The 2027 Reading Challenge is here! This will be the 9th reading challenge since Jackie and I started Beyond the Bookends. We love seeing how much the challenge has grown and how much all of you have ...

I knew I needed to make a list of my favorite novels set in retirement communities. I read one, and suddenly, I had read so ...

WWII romance books for readers who want a love story with their history: The Bronze Horseman, The Invisible Bridge, The ...

I noticed a trend this year that I love. Some of the best books I read were books with child narrators. These are adult books told from a child’s perspective, rather then books intended for children ...

Looking for the November 2026 Celebrity Book Club Spoilers? You've come to the right place! For years, I've worked with ...

This year, I read a number of books that I loved with a clear antiheroine. These characters are flawed and should be unlikable, yet somehow, I was laughing out loud. I knew I needed to make a list of ...

Every year, Kirsten and I love to find new ways to celebrate books for summer and knew books set on an island would be ...

Kirsten and I recently had a discussion about speculative fiction novels and what constitutes speculative fiction. It turns out that this is a long-running debate in the literary community. We wanted ...

I love a family drama book, but there is something even more captivating about multigenerational novels. I love seeing multiple generations together, connected in some way. Sometimes the generations ...

Ann Patchett, writer extraordinaire and owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, published her newest book in June 2026. Whistler is a perfect pick for a book club because of its themes and the ...