The WLT staff has cultivated a list of book recommendations for your reading enjoyment. Check out our bookshop for new literary suggestions from your friendly WLT staff every month: https://bookshop.org/shop/WLT
The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Recommended by WLT Executive Director Becka Oliver: “You know that feeling when you pick up a novel you really don’t know much about and – a few pages in – you know for certain it’s going to be special? That’s how I felt when I started Great Circle and it did not disappoint. It transported me in the way I long for a story to transport me – I loved loved loved this book.”
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Recommended by WLT Program Director Sam Babiak: “I haven’t finished this book yet, but I already know it’s going to be one of my favorite collections of all time. These stories are tender, intimate, sexy, sad, and so real they hurt. If you’re looking for a short story collection to fall in love with, this is it.”
Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernandez
Recommended by WLT Office / Member Services Manager Kelsey Williams: “Taking place during and in the aftermath of the Salvadorian Civil War, which lasted from 1979-1992, Claudia Hernández’s Slash and Burn, translated by Julia Sanches, is a meditative and yet searing depiction of several women’s lives and identities in the wake of political trauma and societal upheaval.”
The Creative Gene by Hideo Kojima
Recommended by WLT Member Services / Digital Content Manager Evan Parks: “All too often we look at auteurs and see them as singular geniuses. In this collection of essays, video game auteur, Hideo Kojima, challenges that belief by revealing how his work was influenced and impacted by works that came before. This collection reads like a recommendation list, a treatise on artistry, and a personal look at the artist himself.”
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Recommended by WLT Special Projects Staffer Sloane Smith: “I always look forward to a new book from Ruta Sepetys as it always promises to shed light on moments in history that are often overlooked. I’ve just started this one about the citizen spy network in Romania in the ’80s and am loving it already!
Read one of our recommendations? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought! And if you’re ever looking for more reading material, don’t forget to check out the WLT Bookshop for craft and business of writing book recommendations from WLT instructors and more monthly picks from the WLT staff.
