Novels to Connect Us

Vote for a shared story to obsess over in our next Relational Riffs book club.

Dear Relational Riffs Renegades,

You know how we've been exploring the way stories connect us over these past few newsletters? Well, it's time to put that theory into practice.¹ After all, nothing brings people together quite like debating fictional characters' life choices with more passion than we apply to our own.

We’ve discussed the process of connecting through stories. But whether we're analyzing classic literature or modern page-turners, it's not just the stories on the page that matter but the ones we create together in discussion with one another. There's something almost magical about transitioning from strangers to friends through shared "wait, did you interpret that scene the same way?!" moments or collective gasps at plot twists none of us saw coming.

Important Details: Book Club taking place October 8th

Mark your calendars for October 8th, 2025, at 12pm EST (US).² This is your formal invitation to join the most joyful, insight-packed, and transformative book club this side of your therapist's office. I promise laughter, lightbulb moments, and absolutely zero judgment (except for characters who make terrible decisions).

How it Works

1. Read through the book options below

2. Paid subscribers: Scroll to the survey at the bottom and cast your vote by June 1st

3. Any interested folks can join our virtual meetup in October, when we’ll analyze, laugh, and *maybe* dig into some related nerdy social science

4. Magical connections ensue

To our current members: You're brilliant, hilarious, and the reason these meetings feel like hanging out with my smartest, funniest friends.

To potential new members: Come for the books, stay for the community that makes you feel seen, understood, and occasionally snort-laugh in public. And to anyone thinking, “I'd love to join but my wallet is giving me anxiety,” just message me directly. Seriously. This community's worth is measured in insights, not invoices.

[If you love to read but don’t feel like doing it in community, this list of books is still a terrific one. A huge “thank you” to the wonderful book club members who helped put this terrific list of brilliant novels with relational themes: Erin L., Michael H., and

Todd Boucher

(Todd’s terrific Substack is

Whole Leader

).]

Pick the Book That Binds Us

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Select which fictional world will bring our community together for insightful conversations, unexpected revelations, and probably some therapeutic oversharing.³

Here's what's on the ballot:

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Failed novelist Arthur Less, approaching fifty, embarks on a global journey to avoid his ex-lover's wedding. Through humorous and poignant adventures across continents, he confronts his fears of aging, professional obscurity, and what it means to live authentically as both a writer and a man in love.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

In the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon grows up navigating foster care, addiction, and rural poverty. Through his caustic wit and fierce survival instinct, he reckons with his invisibility in a modern America that has abandoned rural communities while exploiting them for resources, challenging readers to see beyond stereotypes of the forgotten corners of Appalachia.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Barnes family grapples with financial ruin and personal crises in small-town Ireland. As patriarch Dickie faces business collapse, his wife Imelda retreats into nostalgia, son PJ falls into conspiracy theories, and daughter Cass prepares to run away. Through their intertwining perspectives, Murray explores family dynamics, class anxiety, and the quest for authenticity in the face of impending disaster.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for extraterrestrial life while raising his unusual nine-year-old son Robin following his wife's death. When Robin faces expulsion for violent behavior, Theo pursues an experimental neurofeedback treatment using his late wife's brain patterns. Through their journey, Powers explores consciousness, ecological grief, and how to honestly share with children the beauty and peril of our endangered planet.

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

When a mysterious island appears between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, it reignites old tensions that threaten war. Commander Vimes of the City Watch navigates political intrigue while battling those who push for conflict. This satirical fantasy explores patriotism and East-West relations through humor and heart, asking what it truly means to serve one's people when nationalist fervor threatens to tear the world apart.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Boylan

Beekeeper Olivia McAfee starts fresh in her New Hampshire hometown with her son Asher, but when his girlfriend Lily is found dead, Asher becomes the prime suspect. As the murder investigation unfolds, Olivia must confront buried secrets and complex truths about identity and love that challenge everything she thought she knew about her child and herself.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Inspired by a real-life hostage crisis, this novel centers on a birthday party for a Japanese businessman in an unnamed South American country. When terrorists seize the gathering, a prolonged standoff creates unexpected bonds between captors and captives from different countries and cultures, all united by the transcendent power of music and the universal languages of art and human connection.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Twenty-year-old single mother Margo starts an OnlyFans site to make ends meet and discovers a talent for digital storytelling. As she navigates this new world, unexpected parallels emerge between her experiences and her father's journey through professional wrestling and addiction recovery, leading to insights about judgment, authenticity, and finding family in unlikely places.

Paid subscribers, cast your vote before June 1! Remember, choosing a book for this crowd is like choosing a therapist for your friends – whatever we pick will lead to meaningful conversations and probably those moments where someone shares something so deeply personal that they'll briefly question their life choices on the drive home. Worth it though!

Cheers to connecting through books,

Yael

P.S. Warning: Reading with this group may cause heightened awareness of defense mechanisms, excessive use of behavioral science terminology in everyday conversation, and an irrepressible urge to overanalyze your friend's partner during brunch. Side effects include deeper connections and occasional bouts of healthy introspection.

1. Like any good behavioral scientist, we all must recognize that any psychological insight we learn is not worth much unless we take action related to that insight. One of my favorite Lori Gottlieb lines is that “Insight is the booby prize of therapy.” That is, if insights don’t translate to change, they aren’t worth much.

2. I’ll send multiple reminders as we near the October meeting date, but for now, I hope you’ll just pop it into your calendar as a placeholder!

3. Book club members will notice that Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is not on this list because one of our members (ahem, Michael!) was so horrified about the misrepresentation of video gaming. If you’re like me and read it thinking you now understand a video gamer’s mind better, well, you, like me, have now been corrected;)