2025 - 2026 BOOK CLUB - Book recommendations

I just bought this book, and I plan to read it in the near future
2- book.jpg
Goodreads description
Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s just been Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While she sometimes admits it’s a bit lonely and a less exciting life than she imagined for herself, it’s mostly OK. Mostly.
Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.
As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with each new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?
Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: A-M
@Grace. I have one more book to read before I read that same book - Run for the Hills
Dear Anne-Marie I'm planning to read our A girl called Samson, (our February book), first and then maybe this book, so incredible that you will read it too. Maybe I'll open a thread to comment the book, if anyone else is reading the same book.
 
I know this one has been suggested previously, but my mom just read it and she LOVED it, she went on and on about how wonderful it is. So I wanted to add it to the March Poll :)
58733693.jpg

Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
 
@GingerScraps I added the book to my reading list, that by the way is enormous it's always good to read books that others recommend ;) the voting poll is open.
 
conspiracy.jpg
The violin conspiracy by Brendan Socumb
Goodreads description : Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather's fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise. Then with the international Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—fast approaching, his prized family heirloom is stolen. Ray is determined to get it back. But now his family and the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray's great-grandfather are each claiming that the violin belongs to them. With the odds stacked against him and the pressure mounting, will Ray ever see his beloved violin again?
 
The names by Florence Knapp
thenames.jpg
Goodreads description:
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register the birth of her son. Her husband, Gordon, respected in the community but a controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and name the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates....
Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of their lives, shaped by Cora's last-minute choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities for autonomy and healing.
Through a prism of what-ifs, Florence Knapp invites us to consider the "one ... precious life" we are given. Full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family and love's endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.
 
I just got East Of Eden today, it often come up in people top 5 books, it might be a fun bookclub read too :)
4406.jpg


In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.
 
@Grace. Do we still share our recommendations here in this thread.
I want to suggest another book by Amy Harmon
1774394999760.pngAmbrose Young was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore. Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.
 
yes, we are still adding books to this thread :) Thank you so much dear @A-M <3 I love Amy's books!
 
If someone would be interested in read a science fiction series, this one is pretty interesting, Alyssa recommended it to me, and I've started reading it.
books 1-2 (vol.1)
book series.jpg
Goodreads description: In a future controlled by technological corporations, a team of scientists' exploration mission on a distant planet takes an unexpected turn. First, they are attacked by an unknown monster that the official report on the possible risks in the area somehow forgot to warn them about, and when another group operating on the other side of the world goes silent, during a rescue mission they find only a pile of corpses, slaughtered by their own security units. The aforementioned events force them to reconsider their negative attitude towards the presence of an android assigned to them by the company overseeing all space projects. Without his abilities and weapons, they would have a hard time surviving. However, there is one catch - their inanimate protector secretly hacked his own system, gained consciousness and now identifies himself as Robokat. And his only wish is to be left alone from people and spend time watching his favorite series...

books 3- 4 (vol 2)
book series2.jpg
Goodreads description: "Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas?"
Science fiction's favorite antisocial A.I. is back in Rogue Protocol! The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah's SecUnit is. And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good. In Exit Strategy, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah--its former owner (protector? friend?)--submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit. But who's going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue? and what will become of it when it's caught?

book 5.
book series2-.jpg
Goodreads description: It calls itself Murderbot, but only when no one can hear. It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see. It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action. Drastic action it is, then.

books 6-7 (vol 3)
book series3.jpg
Goodreads description: “No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body in the station mall.”
In Fugitive Telemetry, when Murderbot discovers a body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?) System Collapse follows the events of Network Effect, where Murderbot, ART, and the humans from Preservation are work to protect a human colony from being abducted by the Barish-Estranza Corporation. But with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

book 8
book series4.jpg
Goodreads description: having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good. Having volunteered to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realises that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn't know. Including human children. Ugh. This may well call for... eye contact!
 
The borrowed life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston
tblo.jpg
Goodreads description: ‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.'
Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.
Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again. As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition.
Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
 
  • Like
Reactions: A-M
Get a life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
chloe-brown.jpg
Goodreads description:
Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with six directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamourous family’s mansion. The next items?
• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And... do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job. Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit. But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…
 
Posting here, books recommended by @Wrynne thanks Ryn for the recommendations :) if you would like to add more recommendations please add them here on this thread, to add them to the voting poll.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: Anything she writes is going to be fabulous and this series is a great one for anyone, but especially boys who like fantasy and are starting to age out of children's fantasy. It follows an orphan boy who is taken by a group of people who intend to train him and then pass him off as the lost heir to the throne. Sage is just a wonderful character and the series is fast-paced and fun.
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim - An Asian retelling of the Six Swans fairytale that was completely absorbing and fun to read.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn - this one can get bogged down a bit at the beginning and employs some tropes that aren't always appreciated (like the love triangle) BUT the main storyline of this Arthurian based tale is exceptional and the ending makes every page worth the read.
 
I read this many years ago and LOVED it, I would love to read it again <3
18293427.jpg

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin is a heartwarming novel about a grumpy, widowed bookstore owner, A.J. Fikry, whose life changes when a mysterious package—a toddler—is left in his shop, leading to his transformation and a new perspective on life, love, and community through books. The book explores themes of grief, redemption, and the power of literature, becoming a New York Times bestseller and a beloved story for book lovers.
 
Has anyone read Project Hail Mary? I'm currently listening to it on Audible, the narrator is excellent!! I'm really enjoying it!
It was also made into a movie staring Ryan Gosling. I wanted to read the book before I see the movie :)
91mxeWvV0bL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?
 
Has anyone read Project Hail Mary? I'm currently listening to it on Audible, the narrator is excellent!! I'm really enjoying it!
It was also made into a movie staring Ryan Gosling. I wanted to read the book before I see the movie :)
91mxeWvV0bL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?
I have it on hold from my library, it may be a few weeks before I can get to it, but I'm looking forward to reading it!
 
I just finished Lady Tremaine, a recently published (2026) retelling of the Cinderella story. It was really good! The ending was surprising and yet quite fitting.

1779462120839.png

Amazon description:
Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her deceased husband’s title affords her, hoping it will secure her daughters’ future through marriage.

When a royal ball offers the chance to change everything, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of her daughters—only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the wellbeing of the stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.

As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world’s most famous fairy tale. It is a battle cry for a mother’s love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.
 
I read one of Filipa's books recently and I'm obsessed by it. She's a Portuguese author and it's not translated into English yet, unfortunately. But I would love to read another book by her, so I'll recommend this, maybe we could read in the club.

1781653643170.png

Amazon description:
Joana is a conservative, controlling woman who expected much more from marriage; Maria is trying to get back on her feet after being dumped just before her wedding; Filipe hides his broken heart in failed relationships.
Is this as good as it gets when you're thirty something?
That's what these three friends from college times will find out during a dysfunctional dinner party. Because life is not always how we dreamed it would be.
Considered by some 'The Big Chill' of the 21st century, this debut novel is all about the end of innocence. Funny, clever and real.

"A very courageous novel that asks us to explore the hard questions in our lives no matter if we are thirty something or much older." - 5 stars - Karen Doering, Top 1.000 Amazon Reviewer

"Thirty Something is basically a story of reflection. We see how a group of friends, that are so different and have taken diverse paths in life, come together over dinner and how each one reflects on how different their lives are now." - 5 stars - Crystal Burns, Blogger: getlostinfiction.com
 
Back
Top