By Guest Blogger Ellen Bryant Lloyd 

“So, what are you reading these days? I just finished a great book and need another suggestion. What do you recommend?” This is a common exchange between my friends and me, especially over the last few months.

We live in an age when we rely on recommendations from trusted friends. Whether we need a plumber, painter, hairdresser, doctor, attorney, accountant, upholsterer, housekeeper, piano teacher, repair person or someone else to help us in an area of our life, we usually ask friends for a referral. Among my book-loving friends, this same approach applies to books. I love to learn what my friends are reading and why they love certain titles. I also enjoy brushing the dust off of older titles that deserve to be read again.

This month I decided to poll my friends for titles of some of their favorite reads. Some are books they recently read, and some are long-time favorites. I have assembled a list of newly published and older titles, mainstream books and some that may not be familiar. The list covers a wide range of topics and genres that reflect the variety of reading tastes and preferences among my friends — which I love. The expansive variety of literary works in the world offers a fabulous feast for the mind!

Review the list and if a title strikes your fancy or piques your interest, check it out. If a book seems out of your comfort zone, why not give it a try and expand your reading horizons? If you have a favorite title, please share it in the comments so we can all add more to our “want to read” list. Happy reading!

  • All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
  • God Shot by Chelsea Bieker
  • On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
  • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  • Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey
  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celest Ng
  • Educated by Tara Westover
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  • The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
  • The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
  • Her Sister’s Shoes by Ashley Farley
  • Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
  • The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick
  • A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
  • The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya
  • Little Women by Louisa May Allcott
  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
  • A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  • Miss Jane by Brad Watson
  • Sweet Hush by Deborah Smith
  • The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain
  • Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks
  • An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
  • The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Every Time I Think of You by Tracey Garvis Graves
  • Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
  • Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  • Housekeeping: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
  • Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
  • Chesapeake by James A. Michener
  • Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
  • The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
  • The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
  • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
  • My Antonia by Willa Cather
  • The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
  • To Get to You by Joanne Bischof
  • A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
  • The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
  • The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
  • Mother of Pearl by Chambers Stevens
  • The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan
  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Ellen Bryant Lloyd is the author of FRECKLES and FRECKLES and The Great Beach Rescue. Please visit www.funwithfreckles.com and www.facebook.com/funwithfreckles to learn more about Freckles. Ellen writes a blog about her perspectives on life and parenting at www.mindfulmom.wordpress.com and tweets at @EllenBLloyd. She lives in Greensboro with her husband and two children.

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