100 books like The Bird and the Bees

By Neena Gaynor,

Here are 100 books that The Bird and the Bees fans have personally recommended if you like The Bird and the Bees. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Grace Crasher

Carolyn Astfalk Author Of All in Good Time

From my list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mom of four busy kids in grade school, middle school, high school, and college, reading a novel is my reward at the end of a hectic day. I’ve read hundreds of novels, many of them Christian romances, while sitting at my children’s bedsides. They have to be well-written, no smut, and if the characters are Catholic Christians like me, all the better.

Carolyn's book list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms

Carolyn Astfalk Why did Carolyn love this book?

The hilarity of this book drew me in from the first pages, as the author finds (good-natured) humor in Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity alike.

Beyond the humor, so much in this story resonated with me, including Julia’s infatuation with musician Dylan. The humor melds perfectly with the deeper themes in this story, and the whole thing is beautifully underpinned by God’s unfailing, patient, perfect love.

By Mara Faro,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Grace Crasher as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Armed with a floral-print Bible cover, Julia must pretend to be “born again” for her Christian housemates—cute EMT Mark and his church-lady mom. Their place is walking distance (cough, stalking distance) from Dylan, her latest musician crush. Mark knows she’s faking her faith. But he needs someone like her to crash his dull routine. So he protects her secret and brings her to his Evangelical church. Hiding her Catholic past, she bumbles her way through hand-raising worship. Other times she sneaks into Mass. Meanwhile, Mark explains how to be “saved.” (Sure, she needs saving—from her alcoholic dad, her copier-jamming job,…


Book cover of Summer at West Castle

Carolyn Astfalk Author Of All in Good Time

From my list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mom of four busy kids in grade school, middle school, high school, and college, reading a novel is my reward at the end of a hectic day. I’ve read hundreds of novels, many of them Christian romances, while sitting at my children’s bedsides. They have to be well-written, no smut, and if the characters are Catholic Christians like me, all the better.

Carolyn's book list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms

Carolyn Astfalk Why did Carolyn love this book?

There are a bazillion romances about good girls attracted to bad boys.

Here’s one about a good girl attracted to a good guy, but neither of them can seem to get past his bad boy past. It’s easy to give lip service to redemption – sure, people change! But to build a life on that change? That’s another thing.

There’s a lot of forced proximity in West Castle that helps bring Caitlyn, our good girl (who has her own flaws), and Jared, our bad boy (who is trying so hard to be a better man), together. The romantic tension kept me reading through to the end!

By Theresa Linden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Summer at West Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

College student Caitlyn Summer arrives at the Wests’ castle-like house to fill in for their live-in maid. After a recent decision blows her vision of the future, this ideal job and the peaceful surroundings are just what she needs to seek God’s will for her life. That is, until Jarret West, not wanting a repeat of past mistakes, backs out of a summer-long field study overseas and returns home. The two have never gotten along, and unforgettable baggage from the past makes it hard even to be cordial. While Jarret’s faults convince Caitlyn he hasn’t changed, she forces herself to…


Book cover of Opal's Jubilee

Carolyn Astfalk Author Of All in Good Time

From my list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mom of four busy kids in grade school, middle school, high school, and college, reading a novel is my reward at the end of a hectic day. I’ve read hundreds of novels, many of them Christian romances, while sitting at my children’s bedsides. They have to be well-written, no smut, and if the characters are Catholic Christians like me, all the better.

Carolyn's book list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms

Carolyn Astfalk Why did Carolyn love this book?

A heroine who’s out on parole – not your typical romantic lead.

I loved this story that draws together a Kentucky detective and a young woman with a complicated past (via his mom and her quilt shop). Novels seldom bring me to tears, but this one did; Leslie Lynch draws out the emotions in this redemptive romance.

By Leslie Lynch, Pam Berehulke (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Opal's Jubilee as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Fresh out of prison after twelve years, Opal McBride must find a job in order to meet parole requirements. Failure means she’ll serve out the remainder of her sentence behind bars. The system has seen fit to drop her in Louisville, Kentucky, a far cry from her hometown of Jubilee in the Appalachian hollows. Scrambling to adapt, Opal finds more than a potential job in May Boone’s quilt shop; she finds acceptance and perhaps even friendship.

That is, until May’s son recognizes her. A detective, Josh Boone is not about to let a felon work for his soft-hearted mother. Though…


Book cover of A Shepherd's Song: A Christmas Romance

Carolyn Astfalk Author Of All in Good Time

From my list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mom of four busy kids in grade school, middle school, high school, and college, reading a novel is my reward at the end of a hectic day. I’ve read hundreds of novels, many of them Christian romances, while sitting at my children’s bedsides. They have to be well-written, no smut, and if the characters are Catholic Christians like me, all the better.

Carolyn's book list on modern-day romantic escapes for frazzled Catholic moms

Carolyn Astfalk Why did Carolyn love this book?

A Shepherd’s Song was an unexpected Christmasy delight.

More real, more raw, and less sterile than characters I sometimes meet in Christian fiction, David Shepherd was so well-drawn in his unloved, screwed-up desperation, as was the heroine, Gloria. The Pittsburgh setting, which coincided with my time in college there, made my Yinzer heart happy.

The author did a great job of interweaving ideas and comparisons from David's area of expertise: astronomy. And, she employed some of the best original, well-crafted similes I’ve read.

By Janice Lane Palko,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Shepherd's Song as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sometimes heroes aren’t born or made . . . they’re resuscitated.

Tom Shepherd, an alienated young man, agrees to sell the Christmas season’s hottest toy for three times its price to a desperate buyer. A screwup lands him in the middle of a bone marrow drive for a sick little boy named Christo. As the scene spirals out of his control, the media there turns Tom into a hero, dubbing him “The Good Shepherd,” and making Tom an overnight celebrity.

Gloria, Christo’s cousin, seeks out Tom to thank him for being kind so kind to the child, and Tom, bewitched…


Book cover of Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original

Robert Elias Author Of Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles over Workers' Rights and American Empire

From my list on baseball’s historic influence on America.

Why am I passionate about this?

Typically, we follow sports only on the playing field. I share that interest but I’ve become fascinated by sports off the field, and how they influence and reflect American society. After my fanatical baseball-playing childhood, I pursued an academic career, teaching and writing books and essays on politics and history, and wondering why it wasn’t more rewarding. Then I rediscovered sports, and returned again to my childhood passion of baseball. I began teaching a popular baseball course as a mirror on American culture. And I began writing about baseball and society, recently completing my sixth baseball book. The books recommended here will help readers to see baseball with new eyes. 

Robert's book list on baseball’s historic influence on America

Robert Elias Why did Robert love this book?

In 1970, former New York Yankees pitcher, Jim Bouton, published Ball Four, a blockbuster best-seller that blew the lid off the behind-the-scenes life of professional ballplayers.

Providing such details, routinely covered up by sportswriters, was regarded as heresy and Bouton was condemned and largely banned from the sport. Yet Bouton inaugurated a revolution in sports reporting, and he remained an activist for the rest of his life, well beyond his sport, speaking and acting on civil rights, America’s illegal wars, ballpark preservation, Olympic protest, tenant and community rights, and immigration.

I loved this inspiring story of a man who became more than a “jock” and who transcended his sport to make a positive contribution to his society.

By Mitchell Nathanson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bouton as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a Best Baseball Book of 2020 by Sports Collectors Digest
New York Times 2020 Summer Reading List

From the day he first stepped into the Yankee clubhouse, Jim Bouton (1939-2019) was the sports world's deceptive revolutionary. Underneath the crew cut and behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks lurked a maverick with a signature style. Whether it was his frank talk about player salaries and mistreatment by management, his passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or his efforts to convince the United States to boycott the 1968 Olympics, Bouton confronted the conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with…


Book cover of The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team

Noah Gittell Author Of Baseball: The Movie

From my list on books that tell the true story of baseball.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved baseball since I was six years old when I watched that ground ball go through Bill Buckner’s legs and propel my New York Mets to their second World Series. I’ve loved film for almost as long. The best way to love something is to think critically about it–put it to the test. That’s why I wrote Baseball: The Movie. It was an effort to avoid unexamined nostalgia, to think hard about these things I love, and to make sure I love them honestly. I’ve spent 10 years as a freelance writer on baseball and movies, but not until I wrote this book did I feel like they had truly passed my test.

Noah's book list on books that tell the true story of baseball

Noah Gittell Why did Noah love this book?

I love baseball books about underdogs, and there are no bigger underdogs than…every character in this book.

It’s the true story of when two data-driven baseball writers got to put their claims of superiority to the test by running an independent league baseball team for a season. Their players are a motley crew of cast-offs with only a faint hope of ever making the majors. But hope is all you need in the world of baseball.

The book chronicles one season in the lives of these players and front-office executives with humor, grit, and more than a little romanticism. As another book about a data-driven general manager once put it, how can you not be romantic about baseball?

By Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Only Rule Is It Has to Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, playing in real time. That's what Ben Lindbergh and Sam Millergotto do when the Sonoma Stompers, an independent minor league team in California, offered them the chance to run the team's baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics. Their story is unlike any other baseball tale you've ever read. We tag along as Lindbergh and Miller apply their number crunching insights to all aspects of assembling and running a team, following one…


Book cover of The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Susie Finkbeiner Author Of The All-American

From my list on making you fall in love with baseball.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m intrigued by baseball. The passion and drama of the games and the way the sport is nearly always linked to a meaningful relationship with someone dear. That curiosity has only been fueled by the books I’ve read over the years and inspired me to write a baseball story of my own. The All-American is my ninth novel and I couldn’t feel more privileged to have been able to write it.

Susie's book list on making you fall in love with baseball

Susie Finkbeiner Why did Susie love this book?

This book is a pure delight and a joy-filled tribute to the women who played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and 1950s.

The history of the League and stories from the women are paired with charming illustrations by the author, making this an engaging and entertaining book. Orrock’s storytelling inspired me to write a book about a girl who aspires to play for the AAGPBL. I can only imagine that this book will be an influence on anyone who picks it up!

By Anika Orrock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book chronicles the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and the stories of the first women to play professional baseball in a league of their own.

In 1941, the world was at war, and with able-bodied American men fighting overseas, professional baseball was in danger of becoming a quaint relic-until women stepped up to the plate.


Essential reading for fans of A League of Their Own Amazon Prime series and the 1992 Penny Marshall movie!


In this heartwarming illustrated history, the League's story is told by the ones who know it best: the players. Author Anika Orrock…


Book cover of Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution

James Overmyer Author Of Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles

From my list on Black baseball leagues before Jackie Robinson.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have long been fascinated by how Black players and team owners strove to put forward their best efforts in the decades before professional baseball was integrated in the late 1940s. I have been researching and writing about the Negro Leagues for more than 30 years, with three books and several contributions to Black baseball compilations to my credit. I was a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame special committee that elected 17 Black baseball figures to the Hall in 2006. Black baseball’s efforts were finally acknowledged in 2020 when Major League Baseball, which once wanted nothing to do with the Negro Leagues (except to sign away their best players starting in 1946), finally acknowledged them as major leagues.

James' book list on Black baseball leagues before Jackie Robinson

James Overmyer Why did James love this book?

The Negro Leagues, like all organized sports leagues, were showcases for the stars of the game – Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, and the like. But, like all the other leagues, they were businesses, too. Sports entrepreneurs, most of them African American, invested in all-Black teams that formed a “shadow” alternative to Major League Baseball where the players, and most of the owners, too, were not welcome due to segregation. Lanctot, a history professor comfortable with deep and extensive research, chronicles the successes and failures of the Black leagues, which were almost always existing on a financial knife’s edge, until the integration of pro ball in 1946 spelled their death.

By Neil Lanctot,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Negro League Baseball as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The story of black professional baseball provides a remarkable perspective on several major themes in modern African American history: the initial black response to segregation, the subsequent struggle to establish successful separate enterprises, and the later movement toward integration. Baseball functioned as a critical component in the separate economy catering to black consumers in the urban centers of the North and South. While most black businesses struggled to survive from year to year, professional baseball teams and leagues operated for decades, representing a major achievement in black enterprise and institution building.
Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a…


Book cover of Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major-league Baseball

Dale Scott Author Of The Umpire Is Out: Calling the Game and Living My True Self

From my list on inspirational stories from Major League Baseball.

Why am I passionate about this?

With 37 years as a professional umpire, the last 32 with MLB, you can’t help but have a ton of stories. The umpire books I recommend have those and more. Funny, entertaining, revealing, and educational, hearing what happened from the person it was happening to give a unique look to America’s pastime. Being the first active male big 5 sports official (Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer) to come out as gay in 2014, I also understand the added stress that brings and the courage it takes to live your true self on such a big stage.

Dale's book list on inspirational stories from Major League Baseball

Dale Scott Why did Dale love this book?

The day-to-day pressures as an MLB player are enormous. On the field, off the field, in the clubhouse, it’s nonstop.

Doing all of that while hiding who you are as a gay man, compounds everything. Billy Bean takes you with him, from the best player in little league to making it on a major league roster, all while hiding his true self.

Leaving baseball at his prime after the death of his partner, something he couldn’t tell a soul about, Billy’s story is heartbreaking yet triumphant and helped me when I publicly came out as an active MLB umpire.

By Billy Bean, Chris Bull,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Going the Other Way as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Billy Bean is the first major league baseball player to publicly discuss his homosexuality and the first athlete in a professional American team sport to do so since all-pro football player Dave Kopay came out in 1975. By 1996, when Bean retired at age thirty-two from the game he loved after ten years as a pro ballplayer for the Tigers, Dodgers, and Padres, he had become disillusioned by the sport that had defined his life. Bean found himself forced to choose between his love of baseball and the man he loved. It was an agonizing end to a career in…


Book cover of Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History

Andrew Forbes Author Of The Only Way Is the Steady Way: Essays on Baseball, Ichiro, and How We Watch the Game

From my list on baseball in historical context.

Why am I passionate about this?

I split my writing time between fiction and non-fiction, the latter usually baseball-themed, and I’ve published two books of baseball writing. My reading is similarly bifurcated; there’s always a baseball book on my nightstand. I’ve also got a background in history, and I genuinely enjoy deep research (it’s a great way to put off, you know, writing). Baseball is such fertile ground, so ripe for deep dives—the nexus of sport, culture, entertainment, economics, labour relations, etc. The best baseball books are more than boxscores and transactions, they place the game in its historical context. Books that manage to synthesize all of the above are some of my favourite reads.

Andrew's book list on baseball in historical context

Andrew Forbes Why did Andrew love this book?

We move into the twentieth century with Murphy’s book, a chronicle of a strange and thrilling season smack in the heart of the Deadball Era, when the two leagues we know today—the National and American—had solidified, their champions meeting each autumn in the still-new World Series. Crazy ’08 focuses on the pennant races that year, especially the National League race, between the Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates, which reached its fevered crescendo with a game that featured what’s known as “Merkle’s Boner.” But the book’s broader concern is the atmosphere of political corruption, racial strife, crime, and social upheaval which surrounded baseball. Murphy’s research is deep, but the book reads like journalism because she’s got a storyteller’s heart.

By Cait N. Murphy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Crazy '08 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the perspective of 2007, the unintentional irony of Chance's boast is manifest—these days, the question is when will the Cubs ever win a game they have to have. In October 1908, though, no one would have laughed: The Cubs were, without doubt, baseball's greatest team—the first dynasty of the 20th century.

Crazy '08 recounts the 1908 season—the year when Peerless Leader Frank Chance's men went toe to toe to toe with John McGraw and Christy Mathewson's New York Giants and Honus Wagner's Pittsburgh Pirates in the greatest pennant race the National League has ever seen. The American League has…


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