Book Recommendations
Excited to find and share "good reads?" Here are a few ways to do it. Search for yourself or check out our extensive list! To add to the list, email your recommendations to the Webmaster.
Books/sites marked with an # are recent suggestions.
In addition to our list, below, here are more ways to find good books:
- #New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2023
- #New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2023
- From Off the Shelf: Book Club Favorites
- Elena Ferrante's 40 favorite books by female authors
- The Greatest American Novels
- 12 of the Best Modern-Day Classics We'll Keep on our Shelves Forever
- Five "must read" novels about blended families from Off the Shelf
- For Free/Inexpensive books, subscribe to BookBub
- Off the Shelf is a site and newsletter created by passionate editors, authors, and others inside the book business to help you discover—or rediscover—great books - #8 books we can't stop thinking about
- To find biographies of authors and information about books due out, go to Fantastic Fiction.
- Good Book Fairy
- Interesting site shared by Harriet Englander: Leonard Lopate Show Book Club
- Lists of books of various genres to read in a lifetime from Amazon
- Author Lisa See's book recommendations - Thanks to Tessa for the link.
Books are alphabetized by title.
Books marked with an asterisk (*) have been/will be discussed at the PWRE Book Club.
Books/sites marked with an # are recent suggestions.
Clicking on a title will show a review about it. Reviews are from NY Times book or other reviews.
A-G
- *11/22/63 by Stephen King
- The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
- *Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk
- The Age of Comfort by Joan DeJean
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
- Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo
- The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
- *All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen
- *Amagansett by Mark Mills
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- *American Mother by Colum McCann and Diane Foley
- American Pastoral by Philip Roth
- The American Spirit by David McCullough
- American War by Omar El Akkad
- *America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
- *Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
- Angry White Men by Michael Kimmel
- Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Anti-Romantic Child by Priscilla Gilman
- *An Unexpected Guest by Ann Korkeakivi
- Any Human Heart by William Boyd
- The Appeal by John Grisham
- Appetite for America by Stephen Fried
- Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
- April 1865 by Jay Winik
- The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
- *Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
- Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- Away by Amy Bloom
- The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy
- *Balzac and the Little Seamstress by Dai Sijie
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston
- Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang
- *Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
- Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden
- *Becoming by Michelle Obama
- The Bed Moved by Rebecca Schiff (Port grad)
- *The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
- Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
- Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
- *Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
- The Bells by Richard Harvell
- *Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
- *The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
- The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan
- *Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- *Big Necessity by Rose George
- Black & White by Dani Shapiro
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
- #The Bookshop by Evan Triss
- *The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Boom: Voices of the 60s by Tom Brokaw
- *Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
- *Boys in the Boat by David James Brown
- The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell
- Bride of New France by Suzanne Desroches
- Brightest Star by Gail Tsukiyama
- Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
- Brother One Cell by Cullen Thomas
- Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- #*By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
- Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
- A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris
- Canada by Richard Ford
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
- *The Children Act by Ian McEwan
- Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (time travel - sequel to The Sparrow)
- *China In Ten Words by Yu Hua
- Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
- Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
- Citizens of London by Lynn Olson
- City of Thieves by David Benioff
- Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
- Code Girls by Liza Mundy
- Color of Water by James McBride
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
- Country Driving by Peter Hessler
- *The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
- Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
- Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
- The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells
- A Cruel And Shocking Act by Philip Shenon
- *Crying in H Mart by Michele Zauner
- *Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- *Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
- The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce
- David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
- Dead Wake by Erik Larsen
- *Dear Life by Alice Munro
- Death of an Adversary by Hans Keilson and Ivo Jaros
- Defending Jacob by William Landay
- *Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
- *Digging to America by Anne Tyler
- *The Dinner by Herman Koch
- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
- The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
- Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
- *Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
- #Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- A Dublin Student Doctor: An Irish Country Novel by Patrick Taylor
- The Dutch Wife by Ellen Keith
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- *Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
- *Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- *Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
- The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson
- *Emma by Jane Austen
- Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
- *End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
- Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
- Espionage & Enslavement in the Revolution by Claire Bellerjeau - Newsday article - book coming out 5/1/2021
- *Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
- *Euphoria by Lily King
- *Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar
- The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
- Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon
- *Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
- *Faye, Faraway by Helen Fisher
- *Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie
- The Fighting Soul:On the Road with Bernie Sanders by Ari Rabin-Havt (Port alum)
- Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
- *Fire in the Ashes by Jonathan Kozol
- *The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray
- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
- The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer Lee
- The Fortune Teller's Secret by Kelly Heard
- *The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
- Freedom Road by Howard Fast
- Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
- #Frostbite by Nicola Twilley
- The Furrows by Namwali Serpell
- Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman
- Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson
- *The Gate House by Nelson DeMille
- *A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag
- The Girl in the Green Sweater by Krystyna Chiger & Daniel Paisner
- *The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes
- *The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee, with David John
- *The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
- Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom
- God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
- God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- The Gown by Jennifer Robson
- Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (NY Times review from 1939!)
- *The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
- *The Greater Journey by David McCullough
- *Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie
- #*The Guncle by Steven Rowley
- Society by Shaffer & Barrows
- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
H-Q
- *The Ha Ha by Dave King
- The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal
- Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- *Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls
- Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
- Haven by Ruth Gruber
- Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
- *Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
- *The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
- *Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
- History of Love by Nicole Krauss
- Hitler's Pope by John Cornwell
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- #Hope is a Woman's Name by Amal Elsana Alh’jooj
- *Horse by Geraldine Brooks
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
- House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
- A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout
- House of Names by Colm Toibin
- How to Be a Perfect Stranger by Stuart M. Matlins (Editor), Arthur J. Magida (Editor)
- *The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
- The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
- I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
- Identical Strangers by Elyse Schein
- *I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
- *The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
- In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
- The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- In Pieces by Sally Field
- Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
- *The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
- *The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
- An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
- *The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- Island in the Center of the World by Russell Shorto
- The Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See
- Jackdaws by Ken Follett
- *James by Percival Everett
- *Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
- The Jew Store by Stella Suberman
- Joey Pigza books by Jack Gantos
- Just Kids by Patti Smith
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez & Kristin Ohlson
- *The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
- *Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
- Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
- *Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
- *Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
- Land Girls by Angela Huth
- Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
- Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
- The Last Correspondent by Soraya Lane
- Last Friends -Old Friends trilogy #3 by Jane Gardam
- The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
- The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest by Sandra Day O'Connor
- Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult
- Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron
- A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney and Ernest Gaines
- *Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy
- *The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
- The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy Batalion
- The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave
- *The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
- *Lolita by Valadimir Nabokov
- Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
- Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen
- *Loot by Aaron Elkins
- The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn
- The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
- Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin
- *The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
- #*Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
- *Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Madame Fourcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson
- *Mad Honey by Jennifer Boylan and Jodi Picoult
- The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
- The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki
- Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
- Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas
- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
- The Man in the Wooden Hat - Old Filth trilogy #2 by Jane Gardam
- The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland
- *March by Geraldine Brooks
- *The March by E.L. Doctorow
- *The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
- *The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
- *The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
- *The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
- Mary Coin by Marisa Silver
- *Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
- *The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
- Mink River by Brian Doyle
- *Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin
- *Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough (Teddy Roosevelt)
- Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
- The Mothers by Brit Bennett
- Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
- Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
- The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
- *My Antonia by Willa Cather - available online for free!
- *My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
- My Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount & Thessaly La Force
- My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Mysteries by C.J. Sansom
- The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
- *Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- Night Road by Kristin Hannah
- *The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
- *The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- *The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Tobin
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult
- No. 1 Ladies' Detective Series by Alexander McCall Smith
- No Ordinary Time Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II By Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
- Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
- Old Filth trilogy #1by Jane Gardam
- *Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
- *On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry
- The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
- Open by Andre Agassi
- Open Season by C.J. Box and Joe Pickett series
- The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
- *Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
- *Orphan Train by Christine Baker Kline
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
- *The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
- The Paris Secret by Karen Swan
- The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
- The Passage by Justin Cronin
- People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
- The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
- Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America by Jo Barraclough Paoletti
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- Port Washington by Elly Shodell
- The Postcard by Anne Berest
- The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
- The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
- The President's Gardens by Mushin Al-Ramli
- *The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
- *Profiles in Ignorance by Andy Borowitz
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- #Propaganda by Edward Bernays
- *Quiet by Susan Cain
R-Z
- The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
- Radium Girls by Kate Moore
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The Rage and the Pride by Oriana Fallaci
- The Reading Promise, My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
- Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
- Redeployment by Phil Klay
- A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
- Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- *Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
- Return to the Reich by Eric Lichtblau
- Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow
- River of Doubt by Candice Millard
- The Road from Coorain by Jill K. Conway
- *Room by Emma Donoghue
- The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
- The Round House by Louise Erdich
- Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
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*Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
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Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
- *Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- *The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
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Secret Scripture by Sebasian Barry
- *Selected Stories by Alice Munro
- *The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
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Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
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Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
- Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- *Sisters in Law by Linda Hirshman
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Sitting Shiva by Elliot Feldman
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*Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman
- Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
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*Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
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Soaring with Fidel by David Gessner
- *Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- *Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Hindman
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*South of Broad by Pat Conroy
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Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
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The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax
- A Spark of Light by Jodi Piccoult
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (time travel)
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*State of Wonder by Anne Patchett
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Still Alice by Lisa Genova
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Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
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*Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson
- The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult
- Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
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Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
- Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
- *There There by Tommy Orange
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*The Submission by Amy Waldman
- The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
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The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Weisenthal
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Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
- Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel
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A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
- The Tatooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
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Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
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Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith
- The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein
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*Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Tell Me A Story: 250 Great Books for Kids by Grace Sandford
- Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
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*Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
- The Testaments by Margaret Attwood
- *Testimony by Anita Shreve
- The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
- The Third Daughter by Talia Carner
- They May Not Mean To, But They do by Cathleen Schine
- *This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
- *This is the Place: Women Writing About Home edited by Margot Kahn and Kelly McMasters
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Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
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*A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
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*Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
- Time and Again by Jack Finney (time travel)
- Time Machine by H.G. Wells (time travel)
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Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
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Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
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*To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- Tom's River: A Story of Science & Salvation by Dan Fagin
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*The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle
- #*The Trouble of Color by Martha S Jones (Schreiber grad)
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Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger
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Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
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*Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- *The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- *Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer
- Up Home: One Girls's Journey by Ruth J. Simmons
- *The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- The Wager by David Grann
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Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire
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A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown
- *Walk the Walk by Neil Gross
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War Dances by Sherman Alexie
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*The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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*Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- #We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
- A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
- *West With the Night by Beryl Markham
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*What is the What? by Dave Eggers
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanathi
- When Everything Changed by Gail Collins
- #When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow
- Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
- *Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- White Trash by Nancy Isenberg
- Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
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Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre
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Wild by Cheryl Strayed
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*Wild Swans by Jung Chang
- Wilson by A. Scott Berg
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Wingshooters by Nin Revoyr
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Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
- The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns
- The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
- *The Women by Kristin Hannah
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Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
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The Worst Thing I've Done by Ursula Hegi
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
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Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
- Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
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*You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon
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Zeitoun by Dave Eggers