Here are 5 books that The Friday Afternoon Club fans have personally recommended if you like The Friday Afternoon Club. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

ilene

From Ilene's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Ilene loves this book

I have always had an interest in the climbing world and medicine. Mimi’s book was a wonderful combination of both. I couldn’t put it down.

By Mimi Zieman ,

Why should I read it?

33 authors picked Tap Dancing on Everest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…


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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 Horse

Jinny Webber Author Of Serpent Visions

From Jinny's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Historical Novelist Shakespeare Mythology Professor

Jinny's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jinny Webber Why Jinny loves this book

I love how the different time periods work, all connected to the real stallion Lexington and Jarrett, the slave who’s with him since the day he foaled (and named him Darley). Insights on slavery from slaves’ POV, the Civil War and Reconstruction, horse racing and the owners and plantations, horse art and a Smithsonian search—and more. Beautifully written.

By Geraldine Brooks ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -The New York Times Book Review

"Horse isn't just an animal story-it's a moving narrative about race and art." -TIME

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an…


Book cover of The Covenant of Water

Damaris Mukulu

From Damaris' 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Damaris loves this book

Every once in a while, you come across a book so immersive, so beautifully written, that it refuses to leave your mind long after you've turned the last page. The Covenant of Water is that book for me.

At over 700 pages, it's a commitment - but one I'd make again in a heartbeat. Set in Kerala and spanning three generations, this novel is an absolute masterclass in storytelling. Abraham Verghese weaves together history, medicine, love, loss, and resilience with such depth and beauty that I often found myself pausing just to absorb a particularly stunning passage.

The story follows a family cursed with a mysterious affliction; at least one person in each generation drowns, no matter how careful they are around water. But at its core, this book is about so much more than that. It's about human connection, about fate and the quiet strength of those who bear…

By Abraham Verghese ,

Why should I read it?

55 authors picked The Covenant of Water as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret

“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of…


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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 All Fours

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From Jacinta's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jacinta's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jacinta Halloran Why Jacinta loves this book

Hilarious, far fetched, outrageous and yet so wise and completely relatable. The most original exploration of female desire that you’ll ever find.

By Miranda July ,

Why should I read it?

32 authors picked All Fours 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

The New York Times bestselling author returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life

“A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect….the bravery of All Fours is nothing short of riveting.”—Vogue

“A novel that presses into that tender bruise about the anxiety of aging, of what it means to have a female body that is aging, and wanting the freedom to live a fuller life…Deeply funny and achingly true.” —LA Times
 
“All Fours possessed me.…


Book cover of The Mighty Red

Yvonne Osborne Author Of Let Evening Come

From Yvonne's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Organic Gardener Environmentalist Reader Traveler Birder

Yvonne's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Yvonne Osborne Why Yvonne loves this book

I loved the flawed yet decent characters, their relatable humanity, and the emphasis on climate change and unusual setting (The Red River Valley) which, while unfamiliar to me personally, is similar to the landscape of my writing.

By Louise Erdrich ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'Erdrich remains one of the world's literary giants' Boston Globe

In Argus, North Dakota, a fraught wedding is taking place.

Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe. Gary thinks Kismet is the answer to all of his problems; Kismet can't even imagine her future, let alone the kind of future Gary might offer. During a clumsy proposal, Kismet misses her chance to say 'no' and so the die is cast.

Hugo has been in love with Kismet for years. He has been her friend, confidante and occasionally her lover -…


Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure
Book cover of Horse
Book cover of The Covenant of Water

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