Reading, watching, listening, and gaming recommendations from the staff of the American Writers Museum.
We can’t recommend these books, films, shows, plays, albums, and games highly enough! Check back every month for more entertainment recommendations, from classics that we revisit over and over to new favorites. If you’re looking for your next book or movie or show or whatever, you came to the right place.
Many of our November book recommendations are also available on Bookshop.org, which benefits independent bookstores. We also strongly encourage you to support your local bookstore by visiting them in person or ordering online through them directly.
Let us know what you’ve been into recently in the comments!
“Abigail” by Susie McCollum
This new single by (transparently, a dear friend of mine, but with talent I would admire even if we never met) Susie McCollum is an emotional and dream-like track perfect for the fall season. McCollum draws recognizable influence from Amy Winehouse and Joni Mitchell, but “Abigail” positions this rising indie artist as impressively singular. I mention it in my monthly picks because, along with the airy yet vibrant sonic production, the writing on this track truly stands out. “Abigail” tells the story of a young girl who has run away from home. McCollum’s wise and wistful songwriting evokes nostalgia and reminds listeners that, even in adulthood, wandering can be inevitable. But instead of wandering equating a lack of direction or purpose, McCollum invites listeners to stroll slowly in the warm light. The soft quality and intentionally meandering tempo prompt listeners to swap fear for acceptance and craft their own sense of home.
—Sydney, Curatorial Assistant
The Chair Company created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin
From Rotten Tomatoes: “After an embarrassing incident at work, William Ronald Trosper finds himself investigating a far-reaching conspiracy…Tim Robinson’s volcanic comedic ethos finds an ideal outlet in The Chair Company, a descent into paranoia that finds huge laughs in deeply uncomfortable places.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules edited by David Sedaris
From the publisher: “David Sedaris didn’t write the stories in Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules. But he did read them. And he liked them enough to hand pick them for this collection of short fiction. Featuring such notable writers as Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, Jean Thompson, and Tobias Wolff, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules includes some of the most influential and talented short story writers, contemporary and classic. Perfect for fans who suffer from Sedaris fever, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules will tide them over and provide relief.
—Linda, Director of Development
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
A delightfully written and wonderfully engaging book about a family vacation gone wrong and a haunted Italian villa. A fun, wild take on family dysfunction and belonging. It twists haunted house tropes in the absolute best way. The ending is immensely satisfying.
—Hunter, Storyteller
The Diplomat created by Debora Cahn
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Amid an international crisis, a career diplomat juggles her new high-profile job as ambassador to the United Kingdom and her turbulent marriage to a political star…Keri Russell’s scrappy performance negotiates the best possible terms for The Diplomat, a soapy take on statecraft that manages to make geopolitical crises highly bingeable entertainment.”
—Sonal, Director of Education
Don’t Stop: Why We (Still) Love Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours by Alan Light
From the publisher: “The author of The Holy or the Broken brings his ‘thoughtful and illuminating’ (New York Times) insight to Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album Rumours, celebrating its story, mythology, and enduring impact…From the incredible soap opera behind the album’s creation to its embrace in the age of TikTok, this book presents a kaleidoscopic view of a landmark work that has transcended its time.”
We are excited to host Light later this month at the American Writers Museum. On November 24, he will discuss this book, as well as the significance of spirituality in music as part of the AWM’s American Prophets exhibit and programming series. Learn more and get your tickets here!
—Nate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
From the publisher: “Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters—but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory—failed soldier, struggling scholar—falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives—and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend—if they want to tell a different story—they’ll have to rewrite history itself.”
—Allison, Director of Programs
Frankenstein screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, based on the novel by Mary Shelley
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation…Finding the humanity in one of cinema’s most iconic monsters, Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a lavish epic that gets its most invigorating volts from Jacob Elordi’s standout performance.
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry
If you’ve ever wondered how Michael J. Fox managed to be the lead on one of the most-watched sitcoms in America while simultaneously filming a major Hollywood blockbuster, this memoir answers those questions and more.
—Annie, Education Associate
How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of the Catholic Church’s Biggest Names by Kate Sidley
From the publisher: “How to Be Saint is a compulsively readable and endlessly entertaining ride through Catholicism for anyone who enjoys their history with a side of comedy. From flying friars to severed heads, this book explores the wild lives (and deaths) of saints and pulls the curtain back on the oddest quirks of religious doctrine.”
Sidley joined us as one of the featured panelists at our Faith is Funny event in June. This program was part of our ongoing American Prophets series in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibit. You can watch Sidley and her other funny co-panelists on our YouTube channel here.
—Sonal, Director of Education
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
From the publisher: “Every day in Minor Universe 31 people get into time machines and try to change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician, steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls, Yu visits his mother and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. The key to locating his father may be found in a book. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and somewhere inside it is information that will help him. It may even save his life.”
—Nate, Content & Exhibits Manager
I Love LA created by Rachel Sennott
Only one episode is out so far, but I’m hooked! Girls meets Sex and the City meets Bottoms.
More from Rotten Tomatoes: “A tight-knit friend group gathers after years apart, navigating the complexities of ambition, relationships, and how time has changed them…An irreverent and self-referential comedy speaking to Gen Z existentialism, I Love LA is equal parts funny and cringe thanks to creator Rachel Sennott’s absurdist sensibility.”
—Maya, Marketing & Creative Associate
John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower
From the publisher: “At a high school in a one-stoplight town in Georgia, an English class is studying The Crucible but the students are more preoccupied with navigating young love, sex ed, and a few school scandals. As the students delve into the American classic, they begin to question the play’s perspective and the validity of naming John Proctor the show’s hero. With deep wells of passion and biting humor, this comedy captures a generation mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism, and fury, discovering that their future is not bound by the past and that they have the power to change it all.”
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
Kaplan’s Plot by Jason Diamond
From the publisher: “Elijah Mendes was hoping for a more triumphant return to Chicago. His mother, Eve, is dying of cancer, his business flamed out, and he has nowhere else to go…He discovers that their family owns a Jewish cemetery and that a man he’s never heard of, his great-uncle Solomon Kaplan, is buried in a plot there. With a new sense of purpose—and an excuse to talk more deeply with his mother—Elijah begins pursuing a family mystery of extraordinary proportions…Elijah discovers his grandfather Yitz, Eve’s father, was a powerful gangster in the 1920s. She was ashamed and never spoke about him to Elijah. As secrets unravel, the past and present become intertwined, and Yitz’s story forces Elijah and Eve to bond in ways they never have before and begin to accept each other, not as who they wish they were but as they both are.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow by Halley Feiffer
From the publisher: “Ever since their brother Andrey gambled away the family fortune, Olga, Masha, and Irina have been doomed to the boredom of the Russian countryside. One day soon, they hope, they’ll return home to Moscow and live the exciting lives they were always meant to have. When the military comes to town, bringing with them variety, entertainment, and a whole lot of chaos, Moscow feels closer than ever and it seems the sisters’ luck is about to change. In this contemporary twist on Chekhov’s Three Sisters, one delightfully dysfunctional family navigates the absurdity of class, culture, and love.”
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
The Museum of Future Mistakes by James R. Gapinski
From the publisher: “In ‘Brother and Not-Brother,’ the residents of an entire city transform into perfect copies of the narrator’s deceased brother; these uncanny doppelgängers spark meditations on childhood scars, grief taking root within the body, and how painful memories can bloom into joy, laughter, and love. In ‘The Last Dinosaurs of Portland,’ two anthropomorphic dinosaurs yearn for companionship and empathy while fighting for a meager existence under the weight of past traumas. In ‘Three-Month Autopsy,’ a character visits ex-lovers and returns Ziploc baggies full of their body parts, exploring infatuation, jealousy, regret, and the contours of both giving and receiving within a relationship. Through these and other fabulist and magical realist stories, James R. Gapinski considers our physical relationship with our own bodies, how we process love and loss, and the fragility of identity amid moments of personal crisis.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Persuasion by Jane Austen
For me, Persuasion is a consistent November re-read. Critics regard it as Austen’s most understated novel; I believe the writing is perhaps her strongest. While I love Emma and Pride and Prejudice for their distinct humor, Persuasion displays a more serious kind of yearning between its main characters. The novel’s bittersweet longing feels more nuanced—and more romantic.
Persuasion follows Anne, a 27-year-old woman considered “past her prime” for marriage in the Regency Era, as she reunites with her lost love, Captain Wentworth. Anne was originally convinced by her family to break off the engagement with Wentworth due to his lower social status. When Wentworth re-enters Anne’s orbit, he has gained wealth and notoriety through the navy. The pair attempts to navigate a potential reconnection, despite societal pressure and the pain of the past. With romance books becoming increasingly popular, I implore fans of contemporary romance to give Persuasion, the timeless original second-chance romance, a shot.
—Sydney, Curatorial Assistant
Religion in the Lands that Became America by Thomas A. Tweed
From the publisher: “Until now, the standard narrative of American religious history has begun with English settlers in Jamestown or Plymouth and remained predominantly Protestant and Atlantic. Driven by his strong sense of the historical and moral shortcomings of the usual story, Thomas A. Tweed offers a very different narrative in this ambitious new history. He begins the story much earlier—11,000 years ago—at a rock shelter in present-day Texas and follows Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, transnational migrants, and people of many faiths as they transform the landscape and confront the big lifeway transitions, from foraging to farming and from factories to fiber optics.”
We are thrilled to host Tweed on November 10 for the next installment of our American Prophets exhibit and programming initiative. You can learn more and get your tickets here!
—Nate, Content & Exhibits Manager
Squiggly Lines: A Life in Design by David T. MacKenzie
From MacKenzie: “I fell in love with floorplans at an early age, including the one that I lived in. I loved the sense of order they implied in an unpredictable world where anything could happen. By the age of 16, I had drawn what I imagined to be the insides of every house on my block, and the next block, and the one after that lest I miss something important or something beautiful. So began my relationship with the built environment which would accompany me through a life that was sometimes turbulent but always less so with my constant companion, or as I said in the memoir, ‘with pockets of sublime beauty, with pockets of human habitation rendered in such a way as to make a discombobulated world feel at least momentarily back on track.'”
—Carol, Assistant Director of Development
When Harry Met Sally screenplay by Nora Ephron
For personal reasons and because of its masterful (often duplicated but never matched) storytelling technique, When Harry Met Sally is my favorite rom-com of all time. Its humor is actually laugh-out-loud witty, delightfully snarky, and sprinkled with astute observations about human nature and falling in love. This is an annual rewatch for me, and an autumnal reminder that true love is sometimes slow, but endlessly worth it. Idiots to lovers forever.
If you’re interested to learn more about Nora Ephron, I also recommend checking out the AWM Podcast Network. Ephron was the subject of an episode of Dead Writer Drama with pop culture journalist Erin Carlson, as well as an episode of Nation of Writers with biographer Kristin Marguerite Doidge.
—Sydney, Curatorial Assistant
Wolfpack: The Complete Collection by Larry Hama, Ron Wilson, and John Figueroa
This collection is comprised of the Wolfpack graphic novel and the subsequent Wolfpack 12-issue miniseries. The graphic novel is a more complete story, while the series had too many ideas for the 12 issues to fully explore all of them, so it feels uneven at points. I still think it’s good, and it’s kind of a more obscure outlier in the Marvel world.
Long story short, a group of Bronx teens are trained to be ninjas and fight this ancient evil group called “The Nine.” They’re an interesting and well-written bunch, for the most part, and the art by Ron Wilson is great. You won’t see any Marvel heroes you might be familiar with in this book, which I think is to its credit, because it feels tonally both in and out of that world. I think that’s also in part because this wants to be both a story about cool teen ninjas in the city and a serious story about poverty, gang violence, and drugs. It doesn’t totally succeed at either, but it’s interesting in how it goes about it.
As with much pop culture of the late 1980s, it’s heavily influenced by the War on Drugs, but doesn’t trend towards being too cliche about it. It’s not like a PSA or after-school special, though I suppose one could make the argument it’s a little similar to the latter. Anyway, it’s an entertaining if not totally satisfying read. It’s at its best in the moments where there’s no punching, when our teen leads grapple with things like addiction, child abuse, and the philosophical implications of vigilantism.
—Cassidy, Guest Services Manager
Visit our Reading Recommendations page for more book lists.