This month, we’re celebrating the second birthday of Off the Shelf! We love sharing great books with great readers. To celebrate two years of amazing recommendations, we’ve excerpted some of our favorite reviews below. You can’t go wrong with any of these books.
It’s Our Birthday!
A Man Called Ove
“If you like to laugh AND feel moved AND have your heart applaud wildly for fictional characters, you will certainly fall for the grumpy but lovable Ove (it’s pronounced “Oo-vuh,” if you were wondering).”
A Man Called Ove
“If you like to laugh AND feel moved AND have your heart applaud wildly for fictional characters, you will certainly fall for the grumpy but lovable Ove (it’s pronounced “Oo-vuh,” if you were wondering).”
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About Grace
“From midpoint on, this extraordinary novel is about Grace—about finding Grace. In every way.”
Read Betsy Burton’s review here.
About Grace
“From midpoint on, this extraordinary novel is about Grace—about finding Grace. In every way.”
Read Betsy Burton’s review here.
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The Opposite of Loneliness
“A collection of short fiction and personal essays, THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS reads like your early twenties in real time, touching on friendship, love, jealousy, self-discovery, family, and the one thing you’ll always love, no matter what: your first car.”
The Opposite of Loneliness
“A collection of short fiction and personal essays, THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS reads like your early twenties in real time, touching on friendship, love, jealousy, self-discovery, family, and the one thing you’ll always love, no matter what: your first car.”
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Hyperbole and a Half
“I have read very few books in my life that compelled me to laugh so loudly in public that it made the people around me visibly uncomfortable. Allie Brosh’s HYPERBOLE AND A HALF is one of them.”
Hyperbole and a Half
“I have read very few books in my life that compelled me to laugh so loudly in public that it made the people around me visibly uncomfortable. Allie Brosh’s HYPERBOLE AND A HALF is one of them.”
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Gone to Soldiers
“More than 750 pages long, GONE TO SOLDIERS can definitely be intimidating, and I knew when I picked up this novel that it would need to be extraordinary in order to hold my attention for a few weeks. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.”
Gone to Soldiers
“More than 750 pages long, GONE TO SOLDIERS can definitely be intimidating, and I knew when I picked up this novel that it would need to be extraordinary in order to hold my attention for a few weeks. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.”
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They Marched Into Sunlight
“The cast of characters is vast, and this warmly peopled book owes a portion of its grandeur to Maraniss’s empathic gift for giving them new life. As a result the book has a beating pulse and a heart that reveals itself as vulnerable yet stout.”
They Marched Into Sunlight
Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Maraniss tells the epic story of Vietnam and the 1960s through the events of a few gripping, passionate days in October 1967, including the student riot at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, when protesters tried to stop Dow Chemical, the maker of napalm, from recruiting on campus.
Read the full review of THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT here.
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The Rosie Project
“THE ROSIE PROJECT is a novel for people who love romantic comedy, but also for people (like me) who don’t think they like romance and are looking for something funny and relatable.”
The Rosie Project
The protagonist of Graeme Simsion’s romantic comedy THE ROSIE PROJECT is the most refreshingly unique, honest, and hilarious character I have read in a long time. I don’t generally read romantic comedies, but this one stole my heart right from the first paragraph.
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The Light Between Oceans
“The world is full of decent people making disastrous decisions. I love a book that can find the beauty in that.”
Read Susan Crandall’s review here.
The Light Between Oceans
“The world is full of decent people making disastrous decisions. I love a book that can find the beauty in that.”
Read Susan Crandall’s review here.
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I Am Pilgrim
“For me, I AM PILGRIM was a game changer. It raised the bar for international spy thrillers and became the benchmark for all future reads. It’s rich in detail and character, full of heart-racing action, and terrifying in its plausibility. It has heart and has you questioning your own beliefs.”
I Am Pilgrim
“For me, I AM PILGRIM was a game changer. It raised the bar for international spy thrillers and became the benchmark for all future reads. It’s rich in detail and character, full of heart-racing action, and terrifying in its plausibility. It has heart and has you questioning your own beliefs.”
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On Writing
“Nothing I have ever read about the writing life has moved or inspired me more. Whether or not you are a King fan, whether you are a professional writer or have never written a word, this is essential reading on the art of writing and the art of life.”
On Writing
“Nothing I have ever read about the writing life has moved or inspired me more. Whether or not you are a King fan, whether you are a professional writer or have never written a word, this is essential reading on the art of writing and the art of life.”
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Where Are the Children?
“My grandmother read every one of Clark’s novels, but I could see why she kept WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN? It is classic spine-tingling suspense; even David Foster Wallace kept a copy in his personal library and taught it in fiction classes at Illinois State University.”
Where Are the Children?
“My grandmother read every one of Clark’s novels, but I could see why she kept WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN? It is classic spine-tingling suspense; even David Foster Wallace kept a copy in his personal library and taught it in fiction classes at Illinois State University.”
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The House of the Spirits
“It was an enormous pleasure for me to reread this book three decades after it first made its mark on me. I found myself still enraptured by the words of these women, still dazzled by the magic potion that is Isabel Allende’s gift for storytelling. And as I reached the final page, I smiled in wonderment at the forces that led me to where I am today, and was thankful for the reminder that our future is written in the stars.”
The House of the Spirits
“It was an enormous pleasure for me to reread this book three decades after it first made its mark on me. I found myself still enraptured by the words of these women, still dazzled by the magic potion that is Isabel Allende’s gift for storytelling. And as I reached the final page, I smiled in wonderment at the forces that led me to where I am today, and was thankful for the reminder that our future is written in the stars.”
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