WSJ’s Top Book Recommendations-Cary Regional

Discover the best books of the year, handpicked by the editors of The Wall Street Journal. From thought-provoking nonfiction to engrossing fiction, our Top Book Recommendations offer a curated list of exceptional reads that will inform, inspire, and entertain. Featuring titles from acclaimed authors and emerging voices, our selection spans genres and subjects, ensuring there's something for every reader. Dive into the world of ideas, stories, and perspectives that will change the way you think, feel, and see the world.

Showing 1 - 3 of 3  There are a total of 302 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "A complicated kindness"
Star rating for A complicated kindness
Average Rating:
4 stars
Notes:
Ranked #3 as Best Book on Life In Small Towns in the WSJ on July 25-26th, 2025.
Description:
Doomed to work at the Happy Family Farm, a chicken slaughterhouse in a town run by a Mennonite community, sixteen-year-old Nomi Nickel nevertheless manages to bear witness to the dissolution of her family with a dark, sly wit.
Book cover for "The queen of Dirt Island"
Star rating for The queen of Dirt Island
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"You'll never truly understand love until you've read Donal Ryan: a searing, jubilant story about four generations of women and the fierce devotion that binds them together The Aylward women of Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland, are mad about each other, but you wouldn't always think it. You'd have to know them to know that-in spite of what the neighbors might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes-their house is a place of peace, filled with...
Book cover for "The Spinach King"
Star rating for The Spinach King
Description:
"They say behind every great fortune there is a great crime. At Seabrook Farms, the troubling American histories of race, immigration, and exploitation arise like weeds from the soil. Great Migration Black laborers struck against the company for better wages in the 1930s, and Japanese Americans helped found a 'global village' on the farm after World War II. Revealing both C. F. and Jack Seabrook's corruption, The Spinach King undermines the 'great...