
Bel Canto
Ann Patchett
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett is, I think, her masterpiece. (And I’ve read all of her books!) The plot sounds like it’s ripped from an airport thriller: An opera singer is performing at a millionaire’s birthday party when terrorists take the entire mansion hostage. But what happens next is anything but predictable, and the prose is gorgeous. I read it every few years and recommend it to all of my friends.
Buy on Bookshop.org ↗If you liked this, try…

Truth & Beauty
Ann Patchett
Patchett's memoir of her fierce, complicated friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy. One of the great books about platonic love.

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift
Elinor Lipman
A prickly, socially clueless surgical intern gets courted by a fast-talking charmer. Lipman is so good at awkward, funny people.
★ 5Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
The sweeping story of Cal, intersex, and three generations of a Greek American family. Eugenides makes the whole saga sing.