Dear friends,
I have always been an avid reader. However, despite the extra free time due to physical distancing, I have found it very difficult to focus on reading anything that is not COVID19 related. Finally this week I decided to open up my eReader and I downloaded some new books. I am happy to report that I have rediscovered my love of reading and can’t wait to dive into my next one.
For the sake of your mental health, I strongly recommend to try to take a break from COVID19 worries and to pick up a book to read for pleasure. It is an instant mood lifter and the best form of escapism.
Here is a list of the best books I have read over the past few years. If you want to learn more about each book, please click on the link which will take you to their Goodreads page.
The criteria to make my favourites book list include:
- Well written
- Captivating plot and characters
- Not too gruesome
- Ends in a satisfying way
- Over 4 stars in GoodReads (or very close to 4)
(Note: these books are mostly fiction.)
I will continue to add books to this page as I recommend them, so please visit often!
By the way, if you don’t have an eReader yet, now might be the time to buy one. I have a Kobo and a Kindle (I prefer the Kindle as it carries more titles). EReaders allow you to download the first few chapters of a book before you commit to buying it. Also, audiobooks read by the authors themselves are amazing (I use the Audiobooks app on my iphone but there are many other options).
Please share your favourites in the comments below so that I can read them and maybe add them to my list!
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
All the light we cannot see
The Goldfinch
The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Perfect Couple
The Alice Network
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
The Power
The Secret Wife
The Marrow Thieves
Tell no one
Big Little Lies
The Air You Breathe
Where the Crawdads sing
The song of Achilles
Daisy Jones and the Six
The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared
An American Marriage
The Silent Patient
Educated
Dear Wife
City of Girls
Beautiful ruins
The Testaments
Swimming with Horses
Fall on your knees
Cutting for Stone
The Secret Life of Bees
The Book Thief
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Glass Castle
The memory keeper’s daughter
Room
Mister Pip
Middlesex
The Poisonwood Bible
The Help
The Birth of Venus
The Book of Negroes
A complicated kindness
Long bright river
Followers
American Dirt
Lullabies for little criminals
Nothing to see here
Recursion
Becoming
A fine balance
The invention of wings
An absolutely remarkable thing
Ask again, Yes
Little Fires Everywhere
The Henna Artist
The Vanishing Half
The Last Flight
The Midnight Library
28 Summers
Anxious People
In An Instant
What Comes After
Pretty Little Wife
Win
Great Circle
The Idea of You
The Comeback
What Strange Paradise
The People We Keep
Oh, William!
A Year in Provence
The Lincoln Highway
Dear Edward
Wish you were here
If You Want to Make God Laugh
Will
North of Normal
The Maid
The Girl With Seven Names
Black Cake
Lessons in Chemistry
More Than You’ll Ever Know
The Lies I Tell
Meant to Be
Tanqueray(recommend audio version)
Finding me (recommend audio version)
The Marriage Portrait
Run Towards the Danger (audio version)
Spare (audio version)
Someone Else’s Shoes
Wade in the Water
Love, Pamela (audio version)
Terra Nova, by Henriette Lazaridis
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Sylvia Duckworth 
Thanks for this list, Sylvia. A book I think you might like is Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. Such a unique piece of historical fiction-and the audiobook is stupendous. Be well!
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I will definitely check it out, thanks Molly!
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Hi, Sylvia~ I am a fan of your work, though I myself am no artist! Grateful for your list of favorite bks, I wonder if you have ever tried any of Ann Patchett’s books (Bel Canto, and Patron Saint of Liars, and several others) or any of Gary Schmidt’s books (which are aimed at children, but are endearing and strong and lovely), like Wednesday Wars, or Trouble, (my favorite of his)…? I deeply love and recommend Barbara Kingsolver’s newest bk called Unsheltered, and another amazing writer is Ruth Ozeki. Her A Tale for the Time Being is a mesmerizing read! Anything that Elizabeth Strout has written, also! Hope you don’t mind that my list is so long…I don’t draw at all, sadly, but reading is my deepest pleasure. Blessings~
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Hi Catie, I do love Ann Patchett and Elizabeth Strout, too, thank you for the reminder! I have heard wonderful things about Unsheltered: will definitely check it out. Thanks for taking the time to respond and happy reading!
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Brilliant. Thank you for sharing criteria (like) and inspiring list of books. Will certainly explore.
My tip: It has been so long since I have been reading non-fiction, but one I could not put down was:
The Exception by Christian Jungersen: A psychological thriller about four women in an office (1½ year on Danish bestseller list).
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Sounds amazing, Marina, thanks for the recommendation!
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I’ve been loving Alexandra Fuller’s: Don’t Let’s go to the Dog’s Tonight and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness.
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Thank you very much for your suggestions, Jane, I will definitely check them out!
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There are so many wonderful books on this list! Thank you, Sylvia, and I’m wondering if you’ve read the controversy over “American Dirt”? https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/american-dirt-controversy/605725/
I’ve decided to listen to the marginalized voices and will not read it. I know these are never simple choices.
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Hi Melanie, I became aware of the book’s controversy after I read it. Still happy I read it though bcz it offered a look into the migrant crisis in a compelling fashion.
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