The Flower Recipe Book By Alethea Harampolia, Jill Rizzo Tired of shoving a bundle of flowers into a cylindrical vase? The Flower Recipe Book provides step-by-step instructions on how to do a MUCH better job. Maybe it’s aspirational but I loved looking at the pictures. It’s a great gift book. – Ann Patchett

The Testament of Mary By Colm Toibin I’m on a Colm Toibin kick and this tiny book is perhaps his masterpiece. I listened to the audio, which is three hours long and read by Meryl Streep. Forget about getting out of the car once you’ve turned it on. – Ann Patchett

John Henry Days By Colson Whitehead Have you read Whitehead’s newest book, The Underground Railroad yet? If no, pick this book up next. If yes, pick up this book next. Whitehead timeshifts and combines myth with reality like no other writer today. He has always been a singular writer and with The Underground Railroad he is finally getting the recognition he deserves.

The Risen By Ron Rash This is the story of two brothers whose lives are irrevocably altered by the events of the summer of 1969 and one bewitching young woman whose sensuality threatens to upend their lives, even 40 years later. Ron Rash gets the period detail so right in this suspenseful book. – Kathy Schultenover

The Atomic Weight of Love By Elizabeth J. Church Women’s liberation comes too late for Meridian Wallace as she bides her time in the desert of Los Alamos with her scientist husband, but passionate love does come along. Sound too soapy? Wrong! Good writing and lots to talk and think about. – Kathy Schultenover

The Last Policeman By Ben H. Winters Ben Winters is getting loads of praise for Underground Airlines, and I hope readers will take a moment to try his stellar backlist. This novel (the first in a trilogy) about a detective trying to solve a murder against a backdrop of impending global annihilation won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery. – Tristan Charles

Grace By Natashia Deon Naomi was a slave in 1840s Alabama until she escaped, but she was murdered while on the run just after giving birth to a baby girl, Josey. From the grave, Naomi narrates her own history and the life story of her daughter, whom she watches over. I barely took a breath for the first 30 pages. – Mary Laura Philpott

Unknown Caller By Debra Spark I can see why this enthralling and mysterious story of a brief, failed marriage and its complicated aftermath earned raves from the likes of novelists Tom Perotta, Lily King, and Lauren Groff. Every time you think you know what’s going on with these characters, Spark dials the timeline back a notch and reveals another surprising layer of backstory. – Mary Laura Philpott

Pond By Claire-Louise Bennett This is a book about a woman walking around her house on the Irish countryside. Period. Full stop. Nothing else happens. I couldn’t have loved it more. – Lindsay Lynch

The Underground Railroad By Colson Whitehead Over the years, readers have had the pleasure of seeing Colson Whitehead jump from genre to genre — he’s done the zombie apocalypse, he’s done realism, and there was even that time he played poker. The Underground Railroad is, without a doubt, his greatest success to date, a perfect blend of historical fiction and magical realism. – Lindsay Lynch

Love Warrior By Glennon Doyle Melton Glennon digs deep in this memoir. Survival, self-care, and peace are WORTH the fight. – Sissy Gardner

Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History By John Dickerson Think the current political scene is the craziest, most free-wielding, no-holes-barred election in the history of our country? Not by a long shot! The “Face the Nation” moderator relates, not only the stories reporters share at the bar after a long day on the campaign trail, but also a bit of our history that shows just how bruising and under-handed candidates can be . . . even to the point of dueling (something today’s candidates haven’t stooped to — at least not yet). – Mary Grey James

China Rich Girlfriend By Kevin Kwan If The Devil Wears Prada and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? had a baby, it would be this book. Delightfully funny and dripping with fashion and fine dining, it’s the perfect novel to take your mind off the current state of the world. – Niki Coffman

The Woman in Cabin 10 By Ruth Ware Did you (like me) love Gone Girl? Or The Girl on the Train? Then this is the book for you. – Niki Coffman

A Gentleman in Moscow By Amor Towles A Gentleman in Moscow is everything I want in a novel: Witty, humorous, a touch of history, and memorable characters. – Catherine Bock

Tender is the Night By F. Scott Fitzgerald This is the epic poem brimming over, in contrast to Gatsby’s tightly controlled lyric. Read it for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s sentences (or phrases: “the bright tan prayer rug of a beach”). Or, if you read it in high school — as I did — for the romance, reread it. It will be a different book to you now, because you are different and need truth and beauty more than romance. – Margy Roark

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life By John Le Carre In LeCarré’s first work of nonfiction, the master of the spy novel gives us a glimpse into his incredible life. From his days with MI-5 and MI-6 through his six decades of bringing the world of espionage to the page, LeCarré knows a thing or two about the secrets of the modern world. – Andy Brennan

Against Everything: Essays By Mark Greif Mark Greif is a rare species: an intellectual writing in a moment when intellectuals have nearly gone extinct. Covering an array of topics, from the tyranny of exercise to the rise and fall of the hipster, and commenting on perspectives from liberal to conservative, Greif invites us along for the adventure of being joyfully and passionately “against everything.” As he says in the preface, “I taught myself to overturn, undo, deflate, rearrange, unthink, and rethink.” This book is a testament to what a beautiful thing this can be. – Nathan Spoon

The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life By Anu Partanen Is the American Dream more attainable if you’re living in…Finland? This big think book compares living in America with life in the Nordic region. If you’re looking for a fascinating nonfiction read, this one’s for you. – Katherine Klockenkemper

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo By Amy Schumer This collection of essays by Amy Schumer is described by the inside flap as “a literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend,” and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Get ready to laugh. – Katherine Klockenkemper

Mischling By Affinity Konar Affinity Konar’s debut novel possesses all the power and visionary scope of an old master. Nothing prepared me for the beauty of this unforgettable story. – River Jordan

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana By Haven Kimmel If you missed Zippy when it was first published, do not leave the store without a copy in your hand. Then call your friends and laughingly read aloud to them, because it is too funny and too good not to share. As a matter of fact — get two copies today and give one away. – River Jordan

The Book of the Dun Cow By Walter Jr. Wangerin Walter Wangerin’s masterpiece of good and evil: it has been read, loved, taught, discussed, and made into a play for good reason. Wangerin tapped into the eternal muse when he wrote about “a time when the sun circled the moon and animals could talk.” We are the richer for it. – River Jordan

Eileen By Ottessa Moshfegh As a now much older Eileen candidly recounts a Christmas season in her 20s that changed the course of her unsatisfactory life, a feeling of suspense bordering on dread begins to pulse in the temple of the reader. This enchanting novel is one of the strangest, darkest, and most compelling things I have ever read. Now out in paperback and longlisted for the upcoming Man Booker Prize, there is no longer any avoiding the brilliance that is Ottessa Moshfegh and her disturbing Eileen. – Halley Parry

The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal about Being Human By Noah Strycker Read a book about birds and humans by a self-proclaimed “birder at large.” The depth of his knowledge coupled with his beautiful prose will have you perched in that tall tree branch to your left, behind the cranes. – Halley Parry

And for young adults and kids . . .

Whatever.: Or How Junior Year Became Totally F$@cked By S. J. Goslee I cried so hard while reading this… because I couldn’t stop laughing. You’ll either want to be Mike, date him, or be his best friend. This book takes a raucous bunch of friends and shows us their relatable, unique, complicated hearts with just the right amount of levity. – Grace Wright

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit By Jaye Robin Brown As if it isn’t bad enough that out-and-proud Joanna’s radio minister father is remarrying and moving her from cosmopolitan Atlanta to middle-of-nowhere Georgia, he then asks her to “lay low” (read: act straight) for her senior year in a new school. But when Jo finds unexpected romance, she’s torn between her promise and her new relationship. Brown absolutely nails the complexities of family, friendship, and faith, and her small-town Southern setting shines. This one’s a peach. – Stephanie Appell

Space Dumplins By Craig Thompson This juvenile graphic novel is perfect for young readers eagerly awaiting the next book from Raina Telgemeier (mark your calendars for her next one, Ghosts, coming mid-September) or Kazu Kibuishi (the Amulet series). It’s a zany space adventure with a heart as big as the Milky Way and a wacky and wonderful cast of characters you won’t want to say goodbye to. Only Craig Thompson could tell a story involving junkyards, talking chickens, references to the story of Jonah, buttons (the kind you sew and the kind you press), and a whole lot of space whale poop. – Stephanie Appell

Moo By Sharon Creech What do city kids know about taking care of a cow? Newbery medalist Sharon Creech spins the friendship story of a brother and sister, an ornery cow, a pig, a cat, and a snake in this unique mix of prose and poetry. – Rae Ann Parker

Ghost By Jason Reynolds Castle Crenshaw has a lot of scream inside. When he stumbles upon an elite track team practicing, he earns spot, but will he stay altercation-free at school and make the first race? This book is perfect for middle-grade readers who like sports stories. – Rae Ann Parker