Most recommended books

The Year of Magical Thinking

by Joan Didion

Recommended in 7 interviews and reading lists

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Who recommends it

  1. The Best Books On GriefReading list
    “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion is a powerful and deeply personal book that explores the author’s experience of grief and loss following the sudden death of her husband and the serious illness of her daughter. The book traces the events leading up to and following the death of John Gregory Dunne…
  2. The Most Life Changing BooksReading list
    The Year of Magical Thinking is a life-changing book by Joan Didion about how to live life after a traumatic event. The book centres around the death of Didion’s husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and how she coped with his passing. The year following his death was filled with grief, confusion, and self-doubt for…
  3. Lindsay AmerInterview
    This is a tough question because there are a couple of different ways to do this! What I’m wondering is if we’re teaching them about humanity through these books, or are we just trying to show off the best of our literary works? Also if we’re trying to educate them, are we trying to get them up to date on what the…
  4. Laura McKowenInterview
    Dry by Augusten Burroughs – he’s one of my absolute favorite writers, and I think this is his best memoir (he has several). The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – simply one of the most incredibly writers. The Secret History by Donna Tartt – she’s best known for Goldfinch, but I believe this is her best work…
  5. Jeremy ZuckermanInterview
    Ninety-Two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Spike by Damien Broderick, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald, The Soundscape by R. Murray Schafer, The ‘Rama’ series by Arthur C. Clarke, The Rosy…
  6. Bari TesslerInterview
  7. The Best Non-Fiction Books of 2025Reading list
    Brooks alternates between the immediate aftermath of Tony’s death—the bureaucratic nightmares, the rushed funeral planning, the struggle to tell their sons—and a 2023 retreat to a remote island off Tasmania, where she finally allowed herself to truly grieve. The result is a book that feels both achingly intimate and…

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