Recs if you like The Bridges of Madison County...

Books you will find on any given thrift store shelf in the US, for better or worse 😂 For books in a series or by prolific authors, I’ve only included one book so as not to overwhelm the list.

Suggestions welcome!

I think it goes without saying but just in case… I’m not necessarily recommending these books by having them on this list. (In fact I wouldn’t recommend many of these.) This is for fun!

Stories that traded chapters for showtunes! From literary classics to contemporary novels these books found a second life under the Broadway lights! Please let me know any that I've missed!! (Note on curation: I've been cross checking titles with Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) which is Broadway's official archive)

Books recommended by musician Lucy Dacus, a solo artist and member of the band boygenius. Pulled from her goodreads list.

"What a midwesterner he was, a thoroughly unhip guy with his heart in the usual place, on the sleeve, in plain sight." — Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love

Fiction that embodies the experience of being Midwestern and full of big feelings: depression, yearning, being lost in a cornfield

As a massive bookworm and theatre nerd, this list was inevitable.

Books that have been adapted into or inspired musicals

These are all books and plays that have been turned into films or stage productions, what they all have in common is that Meryl Streep has starred in them. Disclaimer: some films have been loosely based on the books.

I’m an audiobook lover, and I’m always looking for great audiobooks! Rather than just listing my favorites, I thought I’d make a list of audiobooks that have won Audie Awards from 2010-2015.

There are so many, so I stuck to specific categories. Not all categories are in all years, so there is some inconsistency. I included the following categories:

• Audiobook of the year
• Autobiography/Memoir
• Erotica
• Spanish
• Fantasy
• Fiction
• History/Biography
• Humor
• Horror
• Literary Fiction
• Classics
• Middle Grade
• Mystery
• Nonfiction
• Romance
• Science Fiction
• Short Stories/Collections
• Thriller/Suspense
• YA/Teens
• Paranormal

More info in the comments!

Happy listening!

Below are the #1 bestselling fictional novels in the United States for each year from 1900 to 1999, based on annual sales data (traditionally compiled by The Bookman and later Publishers Weekly).