If you’re not sure where to start with our 2024 SVWC Reading List, take a look at the prompts below. This will help guide you to your perfect next book!

I want to hear from a voice that’s been on the front lines.

Clarissa Ward – On All Fronts
Stephen Breyer – Reading the Constitution
David Miliband – Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time
Andrea Elliott – Invisible Child
Jeffrey Goldberg – The Atlantic (all articles)

Give me an iconic literary voice with an endless backlist.

Margaret Atwood – Old Babes in the Wood
Judy Blume – In the Unlikely Event

Introduce me to a family I’ll love (even if they break my heart).

Dennis Lehane – Small Mercies
Maggie O’Farrell – The Marriage Portrait
Jean Hanff Korelitz – The Latecomer
Judy Blume – In the Unlikely Event

I want to read a book everyone is (still) talking about.

John Vaillant – Fire Weather
Andrea Elliott – Invisible Child
Jonathan Eig – King: A Life

I’m all about a propulsive plot. Give me a good story well told.

Jean Hanff Korelitz – The Latecomer
Dennis Lehane – Small Mercies
Kristin Hannah – The Women

I want to read a fresh, new voice.

Vinson Cunningham – Great Expectations
Kaveh Akbar – Martyr!
Alejandra Campoverdi – First Gen

I want a book that is full of heart and humanity.

Anne Lamott – Somehow
Sharon Brous – The Amen Effect

Heroic women are my thing.

Kristin Hannah – The Women
Alejandra Campoverdi – First Gen
Margaret Atwood – Old Babes in the Wood
Drew Gilpin Faust – Necessary Trouble
Tiya Miles – Wild Girls
Ayana Mathis – The Unsettled
Maggie O’Farrell – The Marriage Portrait
Andrea Elliott – Invisible Child

Give me food, give me travel!

Padma Lakshmi – Love, Loss, and What We Ate
Ruth Reichl – The Paris Novel

I’d like to be wowed by a historical masterpiece.

FICTION
Maggie O’Farrell – The Marriage Portrait
Kristin Hannah – The Women
Dennis Lehane – Small Mercies
Tommy Orange – Wandering Stars

NONFICTION
Tiya Miles – Wild Girls
Jeffrey Rosen – The Pursuit of Happiness
James Shapiro – Shakespeare in a Divided America
Niall Ferguson – Kissinger 1923 – 1968: The Idealist
Todd Purdum – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Erik Larson – The Demon of Unrest
Jonathan Eig – King: A Life

I love a fresh take on old ideas.

Pamela Paul – 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet
Alejandra Campoverdi – First Gen
Vinson Cunningham – Great Expectations

Teach me something I didn’t know.

Jonathan Eig – King: A Life
Niall Ferguson – Kissinger 1923 – 1968: The Idealist
David Miliband – Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time
Justice Stephen Breyer – Reading the Constitution
Tiya Miles – Wild Girls

Tell me about a forgotten/misunderstood chapter in American history.

Jonathan Eig – King: A Life
Erik Larson – The Demon of Unrest
Drew Gilpin Faust – Necessary Trouble
Jeffrey Rosen – The Pursuit of Happiness
Todd Purdum – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
James Shapiro – Shakespeare in a Divided America
Tiya Miles – Wild Girls

I want a dramatic history that reads like a novel. Or maybe a dramatic novel that teaches me about history.

John Vaillant – Fire Weather
Erik Larson – The Demon of Unrest
Kristin Hannah – The Women
James Shapiro – The Playbook
Dennis Lehane – Small Mercies
Tiya Miles – Wild Girls
Ayana Mathis – The Unsettled

I can’t get enough of politics, history and global economics.

Niall Ferguson – Kissinger 1923 – 1968: The Idealist
Jeffrey Goldberg – The Atlantic (all articles)
David Miliband – Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time
Evan Osnos – Wildland
Todd Purdum – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Justice Stephen Breyer – Reading the Constitution

Poetry is where it’s at.

Paul Muldoon – Howdie-Skelp
Kaveh Akbar – Martyr!
Margaret Atwood – Old Babes in the Wood
Jeffrey Brown – The News: Poems

Photo Credit: Halsey Pierce