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Book Recommendations for General Fiction + Short Stories

Click on the buttons below to filter by subgenre/theme, time period and setting.
Learn how we choose recommended books here.
Total Books Recommended: 187

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Firsts
Debuts - 65

Humor & Uplifting
Uplifting - 2
Humor & Satire - 15

Families
Generational Sagas - 12
Parenting & Families - 27

Ages & Stages
Adult Books From Child's Perspective - 8
Coming of Age - 26
Mid-Life Onwards - 21
Dealing with Loss - 41

Ethnicity
Books in Translation - 10
Immigrants & Expats - 36
Black Authors - 24
Latinx Authors - 5
Asian Authors - 30
Jewish Authors - 7
Middle-Eastern Authors - 2
Native and Indigenous Authors - 2

Gender & Sexuality
Female Friendships - 4
Strong Women - 29
LGBTQ+ - 3

Philosophy & Spiritual
Philosophical - 10
Religious or Spiritual Themes - 7

Magical or Supernatural
Magical or Supernatural - 15
Magical Realism - 12

Miscellaneous
Small Press Titles - 29
Physical & Mental Differences - 5
Books About Animals - 3
War Related - 18
Nature & Environment - 13
Music and the Arts - 1
LibraryReads Picks - 3

Number of Pages
400+ Pages - 3
250-400 Pages - 187
Less Than 250 Pages - 98

Filter by Time Period
Time Period
17th Century or Earlier - 1
19th Century - 2
20th Century (multiple decades) - 33
Early 20th Century - 1
1920s & '30s - 1
1940s & '50s - 3
1960s & '70s - 2
1980s & '90s - 12
Contemporary - 99
The Future - 5
Across The Centuries - 8

Filter by Setting
Major Regions
USA - 85
Canada - 8
Central & S. America, Mexico, Caribbean - 7
Europe - 13
Asia - 24
Africa - 8
Pacific, inc. Hawaii, Aus & NZ - 1
Global - 14
Imaginary Locations - 4

USA (48 States)
N.H. Vt. Maine - 5
Conn. & R.I. - 1
Mass. - 1
New York State - 12
New Jersey - 1
Washington DC - 1
Tenn. Va. W.Va. Ky. - 2
N & S Carolina - 4
Florida - 2
Texas - 3
Kas. Mo. - 1
Ind. Mich. Ohio - 1
Minn. Wis. Iowa - 1
Colo. Wyo. Mont. - 6
California - 9
Wash. Ore. Idaho - 3

USA Regions
New England, USA - 10
Mid-Atlantic, USA - 17
South, USA - 15
Midwest, USA - 2
West, USA - 19

Europe by Region
UK (Britain) & Ireland - 13
France - 1
Germany - 1
Italy - 3
Eastern Europe - 3

Asia by Region
Middle-East (West Asia) - 7
Central Asia - 1
East Asia (except China) - 4
China - 3
South Asia (except India) - 2
India - 4
South-East Asia - 6

Africa by Region
Eastern Africa - 3
Middle & Southern Africa - 2
Northern & Western Africa - 6

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  • The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac
    Louise Kennedy
    Paperback: 12/03/2024
     
    Brilliant, dark stories of women's lives by "a very major talent" (Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times)
  • Canoes
    Maylis De Kerangal
    Paperback: 10/29/2024
     
    A colorful cast of female characters contends with UFOs, sonic waves, and the legend of Buffalo Bill in a ...
  • Rejection
    Rejection: Fiction
    Tony Tulathimutte
    Hardcover: 09/17/2024
     
    From the Whiting and O. Henry–winning author of Private Citizens ("the first great millennial novel," ...
  • There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
    Ruben Reyes
    Hardcover: 08/06/2024
     
    An electrifying debut story collection about Central American identity that spans past, present, and future ...
  • Witness
    Witness: Stories
    Jamel Brinkley
    Paperback: 07/30/2024
     
    From National Book Award finalist Jamel Brinkley, Witness is an elegant, insistent narrative of actions taken ...
  • After the Funeral and Other Stories
    Tessa Hadley
    Paperback: 07/02/2024
     
    A masterful collection of stories that plumb the depths of everyday life to reveal the shifting tides and ...
  • Roman Stories
    Jhumpa Lahiri
    Paperback: 06/18/2024
     
    The first short story collection by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master of the form since her ...
  • Craft
    Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil
    Ananda Lima
    Hardcover: 06/18/2024
     
    Strange, intimate, haunted, and hungry―Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil is an intoxicating and ...
The reviewer of each book decides which categories it belongs in - but we're only human, mistakes happen. If you see a book that you think is in the wrong place, tell us!

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