I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
I highly recommend this one on audio with Julia Whelan as narrator. This is literary, a mystery, has a podcast element and thoughts on true crime and on women and crime. I could go on. This story had so many layers to it and was very compelling. If you like your mystery with more literary heft to it, try this one.
Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Everyone has heard of this book by now because it’s been turned into a TV series, but I really loved this one. From my book journal: So great. If Sheldon from Big Bang Theory was a woman in the 1960s. The best character was Six-Thirty, the dog (who had a POV.) One of those books with such a singular voice that it stands out from everything else.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
This one had so many of the tropes I love: friends-to-lovers, childhood friends, dual timeline. I raced through this one in two days and it’s one of the few romances I read this year. (I’ve been in a romance-reading slump.)
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
One of the other romances I read, but I’d say this is romance with a nod to more literary writing. I adored the sneak peek behind a Saturday Night Live type show and improv acting (I wrote an improv hero in Yes & I Love You for a reason. I’m fascinated by that style of acting.) The characters in this one totally won me over.
I Could Live Here Forever by Hanna Halperin
Not a romance. A sad love story but so nuanced and beautifully written that I couldn’t put it down.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (specifically on audio)
A classic that I had tried before in print but hadn’t finished. The audio version really opened this one up for me and I loved it. Creepy as hell. Gorgeous writing.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Y’all. I enjoy my library book club, but the picks this year have included multiple 500+ page books and it’s killing me softly. However, this one was worth the read. I would’ve never picked this one up on my own, so that’s what book clubs are for, right? They get us to read new things.
This is a beautifully written, epic story about one character whom you follow from childhood all the way into adulthood. There is A LOT of tragedy so be warned, but what saved this for me was the singular voice of the main character. He’s darkly funny and you’re pulling for him so hard. I highly recommend this one in audio because the narration was fantastic and really helped me power through the book. (I did tandem reading where I switch back and forth between print and audio.)