Must-Read Books of All Time (More to Come)
- Jennifer He
- Feb 26, 2022
- 6 min read
When you finish a book, sometimes you’re ready to move on and jump right into reading the next one on your list. It’s not that it was a bad book, but it might have left you feeling just a bit “meh.” Maybe the characters didn’t resonate with you, the story dragged on in places, or the genre just wasn’t your jam. Whatever it was, these are the books you probably won’t recommend or the ones you may even forget about in a year or two. Your favorite books, however, leave you with a hangover that you actually don’t mind. After you turn that final page, you’re left in a blissful haze, still thinking about the world you just left behind. You’ll want to return to its pages almost the moment you finish. You’ll tell everyone you know (and maybe even unsuspecting strangers) they absolutely need to read this book immediately. It will stick with you for life and has earned a permanent spot on your shelves — and in your heart.
You don’t often come by favorite books, but when you do, it’s like meeting a friend you’ll have for life. So far this year, I have been fortunate enough to add several books to my list of favorites. These are just a select few of the books I've read that made a lasting impression:
Romance, Science-Fiction, Historical-Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult
Matt Haig
The Midnight Library
Somewhere, out beyond the edge of the universe, there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
Page count: 304
Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale
Set during World War II, this novel tells the stories of two sisters separated and on their own dangerous paths toward love, survival, and freedom in German-occupied France. It captures a side of World War II that is seldom seen in film and literature. This may be a heartbreaking novel, but it does celebrate the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of women.
Page count: 564
Colleen Hoover
Verity
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer when she gets the offer of a lifetime: to ghostwrite the final books of best-selling author Verity Crawford’s most famous series, which she’s unable to finish after being in an accident. Verity’s husband encourages Lowen to come to stay at their home to go through Verity’s office and notes for ideas for the rest of the series—and while she’s there, she finds much more than she bargained for.
Page count: 331
Rebecca Serle
In Five Years
Dannie's meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content. But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake.
Page count: 288
Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
When an unknown journalist is hand-picked to tell the glamorous and scandalous truth of one of Hollywood’s biggest icons, she can’t help but wonder why she was chosen, but she's determined to do her story justice. She listens as the actress recounts decades of her fascinating life (including her seven husbands along the way) and soon discovers that there is a deeper connection between them.
Page Count: 400
BRIT BENNETT
The Vanishing Half
In The Vanishing Half, the Vignes twins live very different lives, but they will always be invariably linked, no matter how many miles, years, or lies separate them.
Page Count: 352
TAYLOR JENKINS REID
Daisy Jones & The Six
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late '60s, sneaking into clubs and sleeping with rock stars. By the time she’s 20, both her voice and her beauty are getting noticed. At the same time, a band called The Six is also gaining fame. A producer then realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together, and what happens next will become the stuff of legend.
Page Count: 400
COLLEEN HOOVER
IT ENDS WITH US
Despite having a tough upbringing, Lily graduates from college and moves to Boston to open her own business. This is where she meets Ryle Kincaid, a stubborn neurosurgeon who has a strict no-dating rule that he breaks just for Lily. But as their relationship deepens, Lily finds herself unable to stop thinking about her first love, Atlas, and everything they shared together — as well as everything that might’ve been.
Page Count: 376
TAYLOR JENKINS REID
Malibu Rising
This story is about a group of four famous siblings who are the children of a legendary singer. They’re known for their annual end-of-summer party, but this year, it gets out of control. You’ll get secrets, drama, and everything else you love about Taylor Jenkins Reid novels.
Page Count: 384
MADELINE MILLER
The Song of Achilles
A re-imagination of The Iliad, this story combines romance and action-adventure to become a book that you just can’t put down. It follows two friends with an inseparable bond as they go on a mission to save Helen of Sparta, and they're faced with impossible tests and sacrifices along the way.
Page Count: 416
JODI PICOULT
Wish You Were Here
Set in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the thought-provoking story of an ambitious young woman, Diana, who gets stranded on Isabela Island in the Galapagos Island by herself when the island goes on lockdown. Her boyfriend, Finn, who was supposed to be there with her, is busy tending to COVID patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.What was originally supposed to a romantic two-week vacation becomes something quite different, and Diana ends up with a lot time to get to know the island, the locals and to reflect upon her own life.
Page Count: 336
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Narrated by Death itself, The Book Thief offers a unique and profoundly sad fictional window into Nazi Germany at the onset of World War II. This is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
Page Count: 584
COLLEEN HOOVER
November 9
On November 9, Ben and Fallon meet at a restaurant and they have an instant connection. Ben is an aspiring writer and Fallon an actress and an avid reader. But Fallon is moving across the country the next day and also she feels she will not be ready for a serious relationship for the next 5 years. So they decide to go on with their lives and date other people but only meet each other every year on November 9. And they would have no more contact with each other other than that one day of a year. But does their attraction stand strong with just that one in 365 days?
Page Count: 320
YANGSZE CHOO
The Night Tiger
In the 1930s, Malaya is a British colony. British culture and technology are everywhere, but local customs, legends, and superstitions often prevail. This novel tells the story of two people and a weretiger, or tiger-man, which fills the native residents of Kamunting, Ipoh, Batu Gajah and the surrounding area with fear. The two threads crisscross and coincide. During these precious 49 days, there are unexplained deaths and local claims about fragments of human and tiger-patterned skin. The mystery will partially be solved, but in an unexpected fashion.
Page Count: 384
DELIA OWENS
Where the Crawdads Sing
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So when a handsome local is found dead, the locals suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. Kya has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.
Page Count: 368
Which book are you currently reading?
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