
99 Books For When You Don’t Know What To Read Next
I’ve always been of the belief that you can never have too many books in your TBR pile—also that you can never be reading too many books at once. Our moods and feelings change, and so it’s nice to have a hefty stack of novels, essays, or poetry collections on the nightstand to meet us where we’re at. Whether you’re looking to bulk up your TBR pile or you simply cannot decide what to read next, we hope this list can be a helpful starting place. It is far from comprehensive and includes titles our editors have read and loved. We hope you’ll add your own suggestions in the comments so we can keep the list growing. Happy reading! 📚
Support authors and indie bookstores by buying your books on Bookshop, or purchase secondhand through Better World Books.
Classics
- The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- Housekeeping by Marilynn Robinson
- I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing by Maya Angelou
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
- A Room Of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Nonfiction
- All About Love by bell hooks
- Cultish by Amanda Montell
- On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
- Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price
- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
- Wintering by Katherine May
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- Braving The Wilderness by Brené Brown
- Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
- The Way Of Rest by Jeff Foster
- Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb
- Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
- Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
Memoir
- Know My Name by Chanel Miller
- Motorcycles I’ve Loved by Lily Brooks-Dalton
- Hunger by Roxane Gay
- Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Carry by Toni Jensen
- Long Live The Tribe Of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
- In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
- The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg
- The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Priestydaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Essay Collections
- Girlhood by Melissa Febos
- How Far The Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler
- Thin Places by Jordan Kisner
- Bluets by Maggie Nelson
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
- Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
Novels
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
- The Guest by Emma Cline
- Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
- The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
- Writers and Lovers by Lily King
- We The Animals by Justin Torres
- All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Girl With The Louding Voice by Abri Daré
- There There by Tommy Orange
- The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn
- With Teeth by Kristin Arnett
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
- Excavations by Kate Myers
- Godshot by Chelsea Bieker
- Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
Thrillers/Mystery
- The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
- Sorrowland by Solomn Rivers
- The Girls By Emma Cline
- Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
- Long Bright River by Liz Moore
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- The House In The Pines by Ana Reyes
- My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Short Story Collections
- Heartbroke by Chelsea Bieker
- Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
- Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Mantiez
- Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
- Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan
- Liberation Day by George Saunders
- Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin
- Daddy: Stories by Emma Cline
- Grand Union by Zadie Smith
- Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Poetry
- No Sweet Without Brine by Cynthia Manick
- The Symmetry Of Fish by Su Cho
- Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez
- Time is A Mother by Ocean Vuong
- I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer
- A Thousand Mornings: Poems by Mary Oliver
- Citizen, An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
- One Big Self: An Investigation by C.D. Wright
- My Trade Is A Mystery by Carl Phillips
TGT Team Favorites
- The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – Henah, Contributing Writer
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – Reshmi, Community Manager
- Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal – AmyAnn, CEO & Founder
- The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller – Stephanie, Copy Editor & Content Producer
- Daybook: The Journal Of An Artist by Ann Truitt – Emily, Editorial Director
- The Maid by Nite Prose – Silsila, Copy Writer
- Animal by Lisa Taddeo – Kayti, Managing Editor
Kayti Christian is the Managing Editor at The Good Trade. She has a Master’s in Nonfiction Writing from the University of London and is the creator of Feelings Not Aside, a newsletter for sensitive people.