books that everyone should read
books I love and would recommend
Items in this hypelist
Books
Just Kids
Patti Smith ⢠2010
<p> It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. </p> <p> Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamousâthe influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. </p> <p> <i>Just Kids</i> begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame. </p>
Men Who Hate Women
Laura Bates ⢠2021
Not Quite Dead Yet
Holly Jackson ¡ 2025
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Original 1890 Edition (A Oscar Wilde Classic Novel)
Oscar Wilde ⢠2023
âThe books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.â â Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray<br/><br/>The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1891 gothic and philosophical novel by Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a serial story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the editors feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde's knowledge, deleted five hundred words before publication.<br/><br/>Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press.<br/><br/>Wilde revised and expanded the magazine edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) for publication as a novel; the book edition (1891) featured an aphoristic preface â an apologia about the art of the novel and the reader. The content, style and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own literary right, as social and cultural criticism. In April 1891, the editorial house Ward, Lock and Company published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.<br/><br/>A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!
Boy Parts
Eliza Clark ⢠2020
House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune ¡ 2020
A Good Happy Girl
Marissa Higgins ⢠2024
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo ⢠2021
Dead Poets Society
N.H. Kleinbaum ⢠2012
Todd Anderson and his friends at Welton Academy can hardly believe how different life is since their new English professor, the flamboyant John Keating, has challenged them to "make your lives extraordinary! Inspired by Keating, the boys resurrect the Dead Poets Society--a secret club where, free from the constraints and expectations of school and parents, they let their passions run wild. As Keating turns the boys on to the great words of Byron, Shelley, and Keats, they discover not only the beauty of language, but the importance of making each moment count. Can the club and the individuality it inspires survive the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams? But the Dead Poets pledges soon realize that their newfound freedom can have tragic consequences. Can the club and the individuality it inspires survive the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams?
Strange Houses
Uketsu ⢠2025
A sinister hidden room. A dead space between two walls. A sealed cellar. A child's face glimpsed at a window. Every house hides secrets. But some secrets are far darker than others. More than a million readers have discovered the terrible truth behind these strange houses. Now it's your turn.[Bokinfo].
Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi ⢠2021
<p>Juliette can kill with a touch--will she wield her power for good, or will it turn her into the monster she's always feared she truly is? Find out in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Shatter Me series--all six novels are now available in this paperback box set!</p> <p>One touch is all it takes. One touch, and Juliette Ferrars can bring a grown man to his knees, begging for mercy. One touch, and she can kill.</p> <p>No one knows why Juliette has such incredible power. It feels like a curse, like too great a burden for one person alone to bear. But The Reestablishment sees her as an opportunity. As a deadly weapon. And they'll stop at nothing to shape her into what they want.</p> <p>Juliette has never fought for herself before. But when she's reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, she finds a strength she never knew she had.</p> <p>This bestselling series from powerhouse author Tahereh Mafi showcases relentlessly thrilling action, heart stopping romance, and a war-torn world in which rebellion is the only path to freedom.</p>
Radio Silence
Alice Oseman ⢠2017
The second novel by the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, the author of the million-copy bestselling Heartstopper booksânow a major Netflix series. What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong? Frances has always been a study machine with one goal: elite university. Nothing will stand in her way. Not friends, not a guilty secretânot even the person she is on the inside. But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favorite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken. Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Francesâs dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past⌠She has to confess why Carys disappeared⌠Meanwhile at university, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets. Itâs only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And itâs only by being your true self that you can find happiness. Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has. A coming-of-age read that tackles issues of identity, the pressure to succeed, diversity, and freedom to choose, Radio Silence is a tour de force by the most exciting writer of her generation.
She Gets the Girl
Rachael Lippincott ⢠2023
<b><i>Sheâs All That</i> meets <i>What If Itâs Us</i> in this <i>New York Times </i>bestselling hate-to-love YA romantic comedy from the coauthor of <i>Five Feet Apart </i>Rachael Lippincott and debut writer Alyson Derrick.</b><br><br>Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. <i>Keeping</i> her on the other handâŚnot so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows sheâs in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She justâŚhasnât actually talked to her yet. <br> <br>Alex and Molly donât belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Mollyâs hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex volunteers to help Molly learn how to get her dream girl to fall for her, she can prove to her ex that sheâs not a selfish flirt. That sheâs ready for an actual commitment. And while Alex is the last person Molly would ever think she could trust, she canât deny Alex knows what sheâs doing with girls, unlike her. <br> <br>As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe theyâre the ones fallingâŚfor each other.
If We Were Villains
M. L. Rio ⢠2017
The Housemaid
Freida McFadden ⢠2022
When Women Were Dragons: A Novel
Kelly Barnhill ⢠2023
<b><b>A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a womanâs place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. ⢠The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of <i>The Girl Who Drank the Moon</i><br></b></b><br>Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alexâs beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesnât know. Itâs taboo to speak of.<br>  <br> Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and <br>watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.<br><br> In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. <i>When Women Were Dragons</i> exposes a world that wants to keep women smallâtheir lives and their prospectsâand examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.
The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides ⢠2002
Bunny: A Novel
Mona Awad ⢠2020
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead: A Novel
Emily Austin ⢠2021
<b>In this âfun, page-turner of a novelâ (Sarah Haywood, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author) thatâs perfect for fans of </b><i><b>Mostly Dead Things</b></i><b> and </b><b><i>Goodbye, Vitamin</i>, a morbidly anxious young woman stumbles into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church and soon finds herself obsessed with her predecessorâs mysterious death. </b><br><br>Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes sheâs there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace.<br> <br>In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Graceâs old friend. She canât bear to ignore the kindly old woman who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also canât bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Graceâs death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence.<br> <br>With a âkindhearted heroine we all need right nowâ (Courtney Maum, <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author), <i>Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead</i> is a crackling and âdelightfully weird reminder that we will one day turn to dust and that yes, this is depressing, but itâs also what makes life beautifulâ (Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of <i>Pizza Girl</i>).
My Dark Vanessa: A Novel
Kate Elizabeth Russell ⢠2020
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel
Taylor Jenkins Reid ⢠2017
The Secret History
Donna Tartt ⢠1992
<b><b><b><b>ONE OF <i>TIME MAGAZINE</i>'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME ⢠</b>INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠A contemporary literary classic and "a<b>n accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (<i>Village Voice</i>)</b>, f<b>rom the Pulitzer Prizeâwinning author of <i>The Goldfinch.<br><br></i></b></b></b>One of <i>The Atlantic</i>âs Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years</b><br><br>Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.<br><br><b>âA remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.â â<i>The New York Times</i></b>
The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Donna Tartt ⢠2015
Blue Sisters: A Novel
Coco Mellors ⢠2024
Thirsty: A Novel
Jas Hammonds ⢠2024
Sunburn
Chloe Michellq Howarth ⢠2023
<p><b>** Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2024 **</b><br><b>** Shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year: Discover Award by the British Book Awards **<br>** Shortlisted for the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction **<br>** Longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2024 **<br>** An <i>Evening Standard</i> 'One to Watch in 2023 **<br>** An <i>Independent</i> âBest Romantic Summer Reads' **<br>** A Book of the Month pick for <i>Diva</i>, <i>Irish Examiner</i>, <i>Novellic </i>& <i>Sainsburyâs Magazine</i> **<br>** A Most Anticipated pick for <i>PinkNews</i> & <i>Queer on the Street</i> **</b></p><br> <p>It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend.</p><br> <p>Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love.</p><br> <p>Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah.</p><br> <p>But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. Neither will be easy, but only one will offer her happiness.</p><br> <p><b><i>Sunburn</i> is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp. An atmospheric sapphic love story and coming-of-age novel with the intensity of Megan Nolan's <i>Acts of Desperation</i>, the long hot summer of AndrĂŠ Aciman's <i>Call Me By Your Name</i> and the female friendships of Anna Hope's <i>Expectation</i>.</b></p><br> <p>âA tender and heartfelt coming-of-age taleâ â <b><i>Heat</i></b></p><br> <p>âA compassionate take on the push and pull between what's expected and what is feltâ â <b><i>Herald</i></b></p><br> <p>âA deeply moving, heartfelt love storyâ â <b><i>Daily Mail</i></b></p><br> <p>âLucy tells her story in a true, compelling voice, with an eye for minutiae, quaint apercus, and confidences that make her account moving and convincingâ â <b><i>SAGA Magazine</i></b></p><br> <p>âTender and poignant... Ideal reading for the last month of summerâ â <b><i>Diva</i></b></p><br> <p>'Intense and all-consuming - like the first love it describes - <i>Sunburn</i> transported me to the heart of summer and the heady days of late adolescence. I won't soon forget Chloe Michelle Howarth's addictive, lushly written debut' - <b>Laura Sims</b></p><br> <p>'Capturing all the intensity of first love, blended with the claustrophobia of small-town life, this debut, inspired by real experience, is tender and raw' - <b><i>The Bookseller</i></b></p><br> <p>'A beautiful coming of age love novel written with an insightful poetical prose, rich with religious allegory and texture which underscores the transformative, spiritual power of first love explored' - <b><i>Scene Magazine</i></b></p>

Is This a Cry for Help?
Emily Austin ¡ 2026

Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick A Love Story
Taylor Jenkins Reid ¡ 2025









