Book Club Recommendations
Some times my book club considers it challenging to find thoughtful, discussable books. Does your book club face that dilemma?
Often after finishing a book, I think: This would make a great book club selection. Usually, I base this opinion on the discussion possibilities and thoughtful themes or relevant issues.
See this post I wrote all about starting and organizing a book club.
If it would be helpful, here’s a list of books I’ve read that I can confidently recommend for my book club or yours (most suggestions are made with women in mind). The list is also heavily weighted toward historical fiction because I spend most of my reading hours in this genre. I hope you find this list a useful resource in choosing your next read!
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Grouped by Star Rating (in no particular order) and by Genre (Titles are Amazon affiliate links or links to my reviews):
Historical Fiction
West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge 5 Stars
The Girl From Guernica by Karen Robards 5+ Stars
The Winter Orphans by Kristin Beck 5 Stars
The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews 5 Stars
The Thread Collectors by Shaunna Edwards and Alyson Richman 5 Stars
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer 5 Stars
Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe 5 Stars (own voices)
Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton 4.5-5 Stars
A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke 5 Stars
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (YA crossover) 5 Stars
Three Words For Goodbye by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb 5 Stars
Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman 5 Stars
That Summer in Berlin by Lecia Cornwall 4.5 Stars
FireKeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley 4.5-5 Stars
Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi 4.5-5 Stars
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel 4.5-5 Stars
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton 4.5-5 Stars
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer 5 Stars
The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray 5 Stars (4.5)
Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly 5 Stars (4.5)
Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan 5 Stars (4.5)
The Downstairs Girl (YA) by Stacey Lee 4.5-5 Stars
The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck 5 Stars
The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat 5 Stars
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner 5 Stars
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel 5 Stars (4.5)
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton 5 Stars (4.5)
The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton 5 Stars (4.5)
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri 5 Stars (4.5)
Ribbons of Scarlet by Kate Quinn et al. 5 Stars
The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai 5 Stars (4.5)
The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali 5 Stars (4.5)
Lovely War by Julie Berry 5 Stars (4.5)
Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain (light histfic/mystery) 5 Stars (4.5)
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (YA) 5 Stars
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek 5+ Stars
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 5+ Stars
The Gown by Jennifer Robson 5 Stars
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 5 Stars
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom 5 Stars
Beantown Girls by Jane Healey 5 Stars
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor 5 Stars
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar 5 Stars
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys 5 Stars
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (and Netflix movie) 5 Stars
News of the World by Paulette Jiles 5 Stars (plus the movie)
America’s First Daughter or My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray (both) 5 Stars
Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor 5 Stars
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter 5 Stars
From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon 5 Stars
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe 5 Stars
Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott 5 Stars
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom 5 Stars
Learning to See by Elise Hooper 5 Stars
Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (YA free verse) 5 Stars
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (plus the movie) 5 Stars
* * *
The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel 4.5 Stars
A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly 4.5 Stars
The Forgotten Cottage by Courtney Ellis 4.5 Stars
The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin 4.5 Stars
The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman 4.5 Stars
When We Had Wings by Lawhon, McMorris, Meissner 4 Stars
The Last Dress From Paris by Jade Beer 4 Stars
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan 4.5 Stars
The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson 4.5 Stars
Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner 4.5 Stars
Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce 4 Stars
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray 4.5 Stars
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan 4 Stars
The Woman With the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff 4 Stars
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys 4.5 Stars
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles 4 Stars
The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little 4 Stars
Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis 4 Stars
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner 4 Stars
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate 4 Stars
The Things we Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer 4 Stars
The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell 4 Stars
The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke 4 Stars
If You Want to Make God Laugh 4 Stars
The Huntress by Kate Quinn 4 Stars
Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon 4 Stars
Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon 4.5 Stars
Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais 4.5 Stars
Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict 4 Stars
Woman 99 by Greer Mccallister 4 Stars
We Hope For Better Things by Erin Bartels 4 Stars
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris 4 Stars
The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman 4 Stars
Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan 4 Stars
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff 4 Stars
The Lieutenant’s Nurse or Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers or Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman (each) 4 Stars
And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton 4 Stars
A Fall of Marigolds or As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner (both) 4 Stars
The Secret Keeper or The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (both) 4 Stars
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi 4 Stars
The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff 4 Stars
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See 4 Stars
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See 4 Stars
The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan 4 Stars
Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan 4 Stars
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate 4 Stars
The Beautiful Strangers or The Way of Beauty by Camille Di Maio (both) 4 Stars
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 4 Stars
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 4 Stars
The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah 4 Stars
Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini 4 Stars
Literary Fiction
An Enemy Like Me by Teri M. Brown 5 Stars
Maureen (Harold Fry #3) by Rachel Joyce 5 Stars
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout 4 Stars
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 5 Stars
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 4.5 Stars
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi 5 Stars
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger 5 Stars
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall 5+ Stars
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane 5 Stars
Virgil Wander (5 stars) or Peace Like a River (4 Stars) by Leif Enger
Light Women’s Fiction
The Christmas Castle in Scotlend by Julie Caplin 4 Stars
Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop by Kiley Dunbar 4 Stars
Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert 4 Stars
The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman 4 Stars
The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey 4 Stars
Kit McBride Gets a Wife by Amy Barry 4.5 Stars
The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson 4 Stars
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center 4 Stars
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan 4 Stars
Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman 4 Stars
Spring Tides at the Starfish Cafe by Jennifer Redland 4 Stars
Arborview by Karen Guzman 4.5 Stars
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon (Christian Fiction) 4 Stars
Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce 4 Stars
Our Italian Summer by Jennifer Probst 4 Stars
Wait For It by Jenn McKinlay 3.5-4 Stars
People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry 4 Stars
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley 4.5-5 Stars
Miss Cecily’s Recipes For Exceptional Ladies 4 Stars
The Great Escape From Woodlands Nursing Home by Joanna Nell 4.5-5 Stars
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons 4.5 Stars
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce 4 Stars
The Book of CarolSue by Lynne Hugo 4 Stars
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay 4.5 Stars
What You Wish For by Katherine Center 4 Stars
This Won’t End Well by Camille Pagán 4 Stars
The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland 4 Stars
Meet Me in Monaco (romantic histfic) by H. Gaynor and H. Webb 4 Stars
Glory Road by Lauren K. Denton 4 Stars
How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry 4 Stars
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal 4 Stars
* * *
The Bookseller’s Promise by Beth Wiseman 3.5-4 Stars
The Holley Sisters of Thornthwaite “Vicarage” Series by Kate Hewitt 3.5-4 Stars
The House Swap by Jo Lovett 3.5 Stars
Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey 3-3.5 Stars
Talk Bookish To Me by Kate Bromley 3.5 Stars
Lost, Found, & Forever by Victoria Schade 3 Stars
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren 3.5 Stars
The Switch by Beth O’Leary 3.5 Stars
The Amish Newcomer by Patrice Lewis 3.5 (rounded to 4) Stars
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center 3 Stars
The Late Bloomers’ Club by Louise Miller 3 Stars
The Summer House by Lauren K Denton 3.5 Stars
General Fiction
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 5 Stars (4.5)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 5 Stars
The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister 5 Stars
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane 5 Stars
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 5 Stars
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 5 Stars
Beartown by Fredrik Backman 5 Stars
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 5 Stars
Castle of Water by Duane Hucklebridge 5 Stars
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (plus the movie) 5 Stars
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng 5 Stars
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce 5 Stars
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom 5 Stars
The Lost For Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland 5 Stars
* * *
Little Wing by Freya North 4.5 Stars
A Brighter Flame by Christine Nolfi 4.5 Stars
Sugar and Salt by Susan Wiggs 4 Stars
The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne 4.5 Stars
The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson 4 Stars
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson 4 Stars
The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg 4 Stars
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth 4 Stars
Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe 4 Stars (Christian fiction)
Hard Cider by Barbara Stark-Nemon 4 Stars
Eden by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg 4 Stars
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick 4 Stars
Meet Me At the Museum by Anne Youngson 4 Stars
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (classic) 4 Stars
The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood 4 Stars
Still Alice by Lisa Genova (plus the movie) 4 Stars
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 4 Stars
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 4 Stars
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood 4 Stars
The Secret of Clouds by Alyson Richman 4 Stars
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA) 4.5 Stars
This Won’t End Well by Camille Pagan 4 Stars
Mystery
Exiles (Falk #3) by Jane Harper 4.5 Stars
Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain 5 Stars (4.5)
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 4 Stars
The Dry, Force of Nature, or The Survivors by Jane Harper (all) 4 Stars
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim 4 Stars
Searching For Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok 4 Stars
The Vanished Bride 4 Stars
Mrs. England by Stacey Halls 4 Stars
Science Fiction
Project Hail Mary (audio version!) by Andy Weir 4.5-5 Stars
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker 4 Stars
The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain 4 Stars
Diverse Reads
Ghost Boys (MG/YA) by Jewell Parker Rhodes 5 Stars
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson 5 Stars
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi 5 Stars
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré 5 Stars
The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali 5 Stars (4.5)
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza 5+ Stars
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar 5 Stars
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas 5 Stars
* * *
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 4 Stars
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 4 Stars
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 4 Stars
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray 4 Stars
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda 4 Stars
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 4 Stars
With the fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 4 Stars
Non Fiction
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham 5 Stars
Finding Me by Viola Davis 5 Stars
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield 5 Stars
The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff 5 Stars
Atomic Habits by James Clear 4 Stars
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker 4 Stars
Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee 4 Stars
Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin 4 Stars
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 4 Stars
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 4 Stars
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain 4.5 Stars
The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore 4 Stars
Memoir
Finding Me by Viola Davis 5 Stars
The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Dr. Edith Eva Eger 5 Stars
Finding Chika by Mitch Albom 5 Stars
The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee 5 Stars
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb 5 Stars (memoir, self help)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (plus the movie) 5 Stars
(this is actually biography but I think of it as memoir because the author interviewed Louis Zamporini)
In Pieces by Sally Field 5 Stars
* * *
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 4 Stars
Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel 4 Stars
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 4 Stars
Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan 4 Stars
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 4 Stars
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 4 Stars
Educated by Tara Westover 4 Stars
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin 4 Stars
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (plus the movie) 4.5 Stars
Thriller/Suspense
I rarely read thrillers or suspense, so I have only a few titles to offer in suspense and they are on the very MILD end of the spectrum.
The River by Peter Heller 4.5 Stars
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth 4 Stars
The Huntress and The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (histfic/thriller/suspense) 4 Stars each
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner (histfic/suspense) 5 Stars
Christmas Themed Women’s Fiction
Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert (closed door romance) 4 Stars
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren (moderately open door romance) 4 Stars
Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop by Kiley Dunbar 4 Stars (review coming soon)
New Traditions by Deborah King 4 Stars
All I Want For Christmas is the Girl Next Door by Chelsea Bobulski (sweet and innocent YA romance) 4 Stars
Let’s Discuss!
Do you have a book we can add to this list? What has been your favorite book that your book club has discussed? Please let me know if you choose a book from this list for your book club and how it was received.
Happy Reading Book Buddies!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
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