Recs if you like Cloud Cuckoo Land...

All of his picks since 2008, both summer reading lists and yearly round-ups.

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!

Bibliophilia at its best - books about books, readers, libraries, bookstores!

Books don't just sit on shelves and these novels show it. Each one is its own love letter to the importance of stories in every corner of human life, built on the belief that the right book, in the right hands, at the right moment, can change the entire shape of a life. (Always taking recommendations!)

"we left the ground behind. we left the oceans. we left the air. we watched these things grow small. we watched them shrink into a point of light... we are the children who continue on."

A mix of reader favorites and editorial picks from The New York Times—100 books that defined the 21st century.

This list is for stories about stories, including the more obvious "books-about-books", but also books about who gets to tell stories, what versions of stories become "truth", and other story-based themes. *While not intended to be strictly fantasy, this list does lean heavily into this genre due to my personal reading tastes. **Suggestions welcome!

sagas that span centuries

as always, open to suggestions!

NYT Top 100 of the 21st Century: Reader's Choice. In order as published in 2024

novels inspired by the Medieval period (though there are a few that are more Renaissance era)

Goodreads 80 of the Past Decade’s Very Popular Fiction from 2016 - 2025

2025 Broken Country - Isola 2024 The Women - Real Americans 2023 Tom Lake - Weyward 2022 Demon Copperhead - Diamond Eye 2021 Reading List - Cloud Cuckoo Land 2020 My Dark Vanessa - Vanishing Half 2019 Giver of Stars - Girl, Woman, Other 2018 Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Where the Crawdads Sing 2017 Stay with Me - 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 2016 Lilac Girls - Behold the Dreamers

The top 100 books of the 2020’s as voted on by Goodreads members

How many have you read?

The top 5 have switched order, they should be: 5) I’m Glad My Mom Died 4) The Midnight Library 3) The House in the Cerulean Sea 2) Project Hail Mary

1. Addie LaRue

These books are historical fiction from different area and time periods. I did not add WW2 books as they are already highly popular and I wanted to focus on lesser known time periods or countries in the genre. Please suggest similar books.

These books blend genre elements, technical elements, and beautiful sentences to make big statements.

Books that contain a story inside the story

Historical fiction is one of my top pics as you can get a variety of flavors within it. Want to cry? Historical Fiction. Your skin to crawl? Historical Fiction! The world is your oyster

Books about stories, writing, reading, and books in general

Please let me know if there are any I should add

For the former enjoyer of fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction series without the time or obsession to get through three or more books to finish a narrative. These books are majority historical fictions that unfold at an epic scale. Whether through one journey, generations, or centuries, these stories speak to identities (often cultural or of a nation) and to truths larger than themselves.

Please note that any post-Cold War narrative settings exist alongside more historical perspectives.

books so riveting and world build so immersive you won’t even have time to scratch your eyes into oblivion under construction- recommendations welcome!!