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October 21, 2025

We have been teasing this for a while, so I am THRILLED to officially announce our very special 25th Anniversary Feature, which includes a BIG contest that we had fun pulling together.

We looked back and created a list of the most discussed books each year since ReadingGroupGuides.com launched in 2000 --- and yes, doing this brought up a whole swell of memories and a lot of discussion.

Heather Aimee O'Neill, author of The Irish Goodbye

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat: A friend’s brother was killed, the resulting lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. When the eldest, Cait, invites a guest from their shared past to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves --- and one another.

Megha Majumdar, author of A Guardian and a Thief

In a near-future Kolkata beset by flooding and famine, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen. Set over the course of one week, A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage; and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes whose consequences he cannot fathom.

Mitch Albom, author of Twice

When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try --- for better or worse. Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment. But as the years pass, Alfie’s eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing that if he gives in to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.

Editorial Content for Amity

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Teaser

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER comes a gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage.

Promo

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER comes a gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage.

About the Book

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER comes a gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage.

New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they’ve been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the postbellum South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return.
 
When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June’s tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman’s journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who will stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn't always given --- sometimes, it must be taken by force.
 
As in his 
New York Times bestselling debut, THE SWEETNESS OF WATER, Nathan Harris delves into the critical years of the Civil War’s aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society still determined to return its Black citizens to bondage. Populated with unforgettable characters, AMITY is a vital addition to the literature of emancipation.

Editorial Content for At Last

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Teaser

Set in mid-century America, AT LAST explores a rich family saga centered on two fierce and competitive matriarchs whose intertwined lives reflect the complexities of family, tradition and personal ambition.

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Set in mid-century America, AT LAST explores a rich family saga centered on two fierce and competitive matriarchs whose intertwined lives reflect the complexities of family, tradition and personal ambition.

About the Book

Set in mid-century America, AT LAST explores a rich family saga centered on two fierce and competitive matriarchs whose intertwined lives reflect the complexities of family, tradition and personal ambition.

Helene Simonauer and Evelyn Turner are two formidable women whose paths cross when their children marry. Both women are sharp, cunning and unwavering in their conflicting beliefs about marriage, responsibility and family and, most pressingly, their efforts to vie for the love of their shared granddaughter. 

AT LAST paints a vivid portrait of the American Midwest, capturing the essence of a time and place where societal norms and personal aspirations often clashed. Marisa Silver’s narrative weaves together the lives of Helene and Evelyn, from their vastly different childhoods through the pivotal events that define them. Both intimate and expansive, and capturing the complexities of ambition and love with humor and insight, AT LAST is a testament to what happens when an unintended, even unwanted relationship turns out to be a central one that defines a life.

Editorial Content for The Correspondent

Teaser

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, THE CORRESPONDENT is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person.

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Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, THE CORRESPONDENT is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person.

About the Book

Discover the word-of-mouth hit hailed by Ann Patchett as “[a] cause for celebration” --- an intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love.

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle.... Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, THE CORRESPONDENT is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Throughout her life, Sybil Van Antwerp has used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past 10, Sybil sits down to write letters --- to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has. A mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee and distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.

Editorial Content for I Am You

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Teaser

A mesmerizing historical novel, I AM YOU is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned still-life painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.

Promo

A mesmerizing historical novel, I AM YOU is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned still-life painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.

About the Book

This “lush, sexy, absorbing novel” of historical fiction “brings to life two artists who are inextricably linked in passion and competition” (Melissa Febos, bestselling author of GIRLHOOD).

A “captivating” lesbian romance set in the “wonderfully atmospheric” art world of 1600s Amsterdam (Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit).

At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel Dutch family. When their brilliant and beautiful daughter, Maria, sees through Gerta’s ruse, she insists that Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam and help her enter the elite, male-dominated art world.

While Maria rises in the ranks of society as a painting prodigy, Gerta makes herself invaluable in every way: confidante, muse, lover. But as Gerta steps into her own talents, their relationship fractures into a complex web of obsession and rivalry --- and the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything.

A mesmerizing historical novel, I AM YOU is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned still-life painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.

Editorial Content for The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes

Teaser

A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day unites three women --- and their secrets --- in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

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A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day unites three women --- and their secrets --- in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

About the Book

A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day unites three women --- and their secrets --- in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

London, 2024: American expat Margo Reynolds is renowned for her talent at sourcing rare antiques for her clients, but she’s never had a request quite like this one. She’s been hired to find a mysterious book published over a century ago. With a single copy left in existence, it has a storied past shrouded in secrecy --- and her client isn’t the only person determined to procure it at any cost.

Havana, 1966: Librarian Pilar Castillo has devoted her life to books, and in the chaotic days following her husband’s unjust imprisonment by Fidel Castro, reading is her only source of solace. So when a neighbor fleeing Cuba asks her to return a valuable book to its rightful owner, Pilar will risk everything to protect the literary work entrusted to her care. It’s a dangerous mission that reveals to her the power of one book to change a life.

Boston, 1900: For Cuban school teacher and aspiring author Eva Fuentes, traveling from Havana to Harvard to study for the summer is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s a whirlwind adventure that leaves her little time to write, but a moonlit encounter with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. The story that pours out of her is one of forbidden love, secrets and lies…and though Eva cannot see it yet, the book will be a danger and salvation for the lives it touches.

Editorial Content for The Wilderness

Teaser

THE WILDERNESS is an era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their 20-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlife.

Promo

THE WILDERNESS is an era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their 20-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlife.

About the Book

An era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their 20-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlife --- in the much-anticipated second book from National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy.

Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early 20s and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood --- overwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequences --- swoops in and stays.

Desiree and Danielle, sisters whose shared history has done little to prevent their estrangement, nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January has a relationship with a “good” man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper-middle-class family, who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.

As these friends move from the late 2000s into the late 2020s, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another --- amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.

THE WILDERNESS is Angela Flournoy’s masterful and kaleidoscopic follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, THE TURNER HOUSE. A generational talent, she captures with disarming wit and electric language how the most profound connections over a lifetime can lie in the tangled, uncertain thicket of friendship.