I’m often asked for book recommendations, so I decided I might as well create one page that I’ll update periodically with that list. I’ll sort by genre. I tried to put my favorites at the top, but after that, it’s not necessarily ordered by favorite.
Please scroll to the bottom to see my linked “best of year” posts to see more information on the best books I read each year as well.
CLASSICS/POETRY
-Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
-Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
-Both Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
-Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
-Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
-Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
-A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
-Silas Marner by George Elliot
-Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
-Othello by William Shakespeare
-A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
-The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
-Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
-Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
-Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
-Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
YOUNG ADULT
Note: some in the section were favorites of mine when I was a teenager, and others are favorites that I’ve read as an adult.
Realism/Contemporary
-The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
-Katie McGarry (anything in the realistic genre of hers I love)
-The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho
-Various works by Huntley Fitzpatrick
-Various works by Sarah Dessen
-Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Saalam
-You Should See Me in a Crown and Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
-On the Come Up; Concrete Rose; and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
-Take Me There by Carolee Dee
-Both Speak and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
-The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
-Both Story of a Girl and Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
-One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
-Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
-Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
-The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Dystopian
-Precious Stone series by Kerstin Gier
-Anything by Jennifer L. Armentrout
-Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
-Starters by Lissa Price
-Both A Court of Thorns and Roses series and Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas (ACOTAR for older teens)
-The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
-Anything by Anne Osterlund
-A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanna A. Brown
-Legacy of Orisha series by Tomi Adeyemi
-A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy
-The Two Sisters of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
-Six of Crow series by Leigh Bardugo
-Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
-Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
-The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski
-Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
-A Taste of Poison: Snow White Retelling and Heart of the Raven Prince by Tessonja Odette (tame new adult)
-His Fair Assassins series by Robin LaFevers
-Study series by Maria V. Synder
-All Lioness series by Tamora Pierce
-Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
-Married to Magic series by Elise Kova (new adult)
-Crown of One Hundred Kings by Rachel Higginson
Historical
-Scarlet series by A.C. Gaughen
-Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
-The Morning Gift; The Reluctant Heiress; and A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
-The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
-The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
-These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
-Cecile: Gates of Gold by Mary Casanova
-Neela: Victory Song by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
-A Stitch in Time by Ann Rinaldi
-Melanie Dickerson’s Hagenheim series (Christian YA fairytale retellings)
-Queen of Tomorrow by Sherry D. Ficklin
ADULT FICTION
General
-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
-Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
-Both Mothers and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet
-Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
-Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
-Good Kings, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum
-Circe by Madeline Miller
Historical
-Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
-The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
-Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
-The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki
Fantasy/Sci-Fi
-Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
-Anything by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Inspirational
-More or less anything Irene Hannon in the romantic suspense genre
-O’Malley and Uncommon Heroes series by Dee Henderson
-Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey
-Deadly Reunion series by Lynette Eason
-The Centurion’s Wife by Davis Bunn
-Daughters of Boston series by Julie Lessman
-The Wishing Season or Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter
-Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund
-Lady Series by Tamara Leigh
-In the Field of Grace by Tessa Afshar
-After All by Deborah Raney
-Borrowed Light series by Carla Kelly (LDS)
Romance
-Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
-Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
NON-FICTION
General
-Untamed by Glennon Doyle
-Know My Name by Chanel Miller
-Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
-You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown
-Mediocre by Ijeoma Olou
-Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum
-Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
-The Girls by Abigail Pesta
-A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo
Feminism
-White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
-Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria
-Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
-White Feminism by Koa Beck
-Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
-Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper (adult themes)
-Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly
-Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
-We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
-The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
-She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
-Believing by Anita Hill
-Be Fierce by Gretchen Carlson
-This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins
Race/Racism
-Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
-The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
-I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
-The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
-Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
-The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
-The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
-At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire
Social Justice
-Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
-Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris
-We are Displaced by Malala Yousafzai
-Evicted by Matthew Desmond
-Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered
-Invisible Child by Andrea Elliot
-A Knock at Midnight by Brittany Barnett
-Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie
-Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks
-Toxic Inequality by Thomas Shapiro
-$2.00 a Day by Kathryn J. Edin
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
-The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee
-Finding Me by Viola Davis
-Becoming by Michelle Obama
-The Last Girl by Nadia Murad
-I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
-The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
-A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
-Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell
-Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt
-Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig
-Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson
-How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
-See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur
-The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore
-The Indomitable Florence Finch: The Untold Story of a War Widow Turned Resistance Fighter and Savior of American POWs by Robert J. Mrazek
-Tomorrow Will be Different by Sarah McBride
-Abigail Adams by Woody Holton
-The Matriarch: Barbara Bush by Susan Page
-Betty Ford by Lisa McCubbin
-The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
-Better, Not Bitter by Yusef Salaam
-The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri or Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin
-Proud by Ibtihaj Muhammad
-Daring to Drive by Manal Al-Sharif
THEOLOGY
-Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection by Kate Bowler (Christian)
-The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Allison Beth Barr
-Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez
-The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
-The Book of Mormon For the Least of These books by Fatimah Salleh (LDS)
-Proclaim Peace by Patrick Q. Mason & J. David Pulsipher
-Restoration by Patrick Q. Mason (LDS)
-Lighten Up! by Chieko Okazaki (LDS)
MIDDLE GRADE
Note: some of these were favorites of mine from my childhood; some are favorites I’ve read as an adult.
-Mandy by Julie Edwards Andrews (I cannot count how many times I reread this as a kid!)
-Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
-Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
-Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
-A Magic Treehouse by Mary L. Osbourne
-Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
-Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
-Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
-American Girl Kirsten, Felicity, and Kit series
Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace
CHILDREN
Note: some of these were favorites of mine from my childhood; some are favorites I’ve read as an adult.
-Eyes that Kiss in the Corners and Eyes that Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho
-The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad
-Sulwe by Lupita Nyong
-Islandborn by Junot Diaz
-Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora
-Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
-Alma by Juana Martinez-Neal
-Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
-Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
-Little Leaders/Little Dreamers books by Vashti Harrison
-I am Enough by Grace Byers
-Hair Love by Matthew A Cherry
-Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
-Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Links to Best Books of Year Posts:
Half Drafted 