Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

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

1. “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan

2. “I Have Some Questions for You” by Rebecca Makkai

3. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus

4.“Horse” by Geraldine Brooks

5. “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders

— Evie P., Chicago

Francine Prose writes a lot of good books and one from a few years ago that I thought was particularly great but didn’t get the attention it deserves is “Mister Monkey.”

I think it’s a good fit for Evie.

1. “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

2. “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver

3. “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane

4. “Billy Summers” by Stephen King

5.“Annihilation” by Jeff VanderMeer

— Lane M., Naperville

Recommending this book has been either a huge hit or a slight miss for me, so there’s a little risk, but I’m going to lean into the big upside and hope it provides Lane an experience that is both grooved to his interests and unlike anything he’s read before, “Version Control” by Dexter Palmer.

1. “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers

2. “Absalom, Absalom!” by William Faulkner

3. “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf

4. “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates

5. “Nightwood” by Djuna Barnes

— Blake N., Bloomington, Indiana

Quite an interesting list of books. Not the most uplifting array, but all emotionally potent and unsparing in their deep dives into some dark parts of humanity. If Blake hasn’t read Flannery O’Connor’s “Wise Blood,” he must because it would fit perfectly in this group.