Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Must Read Books Before You Die 📚
26
items I put together a list of some of the most incredible books I have read in the past three years. These books are heartbreaking, heartwarming, lovely, wheels-turning, brilliant and something to absolutely look forward to. In my opinion, these are books...
This was a classic piece of literature that we chose for our Banned Book Club, The Rebel Library. I absolutely loved this book but it was gut… wrenching. The novel’s main character is Pecola Breedlove, she is 11 years old, African American, and comes...
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Historical Fiction/Mystery/African American Fiction
In the 1970’s workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania were digging the foundation for the town's newest development when they came across a body that they were unsure of. Chicken Hill had tons of secret...
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James Mcbride
Olga is a 40-year-old luxury wedding planner who is Puerto Rican and from South Brooklyn. She is the daughter of a major Puerto Rican Activist, Blanca, who abandoned her and her brother when they were young to take on a life of activism and protest. ...
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González
Geeta’s husband, Ramesh, disappeared 5 years ago and the village is convinced that Geeta has murdered him. She is seen as a disgrace and lives a life of loneliness because people refuse to associate themselves with her. The women in her village are c...
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
My 2023 Favorite Book - THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE 10/10 MUST READ.
Tova lost her husband several years ago and decided to fill the void with working the night shift cleaning at the local aquarium. She walks past each tank, inspects them, and talks to all ...
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
LGBTQ+ Fiction/Coming-of-age
Genuinely… buckle up because this book is a wild ride. Mike is a Japanese American man who loves to cook and is a chef at a Mexican restaurant. His partner, Benson, is a Black man who works as a daycare teacher at an af...
Memorial by Bryan Washington
Harriet and Wyn, who were college sweethearts, have now broken up and are set to meet their best friends at Sabrina’s cottage in Maine. The cottage represents nostalgia in this novel, as it is the meeting place that they have met at every summer for ...
Happy Place by Emily Henry
When the novel starts, Blandine (Main Character) is hoping to exit her 18 year old body into something better. Her and three boys who have aged out of the foster system are now living together in an apartment and all four of them together enjoy all t...
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
When a single mother turns up dead in the same river a teenage girl drowned in that summer, people start speculating whether the river has powers or if there is a murderer on the loose. Beckford, the small town that all of the characters live in, is ...
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
This is something new that my library’s book club suggested we read and I absolutely loved it. Bechdel’s Fun Home, is a comic book/graphic novel that is nothing short of amazing. It is a story about her own family trauma and her discovery of her sexu...
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Jennette Mccurdy is someone that most of us grew up with. We watched her in iCarly and Sam & Cat, and because we all care so much about entertainment, we never knew or could even see what was going on behind her goofy and happy characters. I’m Gl...
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Eleanor and Park is a cute novel about two high school kids that fall in love. The novel is dual POV and switches back and forth from both characters as they navigate their journey of adolescence and loving each other. Eleanor is the new girl at a hi...
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Helen and Benjamin Rask are a wealthy couple who are very secretive about their fortune. The 1929 stock market crash is the reason why they are so wealthy and people see Benjamin as “a vampire, a vulture, or a pig.” They continue to grow their wealth...
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Sara Lancaster moved away from Savannah, GA eight years ago when she learned that she was pregnant after being sexually abused. Alana, her daughter, is the light of her life and she will do anything to protect her, so in order to do just that, she mo...
One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris
Phoebe Stone has felt small under her husband for the majority of her marriage, and now she has completely hit rock bottom when her and her husband are divorcing after he had an affair with her best friend. She arrives at the Cornwall Inn, a place th...
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
🦜Set in contemporary Nigeria, Chibundu gives us a novel that is powerful, empowering, and leaves you aching for more. Anna, a bi-racial woman living in the UK, is at a point in her life where her daughter is grown up, she is separated from her husba...
Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward is a heart-wrenching memoir about Mark Lukach’s Wife, Giulia, and their experiences as a family working through her severe mental illness. This story is written solely from Mark’s point of view as a husband being in l...
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach
For starters, if you aren’t new here, you know that James Mcbride is one of my favorite authors! He writes so effortlessly and gives us so much rawness in his books when it comes to important historical topics.
Five-Carat Soul is a very creative no...
Five-Carat Soul by James Mcbride
🔸All of the hype about S.A. Cosby is WELL deserved! I mean, this book is just incredible. Cosby’s storytelling abilities are unmatched and he knows how to draw you in from page one. This novel is super DARK and will make you want to close your eyes ...
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Winston Smith, main character of 1984 (really unlikeable), lives in the nation of Oceania where “The Party” rules over everyone who lives there. The Party is lead by “Big Brother” who has implemented control over everything. For example, they have “t...
1984 by George Orwell
Theodore R. Johnson is a popular Washington Post columnist who wrote this novel to challenge us to have uncomfortable conversations about race, identity, and democracy. Speaking in first-person, Johnson talks to us about how American democracy was no...
If We Are Brave by Theodore R. Johnson
You can’t go wrong with any Kristin Hannah.. but this one right here… whew! It will make you laugh, cry, and rethink your entire existence.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
I’ve read all of Xochitl Gonzalez’s novels and honestly I can’t get enough of her writing. She makes a story come alive and she speaks a lot about the injustices that Latinx communities face (especially Latinas throughout different historical years)....
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González
I’ve read this book probably a million times and it will absolutely never get old. Stephen Chbosky’s way of capturing these teens knocks me out of my chair every time. This book makes me sob and the movie did a really good job of putting this book in...
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Chbosky, Stephen
Okay listen, this is a major hot take and a mostly unpopular opinion, this book is not my favorite book ever. I think that Octavia E. Butler is an incredible author but this is probably one book that is not her best of all time. HOWEVERRRRR, this is ...
Parable of the Sower
An incredible rendition of Huck Finn. I love Percival’s writing and I think this novel was such an incredible pick as a pulitzer prize finalist. This book is raw and informative. You HAVE to read this immediately!
James by Percival Everett