I have created this list on the fly so many times. A friend texts me that they’re getting surgery and need good reads for bed rest. A neighbor asks which book to take on vacation. A former YW leader asks me what books she should buy for her teen niece.
I LOVE IT EVERY TIME.
Truly it is just stupid that I haven’t put it permanently somewhere for easier sharing.
This is it. My required reading. Chances are I’ve already tried to force you to read some of these titles. Proselyting for the books I love is my top interest that doesn’t include actually reading.
I broke it down into sections because some people will never read a classic, some love YA, etc. Please do not hesitate to text me or slide into my DMs if you’re wondering about any of these recommendations!
Get in loser, we’re filling up your library holds.
Adult Fiction (13)
- World War Z by Max Brooks
- So much more than the movie
- Mock interviews
- Full cast audiobook is FANTASTIC
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The crown jewel of twisty thrillers
- Still worth reading if you’ve seen the movie
- Where’d You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple
- Hilarious and quirky
- Comprised of narrative, emails, invoices, etc.
- Dysfunctional family searching for the missing and eccentric mom
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- Old man Ron Swanson and major Parks & Rec vibes
- Heartwarming and sweet, WILL make you cry
- Very mom-friendly
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
- Intricately woven mystery about an apartment showing that gets held hostage
- Keeps you guessing, but peels pack each layer to reveal more and more to love
- Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
- Wild thriller that will keep you in a chokehold
- MESSED UP
- Scary and satisfying
- The Power by Naomi Alderman
- In a surprising turn of events, women across the world suddenly develop a biological power, making them the dominant sex
- Speculative feminism
- Some violence and dark themes
- Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
- Literally made me scream out loud
- Ghost story thriller (or is it???)
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Sci-Fi but I just need you all to trust me that it transcends Sci-Fi!!!!
- Interesting, sweet, inspiring, thought-provoking, and smart
- You HAVE to do the audiobook!!!!!
- Finlay Donovan is Killing It + Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
- Feminist humor/crime thriller
- The scary/bloody parts all get mitigated or played down, so it’s perfect for people who like crime but not too much violence
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
- Layers of storyline, complex characters (I stopped watching the show bc they did Madeline dirty)
- Tackles big issues in an accessible way (mommy wars, abuse, fidelity, class)
- Dialogue and narrative are both sharp and funny
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Perfect book club fiction about a woman who finds herself with the option to swap her life for one where she made different choices
- TW: Depression, suicide, ideation
- Absolutely beautiful way of looking at your choices, life, and the people you love
- Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch
- I don’t know how this series isn’t more hyped than Dark Matter? It’s way better?
- Twisty and confusing sci-fi thriller that will make you want to smash your head into a wall—but trust me and keep going
- DO NOT READ A SYNOPSIS OR SPOILERS!!!!!! GO IN BLIND!!!!
Young Adult (YA) 7
- Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
- Teen groupies plot to sneak into their favorite boy band’s hotel rooms, but things go awry
- Dark and hilarious
- The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
- A conservative village sends teen girls away for a year, but it’s a taboo secret why/where/what happens there
- The most insane thriller that somehow weaves in issues of the patriarchy, female sexuality, class, female relationships, religion, and education.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
- Misfit magical kids at an island orphanage
- Will make you cry and laugh and cry more
- Fantastic representation
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson
- Teen girl solving a crime with her own moxie and a podcast? Yep into it
- Trilogy is solid all the way through (#3 had me STRESST)
- Audiobook is full cast and amazing production
- The Illuminae Files series by Amie Kaufmen & Jay Kristoff
- Incredible teen sci-fi with zombies in space (plz just trust me!!!!!)
- You’ll want a physical book—there are maps, diagrams, artwork, etc.
- Margot Mertz Takes It Down by Carrie McCrossen
- Teen hacker helps people get their photos taken down once posted and shared (i.e. sexts and drunken selfies)
- Snarky teen feminist protagonist
- Audiobook had me snorting with laughter
- Scythe Trilogy by Neal Shusterman
- In a world where there is no more death, Scythes are called to cull the population
- Realistic, futuristic sci-fi
- Layers of utopia, dystopia, religion, science, ethics, morality, wow
Romance & Chick Lit (8)
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- I have read it 3x and will probably continue to do so
- The gold standard for enemies-to-lovers modern romcom
- Moderate spice
- I can’t believe I’m saying this but the movie was SO GOOD
- The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
- Fun and sweet fake dating
- Set at Stanford starring a woman in STEM
- Moderate spice
- One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
- Body positive Bachelorette fiction
- Loved the audiobook
- Narrative mixed with podcast transcripts, online articles, etc.
- Moderate spice
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
- Friends-to-Lovers set over a decade
- The best dialogue, banter, and relationship development
- Moderate spice
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- Enemies-to-lovers in a small town
- All of the Emily Henry books (above, and Book Lovers just came out) are perfect for a vacation
- Moderate spice
- Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
- An IT guy stumbles upon the hilarious emails between two coworkers and starts to fall in love
- Super sweet and clean romance
- Changing and evolving female friendship
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
- Told in letters between a journalist and a book club on the Isle of Guernsey post-WWII
- Definitely in my top 5 books of all time
- Sweet, clean, heartwarming
- Movie was ok but doesn’t even TOUCH the book
- A Court of Thrones & Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
- If you’ve been on social media at all in the pandemic you’ve heard of these
- Super spicy romantic fantasy + action
- Book one is the lamest by far, so press on! The trilogy is perfect, only read #4 if you like Nesta/have a high spicy tolerance
Classics/Literature (7)
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The OG and 100% worth the read
- I enjoy all movie retellings, including the Colin Firth but only once you’ve read it!!!
- Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is AMAZING
- The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
- I still remember being SHOOK reading this in school
- A secret vigilante during the French Revolution
- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
- A fantastic epic of adventure!
- Long but worth it, and great on audiobook (public domain so it’s free anywhere)
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- Darker than Austen, but a lovely gothic romance I fell in love with as a teen and have loved more with every re-read
- I guess I just love grumpy men??
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- So much more than the story you think you know
- SPOOK SPOOK
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- The QUEEN totally invented the genre
- So much more than the story you think you know
- Follow it up with The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, which is a feminist retelling of Elizabeth’s perspective
- Emma by Jane Austen
- It’s Clueless, duh!
- Emma is smart and nosy and arrogant and judgy and deep down a caring person and I identify with her even more than Elizabeth Bennett!
Nonfiction (15)
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
- Laugh out loud funny
- Covers Hollywood, working women, mothers, body image, and a million other relatable topics in a hilarious, sharp way
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Worth the hype
- Fundamentalist/Survivalist kinda-Mormon family and the girl who broke the cycle
- Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
- A memoir about a daughter of hoarder parents
- I devoured this is 24 hours
- The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
- Sweet and useful book about a woman teaching a class on home cooking basics
- Part memoir, part cookbook, part instruction manual
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- The gold standard of self-help
- I reread it every 3-4 years for a refresher and it always helps with literally everything
- Sex and World Peace by Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli, Chad F. Emmett
- Very academic but important book about the way women are treated around the world
- The premise is that basically everything in the world would improve if we focused on supporting women
- I think about it almost every day
- Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
- The classic, a must-read
- All of her books are great but I think this is the most important/impactful
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Tiny pamphlet of a book that will take you 30 minutes to read
- The perfect primer on feminism
- Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
- Based on a class at Stanford where the principles of design are used to create a life you love
- Includes lots of thinking exercises and worksheets (!!!) to help you figure out your life
- The Moment of Lift by Melinda French Gates
- Quick, inspiring read about the work Melinda Gates does around the world
- Feminist and so humble!
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- A book about dead bodies, but don’t scroll yet! Trust me!
- Roach is such an incredible writer that she handles the topic with such care and respect.
- YOU WILL LEARN SO MUCH
- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
- The first memoir I read as an adult and it blew my mind
- Still have not seen the movie because I don’t think I can handle it
- Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski
- Interesting and helpful pop science about the differences between male and female sex drives
- Covers topics of body image, positivity, communication, intimacy, safety, and pleasure
- The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
- I have enjoyed all of her books and strongly identify with her as a soul mate
- This is my favorite of hers and covers how we’re all motivated
- The system of tendencies has helped my marriage, parenting, family relationships, and meeting my own goals
- Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch
- Stop dieting, seriously
- Step by step guide, driven by all the research, to help you kick diets and enjoy food again
Children’s Lit (7)
- Harry Potter (obviously)
- Chronicles of Narnia (obviously)
- If you’ve only read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe… you’re missing out
- Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend
- I cried the first time I read book one, not because it was sad, but because I hadn’t felt like that since Harry Potter :’)
- Book 4 is coming out Fall 2022
- The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
- Gorgeous, spiritual, magical middle-grade fiction book about a girl with magical powers and an interrupted destiny
- Fairy tale/fable vibes
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- This book was transformative in my early reading years! A must-read!
- Multi-layered mystery with a slight supernatural element connecting people across generations, classes, and geography
- Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
- Feminist retelling of Cinderella with an added twist of a curse
- Do not watch the Anne Hathaway movie unless you want to ruin your entire month
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- If you bring up atheism and the devil’s agenda about this book I will fight you
- Incredible sweeping fantasy adventure totally worth reading as an adult
Religion (6)
- Bridges: Ministering to Those Who Question by David B. Ostler
- I bought a copy so I can methodically make everyone I know borrow and read it
- David Ostler is a lifelong Mormon man with decades of church leadership, but he dives into why people doubt and leave, how it starts, and what goes wrong (and right) in our congregations around it
- He uses data from surveys and personal anecdotes that are SO IMPORTANT
- Being Enough by Chieko Okazaki
- Chieko is queen, all her books are awesome but this is my favorite
- Uplifting, and filled with grace
- Chieko served in all of the female auxiliaries/boards of the LDS church leadership
- Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
- I’ve read it twice and it might be time for another read
- Written by a pastor who has dedicated his life to working with gang-infested communities in LA
- Incredible outlook and application of Christ’s teachings
- Letters to a Young Mormon by Adam S. Miller
- This short and sweet book is written as letters to someone figuring out their faith
- Go slow and really let the poignant observations and metaphors sink in
- That We May Be One by Tom Christofferson
- Several LGBTQ+ Mormon books have come out in recent years but none are as good as this one (mine is tear-soaked)
- Tom Christofferson is brother of apostle D. Todd Christofferson
- Amazing book about queer Mormons, what they face, and how we can support them)
- The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
- Historical Fiction about the imagined wife of Jesus
- Not sacrilegious at all, just sweet and inspiring
- Years of Sunday School, seminary, and scripture study have never given me the perspective and cultural awareness of Christ that this book did in a handful of pages
Ryan’s Recommended Reading (10)
(He said it “was just a given” that LOTR was his favorite)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
– My All-Time Favorite Book
– Best Revenge Story ever told
– “All human wisdom is contained in these two words; wait, and hope.”
Call of the Wild by Jack London
– Epic struggle for survival in rugged wilderness, from the point of view of a dog
– Stunning prose
– Greatest American Novel
The Martian by Andy Weir
– This is not a sci fi book, though there is some science and some fiction. This is the story of the most loveable character in literature fighting against impossible odds to survive alone on Mars.
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
– Sci/Fi but the right kind. The battle room in particular is a wonderful thing to imagine and visualize.
– Great supporting characters really add depth to the story (Team Bonzo 4 lyfe!)
– Inspired one of the greatest Dashboard Confessional songs
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
– The story of the greatest engineering achivement of the 20th century.
– Quick pace for a biography, gripping end to end.
– If you believe in the American Dream this book is for you.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
– Great for optimists, those with ego or ambition, or anyone who could stand to make better decisions.
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
– I know this is categorized as a management book, but I think most relationships could use more candor.
The Beatie Boys Book by Michael Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Adrock)
– Because we could all use a friend like MCA.
I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi
– Best personal finance book on the market, hands down.
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
– This is a book about negotiation written by an FBI hostage negotiator and its the best parenting book I’ve ever read.
I hope you found something that interests you on this list, and, again, if you want more personalized recommendations I LIVE FOR THAT.
Make sure you’re following along on my Goodreads and my Bookstagram to see the latest on my reading lists.