Coming-of-age plots are a staple of YA books, as the changes of adolescence and the transition to adulthood have special relevancy to the teenage perspective. But adults can benefit from coming-of-age stories too. Gaining some distance from your own experience of growing up provides a place from which to reflect more deeply on the experiences of others, and any thoughtful story that leads readers through the inevitable, pivotal changes we all encounter in certain early stages of life is likely to give book groups something relatable and interesting to talk about. Plus, we never really stop growing, and "coming of age" is a murky concept that can stretch well into adulthood. Luckily, there's no shortage of evocative and insightful coming-of-age books for adults, and we've put together a list for you containing some of the best from recent years.
All the books below have been rated five stars by our reviewers, and they all come with reading guides to help you organize quality conversations with your book club. They feature a range of young people, from children to 20-somethings still struggling to find their place in the world, across a wide variety of life circumstances and settings.
If you love reading, listening to book podcasts can be a great way to spend your spare time. Whether you choose to follow along with a conversation about a book you've enjoyed, an author interview or an author reading, book-based audio content makes for pleasant entertainment at home or on the road. And as reading is often a solitary activity, podcasts can offer a much-needed sense of connection and help stoke your excitement about reading or discussing books with others.
But with the podcast still being a relatively new listening format, and one that's detached from traditional media, it can be tough to know where to start. So we've put together a list for you of some of the best book podcasts out there.
Between autumn 2020 and spring 2021, lots of COVID-themed books started to appear on bookstore and library shelves in the UK, where I live. It felt like nonfiction was quicker to respond to the pandemic than fiction. Some of my favorites were too niche for US publication because they focus on the UK’s National Health Service (Intensive Care by Gavin Francis, a Scottish GP) or England’s lockdown spring (The Consolation of Nature by Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, and Peter Marren). It soon became a low-key obsession of mine to read whatever I could about COVID.
I’ve especially valued insider looks by medical professionals. Every Minute Is a Day by Robert Meyer, MD and Dan Koeppel is a blow-by-blow account of the first six months of the pandemic by an ER doctor at the Bronx’s Montefiore Medical Center. The statistics are stark: Of 6,000 COVID-19 patients admitted between March and September 2020, nearly 1,000 died. The situation changed daily as doctors recognized new symptoms and tested treatments.
Online reader reviews can be great for discovering what other people think of books that you're considering reading yourself. BookBrowse's First Impressions program is an extra reliable resource for high-quality, trustworthy reader reviews of new titles.
Looking for reading inspiration? BookBrowse's Book Club discussions are a reliable resource for readers seeking ideas for their own book club picks or who just want to get some insight into specific books. In 2022, our members talked about 18 different books in our discussion forum. Scroll down for links.
Last week, we announced the Top 20 Books of 2022, as chosen by our subscribers. Now, we're excited to reveal the Award Winners for Best Fiction, Best Nonfiction and Best Debut, the books with the highest number of votes in each category.
