Recommendations based on The Sunday Philosophy Clubby Alexander McCall Smith

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Right Attitude to Rain

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur detective, navigates through the complexities of life and love in Edinburgh.

    The delectable new installment in the bestselling and already beloved adventures of Isabel Dalhousie and her no-nonsense housekeeper, Grace. When friends from Dallas arrive in Edinburgh and introduce ... (Goodreads)

  2. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur sleuth, navigates the complexities of love and loss while solving a mystery involving a rare manuscript.

    ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 2 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. Whether ... (Goodreads)

  3. 44 Scotland Street

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Humorous tale of life in Edinburgh, featuring a cast of quirky characters.

    44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 1, The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Jane Austen Book Club

    by Karen Joy Fowler
    Five women and one man form a book club to discuss Jane Austen's novels, but end up discussing their own lives and relationships.

    The Extraordinary, New York Times, Bestseller In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Good Earth

    by Pearl S. Buck
    A story of humble farmers facing the struggles of poverty and the upheaval of social change.

    The story begins on Wang Lung 's wedding day and follows the rise and fall of his fortunes. The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners, lives in the nearby town, where Wang Lung's future ... (Wikipedia)

  6. One Fifth Avenue

    by Candace Bushnell
    The lives of the wealthy and glamorous residents of One Fifth Avenue intertwine in a tale of ambition, betrayal, and scandal.

    From one of the most consistently astute and engaging social commentators of our day comes another look at the tough and tender women of New York City – this time, through the lens of where they ... (Goodreads)

  7. Year of Wonders

    by Geraldine Brooks
    A small English village grapples with the effects of the bubonic plague.

    When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of ... (Goodreads)

  8. The Private Patient

    by P.D. James
    A gripping crime-mystery of murder and secrets, set in a rural English village.

    Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. A welcome ... (Goodreads)

  9. Blue Lightning

    by Ann Cleeves
    A detective unravels a web of secrets in a small town, seeking justice for a murdered girl.

    Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancee, Fran, to his parents. When a woman's body is discovered at the ... (Goodreads)

  10. The History of Love

    by Nicole Krauss
    A journey through a web of intertwining stories, searching for the meaning of love.

    Approximately 70 years before the present, the 10-year-old Polish-Jewish Leopold (Leo) Gursky falls in love with his neighbor Alma Mereminski. The two begin a relationship that develops over the ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Death in Holy Orders

    by P.D. James
    A detective investigates a suspicious death at a remote theological college.

    Dalgliesh visits Saint Anselm's in a semi-official capacity to follow up the death of a student some time previously as the student's father was not satisfied with the verdict. Whilst there, a ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Shipping News

    by Annie Proulx
    A man's attempt to rebuild his life in a small Newfoundland town, discovering compassion and joy.

    The story centers around Quoyle, a newspaper reporter from upstate New York , whose father had emigrated from Newfoundland . Shortly after his parents' joint suicide, Quoyle's unfaithful and abusive ... (Wikipedia)

  13. An Old-Fashioned Girl

    by Louisa May Alcott
    A country girl visits her wealthy city friends and learns valuable lessons about life, love, and the importance of staying true to oneself.

    It was first serialised in the Merry's Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the ... (Goodreads)

  14. Speaking from Among the Bones

    by Alan Bradley
    A young detective investigates the mystery of a decades-old murder in a small English village.

    From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as “one of the most remarkable creations in recent ... (Goodreads)

  15. Olive Kitteridge

    by Elizabeth Strout
    An exploration of the life of a small-town woman, revealing her struggles and emotional complexities.

    Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition – its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. At times stern, at other times ... (Goodreads)

  16. X

    by Sue Grafton
    Private detective unravels a web of secrets to solve a mysterious case.

    The book starts off in third-person narrative by a woman called Teddy Xanakis. Teddy is in the throes of a bitter divorce and trying to ruin her ex-husband Ari, who had an affair with her best ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Jo's Boys

    by Louisa May Alcott
    A heart-warming story of a teacher's impact on her students, and how they overcome obstacles in life.

    Beginning ten years after Little Men, Jo’s Boys revisits Plumfield, the New England school still presided over by Jo and her husband, Professor Bhaer. Jo remains at the center of the tale, surrounded ... (Goodreads)

  18. Love in the Time of Cholera

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    An epic love story spanning decades, exploring the power of true love.

    The main characters of the novel are Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. A secret relationship blossoms between the two with the help of Fermina's ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Eyre Affair

    by Jasper Fforde
    An eccentric literary detective, in an alternate 1985, uses time-travel to save kidnapped characters from classic novels.

    In a parallel universe , England and Imperial Russia have fought the Crimean War for more than a century; England still has a parliamentary government, although heavily influenced by the Goliath ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

    by Alan Bradley
    Flavia de Luce, a precocious 11-year-old chemist and amateur detective, solves another murder mystery in her small English village.

    From Dagger Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction's most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously ... (Goodreads)

  21. Girl in Hyacinth Blue

    by Susan Vreeland
    A painting's journey across time, connecting with its owners and revealing its secrets.

    A professor invites a colleague from the art department to his home to view a painting he has kept secret for decades in Susan Vreeland's powerful historical novel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue . The ... (Goodreads)

  22. Mansfield Park

    by Jane Austen
    Social satire exploring morality and class in 19th century England.

    Fanny Price, at age ten, is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live as one of the family at Mansfield Park, the Northamptonshire country estate of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. There ... (Wikipedia)

  23. To the Nines

    by Janet Evanovich
    An FBI agent and a bounty hunter team up to take down a criminal mastermind.

    Stephanie's cousin and boss, Vinnie, has written the visa bond for Samuel Singh, an Indian immigrant working temporarily in New Jersey. Now he has gone missing, and his landlord, Mrs. Apusenja, ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Right Ho, Jeeves

    by P.G. Wodehouse
    A humorous adventure of a young man and his loyal valet, as they attempt to outwit a nefarious scheme.

    Bertie returns to London from several weeks in Cannes spent in the company of his Aunt Dahlia Travers and her daughter Angela. In Bertie's absence, Jeeves has been advising Bertie's old school ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Known World

    by Edward P. Jones
    A story of a former slave turned landowner navigating the complex social dynamics of Antebellum America.

    One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Known World is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones. The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Thorn Birds

    by Colleen McCullough
    A powerful tale of forbidden love, set in rural Australia in the early 20th century.

    The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Crocodile on the Sandbank

    by Elizabeth Peters
    An intrepid female archaeologist uses her wits to solve a mysterious murder in the Nile Valley.

    Amelia Peabody is left a wealthy orphan after the death of her studious father, who has left her everything in his will because she is the only one of his children who shared his interests, namely ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Hinds' Feet on High Places

    by Hannah Hurnard
    A spiritual allegory of a young woman's journey from fear and despair to joy and freedom.

    With over 2 million copies sold, Hinds’ Feet on High Places remains Hannah Hurnard’s best known and most beloved book: a timeless allegory dramatizing the yearning of God’s children to be led to new ... (Goodreads)

  29. Death of an Expert Witness

    by P.D. James
    A detective investigates a suspicious death in a hospital laboratory, uncovering a sinister conspiracy.

    Dr. Lorrimer appeared to be the picture of a bloodless, coldly efficient scientist. Only when his brutally slain body is discovered and his secret past dissected does the image begin to change. Once ... (Goodreads)

  30. Northanger Abbey

    by Jane Austen
    A young woman's journey of self-discovery, navigating the complexities of high society.

    Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine" and is excessively fond of ... (Wikipedia)