20 Books You Really Should Have Read by Now

by James McBride

An exuberant comic opera set to the music of life. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Maggie Shipstead

Ingeniously structured and so damn entertaining; this novel is as ambitious as its heroines—but it never falls from the sky. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Colson Whitehead

As one of Whitehead’s characters might say of their creator, When you’re hot, you’re hot. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

If this isn’t the Great American Novel, it's a mighty attempt at achieving one. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Julie Otsuka

The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Hernan Diaz

A clever and affecting high-concept novel of high finance. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Gabrielle Zevin

Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Richard Osman

A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by R.F. Kuang

Dark academia as it should be. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Sarah MacLean

Another stunner from a Romancelandia favorite. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Jack E. Davis

An elegant narrative braced by a fierce, sobering environmental conviction. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Matthew Desmond

This stunning, remarkable book—a scholar’s 21st-century How the Other Half Lives—demands a wide audience. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Ed Yong

One of the year’s best popular natural histories. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Isabel Wilkerson

A memorable, provocative book that exposes an American history in which few can take pride. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Erik Larson

A captivating history of Churchill’s heroic year, with more than the usual emphasis on his intimates. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Jermaine Fowler

A timely, powerful approach to history that looks into the past to find a path into a better future. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by Héctor Tobar

A powerful look at what it means to be a member of a community that, though large, remains marginalized. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by David W. Blight

A masterful, comprehensive biography, particularly of Douglass’ Civil War, Reconstruction, and Gilded Age years and... Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by H.W. Brands

An essential book for understanding the foundation of American partisanship. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf

by RJ Young

An arresting account of Black ambition and endurance from an important new voice in narrative nonfiction. Full review >

get a copy

bookshelf