Author: Alan Lightman

Recommended by Kaye Smith

128 pages, January 1, 2017

In this timely and essential book that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern-day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks. He documents the rush and heave of the modern world, suggests the technological and cultural origins of out time-driven lives, and examines the many values of “wasting time”: for replenishing the mind, for creative thought, and for finding and solidifying the inner self. Break free from the idea that we must not waste a single second and discover how sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all.

Author: David Benioff

Recommended by: Lisa Lindsey

258 pages, May 15, 2008

Random House Books for Young Readers: During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

Author: Patrick Bringley

Recommended by Deb Margolin

240 pages, February 14, 2023

A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard. Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.

Author: Helen Simonson

Recommended by: Vicki Kitchin

359 pages, March 2, 2010

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.

Author: Percival Everett

Recommended by: Debbie Walker and Lisa Lindsey

303 pages, March 19, 2024

A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. 

Author: Chris Bohjalian 

Recommended by: Deb Margolin 

320 pages, March 11, 2025

In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she’s willing to risk for the life of a stranger, from the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical fiction as Hour of the Witch and The Sandcastle Girls.

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Recommended by: Vicki Hale

495 pages, October 1, 2019

Madrid, 1957 — Under the oppressive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography—and fate—introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War, as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. 

Author: Kaveh Akbar

Recommended by: Lisa Lindsey

331 pages, January 23, 2024

A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction. 

Author: Francesca Giannone

Recommended by: Deb Margolin 

416 pages, January 6, 2023

In a novel that has become a bestselling phenomenon in Italy, a newcomer to a small town brings with her a gust of modernity, stirring up the passions and secrets of a community on the cusp of change. Salento, Italy, June 1934: A coach stops in the main square of Lizzanello, a tight-knit village where everyone knows each other. A couple gets off: The man, Carlo, a child of the South, is happy to be back home after a long time away; the woman, Anna—his wife—is a stranger from the North. Carlo’s brother is there to meet them, and he and everyone else can’t help but notice that Anna is as beautiful as a Greek statue. But Anna is not like the other wives. There aren’t many options for a woman with Anna’s sensibilities, so when she learns that the post office is hiring, she leaps at the opportunity. A female letter carrier? It is unthinkable. 

Author: Fredrick Backman

Recommended by: Lisa Lindsey 

324 pages, October 3, 2014

Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins. She is not one to judge others—no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes. 

Author: Thomas Schlesser

Recommended by: Deb Margolin 

368 pages, January 31, 2024

Fifty-two weeks. That's all the time Mona has left to learn about beauty before she loses her eyesight forever. Fifty-two works of art. Every Wednesday, Mona's grandfather picks her up after school and takes her to see a great work of art. Fifty-two chapters. Together, on their visit to Paris' museums, Mona and her grandfather will experience enchantment and sadness. Above all, they will grow ever closer and learn to lean on each other. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona will discover not only the power of art, but also the meaning of generosity, doubt, melancholy, and loss. A profound, beautifully crafted novel about the fullness of life and an enthralling guide to the world's most renowned art, Mona's Eyes is a moving story about the bond between a young girl and her grandfather.

Author: Suzanne Redfearn

Recommended by: Lisa Lindsey

295 pages, October 1, 2025

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a deeply moving novel following the transformative journeys of two women walking entwined paths on a legendary route across Europe a generation apart. Reina Watkins lost her father when she was eight. Seventeen years later, she still carries that grief. When her budding journalism career takes an unexpected turn, it leads her to the ancient five-hundred-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain. Now she finds herself embarking on the same pilgrimage that her father made at her age, unaware of how profoundly it will change her. Back in 1997, Isabelle Vidal is a teenager on the run. Fleeing from her boarding school, she heads straight for the Way of Saint James. She’s heard the Camino will provide. And so it does, in the form of a handsome young American and the promise of a new life. But it could all fall apart if her troubles catch up with her.

Author: Jan Karon (first book of Mitford Series)

Recommended by Jan Blough

413 pp, Oct. 28, 1994

Enter the world of Mitford, and you won't want to leave. It's easy to feel at home in Mitford. In these high, green hills, the air is pure, the village is charming, and the people are generally lovable. Yet, Father Tim, the bachelor rector, wants something more. Enter a dog the size of a sofa who moves in and won't go away. Add an attractive neighbor who begins wearing a path through the hedge. Now, stir in a lovable but unloved boy, a mystifying jewel theft, and a secret that's sixty years old.

a) These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett 320 pages, November 23, 2021, Deb Margolin

b) In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom, 240 pages, March 8 2022, D. Margolin

c) Circe by Madeline Miller, 393 pages, April 10, 2018, Lisa Lindsey

d) Daughters of Shandong by Eve Chung, 400 pages, May 7, 2024, Deb Margolin

e) Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli by Mark Seal, 432 pp, October 19, 2021, Bru Burger server

f) First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, 340 pages, January 2, 2024, Vicki Kitchin

g) Rebecca or My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier, Vicki Kitchin

h) Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman, 336 pages, March 9, 2021, Vicki Kitchin

i) Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham, 353 pages, July 23, 2019, Vicki Kitchin

j) The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, 325 pages, August 1, 2006, Deb Margolin