Center's novels are light and fun, but they run surprisingly deep, and are emotionally wise. Libby is attempting to rebuild her life, and that of her two kids, after her husband died in a car crash two years ago. But she's finally had enough of living with her crazy mother, and moves out to the Texas hill country to try out a new life on her crazy Aunt Jean's goat farm. This short and easy read has a familiar arc: girl in a mess, girl sees the light, girl finds happiness, yet its themes of family, forgiveness, and redemption make it worth your while. More info →

I loved this emotionally resonant debut about class, culture, regret, and the road not taken from the Summer Reading Guide; it deserves more attention than it's gotten. After twenty years abroad, the Zhens return to their native China to take up residence among Shanghai’s nouveau riche. But deep unease lies behind the façade of their pampered lifestyle, and the reappearance of a long-lost brother stirs up a host of long-buried emotions, and forces the family to revisit complicated (and secret) past choices. The backdrop of contemporary Shanghai and a national festival highlights how the family embodies China’s current conflicts and complexities: rich vs poor, urban vs rural, old vs new values (and I loved talking with Cindy Brandt about the realities of these divides in episode 140 of What Should I Read Next). More info →

From the publisher: "What if America had a royal family? New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee imagines an alternate version of the modern world, one where the glittering age of monarchies has not yet faded. Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown. Meet American princesses Beatrice and Samantha. When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne. Like most royal families, the Washingtons have an heir and a spare. A future monarch and a backup battery. Each child knows exactly what is expected of them. But these aren't just any royals. They're American." More info →

Scoop this up on a killer sale while you can. We get a lot of messages about what we "should" be prioritizing over the season, but have you stopped to ask yourself what matters most to you? With her five Lazy Genius principles, my friend Kendra will help you live according to what matters and let go of the stuff that doesn't. I make much use of her "decide once" principle when times get stressful, and her guide has helped my whole family plan around what matters most to us. With her friendly voice and style, Kendra illustrates each principle with stories from her own life. More info →

This stunning anthology embodies the collaborative spirit it celebrates. "We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond." This line from a Gwendolyn Brooks poem serves as the epigraph and guiding spirit of this magnificent collection, which includes essays, poems, photographs, and conversations from fabulous contributors like Michael Twitty, Joy Harjo, Elizabeth Alexander, Margaret Wilkeron Sexton, and Ross Gay. In addition to gathering beautiful poetry and reflective essays, the author of Queen Sugar travelled the country to interview Black farmers, winemakers, and culinary experts about the African American land-owning and farming experience, both past and present. Their wide-ranging and richly varied stories make for life-giving and community-changing reading. More info →

From the publisher: "In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, young Alma Belasco’s parents send her away to live in safety with an aunt and uncle in their opulent mansion in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family’s Japanese gardener. Unnoticed by those around them, a tender love affair begins to blossom. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the two are cruelly pulled apart as Ichimei and his family—like thousands of other Japanese Americans—are declared enemies and forcibly relocated to internment camps run by the United States government. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love that they are forever forced to hide from the world. Sweeping through time and spanning generations and continents, The Japanese Lover is a moving tribute to the constancy of the human heart in a world of unceasing change." More info →

Mary Laura Philpott shared this title in What Should I Read Next episode 195—Wanted: Book enthusiast at large, saying she kept waiting for the big twist, but there was no twist. In spite of—or maybe because of—the memoir’s seemingly simple premise of a mother parenting her child when she wasn’t quite ready, Philpott saw her own life in a completely new way after reading it. With humor and candid honesty, O’Connell shares the details of her unplanned pregnancy, entry to the brand new world of parenting, and questioning of nearly everything about her identity. Nothing happens, but EVERYTHING happens, as she experiences the highs and lows of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. There is no universal story of motherhood, but by sharing the oft-untold (and not at all picture-worthy) bits, O’Connell shows how to have more compassion and gentleness for yourself or the mothers in your life. More info →

What’s a feisty young lady to do when an eligible bachelor is murdered at the local ball? If you’re Beatrice Steele, you use your secret true crime knowledge to investigate, of course! This hilarious debut cozy mystery-comedy set in the English countryside has it all: games of whist, a disgusting swamp, dashing gentleman, needlepoint, bioluminescent frogs, footnotes, a guest list of quirky characters, and scones. Imagine What We Do in the Shadows meets Jane Austen with dashes of The Addams Family. The dark and stormy weather, crumbling old estate, laugh-out loud moments, and fun twisty turns make the audiobook read by Fiona Hampton a fabulous pick for fall! Whispersync narration available. More info →

From the publisher: "From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December. Spending her thirtieth birthday alone is not what dating columnist Cleo Wilder wanted, but she plans a solo retreat―at the insistence of her boss―in the name of re-energizing herself and adding a new perspective to her column. The remote Irish island she’s booked is a far cry from London, but at least it’s a chance to hunker down in a luxury cabin and indulge in some self-care while she figures out the next steps in her love life and her career. Mack Sullivan is also looking forward to some time to himself. With his life in Boston deteriorating in ways he can’t bring himself to acknowledge, his soul-searching has brought him to the same Irish island to explore his roots and find some clarity. Unfortunately, a mix-up with the bookings means both have reserved the same one-room hideaway on exactly the same dates. Instantly at odds, Cleo and Mack don’t know how they’re going to manage until the next weekly ferry arrives. But as the days go by, they no longer seem to mind each other’s company quite as much as they thought they would." More info →

WSIRN guest Grace picked this as a book she loves on episode 405: Books that pair with pumpkin spice. She describes it like this: "It's about a young woman, Gilda, who's a little bit depressed, a little bit anxious, and through an interesting turn of events, even though she herself is an atheist and a lesbian, she ends up working as the secretary of a Catholic Church to fill the role that's been recently opened up by the death of the former secretary. After she starts working there, she starts emailing back and forth with one of the former secretary's friends who does not realize that this other person has passed away. So, Gilda is pretending to be this person who has passed away. It's written in a stream-of-consciousness style. I just remember Gilda being so humorous and quirky, but also really real and relatable in her mental health struggles that she has and then the relationships that she's trying to create. I can only describe it as somehow simultaneously cozy, but also cold, comedic, but in a dark way. It really just stuck with me and kind of captured my heart." More info →

Powerful and jarring. Publisher's description: "The novel that inspired Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning film starring Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore. In Judith Guest's remarkable first novel, the Jarrets are a typical American family. Calvin is a determined, successful provider and Beth an organized, efficient wife. They had two sons, Conrad and Buck, but now they have one. In this memorable, moving novel, Judith Guest takes the reader into their lives to share their misunderstandings, pain...and ultimate healing." More info →

For obvious reasons, this book made an amazing pairing with The Personal Librarian. I actually read Belle Greene first shortly after Tina Kover's English translation was published in September of 2023. It was fascinating to read these two biographical accounts of the same woman nearly back-to-back. The books are markedly different in tone and structure, for one: Belle Greene is longer, more literary-leaning, and more tragic than its American-authored counterpart. Even more so, the authors made disparate decisions about how to fill in the historical blanks of Belle's life, particularly regarding Belle's personal and workplace relationships. Don't miss the authors' notes on either book! They give illuminating insight into the research and writing process, and the authors' respective experiences of "discovering" the heretofore untold story of Belle Greene. More info →

The whole series featuring the Nashville Homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson is on sale. From the publisher: "The Southern Strangler is slaughtering his way through the Southeast, leaving a gruesome memento at each crime scene—the prior victim's severed hand. Taylor finds herself in a joint investigation with her lover, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, as they pursue the vicious murderer." More info →

From the publisher: "Can a robot survive in the wilderness? When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants. As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home--until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her. From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide." More info →

From the publisher: "Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father’s Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents." More info →

This was a word-of-mouth pick for me: I've noticed our MMD Book Clubbers saying good things about Brooks's grief memoir in our forums since it came out last winter. Brooks had been married to fellow writer and journalist Tony Horwitz for thirty-five years when he collapsed and died in 2019 while on book tour far from home. He was just sixty years old. She was stunned—and then quickly swept into a barrage of pressing to-dos, everything from finding new health insurance for herself and her sons to finishing her manuscript-in-progress (that would be the 2022 novel Horse) so she had money to pay the bills. Three years after his death, she traveled to tiny Flinders Island, off the coast of her native Australia, to finally give herself time and space to grieve. This book is the result of that experience. I listened to Brooks narrate her own audio and that format served the story well; it doesn't feel quite right to say I "enjoyed" a grief memoir but this book was gentle, lovely, and moving. I'm so glad I read it. Whispersync narration available. More info →

This is one of the 7 books I wish I could download into my brain. Daniel H. Pink calls this fascinating and practical: "From the pen of a former hostage negotiator—someone who couldn't take no for an answer—which makes it fascinating reading. But it's also eminently practical. In these pages, you will find the techniques for getting the deal you want." More info →

A New York Time bestseller. From the publisher: "From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be human." More info →

Readers who couldn't get enough C. S. Lewis as a kid are often urged to move on to his Space Trilogy as they get older. Once again, he sets his fantasies against the backdrop of classical mythology and biblical imagery; his characters encounter extraordinary creatures, fight epic battles, and come face to face with deep wisdom. The first book in the series tells the story of Dr. Ransom, a Cambridge professor who discovers after he's abducted that he's been taken from the "silent planet" of Earth. J. R. R. Tolkien inspired Lewis to write this story, and the character of Dr. Ransom is largely based on him. More info →

My kids LOVE this and keep telling me to read it, but adults have also chosen it as a fave for What Should I Read Next. The Penderwicks follows four sisters as they roam the gardens, attics, and have adventures with a very interesting boy named Jeffrey on a sprawling estate in Massachusetts. The sisters range from ages 4-12, making this a great series to read aloud with the whole family. Each of the four sisters typifies a character trait, often drawing comparisons to the March sisters. Each book takes place in a different part of New England, and the Penderwicks timeless adventures bring about a sense of nostalgia. With five books in the series, there’s plenty of sweet childhood scenes to endear readers. The publisher calls this: "Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day." More info →