Books like The Great Stink — picked by fans

The grime and stench of crowded, electric 1850s London permeates the pages of this book. I loved the immersion mixed with a history of urbanism and the problems unique to places where people live crammed together, sharing resources and, unfortunately, diseases.

I’d read about the cholera outbreak in London before, which occurred at a time before doctors understood germ theory. Johnson’s account gripped me as we follow early epidemiologist John Snow through his revolutionary investigation into the cause of the outbreak. This book tought me key medical and science history that I needed to understand as I embarked on my own book about a deadly, mysterious disease outbreak.

During research for my book, I visited manmade wetlands in south Florida, built to filter farm runoff from the water before it flows into Everglades National Park. These constructed wetlands are thick with alligators, spoonbills, storks, hawks, and other wildlife—but they’re just an echo of the surviving Glades. Now among the most cherished natural areas on Earth, in the settlement era the Everglades was written off as wasted space. Early in the 20th century the northern half of the Everglades was drained and turned into sugar fields. Today polluted runoff from those farms threatens the surviving remnants of the Everglades ecosystem. 

Grunwald’s book shows the human quirks and greed that drove the Everglades’ destruction, and that sometimes get in the way of its restoration.

Whenever I fly across country, I love looking out the window of the plane to watch how water has sculpted the landscape below—especially in undeveloped expanses, where I often see dozens of squiggles from rivers that have changed course.

Erica Gies’s fascinating book gave me an expanded view of the relationship between water and land, even in our modern cities, and introduced me to people who are figuring out new ways of living respectfully with this mighty and essential force.

Ben Goldfarb’s fabulous 2018 book provided me with a huge morale boost and encouragement for volunteer work I had recently undertaken on wildlife issues at our Statehouse.

I grew up next to Preston Pond (and live there again), which had beavers living in it for almost all my life. Yet, despite that and having a degree in biology, I didn’t know a great deal about beavers until a trapper (the first since probably the 18th Century) killed the family in 2016.

I didn’t even think that trapping was a thing in Vermont. That pointless killing is what got me involved in state and local wildlife management. Eager not only solidified and expanded what I was learning, but it proved that a wider audience was learning about this keystone species that creates the most biodiverse habitats in the northern forests.

I have always admired the pioneering Victorian engineers like Stephenson and Brunel, but especially Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who is less recognised and honoured than others, but whose genius provided a sewage system for London which improved sanitation, reduced disease, and death, allowed for the development of the Embankment and lasted for over a century! This book tells the story of those sewers and ones like them across the world and the remarkable men who designed and built them, many of them little known to their countrymen and women. It's absolutely fascinating, from the technical details to the social impact. It has turned me into a sewer aficionado.

I found the premise of this book intriguing. A detective with amnesia discovering his identity through his interactions with those who knew him before his accident? Yes, please! It's so unique!

This first book in the Inspector Monk series sets the stage for the many great books that follow with a brilliant murder mystery, interesting characters, and an immersive setting. I loved the intersection of Victorian London and the Crimean War and the many ways in which Perry brought the history to life with characters Dickens would be proud of, puzzles that would please Agatha Christie, and world-building that would satisfy Brandon Sanderson.

It takes talent to make a forensic pathologist a hero, but Temperance Brennan is equal to the task.

This is the thirteenth book in the series and my favorite because of the complexity of the plot and investigation. Literature needs more smart female heroes, and Dr. Brennan leads the way. This is a top-notch science-nerd action-thriller at its best. 

This book falls under the category “urban fiction” or “magical realism” or “western” or…something. At least, that’s what drew me to it in the first place. It takes place in America’s old west, features magic-using criminals leading a gang and draws on some Native American lore. The magic is terrifying, it’s a mix of environmental and mind-altering hoodoo. The most powerful antagonist is rugged, homosexual, unashamed, and a conflicted terror of a person. His partner in crime is simply terrifying. Together, they drive a trilogy that’s so well threaded through the old west you can taste the grit as you turn the page. Though the emphasis is on the pursuit of magic and the machinations it drives, the settings are a delight to experience. Files weaves a world in these novels that is equally fascinating and terrifying. Her prose and daring are an inspiration.

This novel has been with me all my life. I encountered it when I was fifteen (it was on the shelf where I was babysitting) and have continued to return to it.

Last year, I began reading it again because I was in Valetta, Malta, one of the many nouns that begin with the letter V in this inscrutable story. In Valetta, I was able to track down the street where Benny Profane, the novel’s sometime protagonist and eternal “schlemiel,” searches for mysterious characters. Strait Street’s walls still bear faded signage from old bars like ghosts of Pynchon’s past (he apparently docked in Valetta while serving in the Navy).

Every setting in this novel, from Florence to Manhattan, teems with weird groups of people, but I especially love “The Whole Sick Crew,” whose jazzy Manhattan party establishes some of the novel’s main threads—if “threads” is the right word for something… show more.

I recommend Singelin's PTSD, an adult fiction graphic novel that skillfully portrays the haunting realities experienced by war veterans.

Everyone at some point is confronted with adversity. PTSD shows that people are capable of actions they never believed possible. As someone who is all too familiar with these struggles, I found Jun's journey relatable and real. Jun unveils the impact of camaraderie, compassion, and companionship. This narrative powerfully emphasizes the significance of support for those enduring trauma.