Recs if you like Audition...

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

books that fracture, remake, and defy the rules of time, space, memory, and idea.

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.

🍃✨ books where the real setting is somebody’s unsettling brain/perspective (with exceptional prose quality)

I'm a huge fan of Maisie's music and her newest album Florescence has been playing nonstop since it came out. She's a passionate reader, so over the years many books recommendations have accumulated and I thought it would be cute to make a list out of them. Info taken from her Goodreads and Instagram accounts, newsletter, podcast, and various interviews she did. I will update this list as new recs come up, but if I miss something feel free to suggest it in the comments.

weird. strange. off putting. confusing. despite this you cannot put these books down.

books that stick with you for months and leave you thinking

books about actors, artists, dancers, musicians, writers, and other creatives

Winner: Flesh by David Szalay

List formerly known as weird girl elders. "Weird girl literature" books with characters that are over 30.

💜 yarnandbooks

open to suggestions 🤗 have yet to read all of these but I’m working my way through it!

Shorter books (around 200 pages) to get out of a reading slump or to help pad your stats. Comment if you want recommendations, I’ve read a lot of these.

I have read none of these, nor heard of them, so I am saving them here so I can eventually read them!

“Across three decades, the Women’s Prize for Fiction has transformed the literary landscape – elevating women’s writing, empowering new voices, and bringing together a global community of readers. At the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity behind the Prize, our mission remains unchanged: to help build a future where every woman’s story has a place, and where these rich and vital narratives are put into the hands of more readers. We are immensely proud of this year’s longlist, and I offer our congratulations to these 16 exceptional novelists, and gratitude to the judges.”

Claire Shanahan, Executive Director of the Women’s Prize Trust

Books under 250 pages

Miniature novel under 200 pages

Books recommended by Dakota Johnson each month for her bookclub associated with her production company TeaTime Pictures!

In the bookclub IG channel her and her @teatime.pictures team also shared deep dives into the books and insights about them, often curated by the authors themselves ✨ From October 2026 the bookclub moved to Substack!

These are the 6 works of fiction that are on the Booker Price Shortlist in 2025

Books where the plot is intentionally confusing, and the plot is up for discussion! Inspired by me literally not understanding Audition, and everyone having their own opinion about the plot (one being that they were mind controlled). Mainly adding books I've read, but happy to take recs! (WIP)

2019-2026