Read This is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire who recommends three books* they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love.

Read This: Lindsay Hunter

Lindsay and I met in 2023 when she interviewed me about my novel, The Memory of Animals as part of the US book tour for the book, at the wonderful bookshop in Chicago, Exile in Bookville. She was (is) so lovely and enthusiastic and funny, that we’ve stayed in touch. She gave me a proof of her latest novel, Hot Springs Drive, and unsurprisingly I loved this too, wrote her a quote for the cover and posted a mini review of it on Instagram. I highly recommend it. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

(*Why am I not surprised that Lindsay cheated and gave me four recommendations?)

I’m Lindsay Hunter, author of five books. My latest novel, Hot Springs Drive, was named one of the best thrillers of 2023 by the Washington Post. I host I’m a Writer But, a podcast about writers and their lives. I live in Chicago with my family. 

I’m excited to recommend the following books to you! These are titles that have stayed with me ever since I had the pleasure of reading them. They inspire me in my own writing, and show me that there are no limits, only those I’ve imposed on myself. Also, and this is important: they are a blast to read.

Here are Lindsay’s recommendations:

Subdivision by J. Robert Lennon

An unnamed woman checks into a guesthouse in a mysterious district known only as the Subdivision. This woman walks downstairs and discovers her hosts working on a puzzle. She peers at it, is asked if she’d like to help complete the puzzle, but there’s something the woman must do. She’s got something she has to do! What is it? Where is she? Where was she? This book is eerie, funny, poignant, singular, and my favorite: weird. 

The Healing Circle by Coco Picard

A mother abandons her family in California to pursue a miracle cure in Munich. Once she gets there however, she wonders if she might have already died. The book is spare and exacting, very funny, surreal, and so human. I had the pleasure of interviewing Coco for my podcast, and she said in revision she worked to “make space for the reader.” I’ve never forgotten that, as there is plenty of space for you, reader, to find yourself at Mother’s bedside, and take a look around for yourself.

Love and Trouble by Claire Dederer

Claire Dederer is a happily married mother of two, ages nine and twelve, when she suddenly finds herself totally despondent and, simultaneously, suffering through a kind of erotic reawakening. We’ve all had those moments where we realize we are existing in all times of our lives, all at once. We are the horny teenager and the horny 40-something. We are both child and mother. We are crowded and alone. This book is full of humor and insight and is an absolutely essential read.

Dear Edna Sloane by Amy Shearn

Edna Sloane was a promising author at the top of her game. Then she disappeared and was largely forgotten. A young author makes it his mission to find her, to figure out why she disappeared at the height of her fame, and to find his own way in to the writing world. This epistolary novel is fresh and yearning and hopeful and wry, and as soon as I finished reading it I rushed to my laptop to write.

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I’ve read, and loved, Claire Dederer’s latest book, Monsters, which asks questions about how fans should react when an artist is morally bad. It was so interesting that I’m definitely going to put Love and Trouble on my list of books to read. And of these four sound interesting to you? Let me know. And if you’d like to be told about future Read This recommendations, you can follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter.

More Read This: Books Under the Radar

Lou Morrish author of Women of War
Francesca Ramsay author of Pinch Me
Sarah Leipciger author of Moon Road
Tim Chapman university librarian
Juliet West author of The Faithful
Lindsay Hunter author of Hot Springs Drive