Feel free to lean on us for these great recommendations ;)
All of us need comfort, support, and companionship from our community over the course of our lifetime! And “community” is a broad term that includes quite a few tropes. It can mean friendship, it can mean small-town living, it can mean found family in a big city. It can also mean taking stock after grieving or experiencing a loss and forging a new path shaped by the people around you. Enemies in close proximity is our fave.
Take a look at our list of recent books, sorted kinda by trope, that fit this important theme. And community is such a great book club or reading group conversation starter! We’ve even included some discussion questions to help you facilitate your chats!
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Sybil and her sister Diviners are foundlings who traded a decade of service for room and board in the great cathedral, and their only dreams are of not dreaming at all. Sybil receives visitors in her dreams: six unearthly figures known as the Omens. Because of them, Sybil is able to predict terrible things before they occur. Travelers come from all over to glimpse the world through her abilities.
Just after a very rude visitor arrives at the cathedral, the Diviners begin to disappear. They vanish, one by one. Sybil has no choice but to ask their guest for help in finding them.
For discussion: Now that you’ve read the book, what are your thoughts on the cover? Do you feel like it represents the story?
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
Adela’s parents banish her from her comfortable home in Indiana and ship her off to live with her grandmother in the Florida panhandle. Adele is 16, and she is pregnant, and she can come home once the shame timeframe is over.
Instead, Adela meets a group of young moms, all of whom are raising their children on their terms. Emory takes her newborn with her to high school; she is determined to graduate on time. Simone is pregnant again and is overwhelmed by caring for her twin four-year-olds whom she is raising in the back of her pick up truck. The town thinks these young women have lost their way, but they are actually trying to find it together. Adela finds support that she never imagined was possible!
For discussion: how have perceptions of teen pregnancy changed over the last 100 years? How has society’s treatment of pregnant teenagers changed?
The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore
This one is the fourth book in the Dream Harbor series, but it is a stand-alone, too! Archer is a world-renowned chef. He is also a single dad, and as a busy guy who is trying to settle in at the pancake house, he knows that there is no way he can raise his daughter without the help of the community. Archer needs people!
When someone tells Iris that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she does not run away, but she definitely thinks about it. Small towns have big eyes, so the neighbors will definitely be watching from behind the drapes. That will help keep everything professional, right? Luckily, in Dream Harbor, a HEA is practically guaranteed!
For discussion: Iris has difficulty holding down a job. Do you think she would get the nannying job in real life?
Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton
The quaint Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino is dying. There are no visitors, no tourists, and certainly no money. But the group of villager’s drink espresso together, pass the time, and just wait to see what will become of the place where generations of townspeople have spent their entire lives.
The villagers have no idea that a local truffle hunter has happened upon a very rare specimen within the bounds of the village. There is a chance that, with careful management, un tartufo could be the greatest gift the mayor could possibly imagine for Lazzarini Boscarino. He doesn’t realize that there is also a chance that it will be the foulest curse the villagers have ever seen! This a lovely story about harmony in the face of true hardship.
For discussion: have you ever visited a town that has seen better days? How would you raise the profile?
The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie
Babs Dionne lives in a small town in Maine, where she is a mother, a loving grandmother, and also happens to rule the local drug trade with shrewd savvy. Babs controls the flow of drugs with a few loyal girlfriends, and her eldest daughter, a Marine veteran who is grappling with addiction.
The residents know that Babs could cause a lot of trouble for a lot of people. Fast. So, when her younger daughter, Sis, goes missing, a dark cloud descends on Waterville. No one believes that it is a coincidence!
Sis will be found dead within the next day or so, and the entire town bands together to face Babs’ wrath with their collective strength. Do numbers count when a grieving mother is on the other side?
For discussion: take a second to imagine the stressors and logistics involved in living a double life. What do you think the most difficult part would be?
Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks
This memoir from the author of The People of the Book blew us away! Geraldine Brooks and her life partner, Tony Horwitz, traveled the world together in their early years as foreign correspondents. The pair eventually settled down to raise their family on Martha’s Vineyard. They lived a life of meaningful work, humor, and spent evenings and downtime with loved ones or friends on the beach.
And then Tony died.
Geraldine felt crowded and trapped by her family and friends. The community was suffocating her. She knew they meant well, but she was unable to process any of her feelings because other people were always telling her what they were. A flight to a remote island off of the coast of Australia finally gave her the space to grieve. Hunkering down in a shack on a rugged coast, Geraldine went days without seeing other people. The solitude allowed her to reflect on her own grief, and she was able to ponder the death/grief rites from other cultures. Does anyone say goodbye in a way that feels like it is enough?
For discussion: share a cultural practice that you wish was incorporated into modern funerals.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
“Women can be heroes, too.” When nursing student Frances McGrath hears those words, she realizes for the first time that she could do MORE with her life. When her brother ships out to Vietnam in 1965, Frankie decides on the spot to follow him and joins the Army Nurses Corp.
Young Frankie is overwhelmed by the sights, smells, and sounds of Vietnam. It would be so easy to let herself become a shell, but thanks to the incredible bonds that she forges with the other nurses that truly save her. And when she has to face returning to an America that was quite different than the one, she’d left behind, Frankie turns to those women again, and with their care and protection, she finds love again.
For discussion: this wasn’t the average book about Vietnam. How did the action from a female perspective differ from that of a man?
The Lilac People by Milo Todd
Bertie, an employee at the Institute of Sexual Science, works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond. Berlin’s thriving queer community dissolved as Hitler rose to power, and the Institute is raided. Bertie barely escapes to a farm with his girlfriend, Sophia, where they spend more than a decade in isolation from the rest of the world.
In the final days of the war, the pair finds a young trans man collapsed on their farm. He’s still dressed in clothing from a concentration camp. He isn’t hiding from the Nazis anymore. He’s fleeing from the Allies say they are liberators but are still rounding up any queer prisoners they come across. Bertie knows that they have to flee again. Will they find salvation in another country? Will they be welcomed into a new community?
For discussion: this is based on real events that were watershed moments in both global history and trans history. Did you know that trans prisoners continued to be arrested after the official end to World War II?
Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Thoughtful, reserved Joan has been obsessed with the stars for her entire life. When she gets the chance to become one of the first female scientists to join a Nasa pilot program, she jumps at the chance to be one of the few people chosen to participate in the mission.
The newly minted astronauts become unlikely friends, together 24 hours a day. They prepare and train their bodies and minds to withstand the pressures of space, and bond over the fact the novelty of their adventure. Relationships grow, and Joan discovers a romance that she never anticipated.
In December 1984, everything changes in a tragic instant.
For discussion: how does Reid build such… well, atmosphere? This book feels like being immersed in 1984 for those of us that remember it, but Reid was born the year before. How did she capture the feeling and vibe of that time period so authentically?
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
- OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK -
When the Cassidy-Shaws' autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver's seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.
For discussion: Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.
Matriarch: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir by Tina Knowles
I’ll assume you have heard of Beyoncé, so I’ll skip the long intro. Her mom, Celestine (Tina) Knowles has written a powerful memoir that outlines the way she has seen her community change countless times over.
When she was a little girl in Texas, her community was extended family on every porch as far as the eye can see. She was surrounded by love and lulled to sleep at night by the sound of waves lapping at the gulf shores. But as her world expands and the realities of race and the limitations she faces come into focus, she dreams of how a girl from Galveston can change the world. Her gut instinct tells her to leave, so she drives out of Texas into the great unknown.
When motherhood takes center stage, her community focused on her family (including her “bonus daughter”, Kelly Rowland) and she watched a superstar develop. And then her community grows and grows, until it eventually covers the entire globe, and she is in the spotlight, too. How do you parent a world-famous artist when everyone has an opinion?
For discussion: do you find Tina’s life and lifestyle aspirational? Would you want to live in the public eye?
The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory by Thomas Fuller
In November 2021, a different kind of email showed up in New York Times reporter Thomas Fuller’s inbox. It wasn’t about any of the topics he covered, like mass shootings, wildfire, and war. The message offered hope during a dark time. It was about former athlete Keith Adams, a deaf man who was coaching a football team at a state-run school. The noteworthy thing is that the athletes themselves were all also deaf, and the California School for the Deaf in Riverside was having an undefeated season.
Fuller packed his bags and started driving. The stories he gathered were varied. Some are uplifting, lots are gut wrenchers. One of the athletes was spending his nights in a car in a Target parking lot. Another athlete literally played through a broken leg in order not to miss a crucial game. Each of the kids is remarkable. And their deafness is the least remarkable thing about them. Don’t miss this one.
For discussion: imagine participating in your favorite sport or activity. What would you have to adapt in the case of a lost sense?
Some of those are heavyyyyy reads, but our communities are especially important during the tough times. Let our book-loving community know what your favorites in this genre. Join our online community to share your favorite books that celebrate (or denigrate!) community tropes.