Best Book Club Ever
23 years of reading, together
Since 2004, one book club has read 215 books by 185 authors.
Books read
215
Years of meetings
23
Different authors
185
20 read more than once
Written by women
67%
143 of 215
The shelves
One block per book. The biggest year was 2006, with 11 books.
Fiction179Nonfiction36
View as table
| Year | Books | Fiction | Nonfiction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| 2006 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| 2007 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| 2008 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| 2009 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| 2010 | 9 | 9 | |
| 2011 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| 2012 | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| 2013 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| 2014 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| 2015 | 11 | 11 | |
| 2016 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| 2017 | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| 2018 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| 2019 | 11 | 7 | 4 |
| 2020 | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| 2021 | 10 | 10 | |
| 2022 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| 2023 | 10 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | 10 | 10 | |
| 2025 | 11 | 11 | |
| 2026 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Who they read
Women wrote 67% of everything the club has read.
WomenMen
View as table
| Year | Women | Men | % Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2 | 1 | 67% |
| 2005 | 4 | 5 | 44% |
| 2006 | 6 | 5 | 55% |
| 2007 | 6 | 2 | 75% |
| 2008 | 8 | 2 | 80% |
| 2009 | 4 | 5 | 44% |
| 2010 | 5 | 4 | 56% |
| 2011 | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| 2012 | 9 | 2 | 82% |
| 2013 | 5 | 6 | 45% |
| 2014 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| 2015 | 6 | 5 | 55% |
| 2016 | 6 | 2 | 75% |
| 2017 | 7 | 3 | 70% |
| 2018 | 9 | 1 | 90% |
| 2019 | 6 | 5 | 55% |
| 2020 | 9 | 2 | 82% |
| 2021 | 6 | 4 | 60% |
| 2022 | 7 | 3 | 70% |
| 2023 | 8 | 2 | 80% |
| 2024 | 8 | 2 | 80% |
| 2025 | 10 | 1 | 91% |
| 2026 | 3 | 1 | 75% |
Invited back
215 books but only 185 authors — because 30 picks were a return to an author the club already knew. These are the 20 authors they went back to, 50 books between them.
Ann Patchett
5 books
Kristin Hannah
5
Candice Millard
4
Lisa See
3
Sue Monk Kidd
3
Allison Pataki
2
Amor Towles
2
Christina Baker Kline
2
Erik Larson
2
Gail Tsukiyama
2
Jeanine Cummins
2
Kate Quinn
2
Khaled Hosseini
2
Louise Erdrich
2
Paula McLain
2
Rachel Joyce
2
Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
2
Susan Meissner
2
Truman Capote
2
William Kent Krueger
2
View as table
| Author | Books | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Ann Patchett | 5 | Bel Canto (2005), Truth and Beauty (2007), State of Wonder (2012), The Dutch House (2020), Tom Lake (2023) |
| Kristin Hannah | 5 | The Nightingale (2015), The Great Alone (2018), The Four Winds (2021), The Women (2024), The Night Road (2025) |
| Candice Millard | 4 | Destiny of the Republic (2012), Hero of the Empire (2017), River of Doubt (2017), River of the Gods (2022) |
| Lisa See | 3 | Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2006), Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (2024), The Island of Sea Women (2025) |
| Sue Monk Kidd | 3 | The Mermaid Chair (2005), The Invention of Wings (2014), The Book of Longings (2020) |
| Allison Pataki | 2 | The Traitor’s Wife (2016), The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post (2023) |
| Amor Towles | 2 | A Gentleman in Moscow (2017), The Lincoln Highway (2021) |
| Christina Baker Kline | 2 | The Orphan Train (2014), A Piece of the World (2021) |
| Erik Larson | 2 | The Devil in the White City (2006), The Splendid and the Vile (2020) |
| Gail Tsukiyama | 2 | The Samurai’s Garden (2010), Women of the Silk (2011) |
| Jeanine Cummins | 2 | The Outside Boy (2012), American Dirt (2020) |
| Kate Quinn | 2 | The Diamond Eye (2023), The Briar Club (2026) |
| Khaled Hosseini | 2 | The Kite Runner (2004), And the Mountains Echoed (2014) |
| Louise Erdrich | 2 | The Round House (2013), The Mighty Red (2025) |
| Paula McLain | 2 | The Paris Wife (2012), Circling the Sun (2015) |
| Rachel Joyce | 2 | The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2013), The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (2015) |
| Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie | 2 | America’s First Daughter (2018), My Dear Hamilton (2019) |
| Susan Meissner | 2 | A Fall of Marigolds (2017), The Nature of Fragile Things (2021) |
| Truman Capote | 2 | A Christmas Memory (2008), A Christmas Memory (2022) |
| William Kent Krueger | 2 | This Tender Land (2021), The River We Remember (2024) |
Time travel
Mostly new releases — but the club has reached back as far as 1817, for Persuasion.
FictionNonfictionUnknown
View as table
| Title | Author | Written | Read | Gap (years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persuasion | Jane Austen | 1817 | 2012 | 195 |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 1925 | 2013 | 88 |
| Cry the Beloved Country | Alan Paton | 1940 | 2005 | 65 |
| West With the Night | Beryl Markham | 1942 | 2009 | 67 |
| The Fountainhead | Ayn Rand | 1943 | 2007 | 64 |
| A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Betty Smith | 1943 | 2009 | 66 |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | 1945 | 2010 | 65 |
| The Glass Menagerie | Tennessee Williams | 1945 | 2011 | 66 |
| Earth Abides | George R. Stewart | 1949 | 2022 | 73 |
| A Christmas Memory | Truman Capote | 1956 | 2008 | 52 |
| A Christmas Memory | Truman Capote | 1956 | 2022 | 66 |
| Revolutionary Road | Richard Yates | 1961 | 2009 | 48 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 1969 | 2008 | 39 |
| The Education of Little Tree | Forrest Carter | 1976 | 2009 | 33 |
| A Woman of Independent Means | Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey | 1978 | 2008 | 30 |
| Cold Sassy Tree | Olive Ann Burns | 1984 | 2006 | 22 |
| Crossing to Safety | Wallace Stegner | 1987 | 2006 | 19 |
| A Prayer for Owen Meany | John Irving | 1989 | 2005 | 16 |
| A Raisin in the Sun | Lorraine Hansberry | 1991 | 2008 | 17 |
| Women of the Silk | Gail Tsukiyama | 1991 | 2011 | 20 |
| Durable Goods | Elizabeth Berg | 1993 | 2012 | 19 |
| First Ladies | Margaret Truman | 1995 | 2005 | 10 |
| The Samurai’s Garden | Gail Tsukiyama | 1995 | 2010 | 15 |
| The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency | Alexander McCall Smith | 1998 | 2006 | 8 |
| Skipping Christmas | John Grisham | 1998 | 2007 | 9 |
| Le Divorce | Diane Johnson | 1998 | 2013 | 15 |
| A Year by the Sea | Joan Anderson | 1999 | 2006 | 7 |
| While I Was Gone | Sue Miller | 2000 | 2008 | 8 |
| Life Is so Good | George Dawson | 2000 | 2012 | 12 |
| The Nightingale | Kristin Hannah | 2000 | 2015 | 15 |
| The Underground Railroad | Colson Whitehead | 2000 | 2019 | 19 |
| The Tender Bar | J. R. Moehringer | 2001 | 2009 | 8 |
| Tales of a Female Nomad | Rita Golden Gelman | 2001 | 2012 | 11 |
| Three Junes | Julia Glass | 2002 | 2006 | 4 |
| Crow Lake | Mary Lawson | 2002 | 2010 | 8 |
| Annie Dunne | Sebastian Barry | 2002 | 2015 | 13 |
| Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress | Dai Sijie | 2002 | 2016 | 14 |
| Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons | Lorna Landvik | 2003 | 2004 | 1 |
| The Known World | Edward P. Jones | 2003 | 2005 | 2 |
| The Devil in the White City | Erik Larson | 2003 | 2006 | 3 |
| The Probable Future | Alice Hoffman | 2003 | 2006 | 3 |
| Mao’s Last Dancer | Li Cunxin | 2003 | 2011 | 8 |
| The Kitchen Boy | Robert Alexander | 2003 | 2011 | 8 |
| Molokai | Alan Brennert | 2003 | 2013 | 10 |
| Waiting for Snow in Havana | Carlos Eire | 2003 | 2013 | 10 |
| 1984 | George Orwell | 2003 | 2017 | 14 |
| A Redbird Christmas | Fannie Flagg | 2004 | 2004 | 0 |
| The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | 2004 | 2004 | 0 |
| Bel Canto | Ann Patchett | 2004 | 2005 | 1 |
| Hannah Coulter | Wendell Berry | 2004 | 2005 | 1 |
| My Sister’s Keeper | Jodi Picoult | 2004 | 2005 | 1 |
| The Mermaid Chair | Sue Monk Kidd | 2004 | 2005 | 1 |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night | Mark Haddon | 2004 | 2006 | 2 |
| Suite Francaise | Irène Némirovsky | 2004 | 2007 | 3 |
| Truth and Beauty | Ann Patchett | 2004 | 2007 | 3 |
| The Alphabet Sisters | Monica McInerney | 2004 | 2008 | 4 |
| Beneath the Marble Sky | John Shors | 2004 | 2009 | 5 |
| Agaat | Marlene Van Niekerk | 2004 | 2010 | 6 |
| Shadow Divers | Robert Kurson | 2004 | 2019 | 15 |
| The City of Falling Angels | John Berendt | 2005 | 2005 | 0 |
| Everything Changes | Jonathan Tropper | 2005 | 2006 | 1 |
| Snow Flower and the Secret Fan | Lisa See | 2005 | 2006 | 1 |
| The Memory Keeper’s Daughter | Kim Edwards | 2005 | 2006 | 1 |
| Caramelo | Sandra Cisneros | 2005 | 2007 | 2 |
| The Constant Princess | Philippa Gregory | 2005 | 2007 | 2 |
| River of Doubt | Candice Millard | 2005 | 2017 | 12 |
| Water for Elephants | Sara Gruen | 2006 | 2007 | 1 |
| Left to Tell | Immaculee Ilibagiza | 2006 | 2008 | 2 |
| The Thirteenth Tale | Diane Setterfield | 2006 | 2008 | 2 |
| Three Cups of Tea | Greg Mortenson | 2006 | 2008 | 2 |
| Loving Frank | Nancy Horan | 2007 | 2008 | 1 |
| The Shack | Wm. Paul Young | 2007 | 2009 | 2 |
| Sarah’s Key | Tatiana de Rosnay | 2007 | 2010 | 3 |
| The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society | Mary Ann Shaffer | 2008 | 2009 | 1 |
| Mornings in Jenin | Susan Abulhawa | 2008 | 2010 | 2 |
| The Art of Racing in the Rain | Garth Stein | 2008 | 2010 | 2 |
| The Hundred Foot Journey | Richard C. Morais | 2008 | 2011 | 3 |
| Little Brother | Cory Doctorow | 2008 | 2013 | 5 |
| The Book of Bright Ideas | Sandra Kring | 2009 | 2009 | 0 |
| Wishin’ and Hopin’ | Wally Lamb | 2009 | 2010 | 1 |
| Prayers for Sale | Sandra Dallas | 2009 | 2011 | 2 |
| The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot | 2009 | 2011 | 2 |
| The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind | William Kamkwamba | 2009 | 2013 | 4 |
| Brooklyn | Colm Tóibín | 2009 | 2015 | 6 |
| The Elephant Whisperer | Lawrence Anthony | 2009 | 2019 | 10 |
| Half Broke Horses | Jeannette Walls | 2009 | 2020 | 11 |
| The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | 2010 | 2007 | -3 |
| Best American Short Stories of 2010 | Richard Russo | 2010 | 2011 | 1 |
| Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand | Helen Simonson | 2010 | 2011 | 1 |
| The Outside Boy | Jeanine Cummins | 2010 | 2012 | 2 |
| The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake | Aimee Bender | 2010 | 2016 | 6 |
| Yellow Crocus | Laila Ibrahim | 2010 | 2016 | 6 |
| The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo | Stieg Larsson | 2011 | 2010 | -1 |
| The Collectibles | James Kaufman | 2011 | 2011 | 0 |
| Destiny of the Republic | Candice Millard | 2011 | 2012 | 1 |
| Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | 2011 | 2012 | 1 |
| State of Wonder | Ann Patchett | 2011 | 2012 | 1 |
| The Language of Flowers | Vanessa Diffenbaugh | 2011 | 2012 | 1 |
| The Paris Wife | Paula McLain | 2011 | 2012 | 1 |
| 11/22/63 | Stephen King | 2011 | 2013 | 2 |
| Behind the Beautiful Forevers | Katherine Boo | 2011 | 2016 | 5 |
| The Night Road | Kristin Hannah | 2011 | 2025 | 14 |
| Gold | Chris Cleave | 2012 | 2012 | 0 |
| The Light Between Oceans | M. L. Stedman | 2012 | 2013 | 1 |
| The Round House | Louise Erdrich | 2012 | 2013 | 1 |
| The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry | Rachel Joyce | 2012 | 2013 | 1 |
| The Whip | Karen Kondazian | 2012 | 2014 | 2 |
| Flight Behavior | Barbara Kingsolver | 2012 | 2015 | 3 |
| A Man Called Ove | Fredrik Backman | 2012 | 2016 | 4 |
| Where’d You Go, Bernadette? | Maria Semple | 2012 | 2018 | 6 |
| The Burgess Boys | Elizabeth Strout | 2013 | 2013 | 0 |
| And the Mountains Echoed | Khaled Hosseini | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker | Jennifer Chiaverini | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| The Aviator’s Wife | Melanie Benjamin | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| The Boys in the Boat | Daniel James Brown | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| The Orphan Train | Christina Baker Kline | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| The Preservationist | Justin Kramon | 2013 | 2014 | 1 |
| A Pledge of Silence | Flora J. Solomon | 2013 | 2015 | 2 |
| The Rosie Project | Graeme Simsion | 2013 | 2015 | 2 |
| The Invention of Wings | Sue Monk Kidd | 2014 | 2014 | 0 |
| All the Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr | 2014 | 2015 | 1 |
| Euphoria | Lily King | 2014 | 2015 | 1 |
| The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy | Rachel Joyce | 2014 | 2015 | 1 |
| The Traitor’s Wife | Allison Pataki | 2014 | 2016 | 2 |
| A Fall of Marigolds | Susan Meissner | 2014 | 2017 | 3 |
| Everything I Never Told You | Celeste Ng | 2014 | 2018 | 4 |
| Circling the Sun | Paula McLain | 2015 | 2015 | 0 |
| The Year of Living Danishly | Helen Russell | 2015 | 2018 | 3 |
| As Close to Us as Breathing | Elizabeth Poliner | 2016 | 2016 | 0 |
| Everything We Keep | Kerry Lonsdale | 2016 | 2016 | 0 |
| A Gentleman in Moscow | Amor Towles | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| All the Single Ladies | Rebecca Traister | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| Hero of the Empire | Candice Millard | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| Hillbilly Elegy | J. D. Vance | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| Lilac Girls | Martha Hall Kelly | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| Marrow | Elizabeth Lesser | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| The Book That Matters Most | Ann Hood | 2016 | 2017 | 1 |
| America’s First Daughter | Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie | 2016 | 2018 | 2 |
| This Tender Land | William Kent Krueger | 2016 | 2021 | 5 |
| Beneath a Scarlet Sky | Mark Sullivan | 2017 | 2018 | 1 |
| Manhattan Beach | Jennifer Egan | 2017 | 2018 | 1 |
| The Ninth Hour | Alice McDermott | 2017 | 2018 | 1 |
| We Were the Lucky Ones | Georgia Hunter | 2017 | 2018 | 1 |
| Everybody’s Son | Thrity Umrigar | 2017 | 2020 | 3 |
| A Piece of the World | Christina Baker Kline | 2017 | 2021 | 4 |
| Educated | Tara Westover | 2018 | 2018 | 0 |
| The Great Alone | Kristin Hannah | 2018 | 2018 | 0 |
| An American Marriage | Tayari Jones | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| Becoming | Michelle Obama | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| My Dear Hamilton | Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| The Dakota Winters | Tom Barbash | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| The Storyteller’s Secret | Sejal Badani | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | 2018 | 2019 | 1 |
| Normal People | Sally Rooney | 2018 | 2020 | 2 |
| The Library Book | Susan Orlean | 2018 | 2020 | 2 |
| Carnegie’s Maid | Marie Benedict | 2018 | 2021 | 3 |
| One Giant Leap | Charles Fishman | 2019 | 2019 | 0 |
| The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek | Kim Michele Richardson | 2019 | 2019 | 0 |
| American Dirt | Jeanine Cummins | 2019 | 2020 | 1 |
| Summer of ’69 | Elin Hilderbrand | 2019 | 2020 | 1 |
| The Dutch House | Ann Patchett | 2019 | 2020 | 1 |
| The Girl With the Louding Voice | Abi Dare | 2019 | 2023 | 4 |
| The Island of Sea Women | Lisa See | 2019 | 2025 | 6 |
| A Most Beautiful Thing | Arshay Cooper | 2020 | 2020 | 0 |
| The Book of Longings | Sue Monk Kidd | 2020 | 2020 | 0 |
| The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue | 2020 | 2020 | 0 |
| The Splendid and the Vile | Erik Larson | 2020 | 2020 | 0 |
| Have You Seen Me? | Kate White | 2020 | 2021 | 1 |
| Shuggie Bain | Douglas Stuart | 2020 | 2021 | 1 |
| The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | 2020 | 2021 | 1 |
| The Vanishing Half | Brit Bennett | 2020 | 2021 | 1 |
| The Searcher | Tana French | 2020 | 2022 | 2 |
| The Thursday Murder Club | Richard Osman | 2020 | 2024 | 4 |
| The Four Winds | Kristin Hannah | 2021 | 2021 | 0 |
| The Lincoln Highway | Amor Towles | 2021 | 2021 | 0 |
| The Nature of Fragile Things | Susan Meissner | 2021 | 2021 | 0 |
| Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie | Lisa Napoli | 2021 | 2022 | 1 |
| The Personal Librarian | Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray | 2021 | 2022 | 1 |
| The Sweetness of Water | Nathan Harris | 2021 | 2022 | 1 |
| The Women of Chateau Lafayette | Stephanie Dray | 2021 | 2023 | 2 |
| Eternal | Lisa Scottoline | 2021 | 2024 | 3 |
| West With Giraffes | Lynda Rutledge | 2021 | 2024 | 3 |
| Four Treasures of the Sky | Jenny Tinghui Zhang | 2022 | 2022 | 0 |
| Remarkably Bright Creatures | Shelby Van Pelt | 2022 | 2022 | 0 |
| River of the Gods | Candice Millard | 2022 | 2022 | 0 |
| Violeta | Isabel Allende | 2022 | 2022 | 0 |
| Horse | Geraldine Brooks | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| Mad Honey | Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| Solito | Javier Zamora | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| Take My Hand | Dolen Perkins-Valdez | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| The Diamond Eye | Kate Quinn | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post | Allison Pataki | 2022 | 2023 | 1 |
| The Fire and the Ore | Olivia Hawker | 2022 | 2024 | 2 |
| Jackhammer | Bob Mackin | 2023 | 2015 | -8 |
| The Covenant of Water | Abraham Verghese | 2023 | 2023 | 0 |
| Tom Lake | Ann Patchett | 2023 | 2023 | 0 |
| Lady Tan’s Circle of Women | Lisa See | 2023 | 2024 | 1 |
| The Frozen River | Ariel Lawhon | 2023 | 2024 | 1 |
| The Lioness of Boston | Emily Franklin | 2023 | 2024 | 1 |
| The River We Remember | William Kent Krueger | 2023 | 2024 | 1 |
| The Lost Bookshop | Evie Woods | 2023 | 2025 | 2 |
| Theo of Golden | Allen Levi | 2023 | 2026 | 3 |
| Sisters of Fortune | Anna Lee Huber | 2024 | 2024 | 0 |
| The Women | Kristin Hannah | 2024 | 2024 | 0 |
| James | Percival Everett | 2024 | 2025 | 1 |
| The God of the Woods | Liz Moore | 2024 | 2025 | 1 |
| The Mighty Red | Louise Erdrich | 2024 | 2025 | 1 |
| The Briar Club | Kate Quinn | 2024 | 2026 | 2 |
| Broken Country | Clare Leslie Hall | 2025 | 2025 | 0 |
| Heartwood | Amity Gaige | 2025 | 2025 | 0 |
| The Lion Women of Tehran | Marjan Kamali | 2025 | 2025 | 0 |
| The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau | Kristin Harmel | 2025 | 2025 | 0 |
| Three Days in June | Anne Tyler | 2025 | 2025 | 0 |
| The Correspondent | Virginia Evans | 2025 | 2026 | 1 |
| A Marriage at Sea | Sophie Elmhirst | 2026 | 2026 | 0 |
Where the authors call home
Authors from 22 countries — where a home country is on record.
- United States148
- United Kingdom19
- Australia5
- Canada5
- Ireland5
- China3
- France3
- South Africa3
- India2
- Russia2
- Sweden2
- Brazil1
- Chile1
- El Salvador1
- Iran1
- Italy1
- Malawi1
- Mexico1
- New Zealand1
- Nigeria1
- Palestine1
- Rwanda1
View as table
| Country | Authors | Names |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 148 | Abraham Verghese, Aimee Bender, Alan Brennert, Alice Hoffman, Alice McDermott, Allen Levi, Allison Pataki, Amity Gaige, Amor Towles, Ann Hood, Ann Patchett, Anna Lee Huber, Anne Tyler, Anthony Doerr, Ariel Lawhon, Arshay Cooper, Ayn Rand, Barbara Kingsolver, Betty Smith, Bob Mackin, Brit Bennett, Candice Millard, Carlos Eire, Celeste Ng, Charles Fishman, Christina Baker Kline, Colson Whitehead, Cory Doctorow, Daniel James Brown, Delia Owens, Diane Johnson, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Douglas Stuart, Edward P. Jones, Elin Hilderbrand, Elizabeth Berg, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, Elizabeth Lesser, Elizabeth Poliner, Elizabeth Strout, Emily Franklin, Erik Larson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fannie Flagg, Flora J. Solomon, Forrest Carter, Gail Tsukiyama, Garth Stein, George Dawson, George R. Stewart, Georgia Hunter, Geraldine Brooks, Gillian Flynn, Greg Mortenson, Harper Lee, Helen Simonson, Isabel Allende, J. D. Salinger, J. D. Vance, J. R. Moehringer, James Kaufman, Javier Zamora, Jeanine Cummins, Jeannette Walls, Jennifer Chiaverini, Jennifer Egan, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Joan Anderson, Jodi Picoult, Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, John Berendt, John Grisham, John Irving, John Shors, Jonathan Tropper, Julia Glass, Justin Kramon, Karen Kondazian, Kate Quinn, Kate White, Katherine Boo, Kerry Lonsdale, Khaled Hosseini, Kim Edwards, Kim Michele Richardson, Kristin Hannah, Kristin Harmel, Laila Ibrahim, Lily King, Lisa Napoli, Lisa Scottoline, Lisa See, Liz Moore, Lorna Landvik, Lorraine Hansberry, Louise Erdrich, Lynda Rutledge, Margaret Truman, Maria Semple, Marie Benedict, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, Marjan Kamali, Mark Sullivan, Martha Hall Kelly, Mary Ann Shaffer, Melanie Benjamin, Michelle Obama, Nancy Horan, Nathan Harris, Olive Ann Burns, Olivia Hawker, Paula McLain, Percival Everett, Rebecca Skloot, Rebecca Traister, Richard C. Morais, Richard Russo, Richard Yates, Rita Golden Gelman, Robert Alexander, Robert Kurson, Sandra Cisneros, Sandra Dallas, Sandra Kring, Sara Gruen, Sejal Badani, Shelby Van Pelt, Stephanie Dray, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, Stephen King, Sue Miller, Sue Monk Kidd, Susan Abulhawa, Susan Meissner, Susan Orlean, Tana French, Tara Westover, Tayari Jones, Tennessee Williams, Thrity Umrigar, Tom Barbash, Truman Capote, Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Virginia Evans, Wallace Stegner, Wally Lamb, Wendell Berry, William Kent Krueger |
| United Kingdom | 19 | Alexander McCall Smith, Beryl Markham, Chris Cleave, Clare Leslie Hall, Cory Doctorow, Diane Setterfield, Douglas Stuart, George Orwell, Helen Russell, Helen Simonson, Jane Austen, M. L. Stedman, Mark Haddon, Matt Haig, Philippa Gregory, Rachel Joyce, Richard Osman, Sophie Elmhirst, Tatiana de Rosnay |
| Australia | 5 | Geraldine Brooks, Graeme Simsion, Li Cunxin, M. L. Stedman, Monica McInerney |
| Canada | 5 | Cory Doctorow, Emma Donoghue, Mary Lawson, Sara Gruen, Wm. Paul Young |
| Ireland | 5 | Colm Tóibín, Emma Donoghue, Evie Woods, Sally Rooney, Sebastian Barry |
| China | 3 | Dai Sijie, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Li Cunxin |
| France | 3 | Dai Sijie, Irène Némirovsky, Tatiana de Rosnay |
| South Africa | 3 | Alan Paton, Lawrence Anthony, Marlene Van Niekerk |
| India | 2 | Abraham Verghese, Thrity Umrigar |
| Russia | 2 | Ayn Rand, Irène Némirovsky |
| Sweden | 2 | Fredrik Backman, Stieg Larsson |
| Brazil | 1 | Paulo Coelho |
| Chile | 1 | Isabel Allende |
| El Salvador | 1 | Javier Zamora |
| Iran | 1 | Marjan Kamali |
| Italy | 1 | Tana French |
| Malawi | 1 | William Kamkwamba |
| Mexico | 1 | Sandra Cisneros |
| New Zealand | 1 | Graeme Simsion |
| Nigeria | 1 | Abi Dare |
| Palestine | 1 | Susan Abulhawa |
| Rwanda | 1 | Immaculee Ilibagiza |
Where the stories take place
The stories themselves span 47 countries — most often the United States, then United Kingdom and France.
- United States137
- United Kingdom24
- France14
- Ireland7
- China6
- Italy6
- India5
- Germany4
- Mexico4
- Russia4
- South Africa4
- Afghanistan3
- Australia3
- Brazil3
- Poland3
- Sweden3
- Canada2
- Egypt2
- Israel2
- Kenya2
- Pakistan2
- Spain2
- Antarctica1
- Aruba1
- Botswana1
- Chile1
- Cuba1
- Denmark1
- Ecuador1
- El Salvador1
- Guatemala1
- Indonesia1
- Iran1
- Japan1
- Malawi1
- Morocco1
- New Zealand1
- Nicaragua1
- Nigeria1
- Palestine1
- Papua New Guinea1
- Philippines1
- Rwanda1
- South Korea1
- Tanzania1
- Ukraine1
- Vietnam1
4 books don’t have a recorded setting (yet).
View as table
| Country | Books | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 137 | 11/22/63, A Christmas Memory, A Christmas Memory, A Fall of Marigolds, A Most Beautiful Thing, A Piece of the World, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Redbird Christmas, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Woman of Independent Means, A Year by the Sea, All the Single Ladies, America’s First Daughter, An American Marriage, And the Mountains Echoed, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, As Close to Us as Breathing, Becoming, Brooklyn, Caramelo, Carnegie’s Maid, Cold Sassy Tree, Crossing to Safety, Destiny of the Republic, Durable Goods, Earth Abides, Educated, Everybody’s Son, Everything Changes, Everything I Never Told You, Everything We Keep, First Ladies, Flight Behavior, Gone Girl, Half Broke Horses, Hannah Coulter, Have You Seen Me?, Heartwood, Hillbilly Elegy, Horse, Jackhammer, James, Life Is so Good, Lilac Girls, Little Brother, Loving Frank, Mad Honey, Manhattan Beach, Marrow, Molokai, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, My Dear Hamilton, My Sister’s Keeper, One Giant Leap, Prayers for Sale, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Revolutionary Road, River of Doubt, Sarah’s Key, Shadow Divers, Skipping Christmas, Solito, State of Wonder, Summer of ’69, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie, Take My Hand, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Aviator’s Wife, The Book That Matters Most, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, The Book of Bright Ideas, The Boys in the Boat, The Briar Club, The Burgess Boys, The Catcher in the Rye, The Collectibles, The Correspondent, The Dakota Winters, The Devil in the White City, The Diamond Eye, The Dutch House, The Education of Little Tree, The Fire and the Ore, The Fountainhead, The Four Winds, The Frozen River, The Glass Menagerie, The God of the Woods, The Great Alone, The Great Gatsby, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Invention of Wings, The Known World, The Language of Flowers, The Library Book, The Lincoln Highway, The Lion Women of Tehran, The Lioness of Boston, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, The Mermaid Chair, The Mighty Red, The Nature of Fragile Things, The Night Road, The Ninth Hour, The Orphan Train, The Paris Wife, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, The Personal Librarian, The Preservationist, The Probable Future, The River We Remember, The Round House, The Shack, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, The Sweetness of Water, The Tender Bar, The Traitor’s Wife, The Underground Railroad, The Vanishing Half, The Whip, The Women, The Women of Chateau Lafayette, Theo of Golden, This Tender Land, Three Days in June, Three Junes, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Lake, Truth and Beauty, Waiting for Snow in Havana, Water for Elephants, West With Giraffes, Where the Crawdads Sing, While I Was Gone, Wishin’ and Hopin’, Yellow Crocus |
| United Kingdom | 24 | 1984, A Marriage at Sea, Broken Country, Gold, Hero of the Empire, Jackhammer, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Persuasion, River of the Gods, Shuggie Bain, The Constant Princess, The Covenant of Water, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Lioness of Boston, The Lost Bookshop, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Midnight Library, The Splendid and the Vile, The Thirteenth Tale, The Thursday Murder Club, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Three Junes, West With the Night |
| France | 14 | All the Light We Cannot See, America’s First Daughter, Le Divorce, Sarah’s Key, Suite Francaise, The Book That Matters Most, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, The Hundred Foot Journey, The Lost Bookshop, The Nightingale, The Paris Wife, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, The Women of Chateau Lafayette, We Were the Lucky Ones |
| Ireland | 7 | Annie Dunne, Brooklyn, Normal People, The Lost Bookshop, The Outside Boy, The Pull of the Stars, The Searcher |
| China | 6 | Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Four Treasures of the Sky, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Mao’s Last Dancer, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Women of the Silk |
| Italy | 6 | Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Eternal, Loving Frank, Normal People, The City of Falling Angels, The Lioness of Boston |
| India | 5 | Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Beneath the Marble Sky, The Covenant of Water, The Hundred Foot Journey, The Storyteller’s Secret |
| Germany | 4 | All the Light We Cannot See, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Jackhammer, Loving Frank |
| Mexico | 4 | American Dirt, Caramelo, Everything We Keep, Tales of a Female Nomad |
| Russia | 4 | A Gentleman in Moscow, The Kitchen Boy, The Kite Runner, We Were the Lucky Ones |
| South Africa | 4 | Agaat, Cry the Beloved Country, Hero of the Empire, The Elephant Whisperer |
| Afghanistan | 3 | And the Mountains Echoed, The Kite Runner, Three Cups of Tea |
| Australia | 3 | The Alphabet Sisters, The Light Between Oceans, The Rosie Project |
| Brazil | 3 | River of Doubt, State of Wonder, We Were the Lucky Ones |
| Poland | 3 | Lilac Girls, Sarah’s Key, We Were the Lucky Ones |
| Sweden | 3 | A Man Called Ove, Normal People, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo |
| Canada | 2 | A Prayer for Owen Meany, Crow Lake |
| Egypt | 2 | The Alchemist, The Book of Longings |
| Israel | 2 | Tales of a Female Nomad, The Book of Longings |
| Kenya | 2 | Circling the Sun, West With the Night |
| Pakistan | 2 | The Kite Runner, Three Cups of Tea |
| Spain | 2 | The Alchemist, The Constant Princess |
| Antarctica | 1 | Where’d You Go, Bernadette? |
| Aruba | 1 | The Memory Keeper’s Daughter |
| Botswana | 1 | The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency |
| Chile | 1 | Violeta |
| Cuba | 1 | Waiting for Snow in Havana |
| Denmark | 1 | The Year of Living Danishly |
| Ecuador | 1 | Tales of a Female Nomad |
| El Salvador | 1 | Solito |
| Guatemala | 1 | Tales of a Female Nomad |
| Indonesia | 1 | Tales of a Female Nomad |
| Iran | 1 | The Lion Women of Tehran |
| Japan | 1 | The Samurai’s Garden |
| Malawi | 1 | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind |
| Morocco | 1 | The Alchemist |
| New Zealand | 1 | Tales of a Female Nomad |
| Nicaragua | 1 | Tales of a Female Nomad |
| Nigeria | 1 | The Girl With the Louding Voice |
| Palestine | 1 | Mornings in Jenin |
| Papua New Guinea | 1 | Euphoria |
| Philippines | 1 | A Pledge of Silence |
| Rwanda | 1 | Left to Tell |
| South Korea | 1 | The Island of Sea Women |
| Tanzania | 1 | River of the Gods |
| Ukraine | 1 | The Diamond Eye |
| Vietnam | 1 | The Women |
The whole library
Every book since 2004, in reading order.