Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.

1. “The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester

2. “A Crack in the Edge of the World” by Simon Winchester again

3. “The Children’s Blizzard” by David Laskin

4. “The Johnstown Flood” by David McCullough

5. “The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and The Invention of Murder” by Daniel Stashower

— Stephen E., Glenview

It’s all narrative nonfiction and history, which makes me think I should stick in that vein, but I also want to try to hit on something Stephen wouldn’t find for himself. Tony Horwitz came at these things from his own unique angle, but I have yet to find the reader who isn’t charmed by his “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.”

1. “The Order” by Daniel Silva

2. “Rage” by Bob Woodward

3. “Monogamy” by Sue Miller

4. “The Searcher” by Tana French

5. “A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II” by Sonia Purnell

— Terri M., Gurnee

I think Terri is a good bet for Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series, which starts with “Case Histories.”

1. “Welcome to Hard Times” byEL. Doctorow

2. “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett

3. “Code to Zero” by Ken Follett

4. “Pursuit” by James Stewart Thayer

5. “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” by John le Carré

— Gerard L., Bridgeview

For Gerard, I’m feeling John Irving working in his most Dickensian mode: “The Cider House Rules.”