The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
Scribner/Simon & Schuster, March 1998
“I’m planning to reread this winner of the Pulitzer Prize and my all-time favorite book. The novel is a masterpiece in character and cultural critique. The witty, cutting prose that Wharton brings to her character study is unmatched.”
All Fours
Miranda July
Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House, May 2024
“Lots of women trip on the broken rung; others swap out the ladder. A heterodox Gen X creative explores ambition, rule breaking, and reinvention at midlife.”
Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
Stephen R. Platt
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House, December 2012
“Before, during, and after the US Civil War, a Hakka Chinese rebel leader who proclaimed himself the brother of Christ led an uprising against the Qing dynasty that killed upward of 20 million people and upended global politics, yet it’s almost forgotten today! The book is vivid and gripping.”
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
Jonathan Rosen
Penguin Press/Penguin Random House, April 2023
“A Pulitzer Prize finalist in the memoir or autobiography category, this story follows childhood best friends Rosen and Michael Lauder as they accumulate success—before Michael has a serious psychotic break. The story illuminates the need for different mental disorder treatments. Given the focus area of mental health for the McKinsey Health Institute, it’s a ‘must read’ for me this summer.”
Come and Get It
Kiley Reid
G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House, January 2024
“This novel, set at a university in 2017, explores female friendship, race, power, and wealth. It appears to be a dark book marketed with the bright colors of a summer read, and I’m here for it!”
Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995–2014
Alice Munro
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House, September 2015
“These generous and wise stories about ordinary people facing powerful challenges are grounded in place with knowing detail. Munro, a Nobel Prize winner, died this year on May 14. She was ‘as good as it gets,’ said Richard Ford. ‘Her stories were widely considered to be without equal,’ wrote the New York Times.”
Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture
Kyle Chayka
Doubleday/Penguin Random House, January 2024
“AI knows what we like—and how to deliver it to us, ‘segment of one’ style. What does this mean for the way we experience culture, cultivate the creative skills so vital to innovation, and develop taste? Kyle Chayka is the Pierre Bourdieu of the digital era.”
The Forgotten Forest: In Search of the Lost Plants and Fungi of Aotearoa
Robert Vennell
HarperCollins Publishers, October 2023
“On a recent trip to New Zealand, I learned that the country contains the last large land masses to have been inhabited by humans and that much of its natural ecology is under threat from the predators and invasive plants that came along with people. It’s still a land of great natural beauty, and I’m interested in learning more about it.”
Hello Beautiful
Ann Napolitano
Dial Press/Penguin Random House, March 2023
“My mama recommended I read this (and I listen to my mama). So far, the setup to this love story is thoughtful, nontraditional, and compelling.”
How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between
Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
Currency/Penguin Random House, February 2023
“Working on projects is my favorite thing to do—both at work and in my personal life. The process of learning, planning, building, and then seeing the final result is extremely satisfying. This book promises an entertaining review of projects we’ve all heard of, with lessons to apply to projects of our own.”
The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir
Susan Lieu
Celadon Books/Macmillan Publishers, March 2024
“This is a brave and poignant memoir that explores grief, cultural identity, and resilience. My friend loved this book and recommended it to me.”
So Long, See You Tomorrow
William Maxwell
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House, January 1996
“After 50 years, a man looks back on a tragic murder that ruined his best childhood friendship and forever altered his view of the world. This is a short, gorgeous, emotional, sharp-as-day novel by a brilliant, underappreciated writer.”
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
Heather McGhee
One World/Penguin Random House, February 2021
“McGhee skillfully elucidates how racism hurts everyone, but if we all work together to combat inequality, we can achieve great things in the form of a ‘solidarity dividend.’”
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
Karen Valby
Pantheon/Penguin Random House, April 2024
“A groundbreaking group of Black ballerinas formed a sisterhood that has endured for decades. Valby details their lives before and after taking center stage, including their struggle to obtain recognition of their forgotten story. I was wait-listed for the book on my library app for weeks—and it was worth it!”
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
Penguin Books/Penguin Random House, May 2023
“I love how Woolf captures the minutiae of people’s psychology.”
