Here are 100 books that This Must Be the Place fans have personally recommended if you like This Must Be the Place. 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 Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir

Ali Smith

From Ali's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Ali loves this book

Kid Congo Powers stands out in a sea of musical icons because of his honesty and humor. Leave the unchecked egos to David Lee Roth. Although Kid's played in three of the best bands of all time (the Cramps, the Gun Club, the Bad Seeds), he writes about his adventures with the open-eyed excitement of the young punk who headed up a Ramones fan club. That is to say, he seems unsullied and easy to fall in love with.

By Kid Congo Powers , Chris Campion ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Some New Kind of Kick as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Book cover of The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.

Ali Smith

From Ali's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Ali loves this book

James Spooner's High Desert is a seminal read. Being a graphic novel memoir aided my ability to sit inside the life of this young punk of color growing up in the barren lands of American suburbia, with all the menace and terror and determination that comes along with that experience on full, constant display. Intense, meaningful and aesthetically beautiful.

By James Spooner ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Winner of a 2022 ALA Alex Award

Winner of the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics

One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022 * One of NYPL's Best Books of 2022 *A Publishers Weekly "Best Book of 2022"

A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man's immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert, and a search for salvation and community through punk.

Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert.

Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom…


Book cover of Hamnet

Lucy Fisher

From Lucy's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Lucy loves this book

It really brings to life how Shakespeare and Agnes's world in Stratford-upon-Avon might have been, and makes you feel how the pain of a child's loss was felt no less keenly hundreds of years ago.

By Maggie O'Farrell ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021
'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times
'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell

TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.

Neither…


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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Book cover of The Marriage Portrait

Janice MacDonald Author Of Wexford Carole

From Janice's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Dilletante Reader Traveler Dreamer Puzzler

Janice's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Janice MacDonald Why Janice loves this book

I used to teach "My Last Duchess" back in my college lecturer years, and this book jumps off of Browning's poem and provides the back story to the painting in question. It's imaginative, and lush, and evocative of the time.

By Maggie O'Farrell ,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Marriage Portrait as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.

“I could not stop reading this incredible true story.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick)

"O’Farrell pulls out little threads of historical detail to weave this story of a precocious girl sensitive to the contradictions of her station...You may know the history, and you may think you…


Book cover of Wolf Hall

Ronnie Blair Author Of Eisenhower Babies: Growing Up on Moonshots, Comic Books, and Black-and-White TV

From Ronnie's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Vintage book collector Husband Father Bad ukulele player

Ronnie's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Ronnie Blair Why Ronnie loves this book

The author does a magnificent job of immersing you into the world of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, and 16th century England, with plenty of intrigue around every corner. Even when you know how some of the history plays out, the suspense and surprises are still there. The large cast of characters can get confusing, especially since more than one person is named Thomas, but a list of the character names and their roles at the beginning of the book helps. I referred to that list several times during my reading.

By Hilary Mantel ,

Why should I read it?

22 authors picked Wolf Hall as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Man Booker Prize Shortlisted for the the Orange Prize Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award

`Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good' Daily Mail

'Our most brilliant English writer' Guardian

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor.

Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with…


Book cover of Miss Austen: A Novel of the Austen Sisters

Janine Barchas Author Of The Novel Life of Jane Austen

From my list on Jane Austen 250th birthday.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jane Austen now dominates my teaching and research. This was not always so. I was trained in the writers that came before Austen and was happily teaching classes on them when someone at my university asked me to teach a class on Jane Austen. At first, I refused to switch. I countered, “She does not need yet another class.”  But I agreed, and soon, I was hooked on her humor and her deft responses to those earlier writers. While the new graphic novel is my third book about Jane, I have not exhausted the things to research! The more I know, the more I admire her writings and her life.

Janine's book list on Jane Austen 250th birthday

Janine Barchas Why Janine loves this book

The greatest romance in Jane Austen’s life was surely the mutual love and support shared with her sister, Cassandra. I read this book in almost one sitting during a bout of COVID-19.

While I cannot attest to the book's official medicinal properties, it made me feel tons better and was surely a great way to spend my time in isolation. I was both transported and moved by this fictional what-if-biography of Cassandra.  

By Gill Hornby ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Miss Austen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sunday Times bestselling novel, set to be a major TV drama
________________________
'You can't help feeling that Jane would have approved.' OBSERVER

'So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.' CLAIRE TOMALIN
________________________
Throughout her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote countless letters to her sister. But why did Cassandra burn them all?

1840: twenty three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family's friends, the Fowles.

She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache…


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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 the Light We Cannot See

Mercedes M. Yardley Author Of Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales

From Mercedes' 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Mercedes' 3 favorite reads in 2024

Mercedes M. Yardley Why Mercedes loves this book

What an utterly charming book. It's written beautifully, has characters I cared for, and was literary while still being easy to digest and understand. It often delves into the brutality of war but the chapters are so short that you're in the darkness for a brief time before taking a breather. I enjoyed it immensely.

By Anthony Doerr ,

Why should I read it?

56 authors picked All the Light We Cannot See as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION

A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II

Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.'

For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic…


Book cover of Circe

Raymond Walker Author Of Under Dark Skies

From Raymond's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Raymond's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Raymond Walker Why Raymond loves this book

The myth of "Circe" haunts the ancient world. This novel was a new beginning to a wonderful tale well told and written. I would recommend it.

By Madeline Miller ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The international Number One bestseller from the author of The Song of Achilles, shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE.

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child - not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens…


Book cover of A Gentleman in Moscow

Barry Maher Author Of The Great Dick

From Barry's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Barry's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Barry Maher Why Barry loves this book

I didn't expect to like A Gentleman in Moscow nearly as much as I did. I'm not a gentleman. I don't really care about gentlemen, and I'm generally not all that sympathetic to the plight of the Russian aristocracy. Most of them had what they had because they were, in effect, slave owners.

Plus Rostov spent the book in a hotel. What could be less exciting--a prison without the normal drama and suffering of a prison? This book demonstrates what a great writer can do. To put the reader inside a world and a character, creating not just interest but wonder and even excitement built on a sympathy the reader might have never expected to feel. We're all human, after all. In the most important ways, we're all the same.

By Amor Towles ,

Why should I read it?

46 authors picked A Gentleman in Moscow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers, soon to be a major television series

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and…


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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 A Thousand Splendid Suns

Dawn Austin Locke

From Dawn's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Dawn loves this book

I was inspired how Hosseini managed to take such difficult subjects as the Afghan war, the lived experience of women during this time, domestic violence, Shariah punishment, resilience, and yet keep me reading with optimism and deep connection to his characters. Real beauty emerged from a situation that I have only experienced from a western perspective. I found myself deep inside the characters and places I have never visited. An eye-opener and a heart opener., laced with beauty.

By Khaled Hosseini ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked A Thousand Splendid Suns as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE RICHARD & JUDY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

'A suspenseful epic' Daily Telegraph

'A triumph' Financial Times

'Heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday

'Deeply moving' Sunday Times

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.


Book cover of Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir
Book cover of The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.
Book cover of Hamnet

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