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Anne Thériault's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Anne Thériault recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Anne Thériault's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
From Leonie Frieda, critically acclaimed biographer of Catherine de Medici, comes The Deadly Sisterhood an epic tale of eight women whose lives--marked by fortune and poverty, power and powerlessness--encompass the spectacle, opportunity, and depravity of Italy's Renaissance.

Lucrezia Turnabuoni, Clarice Orsini, Beatrice d'Este, Isabella d'Este, Caterina Sforza, Giulia Farnese, Isabella d'Aragona, and Lucrezia Borgia shared the riches of their birthright: wealth, political influence, and friendship, but none were not exempt from personal tragedies, exile, and poverty.
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Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@jesawyer I just read this book and it was amazing https://t.co/etnNsu0DXJ (Source)

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2

Mrs. Caliban

In the quiet suburbs, while Dorothy is doing chores and waiting for her husband to come home from work, not in the least anticipating romance, she hears a strange radio announcement about a monster who has just escaped from the Institute for Oceanographic Research… Reviewers have compared Rachel Ingalls’s Mrs. Caliban to King Kong, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, the films of David Lynch, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, E.T., Richard Yates’s domestic realism, B-horror movies, and the fairy tales of Angela Carter—how such a short novel could... more
Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@michael_qld It’s a separate book! You didn’t miss anything :) https://t.co/gLO6HKnev9 (Source)

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3
Appointed to conquer the 'crime capital of the world', the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth, and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.

The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches, and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic - not even the Sun King. In a world...
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Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@cvonbostel @deannaraybourn Ohh yeah it is a great book! Less poisoners in Paris these days, hopefully (Source)

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4
With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë's most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette. The... more
Recommended by Anne Thériault, Salley Vickers, and 2 others.

Anne Thériault@SophiaETamaro @annfosterwriter It’s the best Brontë book by far! (But way less discussed than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights) (Source)

Salley VickersI don’t want to decry Jane Eyre—this isn’t an anti-Jane Eyre stance—but I think that it’s a fairy story…In Villette, Brontë’s become a much more mature writer. (Source)

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5
The novel follows the lives of the title characters, a Czech artist named Joe Kavalier and a Brooklyn-born writer named Sam Clay—both Jewish—before, during, and after World War II. Kavalier and Clay become major figures in the nascent comics industry during its "Golden Age." less

Anne Thériault@luzbianca417 Phew! I loved that book so much and then the ending I was just like .... what??? No one is making decisions with this child’s best interests in mind! (Source)

Natasha Lyonne@sepinwall I love this book so much. ♥️ (Source)

Sean Seton-RogersSprawling, well researched, historical story. A true pleasure to read. (Source)

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6

Cleopatra

A Life

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second....
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Recommended by Danielle Morrill, Anne Thériault, and 2 others.

Anne Thériault@annfosterwriter Omg isn’t this book the best?? (Source)

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7
Though largely unknown in the Western world, the seventeenth-century African queen Njinga was one of the most multifaceted rulers in history, a woman who rivaled Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great in political cunning and military prowess. Linda Heywood offers the first full-length study in English of Queen Njinga’s long life and political influence, revealing how this Cleopatra of central Africa skillfully navigated—and ultimately transcended—the ruthless, male-dominated power struggles of her time.

In 1626, after being deposed by the Portuguese, she transformed herself into a...
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Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@hermioneOG Oh thank you. You will love her book! It is so good and so rich with detail (Source)

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8

The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton's twelfth novel, initially serialized in four parts in the Pictorial Review magazine in 1920, and later released by D. Appleton and Company as a book in New York and in London. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making it the first novel written by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and thus Wharton the first woman to win the prize. The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. less
Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@AngstyX I love that book! (Source)

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9

The Rules of Magic

Find your magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets...
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Recommended by Anne Thériault, and 1 others.

Anne Thériault@ushav Oh I love that book. I love it even more than I love Practical Magic. I read it in the bath last winter (Source)

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10

Little Women

A beautiful unabridged 150th Anniversary Edition with 200 original illustrations and a Foreword by Alice L. George entitled "Why Little Women Endures 150 Years Later."

Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. This edition contains both volumes. It follows the lives of the four March sisters--Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy-- from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Although Little Women was a novel for girls, it differed notably from the current writings for children, especially...
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Amy ChuaMarmee is a character that really resonates for me. She’s obviously not Chinese, but she believes that integrity and hard work are the most important things in life. She holds her daughters to very high standards. She doesn’t sugarcoat much. She also reveals to her rebellious daughter Jo, the star of the book and a character loosely modeled on Louisa May Alcott herself, that she had a bad temper... (Source)

Anne Thériault@mmarmoset I love that book so much, and then I got to see Patty Smith perform the year I read it, and she made a Little Women reference during the show, and my heart overflowed (Source)

Jay KleinbergNancy Drew is another series which follows in those footsteps. The book is all led by her. I think if one looks in the magazine literature it would be hard to find a similar character at that time. These were stories initially published in a magazine and then bound together as a book. (Source)

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Don't have time to read Anne Thériault's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.

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11
Emmy-Award winning writer and comedian Josh Gondelman’s collection of personal stories of best intentions and mixed results.

Josh Gondelman knows a thing or two about trying—and failing. The Emmy Award-winning stand-up comic—dubbed a “pathological sweetheart” by the New York Observer—is known throughout the industry as one of comedy’s true “nice guys.” Not surprisingly, he’s endured his share of last-place finishes. But he keeps on bouncing back.

In this collection of hilarious and poignant essays (including his acclaimed New York Times...
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(((Gary Gulman)))I love this guy! But his book! https://t.co/gdfwt09nTf (Source)

Anne ThériaultEvery essay in @joshgondelman’s book is a gosh darn delight. I meant to read one and save the rest for later, but that’s like saying you’re only going to eat one Pringle (only in this scenario, every Pringle you eat makes you feel increasingly great) https://t.co/SYM09LeRjr (Source)

Elan GaleJosh Gondelman is a wonderful human and a great writer. I highly recommend picking up a copy of his new book right away! https://t.co/ioanz3jocw (Source)

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Don't have time to read Anne Thériault's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.