Signed First Edition Club
Harvard Book Store

Signed First Edition Club

Each month, Harvard Book Store offers Signed First Edition Club members a signed first printing of a newly published book, selected for both its literary merit and potential collectibility.

Sign up for the monthly Signed First Edition Club today or give a gift membership! You may choose to give a gift membership for six months, one year, or indefinitely. Harvard Book Store Signed First Edition Club

The Signed First Edition Club brings some of the most well-known and well-respected authors writing today to your bookshelf—renowned novelists, essayists, historians, memoirists, and poets—as well as acclaimed debut and emerging authors. Launched in 2007, the club has been a popular service for Harvard Book Store customers and readers across the country for over a decade! Check out the prestigious past selections that have been featured over the years here.

Looking for buzzworthy fiction? Learn about an additional club launched in Spring 2019, delivering four debut fiction titles each year, here. It's called the Signed New Voices in Fiction Club.

Each Signed First Edition Club pick is a first edition and first printing, signed by the author, delivered to you in pristine condition with its jacket in a transparent protective wrapping to extend the life of the book. You'll also receive a specially made Harvard Book Store "Signed First Edition Club" bookmark, featuring a few words from a Harvard Book Store staffer on why they loved this book.

Recent and Upcoming Selections

  • November 2023: Nathan Hill, Wellness
  • December 2023: Justin Torres, Blackouts
  • January 2024: Alice McDermott, Absolution
  • February 2024: Hisham Matar, My Friends
  • March 2024: Margot Livesey, The Road from Belhaven
  • April 2024: Christina Henriquez, The Great Divide

March 2024 Selection

The Road From Belhaven by Margot Livesey

“Raised by her grandparents in the Scottish countryside, Lizzie Craig wants nothing more than to stay on the farm and take care of them when they can no longer run the place. Soon she learns she has the gift of second sight, as well as an older sister who comes to live with them. These two discoveries alter her simple existence. As she grows into adolescence even her extraordinary gift can not stop her from following a boy to the city and making an all too human error. Marot Livesey's new novel is a beautifully written story of family, shame, and redemption through love.”

—Brad L., Harvard Book Store

“A coming-of-age story about abandonment, betrayal and inheritance. The prose is radiant and descriptive.”

 —Laurie Hertzel, The Washington Post

What comes with membership?

Each month, members receive a premium book of recent publication. A collection of signed first editions will enhance any library, and many signed first editions appreciate in value. Also, your membership supports Harvard Book Store, a landmark literary institution, and helps ensure that the store will exist—and continue to host its award-winning author event series—for years to come.

In addition to regular monthly selections, members will also receive exclusive offers on other special limited-edition signed books.

What is a signed first edition? Why is it valuable?

A first edition is the original printing of a book. First editions are distinguished from subsequent printings, as they represent the closest edition in time and intent to the author's original work. A signed first edition is a unique addition to any library, and to dealers and collectors, a signed first edition is the most desirable—and valuable—edition.

Harvard Book Store Signed First Edition Club

What will I receive?

Harvard Book Store’s selections represent the forefront of literary fiction and nonfiction and reflect the acclaimed authors hosted by the store’s award-winning event series. Selections are personally chosen by our discerning staff of readers. View the complete archive of previous club selections here, view recent picks and see why our staff loved these books here, and check out upcoming selections at the top of this page.

The books in this program are guaranteed first editions, first printings, with the author's signature. Each book arrives in pristine condition with its jacket in a transparent protective wrapping to extend the life of the book. You'll also receive a specially made Harvard Book Store "Signed First Edition Club" bookmark, featuring a few words from a Harvard Book Store staffer on why they loved this book.

How much does membership cost?

There is no sign-up cost. All you pay is the publisher's list price on the book ($26 - $30 on average per month) plus a flat shipping and processing charge and Massachusetts sales tax (if applicable). Current terms can be found on the sign-up form.

Can I give a membership as a gift?

Of course! A gift subscription is a thoughtful, sui generis present for loved ones, recent grads, and newlyweds alike. You may choose to give a gift membership for six months, one year, or indefinitely, and you may cancel the membership at any time. You may download and print out a gift insert to give to the recipient. The inserts are available for six months, one year, and indefinite memberships.

Do I have to provide my credit card number?

Yes. In order to efficiently manage this unique program, Harvard Book Store requires that all members provide a credit card number upon sign-up.

How do I update my credit card information?

Credit card information cannot be updated online. In order to update card information, please give us a call at (617) 934-8143, or leave us a voicemail outside of office hours. Please state if you do not want to leave card information via voicemail and we will call you back.

What if I don't want a certain month's selection?

Harvard Book Store stipulates that members with six month and one year memberships may not refuse selections. Those with ongoing memberships may refuse up to two (2) books in a calendar year. To refuse a selection, members must respond within seven days to the title announcement email.

May I return a selection?

All Signed First Edition titles, after purchase, are non-refundable and non-returnable.

Is there a limit to how many people can sign up?

Yes. As signed first editions are difficult to procure in large quantities, Harvard Book Store must limit the number of members. If the member limit is exceeded, a wait list will be started.

Are there additional signed book clubs I can join?

In the spring of 2019 we launched a second signed book club, focusing on debut novels. Learn more about that club at harvard.com/signednewvoices!

I have a question that isn't answered here. Whom do I ask?

Ask a bookseller in the store, call us at (617) 934-8143, or write to signedfirst@harvard.com.

How do I sign up?

Sign up using our secure online form.

Signed 1st Edition Club

Sign Up Form

Join our Signed First Edition Club, or give a gift membership, using our secure online form.

Sign up now, and your first selection will be our April pick, Christina Henriquez's The Great Divide.

» SIGN UP HERE

The above sign-up form also includes current shipping and processing rates as well as the terms of membership. Thank you for supporting Harvard Book Store, a landmark literary institution, with your membership!

Recent Selections

February 2024 Selection

My Friends by Hisham Matar

“A surprisingly quiet and thoughtful novel, My Friends examines the power of meaningful relationships as they unfold across lifetimes. Khaled is a young man when he first leaves his home in Benghazi to study abroad in Edinburgh, full of potential and dreams. Within moments, everything that he and his family envisioned for his future is shattered by an act of striking political violence, leaving him and his peers exiled and alone in a foreign country. Forever severed from his homeland and his previous life, he must forge new goals and new connections with his found family - other exiled artists and activists like himself. Though he’ll grapple with this displacement for the rest of his life, he’ll also find new sources of strength and acceptance through his new friends.”

—Melissa S., Harvard Book Store

“Ambitious and poignant ... A masterly literary meditation on his lifelong themes.”

The New York Times Book Review

January 2024 Selection

Absolution by Alice McDermott

“Absolution, by Alice McDermott, is the story of two American wives, Charlene and Tricia, living in Saigon in 1963 with their civilian husbands, an oil engineer and an attorney.  The two women could hardly be more different.  Charlene is sophisticated, resourceful, and manipulative; she’s full of energy and ideas for relieving the suffering she sees around her and is willing to bend rules and flout convention in order to do so.  Tricia is a naïve 23-year-old newlywed whose highest aspiration is to be a “helpmeet” to her husband.  Charlene recruits Tricia to help in her project of bringing toys to the local children’s hospital, and their odd couple friendship works for a while, but as Charlene’s charitable ambitions grow, so do the risks she’s willing to take.  Told in epistolary form from a distance of sixty years, this little gem of a novel reminds us what the 1960s were like, especially for women, and dissects the charitable impulse and its intersection with privilege, ego, and power.” —Linda S., Harvard Book Store

“This transporting, piercing, profound novel is McDermott’s masterpiece.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

December 2023 Selection

Blackouts by Justin Torres

The 2023 Winner National Book Award for Fiction, from the bestselling author of We the AnimalsBlackouts mines lost histories―personal and collective.

“Intimate, playful . . . a rich, poetic reclamation of cultural inheritance.” ―The Guardian

“[Justin] Torres is back with another book that stretches the boundaries of the idea of the novel . . . I was . . . surprised and enchanted by Blackouts . . . a strange dream-like, reality-like patchwork . . . This is a book about erasure and time, about storytelling and art and science, and also, if you’ll forgive me, about love. I couldn’t put it down.” ―Emily Temple, Literary Hub

“Fascinating, inventive . . . Torres’s intricate web of narratives is gripping from beginning to end. His richly drawn characters are passionate, but painfully self-aware. Attempts to erase or pigeonhole these characters do not rob them of their compassion for each other and the author’s compassion for them. There are echoes of Manuel Puig and of Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. Blackouts is a worthy successor to its classic antecedents.” ―John Clum, New York Journal of Books

November 2023 Selection

Wellness by Nathan Hill

The New York Times best-selling author of The Nix is back with a poignant and witty novel about marriage, the often baffling pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind us together. From the gritty '90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home-renovation hysteria, Wellness reimagines the love story with a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart.

"Gorgeous . . . Wellness has an insistent pull . . . The beauty of Hill’s second novel is that every character is at least a little strange and no one is unworthy of sympathy . . . Few recent novels harbor as much love for humanity as this one does." —The Washington Post

“Wellness is a perfect novel for our age . . . Hill is an immensely talented writer; he has a gift for prose that's elegant but unshowy, and his dialogue consistently rings true-to-life . . . a stunning novel about the stories that we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time — it's beyond remarkable, both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.” —NPR

October 2023 Selection

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

“An unnamed girl, a servant brought against her will to the New World, flees a diseased colony and plunges into the night. Her only hope is to travel hundreds of miles through primeval forest and reach the French hunting grounds in the north. Pursued by her countrymen and wary of the Powhatan, her only thought survival, she forages and hunts her way forward, and by abandoning civilization finds a freedom she has only ever dreamed of.” —Brad L., Harvard Book Store

"Lauren Groff just reinvented the adventure novel. "—Los Angeles Times

September 2023 Selection

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

“Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature.” —The Guardian

“At the age of 24, Lara Kenison is well on her way to a successful career as an actress. Her first movie is about to be released and she has a starring role in a summer stock production of Our Town, plus a summer romance with her co-star who will go on to become very, very famous. At 57, her acting career long behind her, she’s a cherry farmer in Northern Michigan with a loving husband and three grown daughters. This little gem of a book is a reflection on how the life you get isn’t necessarily the life you thought you were going to have, echoing the themes of Our Town, but with a twist: sometimes you get something better. Chekhov fans, expect Cherry Orchard jokes.” —Linda S., Harvard Book Store

August 2023 Selection

Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur

“[An] engaging and neatly plotted novel. . . Little Monsters is so alluring, with its sense of looming familial implosion within a cultural implosion. . . Brodeur is very deliberately examining a small family horror story within a larger political context.” —The New York Times

"The striking physical beauty of Cape Cod and the striking pain of a fractured family are twined together in this moody and elegant novel from Adrienne Broedur. An artist and her aspiring politician brother must confront their long-buried guilt and complicated sibling rivalry in the face of their father's self-induced mental breakdown, bringing darkness to the surface of a number of relationships that may or may not be strong enough to withstand it; there is clearly love in this family, but in the face of betrayal new and deeper cracks appear. Throw in a mysterious unknown woman watching from the periphery and you have a perfect mix of secrets, deception, and extraordinary compassion that is both heartbreaking and mesmerizing. This quietly devastating family saga is rich with psychologically complex characters, with surprising twists in the family dynamics that drive the plot in compelling ways. Adrienne Broedur clearly knows Cape Cod, and her characters, inside and out, and writes with a realism that can only be admired." —Alex R., Harvard Book Store

July 2023 Selection

The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller

From the award-winning author of Our Endless Numbered DaysSwimming LessonsBitter Orange, and Unsettled Ground comes a beautiful and searing novel of memory, love, survival—and octopuses.

In the face of a pandemic, an unprepared world scrambles to escape the mysterious disease causing sensory damage, nerve loss, and, in most cases, death. Neffy, a disgraced and desperately indebted twenty-seven-year-old marine biologist, registers for an experimental vaccine trial in London—perhaps humanity’s last hope for a cure. Though isolated from the chaos outside, she and the other volunteers—Rachel, Leon, Yahiko, and Piper—cannot hide from the mistakes that led them there.

"The Memory of Animals by Costa Award–winning novelist Claire Fuller is an eerie, thoughtful meditation on both isolation and the power of memory. Neffy is a biologist who has left her career under mysterious circumstances and enrolled in a vaccine trial, hoping to slow the spread of a virus that has ravaged the world (not our pandemic; amazingly, this novel was begun before 2020). Through the novel, we learn about the virus and the social dynamics of the trial itself, but we learn even more about Neffy's past, both her shattered career and her relationships with the people she has loved and lost. In the end, it is a book about memory and about imagining a different future." —Rachel C., Harvard Book Store

June 2023 Selection

Greek Lessons

Greek Lessons by Han Kang

A dazzling novel about the saving grace of language and human connection, from the “visionary” (New York Times Book Review) author of the International Booker Prize winner The Vegetarian

"Through Greek Lessons, International Booker Prize winner Han Kang reminds us once more why we fell in love with her in 2016 with The Vegetarian. In her newly translated novel, we are introduced to an Ancient Greek instructor with deteriorating eyesight and his student, who has lost the ability to speak. Translation exists everywhere in Greek Lessons—in the schism that the instructor's blindness creates between his spoken and written language, in the student's inability to transpose her ideas into words—and at times seems impossible to overcome.  Still, through linguistic despair, the two characters find that fragmentation is always an act of creation, creating new pathways to understanding their worlds. In Greek Lessons, we are reminded why we still love to tell stories across the limitations of translation: because, as a fractured mirror can form a kaleidoscope, so too can restructured language create endless new windows to the world." —Jasmine P., Harvard Book Store

May 2023 Selection

Above Ground

Above Ground by Clint Smith

A remarkable poetry collection with "inextinguishable generosity and abundant wisdom" (Monica Youn) from Clint Smith, the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Critics Circle award-winning author of How the Word Is Passed.

"The joys of being a parent to small children are myriad, but so are the trials and so are (especially in 2023) the existential terrors. Clint Smith captures all of the pathos of modern parenthood in his new collection, Above Ground. And while this collection is particularly poignant for parents, it also reflects the contradictions of modern life more broadly. Alongside poems about family breakfasts and FaceTime calls sit poems about the legacy of slavery and the uncertainty of living on a warming planet. Sometimes both in the same poem. It is a scary and sad place, Smith acknowledges, but there's so much joy and hope to be found too." —Rachel C., Harvard Book Store

April 2023 Selection

Birnam Wood

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

The Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries brings us Birnam Wood, a gripping thriller of high drama and kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive.

"Birnam Wood is a struggling anarchist farming collective looking for a home.  When what seems like a natural disaster cuts off a small New Zealand town from the rest of the world they think they might have found one. There's only one problem, an American tech billionaire also has plans for the area. At first it seems as if both groups can get what they want, but after a tragic accident, things go sideways fast and it quickly becomes apparent that their two ways of seeing the world are mutually exclusive.  I'm not sure I would call it a thriller, but it's definitely a page turner with an ending that no one will see coming." —Brad L., Harvard Book Store

Our March 2023 Selection

This Other Eden

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Tinkers, a novel inspired by the true story of Malaga Island, an isolated island off the coast of Maine that became one of the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast.

"In the year 1911, the authorities of the state of Maine evicted a small population of poor, mixed race squatters from Malaga Island, people who had lived there for generations. The theories of eugenics were thriving, and the authorities used these to justify the eviction, sterilization, and the institutionalization of a number of those people. Paul Harding's This Other Eden is not that story, but one based on it. The past can often be viewed as just a long list of crimes, some large and other small by comparison, but they are still all crimes. This beautifully written novel explores one such tragedy that I'm sure most Americans never knew ever happened. I didn't." —Brad L., Harvard Book Store  

Our February 2023 Selection

Brotherless Night

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

Set during the early years of Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war, Brotherless Night is a heartrending portrait of one woman’s moral journey and a testament to both the enduring impact of war and the bonds of home.

"History is an accumulation of stories, filtered and molded into something resembling the truth, but often lacking in nuance and vitality—exsanguinated. In Brotherless Night, V.V. Ganeshananthan reminds us again and again that history begins as the stories of individuals, those who have chosen to take part, and those swept up in its chaos. That conflict is the violence of war as well as the heartrending dissolution of families and friendships and the internal turmoil behind everyday decisions. Brotherless Night tells the story of the early years of the Sri Lankan civil war, in the most intimate, personal sense of "story." It follows Sashi, a young woman dreaming of medical school, whose life shifts and sways in the current of war. Ganeshananthan tells her story with such deep complexity that the reader is drawn into Sashi's life, but also into the ways that her life and the lives of those around her are carried off on currents that the wider world may see as mere ripples and eddies. I will not soon forget it." —Rachel C., Harvard Book Store

Our January 2023 Selection

Small World

Small World by Laura Zigman

From bestselling author Laura Zigman comes a heartfelt novel about two offbeat and newly divorced sisters who move in together as adults—and finally reckon with their childhood.

"Joyce and Lydia carry the scars of a difficult childhood lived in the shadow of their sister, Eleanor, who was profoundly disabled from birth and died at the age of 10. Overlooked by their parents, who were completely consumed with Eleanor’s needs, they coped as best they could. Now after years of living on opposite coasts and both recently divorced, Joyce is thrilled when Lydia calls to ask if she can move in with her; it feels like a new chance to connect. The reality, however, is complicated, and both sisters struggle to understand themselves and each other. Small World is a loving and compassionate portrayal of sisterhood, disability, guilt, joy, and just plain hanging in there. Sometimes that’s the best you can do." —Linda S., Harvard Book Store

Our December 2022 Selection

The FurrowsLiberation Day by George Saunders

MacArthur "genius" and Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with a collection of short stories that make sense of our increasingly troubled world, his first since the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Tenth of December.

"Mary Karr was right when she stated 'George Saunders is the best short story writer in English -- not one of -- the best.' Saunders' newest book only cements his place among the great writers of our time. In his first collection of stories since Tenth of December, he explores memory and hope in an ever so dysfunctional and absurd world. Whether he's talking about an overprotective mother who can't retain focus or a grandfather and grandson coming to terms with deep political unrest and uncertainty, these stories get at the heart of what it means to be human, alive and awake in totally strange and unprecedented times.This is classic Saunders, and like his previous work, these stories will be here for us whenever we need them." —Hannah W., Harvard Book Store

Our November 2022 Selection

The FurrowsThe Furrows by Namwali Serpell

How do you grieve an absence? A brilliantly inventive novel about loss and belonging, from the award-winning author of The Old Drift.

"Namwali Serpell’s second novel declares its intentions from the start: 'I don’t want to tell you what happened. I want to tell you how it felt.' This refrain guides us through a dizzying narrative of loss, trauma, and the inexorable pull of grief. Cassandra 'Cee' Williams is only twelve when her brother Wayne disappears, and though his body is never recovered, his presence consumes her life. Time pushes her forward, but the memories of that awful day reel her backwards, keeping her trapped in an ocean of regret and pain. Complicating her grief is the force of her mother’s denial, so powerful that it sows doubts in Cee herself. When a stranger bearing Wayne’s name and likeness enters her life, Cee is forced to consider the possibility that maybe, somehow, her mother is right. Against the backdrop of a deteriorating family and an uncertain way forward, Serpell constructs a painful yet poignant story about fractured pasts and hopeful futures; and, most importantly, the spaces in between." —Melissa S., Harvard Book Store

Our October 2022 Selection

Our Missing HeartsOur Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

From the number one bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, a deeply suspenseful and heartrending novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear.

"In Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng writes us into a version of the United States that is terrifying in its plausibility. She calls out America’s willingness to select a focus for its fears, to blame and punish that group, and to couch such punishment in the language of safety and patriotism. But by showing us this version of ourselves through the eyes of twelve-year-old Bird, she also captures that transitional moment between childhood and adulthood, when the world is big and scary, but still full of magic and possibility. The result is an indictment, a warning, and a promise: this is what we are capable of, but we can prepare ourselves, and our children, to choose a different path." —Rachel C., Harvard Book Store

Our September 2022 Selection

Mercury Pictures PresentsMercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini's Italy to 1940s Los Angeles—a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.

"Mercury Pictures Presents opens on the studio lot of the eponymous Mercury Pictures International. It’s 1941 and these first scenes play out as wry screwball comedy—the dialogue cracks and sparkles. This buoyancy persists throughout Anthony Marra’s latest novel, and it’s a feat the way Marra extends this delicate and clever (yet deeply empathetic) touch throughout a narrative that spans the globe. From fascism's grip on Europe to America's wartime propaganda machine, we travel up and down family trees and across the interconnected lives of Hollywood filmmakers (many of them unsung and uncredited, many of them immigrants). Page by page, Mercury Pictures Presents shifts effortlessly from domestic melodrama, to spy thriller, to documentary exposé, to classical comedy of manners. The terror of wartime, the regret of youthful mistakes, the clash of ideologies, the push and pull of familial ties across time and oceans—it's all here, woven with care, indelible. And yet Marra also reminds us of the humbling truth that even the bigwigs, headline-makers, and brightest stars of yesteryear eventually fade with time." —Alex M., Harvard Book Store

Past Selections

2023 Selections

  • January 2023: Small World by Laura Zigman
  • February 2023: Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
  • March 2023: This Other Eden by Paul Harding
  • April 2023: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
  • May 2023: Above Ground by Clint Smith
  • June 2023: Greek Lessons by Han Kang
  • July 2023: The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
  • August 2023: Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
  • September 2023: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
  • October 2023: TBA
  • November 2023: TBA
  • December 2023: TBA

2022 Selections 

  • January 2022: These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
  • February 2022: Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
  • March 2022: The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
  • April 2022: The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
  • May 2022: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
  • June 2022: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  • July 2022: Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley 
  • August 2022: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  • September 2022: Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
  • October 2022: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  • November 2022: The Furrows by Namwali Serpell
  • December 2022: Liberation Day by George Saunders 

2021 Selections 

  • January 2021: Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
  • February 2021: My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee
  • March 2021: Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
  • April 2021: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
  • May 2021: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
  • June 2021: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
  • July 2021: Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
  • August 2021: All's Well by Mona Awad
  • September 2021: Bewilderment by Richard Powers
  • October 2021: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
  • November 2021: What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancy
  • December 2021: Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King

2020 Selections 

  • January 2020: Little Gods by Meng Jin
  • February 2020: The Resisters by Gish Jen
  • March 2020: Actress by Anne Enright
  • Summer 2020: Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
  • Summer 2020: The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender
  • Fall 2020: The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey
  • Fall 2020: Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write: An Autobiography in Essays by Claire Messud
  • Fall 2020: Memorial by Bryan Washington

2019 Selections

  • January 2019: The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer
  • February 2019: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
  • March 2019: The Heavens by Sandra Newman
  • April 2019: Sing to It: New Stories by Amy Hempel
  • May 2019: Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt
  • June 2019: The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer
  • July 2019: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
  • August 2019: Chances Are. . . by Richard Russo
  • September 2019: Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh
  • October 2019: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
  • November 2019: Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
  • December 2019: The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

2018 Selections 

  • January 2018: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
  • February 2018: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
  • March 2018: White Houses by Amy Bloom
  • April 2018: The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
  • May 2018: Wrestling with the Devil by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
  • June 2018: There There by Tommy Orange
  • July 2018: Florida by Lauren Groff
  • August 2018: Certain American States by Catherine Lacey
  • September 2018: The Fighters by C.J. Chivers
  • October 2018: Gone So Long by Andre Dubus III
  • November 2018: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
  • December 2018: The Library Book by Susan Orlean

2017 Selections 

  • January 2017: Elizabeth Bishop by Megan Marshall
  • February 2017: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
  • March 2017: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
  • April 2017: The Idiot by Elif Batuman
  • May 2017: Out of Line by Barbara Lynch
  • June 2017: The Leavers by Lisa Ko
  • July 2017: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
  • August 2017: You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
  • September 2017: The Burning Girl by Claire Messud
  • October 2017: Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • November 2017: Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
  • December 2017: Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

2016 Selections

  • December 2016: Swing Time by Zadie Smith
  • November 2016: The Mothers by Brit Bennett
  • October 2016: Mercury by Margot Livesey
  • September 2016: The Nix by Nathan Hill
  • August 2016: The Hour of Land by Terry Tempest Williams
  • July 2016: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
  • June 2016: LaRose by Louise Erdrich
  • May 2016: Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
  • April 2016: Until We Are Free by Shirin Ebadi
  • March 2016: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
  • February 2016: The Past by Tessa Hadley
  • January 2016: Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa

2015 Selections

  • December 2015: City on Fire by Garth Risk Halberg
  • November 2015: The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
  • October 2015: Sweet Caress by William Boyd
  • September 2015: The Visiting Privilege by Joy Williams
  • August 2015: The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
  • July 2015: Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai
  • June 2015: The Green Road by Anne Enright
  • May 2015: Ordinary Light: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith
  • April 2015: From the New World: Poems 1976-2014 by Jorie Graham
  • March 2015: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
  • February 2015: Screening Room: Family Pictures by Alan Lightman
  • January 2015: Let Me Be Frank with You by Richard Ford

2014 Selections

  • December: The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
  • November: Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow
  • October: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
  • September: We Are Not Ourselves: A Novel by Matthew Thomas
  • August: What Is Visible: A Novel by Kimberly Elkins
  • July: The Rise & Fall of Great Powers: A Novel by Tom Rachman
  • June: All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr
  • May: Casebook: A Novel by Mona Simpson
  • April: Cambridge by Susanna Kaysen
  • March: Book of Hours: Poems by Kevin Young
  • February: Ripper: A Novel by Isabel Allende
  • January: Radiance of Tomorrow: A Novel by Ishmael Beah

2013 Selections

  • December: The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • November: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  • October: The Men Who United the States by Simon Winchester
  • September: MaddAddam: A Novel by Margaret Atwood
  • August: The Realm of Last Chances: A Novel by Steve Yarbrough
  • July: TransAtlantic: A Novel by Colum McCann
  • June: The Son by Philipp Meyer
  • May: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel by Anthony Marra
  • April: The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon
  • March: Red Doc> by Anne Carson
  • February: Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories by Karen Russell
  • January: Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück

2012 Selections

  • November: Flight Behavior: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
  • October: Ancient Light by John Banville
  • September: Winter Journal by Paul Auster
  • August: The Collective: A Novel by Don Lee
  • July: Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
  • June: The Green Shore by Natalie Bakopoulos
  • May: Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin
  • April: The Cove: A Novel by Ron Rash
  • March: Mudwoman: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
  • February: The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel by Adam Johnson
  • January: The Flight of Gemma Hardy: A Novel by Margot Livesey

2011 Selections

  • December: The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
  • November: Blue Nights by Joan Didion
  • October: The Marriage Plot: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • September: The Submission: A Novel by Amy Waldman
  • August: The Family Fang: A Novel by Kevin Wilson
  • July: Ten Thousand Saints: A Novel by Eleanor Henderson
  • June: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
  • May: Caleb’s Crossing: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
  • April: Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems by Billy Collins
  • March: Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III
  • February: Ghost Light: A Novel by Joseph O'Connor
  • January: The Fates Will Find Their Way: A Novel by Hannah Pittard

2010 Selections

  • December: Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
  • October: Great House: A Novel by Nicole Krauss
  • September: Freedom: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen
  • July: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
  • June: The Spot: Stories by David Means
  • May: If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Stories by Robin Black
  • April: Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
  • March: The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
  • February: The Infinities by John Banville
  • January: Where the God of Love Hangs Out: Fiction by Amy Bloom

2009 Selections

  • December: Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore
  • November: The Year of the Flood: A Novel by Margaret Atwood
  • October: A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
  • September: Homer & Langley: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow
  • August: That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
  • July: Border Songs by Jim Lynch
  • May: Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin
  • April: Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud edited by Robert Pinsky
  • March: The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
  • February: Cutting for Stone: A Novel by Abraham Verghese

2008 Selections

  • November: Sea of Poppies: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh
  • August: Man in the Dark: A Novel by Paul Auster
  • July: The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
  • June: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski
  • March: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
  • February: The Soul Thief: A Novel by Charles Baxter
  • January: Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership by Madeleine Albright

2007 Selections

  • December: The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! by Roz Chast
  • November: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
  • Introductory Title: Other Colors: Essays and a Story by Orhan Pamuk

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