These lists divide the book group collection into different categories. Several titles appear in more than one genre. The titles in the first three genres are each gentle reads.
- Gentle Reads
- Memoir
- Inspirational Nonfiction
- Childhood Classics
- Classics
- Nonfiction - History
- Nonfiction - Science and Medicine
- Short Story Collections
- Contemporary Fiction
- Historical Fiction
- Speculative Fiction
- Global Fiction
- Small Town Stories
- Frontier Stories
- Stories of Suspense
- Reimagined Classics
- Romance Novels
- Epistolary Works
- Books for Bibliophiles
- Women’s Studies
- Young Adult Books
- Diverse Lives
Gentle Reads: books without much sex, swearing, or violence.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Bellfield Hall, or, the Observations of Miss Dido Kent by Anna Dean
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Drenched in Light by Lisa Wingate
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G.K. Chesterton
A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus
Good-bye Mr. Chips by James Hinton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
An Irish County Wedding by Patrick Taylor
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Stewart
Light of the Candle by Carol Pratt Bradley
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene
The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverni
Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg
Rebecca by Daphne Maurier
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kidd
Summerlost by Ally Condie
Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Memoir: interesting people write the stories of their lives.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Addie by Mary Lee Settle
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coats
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Confessions of a Molly Mormon: Trading Perfectionism for Peace, Fear for Faith, Judging for Joy by Elona K. Shelley
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tezmach Lemmon
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Stewart
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch
The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
My Dream of Stars by Anousheh Ansari
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy by Susan Spencer-Wendel
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Inspirational Nonfiction: true stories that will help you think about life from different perspectives.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
The Color of Water by James McBride
Confessions of a Molly Mormon: Trading Perfectionism for Peace, Fear for Faith, Judging for Joy by Elona K. Shelley
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tezmach Lemmon
A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen
My Dream of Stars by Anousheh Ansari
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Green
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy by Susan Spencer-Wendel
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Childhood Classics: books that never grow old…no matter how old we readers grow!
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Curtis
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Classics: well-written books that have stood the test of time.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Nonfiction – History: books that help us remember the past.
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
No Ordinary Life: An Autobiography of Helen Mar Carter Monson by Helen Mar Carter Johnson
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
The Speckled Monster by Jennifer Lee Carrell
What Would Cleopatra Do? Life Lessons from Fifty of History’s Most Extraordinary Women edited by Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Nonfiction – Science and Medicine: fascinating true stories about how the world works.
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
My Dream of Stars by Anousheh Ansari
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Time and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
The Speckled Monster by Jennifer Lee Carrell
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne
Short Story and Essay Collections: a bunch of tiny books all under one cover.
Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G.K. Chesterton
I Miss You When I Blink: Essays by Mary Laura Phillpot
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor
What Would Cleopatra Do? Life Lessons from Fifty of History’s Most Extraordinary Women edited by Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates
Contemporary Fiction: novels set after the 1970s that tell something about how we live now.
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Drenched in Light by Lisa Wingate
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
I’ll Be Your Blue Sky by Marissa de los Santos
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Medicine River by Thomas King
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
My Real Children by Jo Walton
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
Peace like a River by Leif Enger
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini
Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg
The Running Dream by Wendelin van Draanen
Sister by Rosamund Lupton
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Summerlost by Ally Condy
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
We were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman
Historical Fiction: novels that imagine how life used to be.
After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
The Butterfly and The Violin by Kristy Cambron
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Caroline: Little House Revisited by Sarah Miller
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Light of the Candle by Carol Pratt Brady
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
My Name is Resolute by Nancy Turner
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Oral History by Lee Smith
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Someone by Alice McDermott
The Summer of My German Soldier by Betty Greene
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Speculative Fiction: from science fiction to fantasy, retold fairytales to imagined worlds, these books ask and answer some startling “what if” questions.
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
My Real Children by Jo Walton
Oona out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahan
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Global Fiction: books set all around the world.
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
An Irish County Wedding by Patrick Taylor
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
Light of the Candle by Carol Pratt Brady
The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
Sister by Rosamund Lupton
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
Small Town Stories: fiction set in small towns is an enduring literary motif.
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
An Irish County Wedding by Patrick Taylor
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
Medicine River by Thomas King
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini
Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg
Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Summerlost by Ally Condie
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman
Frontier Stories: people living on different types of frontiers bring these books to life.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Stewart
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman
My Antonia by Willa Cather
My Name is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
These is My Words: the Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
True Grit by Charles Portis
Stories of Suspense: books that lead you through a series of mysteries or surprises.
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G. K. Chesterton
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Sister by Rosamund Lupton
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
We were Liars by E. Lockhart
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman
Reimagined Classics: authors revisit old stories with new perspectives.
Bellfield Hall, or, the Observations of Miss Dido Kent by Anna Dean
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
March by Geraldine Brooks
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Romance Novels: novels that explore the vagaries of love.
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
The Buried Giant by Kashugo Ishiguro*
The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron
Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
I’ll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
An Irish Country Wedding by Patrick Taylor
Jane Eyre by Charolotte Bronte
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Oona out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Epistolary Works: stories told partly or completely in letters.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Stewart
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Books for Bibliophiles: books about reading, writing, book stores, book clubs, and everything else that book lovers love.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman
Women’s Studies: books that explore a variety of women’s lives and experiences.
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
Confessions of a Molly Mormon: Trading Perfectionism for Peace, Fear for Faith, Judging for Joy by Elona K. Shelley
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tezmach Lemmon
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Far from the Tree by Robin
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I Miss You When I Blink: Essays by Mary Laura Phillpot
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
My Name is Resolute by Nancy Turner
My Real Children by Jo Walton
Oral History by Lee Smith
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
Someone by Alice McDermott
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
What Would Cleopatra Do? Life Lessons from Fifty of History’s Most Extraordinary Women edited by Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates
Young Adult Books: who says these books are only for teenagers?
After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
Bog Child by Siobhann Dowd
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahn
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Summer of My German Soldier by Betty Greene
Summerlost by Ally Condie
We were Liars by E. Lockhart
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Diverse Lives: books that examine the many different ways people live their lives, including the effects of race, gender, nationality, and sexual identity.
Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Ferrnea
The Help by Katheryn Stocket
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
Medicine River by Thomas King
My Dream of Stars by Anousheh Ansari
My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Remen
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Curtis