Spring Reading Suggestions

Springtime reading outdoors.

Spring to me means budding trees, crocus and daffodils in bloom, and new books on my nightstand. I enjoy reading books on either a park bench or along the water. Other times, I curl up in my bedroom with the windows open wide. These spring reading suggestions are meant to inspire you to read something new.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

Set in the 1960s, a group of women living in a fictional Northern Virginia town form a book club to discuss Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique.  What transpires is a novel about women and the role they played in both the family and workplace at the outset of the womens liberation movement.

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

Set in England during the 1800s, this is the story of one woman’s desire to protect and encourage other women, defying their domineering fathers and husbands rules.  Women in this secret book group defy the men in their lives simply by reading books.  One woman is sent to a sanitarium because her husband finds her desire to read and learn inconvenient, and he would like to acquire a new wife.

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement. by Sharon McMahon

McMahon is a history teacher who writes to encourage readers beyond her classroom to learn about the people who have made history behind the scenes in America.  Did you know that a former U.S. Senator spent several years in a Japanese internment camp?  And during segregation, one Black teacher managed to build an entire school system using her own money. Written in a chatty tone this book is both engaging and educational.

I See You’ve Called in Dead, by John Kenney

I listened to this on audio during a lengthy drive and found it thoroughly engaging.  Bud, a man who writes obituaries for a living, has lost his ability to write them with feeling.   After a series of embarrassing mishaps, he humorously writes his own obituary and posts it to the internet.  The reader/listener gets to follow Bud Stanley as he learns how to live again and suffer the consequences of his premature death announcement.

Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhanti Gunaratana

After following the Buddhist monks in January who walked across America to raise awareness for peace, I decided to pick up a book on mindfulness meditation.  I read this book and gained insight into what I was missing while conducting my own meditation practice.  This book is meant for beginners and advanced practioners alike.  It will help to guide your focus and provide you with a way to settle your mind wherever you might be.

Best Debut Short Stories 2025 The PEN America Dau Prize, Catapult Press

This anthology of short stories, written by emerging writers from around the world, will expose you to some of today’s newest authors.  The PEN/Dau Prize, began almost ten years ago by the late Robert Jensen Dau, seeks to encourage new authors in the hopes of promoting the next Ernest Hemingway.  To date, previous PEN/Dau winners have gone on to publish full length novels and short story collections.

Please post in the chat to let others know what you are reading.