City Editor Sara here. 👋 If you’re a bookworm like me, you’ve probably checked out the New York Times’ recent “Read Your Way Through Boston” piece and corresponding reading list.
While many of the classics were featured — including “Walden” and “Moby-Dick” — I couldn’t help but notice that some of my favorite contemporary stories set in and around Boston didn’t make the cut.
So, head to your favorite cozy corner and dive into another Boston reading list: this time, BOStoday style.
📚 “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
The plot of this 2022 Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Winner begins when the two main characters, who study at Harvard and MIT, run into each other inside the Harvard T Station. Pick this one up for the local Cambridge scenery, stay for the compelling relationship.
📚 “Writers & Lovers” by Lily King
This book, a must-read for local writers, follows aspiring novelist Casey Peabody as she rents a small living space in Brookline and works through the grief of losing her mother. At the same time, she waits tables in Cambridge and works on her novel.
📚 “The Woman in the Library” by Sulari Gentill
In the mood for a meta literary mystery? This 2022 fiction release takes place at various Boston landmarks, beginning at the iconic reading room of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
📚 “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri
Perfect for those who love intergenerational family stories, the Boston University graduate’s first novel explores the immigrant experience. The story’s protagonist, Gogol, is raised by an arranged Bengali couple after they move to Cambridge.
📚 “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
This 1985 dystopian novel is set in the Boston area, which the author says is because of New England’s puritanical history. The story, often considered a modern classic, takes place in the fictional Republic of Gilead in the midst of a totalitarian society that treats women as property.
Reader recommendations:
- “Mad Honey,” Jodi Picoult
- “The Bell Jar,” Sylvia Plath
- “The Rise of Silas Lapham,” William Dean Howells
- “The Unlocked Path,” Janis Robinson Daly
- “Leaving Coy’s Hill,” Katherine A. Sherbrooke
- “Following Atticus,” Tom Ryan
Turn the page for the next chapter: 20+ more books by authors with local ties.
