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There's a funny thing that happens when you tell someone you write about books. Almost always, they immediately ask, "Do you have any book recommendations?"
The short answer is yes, we always have recommendations.
The long answer is *internal panicking* WHERE DO WE EVEN BEGIN?!
SEE ALSO:21 books you need to read this springThat's why we invited a panel of past guests — Mashable deputy science editor Miriam Kramer, social good editor Matt Petronzio, commerce editor Nicole Cammorata, and culture reporter Chloe Bryan — to the latest MashReads Podcastto help us line up a list of really great book recommendations.
No idea what you want to read? We're here to help.
Without further ado: the podcast. Read on for a list of 16 books we heartily recommend to anybody just looking for a really good book.
16 book recommendations for when you have absolutely no clue what you want to read
Credit: G.P. Putnam's SonsThe Immortalists
Chloe Benjamin
Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalistsis the perfect book to pick up if you don't know what to read. It features a page-turning, propulsive plot mixed with great writing, unforgettable characters, and true human wisdom. The novel starts off with a fantastical premise — what would happen if you found out the exact day of your death — and explores the raw, painful, and unexpected consequences of what happens when a person has to live with that knowledge.
'Electric Arches' merges elements of reality, afrofuturism, and magical realism to craft unforgettable collection about race, womanhood, and Chicago.Credit: Haymarket BooksElectric Arches
Eve L. Ewing
If poetry is your thing, check out Eve Ewing's collection Electric Arches. Her writing merges elements of reality, afrofuturism, and magical realism to craft unforgettable poems about race, womanhood, and Chicago. But what's especially striking about this collection is its inventive storytelling. Whether she's imagining a time-traveling LeBron James or waxing poetic about black hair, Ewing is as creative as she is thought-provoking.
Many people know poet Warsan Shire as the artist who wrote the interlude to Beyoncé's Lemonade, but if you haven't read her poetry collection 'teaching my brother how to give birth,' you're truly missing out.Credit: Penguin Random Houseteaching my mother how to give birth
Warsan Shire
Many people know poet Warsan Shire as the artist who wrote the interludes featured in Beyoncé's Lemonade, but if you haven't read her poetry collection teaching my brother how to give birth, you're truly missing out. The book is an eloquent meditation on love, war, and everything in between.
David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas' has been called a postmodern masterpiece, and for good reason.Credit: Random HouseCloud Atlas
David Mitchell
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlashas been called a postmodern masterpiece, and for good reason. The book tells six separate stories, each in a different genre (including historical fiction, pulp crime novel, and dystopian tale). The stories themselves are enjoyable separately, but they also tie together thematically in ways that are charming, thoughtful, unexpected, and greater than the sum of their parts.
If you're looking for a coming-of-age story, check out 'Black Swan Green' by David Mitchell.Credit: Random HouseBlack Swan Green
David Mitchell
If you're looking for a coming-of-age story, check out Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. The book follows a year in the life of Jason Taylor, a 13-year-old boy living in England during the Cold War in 1982, and the misadventures he gets into. But what stands out is the incredible amount of heart with which Mitchell writes about growing up.
Tracy K. Smith’s poetry collection Wade in the Water is a beautiful, harrowing book that looks at the history of the treatment of black people in this country, and also the racism, xenophobia, sexism, and other marginalization people continue to face in America today.Credit: GraywolfWade in the Water
Tracy K. Smith
Tracy K. Smith’s poetry collection Wade in the Wateris a beautiful, harrowing book that looks at the historical treatment of black people in this country, and the racism, xenophobia, sexism, and other marginalization people continue to face in America today. Smith enters these topics as a black woman, a mother, a poet, and as someone living in this world at this moment time.
'Brown Girl Dreaming' is Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse.Credit: Nancy Paulsen BooksBrown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
Brown Girl Dreaming is Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse. The book documents Woodson's childhood growing up in the '60s and '70s. It's a deep dive into Woodson's personal history — and a universal story about the complex emotions we all feel as kids. Need further reason to read? It won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2014.
Many people may know Lauren Groff for her acclaimed book Fates and Furies (which Obama recommended as one of his favorite books of 2015), but be sure to check out Groff's short story collection Delicate Edible Birds too.Credit: HyperionDelicate Edible Birds
Lauren Groff
Many people know Lauren Groff for her acclaimed book Fates and Furies (which Obama recommended as one of his favorites of 2015), but be sure to check out her short story collection Delicate Edible Birds. Whether she's writing about a small town reeling from a sex scandal or a girl with polio learning how to swim, Groff explores womanhood, discontentment, and the way we grapple with violence against women.
'The History of Bees' sounds like scientific non-fiction but it's actually an incredible debut novel that follows three beekeepers at very different points in human history: 1852 England, 2007 United States, and 2098 China.Credit: Simon and SchusterThe History of Bees
Maja Lunde
The History of Bees sounds like scientific non-fiction, but it's actually an incredible debut novel that follows three beekeepers at very different points in human history: 1852 England, 2007 United States, and 2098 China.
If you're looking for a book that'll make you laugh, be sure to pick up Sloane Crosley's 2008 essay collection, 'I Was Told There'd Be Cake.'Credit: Riverhead BooksI Was Told There'd Be Cake
Sloane Crosley
If you're looking for a book that'll make you laugh, pick up Sloane Crosley's 2008 essay collection, I Was Told There'd Be Cake. Her writing depicts the absurdity of real life, from a woman who finds herself with a drawer full of miniature ponies to the Natural History Museum.
The fun thing about a George Saunders short story is you never know where his adventures, with their many twists and turns, will go.Credit: RandoM HouseThe Tenth of December
George Saunders
The fun thing about a George Saunders short story is that you never know where his adventures, with their many twists and turns, will go. In his collection The Tenth of December that's more evident than ever. Some stories are grounded in realism, like "Victory Lap," which looks at what happens when a teenage boy sees someone trying to abduct his neighbor. Others are more sci-fi, like "Escape from Spiderhead," in which Saunders imagines a facility that's able to chemically control people's thoughts and feelings.
'The Rules Do Not Apply' will break your heart many times over.Credit: Random HouseThe Rules Do Not Apply
Ariel Levy
It's hard to describe Ariel Levy's memoir The Rules Do Not Apply and feel like you've done the many narratives any justice. The book is part coming-of-age story, as Levy goes from inquisitive child to New Yorker writer; part meditation on love as Levy details her relationships; and part dive into grief and heartbreak as Levy outlines the death of her child and the dissolution of her marriage. No matter what Levy is writing about it, she pours her heart and soul into her prose in way that's truly unforgettable.
You've probably seen the movie, but if you're looking for a great YA novel, be sure to grab 'Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda' by Becky Albertali.Credit: HaperCollinsSimon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Becky Albertali
Maybe you've seen the movie? If you're looking for a great YA novel, grab Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agendaby Becky Albertali. The book is about Simon Spier, a closeted gay teen who begins an online romance with someone who goes only by the pseudonym "Blue." But when his emails to Blue are discovered by a classmate, Simon is blackmailed, prompting a series of schemes to protect his relationship and to keep his identity a secret until he is ready to come out. (Check out the full MashReads Podcastepisode about the book here.)
Part travel log and part meditation on grief, 'Wild' traces Strayed's journey along the Pacific Coast Trail following the death of her mother.Credit: KnopfWild
Cheryl Strayed
Part travelogue and part meditation on grief, Wild traces Strayed's journey along the Pacific Crest Trail in the aftermath of her mother's death. What stands out is not just the distance that Strayed travels, but the love and wisdom emanating from each page.
Touching on race, religion, love, and more, the poems in bone are passionate reflections about what it means to be a human in the world.Credit: Penguin Random Housebone
Yrsa Daley-Ward
Yrsa Daley-Ward's poetry collectionbone is another standout. The collection was self-published in 2014, steadily gained a fanbase online, and was finally picked up by Penguin Random House in 2017. Touching on race, religion, love, and more, the poems are passionate reflections on what it means to be a human in the world.
'On Immunity' is a deep dive into the history of immunization and the way that our conversation about the topic has shifted over time. It's waaaaayyy more complicated than you think.Credit: GraywolfOn Immunity: An Inoculation
Eula Biss
Sometimes you put down a book and just think, "Wow, I had no clue I was so fascinated by [insert seemingly mundane topic we interact with all along]." That is the exact feeling you get when you finish On Immunity. The book is a deep dive into the history of immunization, and the way that our conversation about the topic has shifted over time. It turns out our history with immunization is waaaaayyy more complicated than you think.
Next up, we're reading Daniel Mallory Ortberg's book Merry Spinster. We hope you'll join us.
Happy reading, everyone!
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