There’s a book for every mood.
I recommend…
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff… if you would enjoy a short series of witty letters written between a feisty lady in New York City and a stodgy bookseller in London, England following WWII.
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo… if you feel like a moving children’s novel about both heartache and the beauty of relationships.
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery… if you’re craving a quirky, old-fashioned, happily-ever-after romance.
Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech… if you need a fresh children’s book about a girl named Zinnia who spends the summer clearing a 200-year-old trail.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok… if you’re ready for a deep, complex novel about family, community, and religion.
Digging to America by Anne Tyler… if you’d like to contemplate what it means to be an outsider through a story of two families who each adopt a baby girl from Korea.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg… if you wonder what it would be like to run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles… if you’re interested in the slow-moving, surprisingly engaging story of an aristocrat who spends decades under house arrest in a plush hotel.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson… if you’re inclined to slow down and ponder the words of an aging minister writing to his young son.
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright… if you need a nostalgic children’s book about two kids who discover a row of abandoned Victorian houses (with two inhabitants) alongside a swamp.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer… if you want to read a witty epistolary novel set in the aftermath of WWII.
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry… if you’re in the mood for a novel about a bachelor barber that reads like a poetic, philosophical autobiography.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien… if you’re looking for a classic epic fantasy written by an Anglo-Saxon scholar.
Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson… if you crave a light read about a frumpy spinster who uses a pseudonym to publish a satire about all the people in her town.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins… if you’d enjoy a 19th mystery centred around the theft of an enormous diamond and told from multiple perspectives.
My Antonia by Willa Cather… if you’re looking for a character-driven story of immigrants in the American West.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry… if you’re craving a middle-grade story of heroism in World War II Denmark.
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger… if you feel like a story of a fugitive brother, a precocious sister, and a father who works miracles without noticing.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro… if you want to immerse yourself in a subtle unreliable narrative with a nostalgic feel.
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster… if you’d like to read a thought-provoking yet amusing novel about social conventions at the turn of the 20th century.
Run by Ann Patchett… if you’re curious about a novel set in 24 hours that touches on adoption, ambition, vocation, race, religion, and of course love.
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell… if you’re up for a web of relationships among flawed characters that jumps around in time.
The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows… if you’re ready for a long, multiple-viewpoint tale of Great Depression West Virginia peopled by characters you won’t be able to stop thinking about.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee… if you’re looking for a tried-and-true story full of important lessons and memorable scenes.
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg… if you’re intrigued by the intertwined lives of four sixth-graders who team up to enter a trivia competition.
Watership Down by Richard Adams… if you need reminding that a novel about rabbits can be as realistic and heart-wrenching as one about people.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin… if you want to watch sixteen miscellaneous characters solve a puzzle left to them in a millionaire’s will.
Wrack and Rune by Charlotte MacLeod… if you feel like a mystery set at a fictional college and full of eccentric characters and entertaining dialogue.