Hey! Who put their leftist politics in my fiction?
Need a gift for your extremist family member, but they already have a red baseball cap AND a Don't Tread on Me shirt? Were you told "Don't bring up politics at family dinner" and need some safe books to discuss instead? Well we have a full menu for you to choose from! Each just for fun book comes with our guarantee: No real world political messages under the 100% fictional plot! 😉 (Taking Recommendations!)
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I don't wanna join your cult
Books where cults are a significant part of the narrative. Some fiction, some non-fiction.
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books your pretentious friend has heard of
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NPR’s Books We Love 2025
Books We Love from NPR began in 2013, always boasting over 200 books (almost 400 in recent years) featuring genres from memoirs, to cookbooks, to graphic novels, to children’s literature, to nonfiction, to novels. Check out NPR’s website to filter this massive list.
The list is in reverse alphabetical order directly from NPR.
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Survivalist Fiction
Stories centered around isolation, being stranded, societal collapse, and surviving in the wilderness.
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Situationally Quirky and Questioning
Short-ish Novels inviting consideration of novel characters in novel situations. Are we on a war ship? An airplane? Dedicated to a niche passion? Practicing a little known, long-ago tradition? Choosing a seemingly reasonable path in life that is nonetheless judged “unconventional” by others? Curated through my ACE lens!
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Cult Reads (literally)
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Well aged and aging well
Books that feature growing old, the gifts and the challenges
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Aspen Words Longlist 2026
Awards an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.
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