Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Most Shelved Books in May

Many of our longtime Off the Shelf subscribers have already discovered “Your Shelf” on our website. If you’re new here, you can create your own reading list from books you find on OfftheShelf.com with our “Your Shelf” feature.

To start building “Your Shelf,” simply sign up for an Off the Shelf account. Then, when you see a book you want to add to your reading list, click “Add to Your Shelf” below the book cover, and we’ll save your favorites for you.

These are the 10 “most shelved” books on Off the Shelf right now.

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Dumplin'

by Julie Murphy

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin' is guaranteed to steal your heart. Willowdean, called "Dumplin'" by her former beauty queen mom, has always been at home in her own skin. But when she takes a job at a local fast-food joint and enters into a relationship with a hot former jock, Willowdean starts doubting herself—and her looks. So she sets out to take back her confidence by entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any skinny girl does.

Read, recommend, and repeat these feel-good novels.

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Oh My Stars

by Lorna Landvik

As if growing up during the Great Depression wasn’t enough, Violet Mathers is also abandoned by her mother, mistreated by her father, teased by her schoolmates, and seriously injured in a terrible accident. When her bus to a new life in California breaks down in North Dakota, Violet thinks Fate is having another cruel laugh, but it may actually deliver her to two kindhearted musicians and a chance for real happiness. I first read this book as a teen and thought my sobs were puberty-related, but I read the book again as an adult and the emotional impact was even stronger.

Discover more tear-jerking reads.

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Death by Black Hole

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

One of America's best-known astrophysicists, Neil deGrasse Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies the complexities of astrophysics while sharing his infectious fascination for our universe. Bringing together more than 40 of his essays, DEATH BY BLACK HOLE explores myriad cosmic topics, from what it would be like to be inside a black hole to the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right.

These books for stargazer will make you Neil deGrasse Tyson-smart.

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Illumination Night

by Alice Hoffman

Set on Martha’s Vineyard, ILLUMINATION NIGHT follows the lives of a young blond giant, an old woman at the end of her life, a family torn apart, and a high school girl who brings them all together. An exploration of passion and redemption, this is a classic Hoffman blend of magic and modernity that will leave any reader satisfied.

Add these Alice Hoffman essentials to your TBR.

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The Position

by Meg Wolitzer

Can you imagine anything more horrifying than your parents writing a JOY OF SEX–like book that becomes a mega-bestseller? Paul and Roz Mellow’s four children grow up under the shadow of such Kama Sutra. Sure, it’s the 1970s, but even then no one wanted to learn that much about sex from their parents. If you love Meg Wolitzer’s wit and insights in
THE INTERESTINGS, THE WIFE, and her new one, THE FEMALE PERSUASION, you’ll love her smart, funny, delicious novel THE POSITION, about love and sex and family in all its heartfelt, complicated forms.

Drop everything and pick up these amazing books.

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The Power

by Naomi Alderman

Declared as this generation’s HANDMAID’S TALE (with a blurb from Margaret Atwood!) this speculative novel brings us into a recognizable future, where a vital new force—teenage girls with the power to cause pain and death—drastically disrupts and resets the status quo. The result is a thrilling, thought-provoking, and timely read.

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The Namesake

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri’s beloved novel follows the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta to their new home of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their son, Gogol, is thus forced to walk the difficult path of a first-generation American, navigating loyalty, cultural identity, and love. It is a story of expectations, experiences, and self-definition that will resonate with any reader.

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Red Clocks

by Leni Zumas

With abortion once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization banned, and the rights of life, liberty, and property granted to every embryo, five women from varying circumstances navigate these new barriers while grappling with teenage pregnancy, a longing for single motherhood, and a modern-day witch hunt.

See more recommendations straight off library bookshelves.

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No One Is Coming to Save Us

by Stephanie Powell Watts

In this Gatsbyesque novel, JJ returns home to Pinewood, North Carolina, to build a huge mansion and woo his high school sweetheart. But the ostentatious wealth that JJ has attained forces everyone to consider the cards they’ve been dealt, what more they want and deserve, and how they might go about getting it.

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The Room on Rue Amélie

by Kristin Harmel

Kristin Harmel’s rich and emotional novel follows three characters—Ruby, a newlywed who arrives in the city just as the Nazis are about to invade; Charlotte, a young Jewish girl who watches her life fall apart when the deportations begin; and Thomas, a British Royal Air Force pilot who finds himself forever changed by what he encounters in the City of Light—as fate brings them together under the shadow of the occupation. Together, they must learn to survive, and open themselves to the possibility of a future. If you liked THE NIGHTINGALE or ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE, this would be a great next read.

Read, recommend, and repeat these feel-good novels.

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