lauryn’s mandatory reading
Items in this hypelist
Books
Small Great Things: A Novel
Jodi Picoult · 2016
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom · 2003
Water For Elephants
Sara Gruen · 2006
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls · 2006
Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts · 1998
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette Mccurdy · 2022
My Dark Vanessa
Kate Elizabeth Russell · 2020
Just Kids
Patti Smith · 2010
Carrie Soto Is Back
Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2022
Dark Places
Gillian Flynn · 2009
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • NOW IN DEVELOPMENT AS AN HBO LIMITED SERIES From the acclaimed author of Gone Girl, “a riveting tale of true horror by a writer who has all the gifts to pull it off” (Chicago Tribune) “Sensuous and chilling . . . a propulsive and twisty mystery.”—Entertainment Weekly Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.
The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made
Greg Sestero · 2014
Small Mercies
Dennis Lehane · 2023
A Stolen Life: A Memoir
Jaycee Dugard · 2012
Midnight Sun
Stephenie Meyer · 2020
Imperfect Justice
Jeff Ashton · 2011
Daisy Jones & The Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2020
<b>#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup—from the author of <i>The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, </i>and <i>Carrie Soto Is Back</i><br><br><b>REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NOW AN EMMY AWARD–NOMINATED ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY REESE WITHERSPOON</b><br> <br>“An explosive, dynamite, down-and-dirty look at a fictional rock band told in an interview style that gives it irresistible surface energy.”—Elin Hilderbrand<br><br>ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, <i>The Washington Post, Esquire, Glamour, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Parade, Paste, Shelf Awareness, BookRiot<br></i></b><br> <i>Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.<br><br></i>Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.<br><br> Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.<br><br> Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.<br><br> The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with <i>Daisy Jones & The Six, </i>brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2018
<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i></b><b> BESTSELLER</b><br> <br><b>“If you</b>’<b>re looking for a book to take on holiday this summer, <i>The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo</i> has got all the glitz and glamour to make it a perfect beach read.” —<i>Bustle</i></b><br> <br><b>From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Daisy Jones & the Six</i>—an entrancing and “wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet” (<i>PopSugar</i>) as she reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.</b><br><br>Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?<br> <br>Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.<br> <br>Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.<br> <br>“Heartbreaking, yet beautiful” (Jamie Blynn, <i>Us Weekly</i>), <i>The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo </i>is “Tinseltown drama at its finest” (<i>Redbook</i>): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.
Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn · 2013
Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion · 2005
Circe
Madeline Miller · 2020
"A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story," this #1 New York Times bestseller is "both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right" (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times). In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world. #1 New York Times bestseller -- named one of the best books of the year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, BuzzFeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider
Call Me by Your Name
André Aciman · 2017
<p><b>Now a Major Motion Picture from Director Luca Guadagnino, Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, and Written by Three-Time OscarTM Nominee James Ivory<br><br>The Basis of the Oscar-Winning Best Adapted Screenplay</b><b><br><br>A <i>New York Times</i> Bestseller<br>A <i>USA Today</i> Bestseller <br>A <i>Los Angeles Times</i> Bestseller<br>A <i>Vulture</i> Book Club Pick </b><br><br><b>An Instant Classic and One of the Great Love Stories of Our Time<br><br></b>Andre Aciman's <i>Call Me by Your Name</i> is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensify their passion and test the charged ground between them. Recklessly, the two verge toward the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy. It is an instant classic and one of the great love stories of our time.<br><br>Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Ficition<br><br>A <i>New York Times</i> Notable Book of the Year • A <i>Publishers Weekly </i>and <i>The Washington Post </i>Best Book of the Year • A <i>New York </i>Magazine "Future Canon" Selection • A <i>Chicago Tribune</i> and <i>Seattle Times</i> (Michael Upchurch's) Favorite Favorite Book of the Year</p>
Blue Nights
Joan Didion · 2012
The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion · 2007
The Kitchen House
Kathleen Grissom · 2010
The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah · 2018
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn · 2014
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah · 2017
Tiny Beautiful Things (10th Anniversary Edition): Advice from Dear Sugar
Cheryl Strayed · 2022
Conversations with Friends
Sally Rooney · 2018
<b>NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Normal People</i> . . . “[A] cult-hit . . . [a] sharply realistic comedy of adultery and friendship.”—<i>Entertainment Weekly</i><br><br>SALLY ROONEY NAMED TO THE <i>TIME</i> 100 NEXT LIST • WINNER OF THE <i>SUNDAY TIMES</i> (UK) YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD • ONE OF <i>BUZZFEED</i>’S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE AND <i>THE TELEGRAPH</i>’S 20 BEST NOVELS OF ALL TIME • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>Vogue, Slate</i> • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>Elle</i></b><br><br>Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nick’s flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strange—and then painful—intimacy.<br><br>Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, <i>Conversations with Friends</i> is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.<br><br><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD</b><br><br>“Sharp, funny, thought-provoking . . . a really great portrait of two young women as they’re figuring out how to be adults.”<b>—Celeste Ng, <i>Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast</i></b><br><br>“The dialogue is superb, as are the insights about communicating in the age of electronic devices. Rooney has a magical ability to write scenes of such verisimilitude that even when little happens they’re suspenseful.”<b>—Curtis Sittenfeld, <i>The Week</i></b><br><br>“Rooney has the gift of imbuing everyday life with a sense of high stakes . . . a novel of delicious frictions.”<b>—<i>New York</i></b><br><br>“A writer of rare confidence, with a lucid, exacting style . . . One wonderful aspect of Rooney’s consistently wonderful novel is the fierce clarity with which she examines the self-delusion that so often festers alongside presumed self-knowledge. . . . But Rooney’s natural power is as a psychological portraitist. She is acute and sophisticated about the workings of innocence; the protagonist of this novel about growing up has no idea just how much of it she has left to do.”<b>—Alexandra Schwartz, <i>The New Yorker</i></b><br><br>“This book. This book. I read it in one day. I hear I’m not alone.”<b>—Sarah Jessica Parker (Instagram)</b>
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky · 2010
I Know This Much Is True
Wally Lamb · 1998
Intermezzo
Sally Rooney · 2024
Everything I Know About Love
Dolly Alderton · 2021
Normal People
Sally Rooney · 2020
<b>NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (<i>People</i>) from the author of <i>Conversations with Friends,</i> “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan).</b><br> <br><b>“[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—<i>The Washington Post</i></b><br><br><b>ONE OF <i>ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY</i>’S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE</b><br><br><b>TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>People, Slate,</i> The New York Public Library, <i>Harvard Crimson</i></b><br><br>Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins.<br><br>A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.<br><br><i>Normal People</i> is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.<br> <br><b>WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, <i>Sunday Times </i>Young Writer of the Year Award</b><br><br><b>BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time,</i> NPR, <i>The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country</i></b>
The Rachel Incident
Caroline O'Donoghue · 2023
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 Prize–winning author of <i>The Goldfinch.<br><br></i></b></b></b>One of <i>The Atlantic</i>’s 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>“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —<i>The New York Times</i></b>
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee · 2002
She's Come Undone
Wally Lamb · 2011
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler · 2003
