Reading Suggestions

Wondering what to read after that fabulous book you just finished? Want to expand your book taste and travel into new genres?

We encourage you to talk to us! Contact our Adult Librarians at reference@haverfordlibrary.org or Youth Services Librarian at laepple@haverfordlibrary.org or by phone at 610-446-3082 for assistance in finding materials.
 
In addition, we offer NextReads, an e-newsletter that lists new, forthcoming, and vintage titles—emailed right to your inbox!
 
Also, as a service to our readers, lists of authors who write in various genres as well as reading recommendations have been compiled with great care by skilled librarians. Check back frequently, as this list continues to grow and be updated!
 
(click on a genre name to be taken to the recommended reading list)
 
Action Thrillers
Adventure and Espionage
American Historical Fiction
Amish & Mennonite "Bonnet" Fiction
Animal Stories (Nonfiction)
Biographies
Blockbuster Fiction
Chick Lit
Classics
Contemporary Romance
Contract Killers
Crime and Capers
Crime Fiction
Detective Mysteries
English Mystery
Family Sagas 
Fantasy
Female Detective Mysteries
Forensic Mysteries
Genealogy in Fiction
Gentle Reads
Historical Fiction (Authors)
Historical Fiction (Titles)
Historical Mysteries (Authors)
Historical Mysteries (Specific Places and Eras)
Historical Nonfiction that Reads Like a Novel
Horror (Authors)
Horror (Titles)
Mash Ups
Read-alikes: The Glass Castle by Jennifer Walls
Read-alikes: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
 

Action Thrillers
Dale Brown
Lincoln Child
Tom Clancy
Stephen Coonts
Clive Cussler
Len Deighton
William Diehl
Paul Erdman
Frederick Forsyth
W.E.B. Griffin
Thomas Harris
Jack Higgins
Stephen Hunter
Dean Ing
Robert Ludlum
Eric Lustbader
David Poyer
Douglas Preston
Patrick Robinson
Craig Thomas
Stuart Woods

 
Adventure and Espionage
Dale Brown
Tom Clancy
Stephen Coonts
Clive Cussler
Len Deighton
Frederick Forsyth
John Gardner
Jack Higgins
Greg Iles
John Le Carre
Robert Ludlum
Gerald Seymour
 
American Historical Fiction
Howard Bahr
Madison Smartt Bell
Kathleen & W. Michael Gear
Thomas Fleming
Lana M. Harrigan
Robert Hicks
John Jakes
Gary Jennings
Douglas C. Jones
Thomas Mallon
Larry McMurtry
David Nevin
David Poyer
Barbara Riefe
James Reasoner
Lucia St. Clair Robson
Jeffrey & Michael Shaara
 
Amish & Mennonite "Bonnet" Fiction
Richard Ammon
Carrie Bender
Sandra Birdsell
Annette Blair
Wanda Brunstetter
Linda Castillo
Mindy Starns Clark
Colleen Coble
W. Dale Cramer
Jerry S. Eicher
Kathleen Fuller
Paul L. Gaus
Shelley Shepard Gray
Karen Harper
B.J. Hoff
Beverly Lewis
Tamar Myers
Marta Perry
Kim Vogel Sawyer
Sarah Strohmeyer
Beth Wiseman
Cindy Woodsmall
 
Animal Stories (Nonfiction)
A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz
Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or, How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat
by Gwen Cooper
Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by Deavid Dosa, M.D.
Rescue Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs and Cats, Twelve Horses, Five Pigs, One Duck, and a
Few  Turtles by Rescue Ink with Denise Flaim
To the Rescue: Found Dogs with a Mission by Elise Lufkin
The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection Between Humans and Dogs by Jon Franklin
 
Biographies
All Governments Lie:  The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone by Myra MacPherson
Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear
Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
The Lady Upstairs: Dorothy Schiff and the New York Post by Marilyn Nissenson
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition by Randall B. Woods
Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl by Steven Back
Love, Life, Goethe: Lessons of the Imagination from the Great German Poet by John Armstrong
Mandela: The Authorized Portrait Edited by Mac Maharaj and Ahmed Kathrada
Mellon: An American Life by David Cannadine
 
Blockbuster Fiction
Jeffrey Archer
Gerald A. Browne
Michael Crichton
Nelson DeMille
William Diehl
Ken Follett
W.E.B. Griffin
John Grisham
Judith Krantz
Stephen Martini
Sidney Sheldon
Scott Turow
 
Chick Lit
Melissa Bank
Mark Barrowcliff
Christina Bartolomeo
Elizabeth Berg
Jennifer Cruise
Barbara Delinksy
Delia Ephron
Katie Fforde
Helen Fielding
Suzanne Finnamore
Karen Joy Fowler
Mike Gayle
Rachel Gibson
Eileen Goudge
Jane Green
Kristin Hannah
Janice Harayda
Jane Heller
Wendy Holden
Nick Hornby
Shirley Lord
Marian Keyes
Sophie Kinsella
Jo-Ann Mapson
Sue Margolis
Kat Martin
Anna Maxtel
Carly Phillips
Francine Prose
Mary Jo Putney
Jennifer Weiner
Rebecca Wells
Michael Lee West
Laura Zigman
 
Classics
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Odyssey by Homer
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
 
Contemporary Romance
Candace Bushnell
Meg  Cabot
Jennifer Cruise
Rachel Gibson
Jane Green
Emily Griffin
Kristin Hannah
Jane Heller
Linda Howard
Lisa Kleypas
Kasey Michaels
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Jennifer Weiner
Lauren Weisberger

 
Contract Killers
Bleeding Hearts by Ian Rankin
Dynamite Road by Andrew Klavan
Fear by Jeff Abbott
Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver
Good Guy by Dean Koontz
Judge & Jury by James Patterson
Pursuit by Thomas Perry
Rain Fall by Barry Eisler
Sleeping with Strangers by Eric Jerome Dickey
Three Days to Never by Tim Powers
 
Crime and Capers
William Caunitz
Michael Connelly
James W. Hall
Carl Hiaasen
Elmore Leonard
David Lindsey
Thomas Perry
Lawrence Sanders
Laurence Shames
Joseph Wambaugh
Donald E. Westlake
Stuart Woods
 
Crime Fiction
Peter Blauner
Lee Child
Michael Connelly
John Connolly
Jonathan Kellerman
William Lashner
Walter Mosley
Robert Parker
T. Jefferson Parker
James Patterson
George Pelecanos
Daniel Silva
Stuart Woods 
 
Detective Mysteries
James Lee Burke
Raymond Chandler
Lee Child
Michael Connelly
John Connolly
Robert Crais
Jeffery Deaver
James Ellroy
Erle Stanley Gardner
Dashiell Hammett
George V. Higgins
William Lashner
Elmore Leonard
Ed McBain
Walter Mosely
Robert B. Parker
T. Jefferson Parker
James Patterson
George Pelecanos
Ian Rankin
Daniel Silva
Mickey Spillane 
 
English Mystery
Margery Allingham
Anthony Berkeley
Christianna Brand
Leo Bruce
Sarah Caudwell
John Dickson Carr
Francis Iles
Michael Innes
Elizabeth Lemarchand
Ngaio Marsh
Patricia Moyes
Anne Morice
Josephine Tey
Patricia Wentworth
 
Family Sagas 
Maeve Binchy
Jessica Blair
Barbara Taylor Bradford
J. California Copper
Anne Douglas
Fannie Flagg
Jennifer Haigh
Kent Haruf
Brenda Jackson
Leila Meacham
Roland Merullo
Elizabeth Palmer
Robin Pilcher
Belva Plain
Anne Taylor
Adriana Trigiani
Sarah Woodhouse
 
Fantasy

Piers Anthony
Robert Lynn Asprin
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Terry Brooks
David Eddings
Raymond E. Feist
Terry Goodkind
Robert Jordan
Katherine Kurtz
Mercedes Lackey
Melanie Rawn
Margaret Weis
 
Female Detective Mysteries
Linda Barnes
Nevada Barr
Edna Buchanan
Patricia Cornwell
Deborah Crombie
Janet Evanovich
Elizabeth George
Tess Gerritsen
Sue Grafton
Ellen Hart
Laurie R. King
Lynda La Plante
Laura Lippman
Margaret Maron
Alexander McCall Smith
Marcia Muller
Carol O’Connell
Sara Paretsky
Anne Perry
S.J. Rozan
Lisa Scottoline
Dana Stabenow
 
Forensic Mysteries
Patricia Cornwell
Beverly Connor
Jeffrey Deaver
D.J. Donaldson
Aaron Elkins
Tess Gerritsen
Iris Johansen
Pricilla Masters
Kathy Reichs
Karin Slaughter
Keith McCarthy
Peter May
Sheila Lowe
Sharyn McCrumb
Jeffrey P.  Lindsay

 
Genealogy in Fiction
At Death’s Door by Robert Barnard
The Devil in Tartan by Elisabeth Ogilvie
The Famous DAR Murder Mystery by Graham Landrum
The Ghost of Hannah Mendes by Naomi Ragen
The Horse You Came in On by Martha Grimes
The Mangan Inheritance by Brian Moore
Mother Love by Laurali Wright
Murder at Monicello by Rita Mae Brown
Murder Runs in the Family by Anne George
The Third Heiress by Brenda Joyce
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
 
Gentle Reads
Carrie Bender
Maeve Binchy
Jennifer Chiaverini
Sandra Dallas
Richard Paul Evans
Fannie Flagg
Philip Gulley
Kristen Hannah
Jon Hassler
J. Lynne Hinton
Jan Karon
Garrison Keillor
Thomas Kincaide
Debbie Macomber
Joan A. Medlicott
Janette Oke
Delia Parr
Rosamunde Pilcher
Jeanne Ray
Luanne Rice
Ann B. Ross
Rebecca Shaw
Annette Gail Smith
Adriana Trigiani
Bailey White
Marcia Willett
 
Gothic Fiction
The Evil in Pemberley House by Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert
Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Descent Into Dust by Jacqueline Lepore
The Tale of the Halcyon Crane: A Novel by Wendy Webb
 
Historical Fiction (Authors)
Jean M. Auel
Pamela Belle
Bernard Cornwell
Catherine Coulter
Diana Gabaldon
Margaret George
Rosalind Laker
James A. Michener
Patrick O’Brian
Sharon Kay Penman
Belva Plain
Eugenia Price
Mary Jo Putney
Jennifer Roberson
 
Historical Fiction (Titles)
Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk
Beautiful Maria of My Soul by Oscar Hijuelos
Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
The Elephant’s Journey by Jose Saramago
The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney
Percival’s Plant by Michael Byers
Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock
Revenants: A Dream of New England by Daniel Mills
Rodin’s Debutante by Ward Just
 
Historical Mysteries (Authors)
Stephanie Barron
Simon Beaufort
James R. Benn
Rhys Bowen
Alys Clare
Fiona Buckley
Lindsay Davis
Anna Dean
P.C. Doherty
Joan Druett
Adriana Franklin
Margaret Fraser
Susanna Gregory
Barbara Hambly
David Liss
Charles O’Brien
Laura Joh Rowland
Charles Todd
Jeri Westerson
Lauren Willig
 
Historical Mysteries (Specific Places and Eras)
Susan Wittig Albert – England 1800s
Carrie Bebris – England 1800s
Rhys Bowen – England eary 1900s
Stephanie Barron – England early 1800s
M.C. Beaton – England early 1900s
Alys Clare – England 1100s
Jill Churchill – New York 1929
Jeanne Dams – America 1920s
Carola Dunn – England 1920s
Christopher Fowler – England 1940s
Kerry Greenwood – Australia 1920s
Amy Patricia Meade – Connecticut 1930s
Kathryn Miller Haines – New York WWII
Amy Myers – England Victorian Era
Laurie R. King – England early 1900s
Anne Perry – England Victorian Era
Elizabeth Peters – England 1300s
Sharon Kay Penman – England 1300s
Elliot Roosevelt – Washington, D.C. 1940s
Victoria Thompson – New York early 1900s
Jacqueline Winespear – England early 1900s
 
Historical Nonfiction that Reads like a Novel
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
Endurance by Caroline Alexander
Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Close to Shore: the Terrifying Shark Attack of 1916 by Mike Capuzzo
Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan
Worst Hard Time: the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience & Redemption by Lauren Hillenbrand
Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz
War by Sebastian Junger
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man & a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis by Ben Macintyre
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves by Farley Mowat
 
Horror (Authors)
Clive Barker
Ramsey Campbell
Neil Gaiman
Laurell K. Hamilton
Joe Hill Robert
Ervin Howard
Shirley Jackson
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
HP Lovecraft
Richard Matheson
Robert McCammon
Edgar Allan Poe
Ann Rice
Hideaki Sena
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
R. L. Stine
Peter Straub
Bram Stoker
Karl Edward Wagner

 
Horror (Titles)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde & The Bodysnatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
The Phantom of The Opera by Gaston Leroux
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Tales of Terror and Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Turn of the Screw by Henry James
 
Mash Ups
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters
Emma and the Vampires by Wayne Josephson
Jane Slayre by by Sherri Browning Erwin
Little Vampire Women by Lynn Messina
Little Women and Werewolves by Porter Grand
The Meowmorphosis by Coleridge Cook
Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldsher
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith
Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat
Romeo & Juliet & Vampires by Claudia Gabel
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters
 

Read-alikes: The Glass Castle by Jennifer Walls
All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
All Souls: A Family Story from Southie by Michael P. MacDonald
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child by Elva Treviño Hart
Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found by Jennifer Lauck
Cherry: A Memoir by Mary Karr
A Child Called “It” by David Pelzer
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by
James McBride
Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by  
Alexandra Fuller 
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
Driving with Dead People: A Memoir by Monica Holloway
Fat Girl: A True Story by Judith Moore
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kayson
Learning Joy from Dogs Without Collars by Lauralee Summer
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Lit by Mary Karr
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
The Only Girl in the Car by Kathy Dobie
A Piece of Cake: A Memoir  by Cupcake Brown
Running With Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie
Gregory
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zalickas
The Summer of Ordinary Ways by Nicole Lea Helget
The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer
They Cage the Animals at Night by Jennings Michael Burch
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
 
Read-alikes: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Angels of Morgan Hill by Donna Van Liere 
Big Girls Don't Cry by Connie Briscoe 
Clover by Dorie Sanders 
The Color Purple by Alice Walker 
Four Spirits by Sena Jeter Naslund 
Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas 
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan 
Persia Cafe by Melany Neilson 
Right as Rain by Bev Marshall 
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson  
The Sweet Potato Queen series by Jill Conner Browne 
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Trouble the Water by Nicole Seitz