10 Novels I Recommend To Anyone, Anywhere, No Matter What
with characters I'll never forget
Hello! It’s so good to have you here. As some of you know, I keep a book account on Instagram called Baer Books where I review books I love in hopes of finding readers who share similar tastes and can give me my next great read. To piggyback on that account, I thought it might be fun to pull together some lists on Substack, starting off with a slightly unhinged category I call: EVERYONE.
I don’t know about you, but whenever someone asks for book recommendation, I need information. Do you like gay romance novels? Here’s a good one. Magical realism meets dystopian love affair? Happy to shove this one right into your lucky hands. Not every book is for everyone, and I pride myself in finding the right lid to the right pot.
These books, however, are some of the go-to novels I recommend to everyone. I don’t need any information to recommend this list. I’ll recommend them to your wife, husband, sister, mother, father, friend, and pelvic floor therapist. They are bright, expansive stories that give windows into humanity that are both important and beautifully written. I wish I could read them for the first time all over again.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Adjectives: sweeping, transcendent, heartstopping
Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community, this is the story of Cyril.
The Island Of Sea Women by Lisa See
Adjectives: enlightening, historical, strong
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective.
The Road To Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Adjectives: hilarious, smart, perfect
When PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back with multiple passengers in tow.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Adjectives: vast, engrossing, epic
In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger. When she discovers she is pregnant-and that her lover is married-she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Adjectives: wild, messy, imaginative
A story playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of a classic story.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Adjectives: powerful, bold, rich
History reimagined with the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with an eighteen-year-old changes everything.
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Adjectives: immersive, disturbing, brilliant
The Barnes family is in trouble. A once-lucrative car business is going under—but that’s the least of everyone’s problems.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Adjectives: gritty, sprawling, heartbreaking
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Adjectives: beautiful, disruptive, gorgeous
A retelling of the goddess's story that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey.
The Covenant Of Water by Abraham Verghese
Adjectives: masterful, absorbing, spectacular
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, this novel follows three generations of a Christian family in Kerala, South India, that suffers a peculiar affliction.
What books would you add?
PS: No one is sponsoring these suggestions, Bookshop is the only affiliate link, a website supporting independent bookstores. Bezos? Never heard of him. xo
If you loved Covenant of Water, you HAVE to read Cutting for Stone by the same author. It’s his 1st book and, I think, just that much better. Similar country deep dive but this time in Ethiopia and the most exquisite character and relationship development, similar to a Covenant. I loved the storyline of Covenant but think it needed a couple more rounds of edits….it took a little too long.
I’d also add Hamnet and All the Light We Cannot See. Thanks for this list! Love the concept :)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is almost universally liked by everyone.