“Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.” – Alberto Manguel
Below are all the recommendations sent to me by people on the Thought of the Day list. Thank you to all who provided feedback. I hope this list will keep you occupied during quarantine!
MOST POPULAR PICKS
Educated – Tara Westover
The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
Work Life – Adam Grant (podcast)
Fiction
The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
An Anonymous Girl – Greer Hendricks
Before We Were Yours – Lisa Wingate
Beneath the Scarlett Sky – Mark Sullivan
The Complete Father Brown – G. K. Chesterton
Courting Mr. Lincoln – Louis Bayard
Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett.
The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
House Rules – Jodi Picoult
I Am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly
Olive Kitteridge – E.izabeth Strout
A Reliable Wife – Robert Goolrick
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
We Were the Lucky Ones – Georgia Hunter
A Well Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts – Therese Anne Fowler
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
NON FICTION
Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge – Erica Wagner
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II – Denise Kiernan
Gutsy Women – Hillary & Chelsea Clinton
Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson
No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Man-Eater in History – Dane Huckelbridge
The Only Plane in the Sky, An Oral History of 9/11 -Garrett Graff
The Path Between Two Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal – David McCullough
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West – David McCullough
The Rise and the Fall, The Story of 9/11 – Mitchell Zuckoff
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, – Yuval Noah Harari
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope – Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
BUSINESS / SELF-HELP
The Confidence Gap: A Guide to Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt – Russ Harris
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Greg McKeown
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living – Dale Carnegie
The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google – Scott Galloway
The Gift of Forgiveness – Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt
Good Economics for Hard Times – Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – Charles Duhigg
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World – David Epstein
The Road to Character – David Brooks
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Steven Covey
Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives – Daniel Levitin
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know – Malcolm Gladwell
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts – Annie Duke
Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money – Daniel Lapin
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging – Sebastian Junger
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams – Matthew Walker
SPORTS
Fair Ball: A Fans Case for Baseball – Bob Costas
Summer 0f ’49:: Pennant Race Between the Yankees and Red Sox – David Halberstam
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics – Daniel James Brown
MEMOIR
The Creek – J.T. Glisson
Educated – Tara Westover
The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice: Crossing Antarctica Alone – Colin O”Brady
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford – Clint Hill
From Fire by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith – Sohrab Ahmari
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive – Stephanie Land
The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World’s Most Notorious Terrorists – Tracy Walder
SPIRITUAL
The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis – Richard Rohr, OFM
Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People – Bob Goff
God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours – Regina Brett
The Holy Bible
Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love – Katherine & Jay Wolf
Love Does – Bob Goff
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith – Stephen M. Barr
Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything – Katherine & Jay Wolf
FAMILY BOOKS
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy
Curious George – H.A. Rey
Elmer the Elephant – David McKee
President Taft is Stuck in the Bath – Mac Barnett
Strictly No Elephants – Lisa Mantchev
Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
PODCASTS
Best Podcast in Baseball – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The CMO Podcast – Jim Stengel
Ear Hustle – Radiotopia
Father John Hollowell
Freakonomics Radio – Stephen Dubner
Keeping the Nostalgia Alive – William Powell
Murder in Oregon – iHeart Radio
Planet Money – NPR
Revisionist History – Malcolm Gladwell
The Strategerist – George W. Bush Presidential Center
Untapped – John Lame
Work Life – Adam Grant
Your Own Backyard – Chris Lambert
TV SERIES / MOVIES
American Factory – Netflix
Babies – Netflix
Back to the Future II – Prime Video
Bosch – Prime TV
The Crown – Netflix
DCI Banks – Prime TV
The Game Changers – Netflix
How to Become an Astronaut – Chris Hadfield MasterClass
The Long Gray Line – Prime Video
McMillions – HBO
Outbreak – Netflix
Saving Mr. Banks – Netflix
The Two Popes – Netflix
The Race for the White House – CNN