35 Books You’re Pretty Much Bound to Fall in Love With, Courtesy of the Friends of Pelham Library

Ah, February. Yeah, it’s cold, but we’re still in the fizzy honeymoon of the year. Our 2024 intentions are still laid out fresh before us, and last year’s most beloved books are likely still teetering on our nightstands. It also happens to be Love Your Library month. This sweet intersection felt like the perfect time for The Friends of the Town of Pelham Library to ask Pelhamites all over town: What book did you love most last year? 

You responded in a rush, with historical fiction, thrillers, even a few indispensable cookbooks and incisive cultural critiques! You raved about recent releases, yes, and plenty of older yet new-to-you discoveries. Best of all, you can search any of the titles in the library catalog and be back on the couch with them, warm and cozy and fully transported, in the time it takes to stroll to the corner of Wolf’s and Colonial. Valentine or not, you’re assured a magnificent date with one of these enthralling reads.

What book did you love most last year? Share it on social with the hashtag #lovethelibrary and we’ll add to this list. You can learn more about the Friends and their campaigns here.

Literary Fiction

• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett – recommended by Colleen Ring
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – recommended by Mary Pargas

Contemporary Fiction

• Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee – recommended by Elizabeth Beweley (“My favorite read of 2023. Such an amazing novel.”)
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – recommended by Charlie Snarr
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano – recommended by Grace Liu-Happ
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – recommended by Gunbir Sethi
• Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason – recommended by Mirielle Ranade
• The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez – recommended by Julia Fuller

Historical Fiction

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – recommended by Beth Clarke Ritchie (“One of my favorite reads last year!”)
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – recommended by Jessica Wei Jun Chang (“After streaming the disappointing adaptation, I appreciate this book even more.”)
• A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute – recommended by Lucy Carney
• The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray – recommended by Rhonda Morgan
• The Givers of Stars by Jojo Moyes – recommended by Laura Fogel
• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese – recommended by Heena Jain
• In Memoriam by Alice Winn – recommended by Karen Dukess
• To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara – recommended by Lisa Robb (“It riveted me!”)
• The Lincoln Highway by Amore Towles – recommended by Siobhan O’Toole Rini (“My favorite read of the year by far!”)

Science Fiction/Fantasy

• The Measure by Nikki Erlick – recommended by Maria Buckley

Memoir

• My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand – recommended by Jamie Parilla
• The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen – recommended by Lina Perl 
• Solito by Javier Zamora – recommended by Monika Konieczna (“Not an easy subject, but a wonderful book! I recommend the audiobook, too.”)

Mystery/Thriller

• The Locked Door by Freida McFadden – recommended by Nicole Tejeda
• The Collector by Daniel Silva – recommended by Rose Diaz
• North Woods by Daniel Mason – recommended by Eric Terchila (“Conceptually strong ghost story. A thrilling read.”)
• Zero Days by Ruth Ware – recommended by Marjorie Afab Shaw

Cookbooks

• Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan – recommended by Elizabeth Beweley
• Sheet Pan Suppers by Molly Rits Gilbert – recommended by Laura Kalehoff

Non-Fiction

• The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin – recommended by Mary Pargas
• The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson – recommended by Kathryn Ahitow
• The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols – recommended by Jared Halpern
• Stolen Focus by Johann Hari – recommended by Laura Kalehoff
• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann – recommended by Matt Kane (“Excellent!”)
• Understanding Girls With ADHD: How They Feel and Why They Do What They Do by Kathleen Nadeau – recommended by Stephanie Marie Otero

Middle Grade

• Jessica’s Ghost (known as Friends for Life in US) by Andrew Norris – recommended by Monika Konieczna
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo – recommended by Jessica Wei Jun Chang “I learned about this little gem during the 2022 Pelham community read program. My daughter was too young to read it, so I read it to her. It was her first “big kid” chapter book experience. In 2023, she was able to read it on her own and it became one of her favorite go-to books, and we always think about it when we see squirrels in our town (i.e. all the time!) This book will always have a special place in my heart because of the Pelham Library, so, thank you!”