George Saunders
The Tenth of December author has written his first novel with Lincoln in the Bardo, which imagines President Lincoln grieving beside his son's grave as he's visited by a series of otherworldly guests.
Sophie Kinsella
The author of the Shopaholic series turns her attention to our collective social media obsession with My Not So Perfect Life—and gets real about the pursuit of perfection.
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Christina Baker Kline's Favorite Books on Resilience
The Orphan Train author is back with A Piece of the World, inspired by the hardscrabble life of an artist's muse. Here are her picks for overcoming hardship.
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Pankaj Mishra's Top Picks for Understanding an Angry World
How do we explain the current wave of rage in today's society? The author shares the books that informed the Age of Anger.
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Katie Kitamura's Favorite Books About Marriage
We asked the author of A Separation to tell us about her selections about the inner workings of married life.
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DEBUT AUTHOR SNAPSHOT
Elan Mastai
All Our Wrong Todays is a time travel tale that throws its protagonist from the 1950s version of today into an alternative reality (namely, ours). Mastai talks respecting time travel science and choosing lives we want.
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BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH
Swimming Lessons
by Claire Fuller (Goodreads Author)
In this mystery a woman writes a series of letters to her husband, telling him the truth about their marriage, and hides them in the books he collects. Then she disappears. Years later the woman's daughter looks for her mother—and answers that are hidden around her.
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The Refugees
by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Goodreads Author)
This new collection of short stories from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer explores questions of immigration and identity as Vietnamese refugees are pulled between their homeland and their lives in the U.S.
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The Orphan's Tale
by Pam Jenoff (Goodreads Author)
In this World War II novel a friendship forms between a Jewish trapeze artist and a Dutch unwed mother as they find refuge with a traveling circus. It's a story that examines how a family can form despite the harshest environments.
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The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas (Goodreads Author)
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this debut YA novel follows a teen who sees a police officer shoot and kill her friend. The book set off a bidding war among publishing houses, and a movie adaptation is in the works.
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Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History
by Bill Schutt (Goodreads Author)
Is cannibalism the last true taboo? Well, not according to Schutt, who argues that eating your own isn't as rare as we'd like to think it is, from tadpoles to chimpanzees to humans. You'll devour this gory history.
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All the Lives I Want
by Alana Massey (Goodreads Author)
In this columnist's debut collection of essays, the lives of famous women—from Sylvia Plath to Lil' Kim—inspire cultural critiques and self-reflection. Massey, known for her confessional writing, brings her usual flair here.
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View Past Best Books of the Month...
BOOK LOOK
Jonas Wood: Portraits See the Gallery
GOODREADS POETRY CONTEST
Want your words to reach millions of people? Goodreads and the ¡POETRY! group have partnered to host an ongoing poetry contest. Join the ¡POETRY! group and vote each month to pick a winner from among the finalists. You can also submit a poem for consideration. Here is this month's winner!
The Things I Learned as a Bartender
by Tricia McCallum (Goodreads Author)
There is no such thing as the perfect martini.
