entertainment. As we moved, we always had a garden, adding structures like sheds, trellises, tomato cages, fencing, and chicken coops. My work writing books and articles about backyard homesteading gave me the chance to meet resourceful people with expertise miles beyond my own. I always came away from those encounters loaded with new ideas to incorporate into next year’s garden.
Setting up and maintaining a backyard homestead is honest, fulfilling work. For those who prefer productive labor as exercise (rather than heading to a gym), this book is an inspiring look backward at satisfying, useful skills. Take Seymour’s wattle hurdle. Used as a herding panel, the hurdle is woven entirely from hazel sticks. Any supple wood will do. The result is a portable fence panel that cost nothing but a bit of labor.
Many of the projects featured are out of reach (like millstone dressing or coopering or charcoal burning) but all are fascinating and most still relevant today. For example, Seymour demonstrates that engineering a wooden gate that wouldn’t sag was worked out a long time ago—in several variations. Like all of Seymour’s books, this one is exquisitely illustrated.
Precise drawings and sketches and historical photographs enhance a detailed record of traditional crafts of Britain, Europe, and the United States and instructions in the skills involved
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 a writer who loves reading novels, encompassing everything from romance to historical and crime. I've always loved resilient female characters in the books I've read, from children’s fiction onward. When I started writing The Low Road I didn’t know that a couple of years later we as a family would experience multiple bereavement in just a few months, and that grief is imbued in every page of the novel. In The Low Road, I hope I've also paid homage to the power of women, that dogged and patient holding on and enduring of pain, that is at the heart of so many of the lives we live as girls and women.
This book is responsible for me missing my tube stop on my way to work so as you can imagine I found it a riveting read.
Michelle Styles is a well-known romance writer who has written a number of Viking-era romances. I enjoyed this one in particular, because I loved the main character, Dagmar Kolbeindottar. She is a warrior, not a lover, or so she thinks – until she is captured by the Celtic warlord, Aedan Mac Connal, who has been commanded by her father, under duress himself, to bring her back.
Her father then forces her to make a choice and marry – and she choses Aedan, hoping he will refuse her. Cue misunderstandings, passionate trysts, and an ending that is truly satisfying, as well as brilliant atmosphere and creation of characters including doughty Dagmar.
A Viking maiden heading to battle... ...in bed with her captor! As a female warrior, Dagmar Kolbeinndottar knows she's not meant for marriage and a family. Until she's kidnapped by Celtic warlord Aedan mac Connall, who has been tasked with returning Dagmar to her estranged father. Fighting her father's orders to marry, Dagmar declares she will take no one but her abductor, expecting Aedan to refuse... But he's intent on making her his bride!
Rabbit Hole is about Teddy’s obsession with her sister Angie’s cold-case disappearance. When Angie was alive, she was angry and difficult, but Teddy still misses her. While writing the book, I thought a lot about my relationships with my own sisters and how unique that particular bond is. I love books that capture the at-times-uncomfortable closeness of sisterhood and grapple with its power.
Madievsky’s brilliant, weird, evocative debut begins with the kind of first line that lets you know you’re in good hands: “Spending time with my sister, Debbie, was like buying acid off a guy you met on the bus.”
Debbie’s disappearance early in the novel forces the narrator to reckon with who she is outside of the sisters’ codependent relationship, and it raises questions about what we owe our more complicated family members.
Rachel Kushner meets David Lynch in this fever dream of an LA novel about a young woman who commits a drunken act of violence just before her sister vanishes without a trace
On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronized by energy healers, aspiring actors, and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions—nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has…
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to…
Historical romance author Emmanuelle lives on the bonny banks of Loch Fyne with her husband and beloved haggis pudding Archie McFloof—connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys. She’ll never tire of dreaming up handsome and mysterious strangers she’d love to be snowed in with.
When our heroine discovers her fiancé cheating on her at a Yuletide country house party, she flees in distress, saddling up to return to London on horseback. Cue the intervention of a devilishly handsome rakehell offering his carriage. With all good sense thrown to the wind, lovely Lily is soon climbing aboard—in more ways than one.
When the pair encounter [gasp] a snowstorm and must take refuge on his estate, the passion-o-meter reaches new heights. This book comes with a fabulous (and well-earned) “sizzle alert”. Hoorah!
Attempting to mend a broken heart by indulging in an affair with a rakehell would not be the wisest course of action for a young lady of the ton. But when Miss Lily Godwin has a chance encounter with the mischievous Lord Nash at a Yuletide house party, she is sorely tempted to throw all dictates of decorum out the window. After all, it’s Christmas.
Author’s Note to Readers: An Improper Christmas is Book 3 in the loosely linked, Improper Liaisons Novella series. It can also be read as a stand-alone. Also please note, this is a NEW COVER edition.
I’m an author and elementary librarian living in Northern California. My mind is a busy neighborhood: there are all sorts of thoughts and feelings running around up there like hordes of naughty unsupervised children. I need books to ground me, to encourage me to slow down, to help me feel and release those emotions. As an elementary librarian, I’m a voracious reader, but I only choose to return to the most necessary, beautiful books. These authors comfort me through their words, pulling forth laughter, tears, and the knowledge that I’m not so crazy after all. Or, if I am, I’m not the only one.
Tara was the best friend I needed when I picked up this book.
I felt like I was sitting on the couch across from her while she gave me all sort of kind, direct, no-nonsense advice. She reminded me to be good to myself, and taught me that I’m worthy of my own care and attention. Just seeing the spine of this book on my shelf makes me feel less alone. I can hear her encouraging voice. (See? I am a little crazy!)
The author of the runaway hit Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies shares honest and practical lessons for healing your past and owning your future so you can radiate strength, bravery, and joy when life gets dark.
“A revealing and powerful book that lit me up from the inside out.”—GLENNON DOYLE, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed
Tara Schuster thought she was on stable ground. For years, she’d worked like hell to repair the emotional wounds inflicted during what she refers to as her “mess-wreck disaster” of a childhood. She’d brought radical healing rituals and self-love into her life.…
When I was eight years old, I walked into a movie theater to see Spider-Man and walked out forever obsessed with superheroes. Specifically, I saw him kiss Mary-Jane with his mask on while hanging upside down and my tastes never changed in 20 years. Now, when not writing, I cosplay from my favorite comics, video games, and anime with my husband, who I met at a comic-con while dressed as Gwenpool (he was Symbiote Spider-Man—see, I told you my tastes never changed).
This book came out on my birthday a few years ago and felt like a present specifically for me, and other superhero fans will feel the same.
This YA sci-fi trilogy features a world divided between those who either love or hate the Renegades, a group of superpowered humans.
If you enjoy the themes of “heroes aren’t always what they seem” present in superhero works like The Boys, then Renegades is a milder version of that, making it a great entry point for superhero fans and an action-packed, thought-provoking read about what is right or wrong.
Secret identities. Extraordinary powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.
The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies-humans with extraordinary abilities-who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except the villains they once overthrew.
Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice-and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a…
Tina Edwards loved her childhood and creating fairy houses, a passion shared with her father, a world-renowned architect. But at nine years old, she found him dead at his desk and is haunted by this memory. Tina's mother abruptly moved away, leaving Tina with feelings of abandonment and suspicion.
I’m a writer who loves reading novels, encompassing everything from romance to historical and crime. I've always loved resilient female characters in the books I've read, from children’s fiction onward. When I started writing The Low Road I didn’t know that a couple of years later we as a family would experience multiple bereavement in just a few months, and that grief is imbued in every page of the novel. In The Low Road, I hope I've also paid homage to the power of women, that dogged and patient holding on and enduring of pain, that is at the heart of so many of the lives we live as girls and women.
Anyone who has spent any time in the world of journalism can recognise the flawed but ultimately lovable character of Thorn Marsh, Marika Cobold’s main character, who like far too many reporters, myself included, is far too often concentrated on her work rather than on living in the real world of human relationships.
Journalistic ethics should define us and our work, but Thorn falls from grace (or rather crosses a line). When her paper is taken over, she is placed on a mid-week supplement and is pushed for heart-warming clickbait. She actually makes up a story about an angel appearing on the Heath, crossing many a journalistic line in doing so.
Cue a tale about love, honour, loyalty, and how to pick yourself up when you’ve done wrong – and had wrong done to you. I loved Thorn. Hopefully she will reappear in another novel by Marika Cobbold one day…
"A mystery and an elegy for the death of old-fashioned journalism, it's a book that will warm your heart" The Observer
"Splendid . . . Funny, poignant, perceptive and plenty of sharp elbows along the way" Val McDermid
Thorn Marsh was raised in a house of whispers, of meaningful glances and half- finished sentences. Now she's a journalist with a passion for truth, more devoted to her work at the London Journal than she ever was to her ex-husband.
When the newspaper is bought by media giant The Goring Group, who value sales figures over fact-checking, Thorn openly questions…
I love the art of writing romance fiction. I’m a character-driven author. My stories are contemporary romance with steam, humor, and diversity. I run my business from my living room. When I'm not writing and telling people about my books, I run another online business. Read lots. Watch tons of series. Drink coffee and wine. Listen to music. Cook comforting vegetarian meals. Say prayers, meditate, and light candles. Text with my girlfriends. And try to squeeze in a walk and a shower. My sexy little stories are my attempt at keeping someone up all night. May you always feel loved, seen, and heard. The Smart Girl Mafia Series books 1-4 are currently available.
This book will have you up all night. It is a humorous, steamy contemporary romance between a boss and his apprentice. Both are architects in a family business. You will fall in love with the witty dialogue and the irresistible chemistry between the hero and heroine in this multicultural romance.
He needs a good year. He needs something to-finally-go his way.
After their father's slow, angry death, the Walsh family's third-generation historic preservation architecture firm is back on its feet and Patrick finally stands at the helm.
Andy Asani is not what Patrick expected from an apprentice. First, she's competent. Not just that, she's scary-brilliant. Second, she's obsessed with historic preservation-and the only person outside of Patrick's partners who shares his passion for crumbling buildings. And most troubling of all, he's obsessed with her.
He doesn't need her complicating his life but he wants her…
I am an art and architectural historian whose field also includes the histories of cities. My area of specialty is Africa. I am also a professor at Harvard who has lived in Cambridge, Ma. for over 30 years where I have become a civic leader, co-founding the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association to help bring improvements to the city and preserve historic buildings here. I teach a class on Harvard Square (and the city of Cambridge) and following January 6, I felt it was important to rethink the way we teach young people – encouraging them to understand the diversity of all our communities.
This book takes us through a visual journey of how one street has changed over its long history, providing us with a glimpse of its shared and divergent economic and religious history as well as the many ways that bridges and buildings have changed from Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution, to the present and possible future.
The carefully rendered illustrations provide ample settings for discovering new things in each different period of life on the street.
Have you ever wondered what your street was like thousands of years ago? This illustrated history book for children takes you on a 12,000-year journey to find out the story of a single street.
Think of the street you live on. Now think of how it may have looked in the Stone Age in 10,000 BCE, or in Victorian times during the Industrial Revolution, or how it may look 50 years from now. A Street Through Time takes you on a time-travelling journey that you won't forget. Highly detailed illustrations bring 15 key periods in time to life. You will…
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…
My mother called me a “television junkie.” In graduate school, where TV was not yet considered a worthwhile scholarly endeavor, I became enthralled by Twin Peaks and Roseanne. Rebelliously, I thought both had so much to say about gender studies and theories of postmodernism. Absent of an official curriculum, I started reading and writing about television history, medium specificity, genre theory and seriality. I got my PhD and published articles on film, TV, and my book. Since 1992, I have developed several television studies courses for our small media studies department: Crime Drama, Reality TV, Gender and Genre on Television, Transmedia Adaptations, and Media Rituals.
I am a fan of Nordic noir, and whenever I am in the middle of a Norwegian, Danish, or Finnish series, I always want to know more about the local aspects that I am missing.
As one of the earliest books covering European crime dramas in English, the individual chapters helped me understand the genre’s appeal over other genres, what motivated the different cultural depictions of local and national tensions, and how this, in turn, impacted global distribution and reception of crime series.
On top of this, the intriguing case studies gave me new crime dramas to add to my ever-growing watchlist. A win-win.
This book is the first to focus on the role of European television crime drama on the international market. As a genre, the television crime drama has enjoyed a long and successful career, routinely serving as a prism from which to observe the local, national and even transnational issues that are prevalent in society. This extensive volume explores a wide range of countries, from the US to European countries such as Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, England and Wales, in order to reveal the very currencies that are at work in the global production and circulation of the TV…
