Your latest TV obsession has just ended, so drop the remote and pick up one of these book recommendations based on must-see TV
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.Learn more.
25 Book Recommendations Based on TV Shows You Love
Updated on Sep. 30, 2024
On Sale
If you like Only Murders in the Building, read The Maid by Nita Prose
The delightfully quirky Only Murders in the Building stars real-life best friends Steve Martin and Martin Short as two neighbors who try to solve a murder that takes place in their fancy Upper West Side building. Along with their equally quirky pal and fellow neighbor, Mabel (played by Selena Gomez), they decide to make a podcast out of what they discover as they investigate the case—along with a star-studded cast.
In Nita Prose’s charming 2022 murder mystery, The Maid, protagonist Molly is just as quirky as Mabel and is doing her best to navigate life as a 25-year-old hotel maid. When she discovers a wealthy guest dead in his bed, the police decide she must have done it, which means Molly and her pals have to solve the murder on their own—before it’s too late. Like Only Murders, Prose’s novel is a cozy mystery that’s as much about murder as it is about the charming characters.
On Sale
If you like The Bear, read Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
The intense FX dramedy The Bear depicts the pressures of running a commercial kitchen as it takes viewers inside The Original Beef of Chicagoland, the sandwich shop that Michelin-starred chef Carmy has inherited after his brother’s death. You’ll laugh as personalities clash in the kitchen and feel the tension as Carmy attempts to transform the run-down shop into an upscale eatery. The award-winning series (it’s collected 17 Emmys to date) is one part stress, one part humor and all heart.
If you want to turn up the dial, try getting a peek behind the scenes at an established high-end New York City restaurant—the setting of Sweetbitter. This 2017 coming-of-age novel by Stephanie Danler centers on a twentysomething girl who lands a job working in the front of the house at a celebrated fine-dining establishment in Manhattan. The insights into life in the food industry are, in turns, glamorous and grimy, and the descriptions of the food are nothing short of chef’s kiss.
On Sale
If you like The White Lotus, read Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer
With an unbeatable ensemble cast, HBO’s hilarious dark drama The White Lotus focuses on guests at the exclusive White Lotus hotel, deliciously satirizing the wealthy. If you’re hungry for more drama featuring an eat-the-rich theme or vacations gone wrong, you’re in for a treat.
In MJ Wassmer’s Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend, which came out in 2024, a couple heads to paradise for a dream vacation. And it would’ve been a dream—if the sun hadn’t exploded and plunged paradise into darkness and mayhem. When elite guests stage a coup, class tensions rise—and the clever social commentary commences. The consensus: Five stars, would recommend.
On Sale
If you like This Is Us, read The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
Fans of NBC’s Emmy-winning family drama were distraught when it ended in 2022 after six seasons. The story of married couple Rebecca and Jack (Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia) focused on the current lives of their three children and how the loss of their father when they were young profoundly affected them. (That’s not a spoiler! The first episode of This Is Us reveals that Ventimiglia’s character died when the kids were 17.)
This is where The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith will fill a void. Released in 2022, it tells the tale of Greta James, a musician whose mother (and best friend) suddenly dies. Greta struggles deeply with the loss and wonders if she’ll ever be able to sing again, but after agreeing to go on an Alaskan cruise with her somewhat estranged father, she rediscovers the man she grew apart from years ago—and she finds an unlikely new friend and romantic partner. Like This Is Us, Greta James proves that there is life after loss.
On Sale
If you like Hacks, read The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley
Max’s award-winning dramedy Hacks tells the tale of a very unlikely pairing: an aging comedian (obviously modeled after the late Joan Rivers) and a self-centered millennial comedy writer who is forced by her agent to help the comedian punch up her act. Who knew they would have so much to teach each other? If you raced through all three seasons and are desperate for another intergenerational friendship story to fill the void until Season Four lands, we’ve got you.
Colleen Oakley’s fifth novel, published in 2023, is equally charming and heartwarming. The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise follows the odd-couple pairing of a 21-year-old college dropout and an 84-year-old woman who end up on a cross-country road trip trying to outrun their pasts—and the police. Told from the perspective of both Tanner and Louise, the book—while chock-full of witty banter—is, like Hacks, less about jokes and more about friendship and what it means to be a woman in the world.
On Sale
If you like Bridgerton, read Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Sure, the obvious choice for books like Bridgerton would be the Bridgertons series—the Netflix period drama is based on the romantic historical fiction books by Julia Quinn. But why not read about other upper-class Brits in the 1800s who are also dealing with Jane Austen–worthy levels of drama and affairs of the heart?
In Evie Dunmore’s 2019 historical fiction book, Bringing Down the Duke, the poor but brilliant Annabelle, a local vicar’s daughter, gets a scholarship to college on the basis that she help promote the women’s suffrage movement. She decides to try and convince an obstinate and high-powered duke to get on the “right side of history.” Though their social standings do not match whatsoever, their chemistry is undeniable.
On Sale
If you like Ted Lasso, read Fever Pitch by Nick Hornsby
Fans lamented the loss of Ted Lasso and his shortbread cookies served with a side of quippy life lessons when the series ended in 2023 after just three seasons. The comedy about an American football coach recruited to coach a “football” (translation: soccer) team in the U.K. was beloved for its side-splitting humor and the emotional resonance of the characters navigating their lives on and off the field. And yes, there’s talk about reviving the award-winning show for a fourth season, but until that happens, you’ll have to pick up a book that hits the same notes.
Nick Hornsby’s 1998 memoir, Fever Pitch, hilariously chronicles his life from adolescence to adulthood against the backdrop of his near-mad level of passion for football. While best known for his novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, Hornsby has written a football-fanatic memoir that will fill the Ted Lasso–size hole in your heart.
On Sale
If you love Stranger Things, read My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Fans of ’80s sci-fi and horror can’t get enough of this Netflix series, which follows a group of kids and a few of their adult allies as they battle the evil that lives in their small town. While the show has certainly been embraced by the young adult crowd, it’s fun for all ages. (But beware: The current season is pretty gory!)
OK, so what are our book recommendations based on TV shows like Stranger Things? We’ll stick with the ’80s setting and YA audience—and won’t skimp on the horror. And we can do all that with Grady Hendrix’s 2016 novel.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism has the same throwback vibes (it’s also set in the late ’80s) and a vintage-looking cover to boot. The book tells the story of two best friends who are navigating high school life together—the good, the bad and the complications that come with being a teenage girl. When an evening of swimming goes wrong, the teens have to work together to combat evil—or in this case, the devil himself.
On Sale
If you like The Flight Attendant, read Hostage by Clare Mackintosh
While The Flight Attendant doesn’t always take place on an airplane, it does follow the life of a first-class international flight attendant who meets a handsome stranger on one of her flights, drunkenly spends the night with him and wakes up to find him brutally murdered. She knows she didn’t commit the crime—well, she’s pretty sure she didn’t—but her alcoholism has her wondering exactly what happened, and she does her best to find out before she becomes the leading suspect.
If you’re a fan of the series, Clare Mackintosh’s high-stakes Hostage, published in 2021, should definitely be on your list of must-read books. It takes place entirely on an airplane from London to Sydney, which still has 20 hours to go when flight attendant Mina receives a note telling her to do exactly as instructed—or else her daughter and husband will die. Mina is faced with a terrible choice: save the people she loves or several hundred strangers.
On Sale
If you like Yellowjackets, read Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Think of Showtime’s suspenseful series Yellowjackets as Lost meets Castaway meets The Beach—except all the characters are high school girls, whose plane crashes in the wilderness while they’re on their way to a soccer tournament. The survivors have to band together to try and stay alive, but food is scarce, and something evil lurks where they crashed, causing them to slowly lose their minds and turn on one another.
If you’ve binged both seasons, get lost in Wilder Girls. Like Yellowjackets, this 2019 YA novel is a take on Lord of the Flies that follows a group of girls trying to survive in the wilderness. And as in Yellowjackets, all is not as it seems. Don’t let the YA categorization scare you off; Wilder Girls is an expertly crafted survival story filled with unsettling horrors and an empowering feminist message.
On Sale
If you like Grace and Frankie, read The Big Finish by Brooke Fossey
Who says getting older isn’t fun—or, in the case of Grace and Frankie, funny? This hit Netflix series stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as single older women who become friends after their husbands leave them for each other. Though the two women are incompatible at first, they end up navigating their family lives, love lives and careers together. By the time the series ended in 2022, Grace and Frankie were more than friends; they were family.
The Big Finish also pairs up two unlikely pals. In this feel-good novel from 2020, an 88-year-old man named Duffy and the young granddaughter of his nursing home roommate end up on an adventure that includes motorcycling, hitchhiking and bar hopping. Like Grace and Frankie, this heartwarming tale looks at aging not as a death sentence but as a chance to be who you are without regrets.
On Sale
If you like Pachinko, read Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See
The Apple TV+ series Pachinko follows several generations of a Korean family through life’s trials and tribulations. Epic in scope, the historical saga spans from the 1930s to the 1980s and touches on life under Japanese rule in annexed Korea and the poor treatment of immigrants in Japan. When it comes to book recommendations based on TV shows, it’s impossible to get closer than this: Min Jin Lee’s New York Times bestselling Pachinko, which inspired the series. But we suggest starting with Lee’s book, bingeing the TV show, then picking up books similar to Pachinko when you finish the television series.
In this case, try Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See. From one of the most celebrated contemporary writers comes a story about two young girls from the Korean island of Jeju who work in their village as part of the all-female diving team—and how their lives, friendship and the island change over the course of 80 years, through multiple wars and challenges. This moving saga, published in 2019, will touch your heart and leave you richer for having read it.
If you like Succession, read House on Fire by Joseph Finder
Ever wonder how the richest 1% live? The HBO series Succession follows the insanely wealthy family of media mogul Logan Roy and his four children, who are all fighting for control of the company once their dad retires—although one of them goes rogue and decides to dish dirty details on the corporation, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. The four-season show wrapped in 2023, leaving viewers hungry for similar stories. The fix: Joseph Finder’s 2020 thriller book.
Like Succession, Finder’s House on Fire will scratch your billionaires-behaving-badly itch: The daughter of a wealthy pharmaceutical executive hires private investigator Nick Heller to help her expose her father’s company for knowingly marketing an addictive opioid that ends up killing thousands of consumers. But helping the whistleblower take down such a rich and protected corporation proves much harder, and far more dangerous, than Nick could have ever predicted.
On Sale
If you like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, read Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland
Take a trip to the “Borscht Belt” with Elyssa Friedland’s 2021 novel, Last Summer at the Golden Hotel. The story takes place in a resort area of the Catskills, where Miriam “Midge” Maisel takes her show during the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. (The area was a popular destination for Jewish families to spend their summers from the 1920s through the 1960s, and the hotels were loaded with entertainers—real-life comics like Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis got their start in the Catskills.)
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel follows two families who own a once-prosperous resort together and now must decide whether or not to sell it. Like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the story packs plenty of family drama and, of course, comedy.
On Sale
If you like Mare of Easttown, read Runner by Tracy Clark
In the gripping HBO series Mare of Easttown, Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet shines as a tough-as-nails small-town homicide cop from Chester County, Pennsylvania, who’s investigating the murder of a local teen. The bingeable mystery series will leave you thirsty for more twists and turns, and for that, there’s Tracy Clark’s 2021 thriller, Runner.
Crime fans will liken the heroine, Cass Rains, to Mare: She’s a former homicide cop turned private investigator who’s on the hunt for 15-year-old Ramona, who has run away from her foster home in Chicago in the dead of winter. Just like in Easttown, drugs play a role in the lives of the characters (Mare’s son was a heroin addict, as is Ramona’s biological mother). As Cass hits the streets to find out what happened to Ramona, she discovers the teen is harboring dark secrets—the kind that plenty of people would kill her to keep under wraps.
On Sale
If you like You, read Look Closer by David Ellis
The psychological thriller series You, which follows the story of Joe, a mild-seeming bookstore owner who is also a serial killer, is based on fiction books by author Caroline Kepnes. The You series is certainly worth a read, but if you’re looking for a brand-new thriller, check out Look Closer by David Ellis, which came out in 2022.
The tale, which has been described as “one part Gone Girl, one part Girl on the Train,” follows a wealthy Chicago couple who, from the outside, have a nice, normal marriage and two nice, normal jobs. Internally, however, they keep terrible secrets, and nothing is as it seems. When a socialite is found murdered, their stories begin to unravel—and it turns out that one of them might also be a killer.
On Sale
If you like Virgin River, read Beachside Beginnings by Sheila Roberts
The romantic drama Virgin River is a big hit for Netflix, thanks to its comforting vibe and small-town charm. As the series opens, nurse practitioner Mel Monroe moves to the titular California town to start over after losing her husband in a car crash. She soon finds herself embroiled in endless drama with the locals, especially bar owner Jack.
To get your fix between seasons, you can read the Virgin River books. But if you’ve been there, read that, might we suggest Beachside Beginnings? The 2020 entry in Sheila Roberts’s Moonlight Harbor romance book series has a similar vibe. It tells the tale of Moira, a woman who finally gets the courage to leave her abusive boyfriend and start over in a small town on the waterfront. She finds joy in the close-knit community of Moonlight Harbor, including a possible new love interest, which is complicated by the fact that her new friend is also crushing on the same guy.
On Sale
If you like Fleabag, read I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol
The British dark comedy Fleabag, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is the outrageously witty tale of a single woman muddling through her life after the death of her best friend. The equally funny I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol is the best follow-up to your Fleabag binge. The 2024 memoir about a 46-year-old single woman determined to live life to the fullest shares a similar theme with the television series: women bucking society’s expectations of them and stepping into their personal power.
Looking for your next great book? Read four of today’s most compelling novels in the time it takes to read one with Fiction Favorites. And be sure to join the community!
On Sale
If you like Never Have I Ever, read When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
This charming, feel-good show from creator Mindy Kaling is for the teen set, but believe us when we say grown-ups can (and do) love this series. Never Have I Ever follows Devi, the awkward daughter of Indian immigrants, as she deals with friendship woes, school drama and a love triangle in her Southern California high school while also balancing her mother’s expectation that she honor Indian traditions.
As far as book recommendations based on TV shows go, it’s hard to find a better match than Never Have I Ever and When Dimple Met Rishi. They’re both lighthearted and funny teen dramedies that meld relationship issues with what it means to be Indian American today.
Like Devi, Dimple, the heroine of Sandhya Menon’s 2017 young-adult novel, chafes at tradition. The book opens with its protagonist grappling with the idea of being forced into an arranged marriage (a plotline that also makes an appearance in Never Have I Ever). Dimple has no interest in settling down with a nice Indian husband, despite her mother’s wishes. Instead, she wants to focus on her career as a web developer. The twist: One of the students in the summer tech program she’s attending is the boy her parents think would be her ideal match. And, well, they may be right.
On Sale
If you like Yellowstone, read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
These days, it seems like everyone has binged the Paramount Network’s modern Western, Yellowstone (which you can watch on Peacock). The show follows a family of Montana ranchers and their continual conflicts with both the bordering Indian reservation and land developers who want to take parts of the property. If that’s your jam, you’ll want to pick up a classic novel in the Western genre. Dive into the 1986 Pulitzer Prize–winning Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, an epic tale of heroes and outlaws and the clash between Indians and settlers in the titular small town in Texas.
On Sale
If you like The Mandalorian, read The Gunslinger by Stephen King
The first-ever TV show set in the Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian takes place five years after the events in Return of the Jedi. In the show, Pedro Pascal plays a lone bounty hunter who does whatever it takes to protect “the child” (aka Grogu, aka the cutest little alien you’ll ever see).
Fans of this spinoff will devour The Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King‘s Dark Tower series. Like the Mandalorian, Roland of Gilead is a lone gunslinger in a Western-inspired sci-fi fantasy world—who even travels with a child (a boy named Jake) for part of his journey. The entire Dark Tower series is the perfect complement to your favorite Star Wars show.
On Sale
If you like The Umbrella Academy, read Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
The TV adaptation of the comic book series The Umbrella Academy revolves around a ragtag group of superhero siblings, all of whom were adopted at birth by billionaire Reginald Hargreeves, who puts them to work fighting crime. When Hargreeves winds up dead, they reunite at his funeral to figure out why he died—and have to band together to protect the world from a global apocalypse. The show just ended with its fourth and final season, so viewers are understandably eager to get their hands on another quirky story.
For the same eccentric family fun and superpowered adventures, check out Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory’s 2017 science fiction book. It follows a once-extraordinary family blessed with superpowers that gets a chance at redemption when the CIA comes calling. With wry humor, Gregory crafts a wonderfully weird family drama that’ll keep you flipping pages.
On Sale
If you like The Haunting of Bly Manor, read The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
A gorgeous estate. A babysitting gig. And something spooky settling behind the scenes. Sounds like Netflix’s hit horror series The Haunting of Bly Manor, but we’re talking about your next favorite novel. Ruth Ware, queen of the page-turning thriller, takes on another British manor full of secrets in her 2019 novel, The Turn of the Key.
At first, Rowan Caine can’t believe her luck: She’s just landed a job babysitting for a rich family in a gorgeous estate in the Scottish Highlands. But she quickly feels unsettled—she’s being watched, and the perfect family is not at all what it seems. When one of the children dies in her care, she’s arrested. Through a series of letters she writes from jail, readers learn the truth of what really happened.
On Sale
If you like The Bachelor, read The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
Look, the world is stressful, and sometimes all you want to do is chill out with a lighthearted romp that doesn’t invoke fear or politics. Here’s where The Charm Offensive comes in. This 2021 LGBTQ book tells the tale of a producer on a show just like The Bachelor who crafts perfect love stories for television to sell to the public. There’s just one problem: The new leading man isn’t the Prince Charming the network was expecting—instead, he’s stiff and awkward. But as the two get to know each other, they form a friendship that begs the question: Was their leading man awkward because he’s not being true to who he really is? And will he allow himself to find true love with a man instead of choosing from 20 beautiful women on TV?
On Sale
If you like Normal People, read Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Fans can’t get enough of Normal People, a limited series from Hulu that tells of the complicated friendship and love affair between Marianne and Connell, who meet in high school and date on and off as they graduate and go to college. The show is based on the bestselling novel by Irish author Sally Rooney, and you should definitely check it out. But when you’re done, it’s time to pick up Rooney’s 2021 stunner, Beautiful World Where Are You.
The novel is familiar in that it charts the dramas and relationships of two best friends and the two men in their lives. This time, though, the characters are in their late 20s and early 30s, and instead of navigating high school and college, they’re trying to figure out survival in the real world as adults.
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more books, humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece on book recommendations based on TV shows, Gillian Telling tapped her experience as an entertainment journalist with 15 years of experience to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
