If you are a reader and a Gen-Xer like me, Stephen King and Anne Rice probably played pivotal roles in your adolescence. And even though my adult reading doesn’t include a lot of horror titles, I fully understand their appeal. So do many others, it seems.

Fall reading lists include established, award-winning literary authors, highly anticipated next-in-the-series titles, and celebrity memoirs. While you’re waiting for those highly anticipated fall 2023 releases, here are some go-to recommendations that are ready for you to read now.

I am not an adult who views school days with a lot of nostalgia. Still, it’s no wonder that high school and college are mined so frequently as sources of literary inspiration. Even the most average school experience is rife with possibilities for characters.

My go-to summer books are very often thrillers. Maybe it’s the contrast between a happy, whimsical season and the dark, menacing tone of these novels, but there’s something very satisfying about lazing by the pool with a book you cannot put down.

Portrayals of mothers that include the messier, darker aspects of parenthood provide not only richer, more psychologically astute characterization, but also may help their readers feel less alone in their own experiences.

These are the books that when I’ve read a third of the way through, I find myself thinking (and many times saying out loud), I don’t really know what I’m reading, but I love it.

Friends are never "just" friends; they're crucial to a happy, healthy, and well-balanced life. These titles range from heartwarming to darkly humorous stories about those who lift us up when we're discouraged or hold our hair back when we're sick.

Hopeful books are those that include struggle, survival, and strength of character. They aren’t void of difficult subjects. On the contrary, characters demonstrate resilience and resistance in response to hardship. Here are a few suggestions for other readers hoping to begin again.

I feel like my best learning comes from identifying connections among ideas, so it was particularly fulfilling to see how many books seemed to be in conversation with each other on similar topics. Here are the highlights of my 2022 year with an important caveat that 2022 is not yet complete.

If you, too, are a connoisseur level of the bittersweet, or you’re just interested in cultivating that mindset, check out some of my very favorite bittersweet novels.