100 books like Wake of Vultures

By Lila Bowen,

Here are 100 books that Wake of Vultures fans have personally recommended if you like Wake of Vultures. 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 Lonesome Dove

AJ Davidson Author Of A Stillness Lost: A Val Bosanquet Mystery

From my list on portray a sense of place.

Why am I passionate about this?

I believe many writers suspect they are Strangers in a Strange Land. How ironic that I, a confirmed atheist, should use a biblical quote to describe the mindset of authors. Some discover where they belong through their writing. My book recommendations have a strong sense of place, whether it be the Old West, wartime Berlin, or modern-day Scotland. I was born into a 300-year-old N. Ireland Protestant Plantation family, yet many people saw us as interlopers: we weren’t quite Irish, and we weren’t quite British, yet we held dual passports. It was not until I left Ireland that I realized my Irish Heritage exerted a stronger pull than my British.

AJ's book list on portray a sense of place

AJ Davidson Why did AJ love this book?

This book is written basically as a western road movie. The two main protagonists, former Texas Rangers, decide, on little more than a whim, to assemble a cattle herd and drive it north from the Rio Grande to Montana, with the author providing some wonderful descriptions of the topography and hardships they encounter. 

What makes it a classic for me is how the central characters explore their own mettle from the dichotomy of Woodrow, who is moralistic but happily rustles Mexican cattle and won’t acknowledge his son because the young man’s mother was a prostitute.

Gus has a more enlightened outlook towards another prostitute, and his humor allows the young girl to embark on a passage to discover her place in the West. The story is as stunning as the landscapes.

By Larry McMurtry,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked Lonesome Dove as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a powerful, triumphant portrayal of the American West as it really was. From Texas to Montana, it follows cowboys on a grueling cattle drive through the wilderness.

It begins in the office of The Hat Creek Cattle Company of the Rio Grande.
It ends as a journey into the heart of every adventurer who ever lived . . .

More than a love story, more than an adventure, Lonesome Dove is an epic: a monumental novel which embraces the spirit of the last defiant wilderness of America.

Legend and fact, heroes and outlaws,…


Book cover of Six-Gun Snow White

Gwendolyn N. Nix Author Of I Have Asked to Be Where No Storms Come

From my list on dark fantasy Westerns with magic and gunslingers.

Why am I passionate about this?

My life quest has been to find true magic. Once believing it could only be uncovered in ruins or cathedrals continents away, I ended up discovering it in my own backyard under the Big Sky. When I was young, I read everything science fiction and fantasy to feel like that magic was real and bask in worlds far different from my own. Now, as a professional editor and author based in the West… I still read everything science fiction and fantasy, but now I get paid to do it.

Gwendolyn's book list on dark fantasy Westerns with magic and gunslingers

Gwendolyn N. Nix Why did Gwendolyn love this book?

I read this when my son was born, looking for a familiar story in more ways than one. This imported classic European fairy tale has our gunslinging Snow White escaping to the wild west and feels like a new comfort fable… if replacing dark twisted forests for a wind-whipped big sky can be comforting. It’s a story that doesn’t know how to end, or even if it should endmaking it another facet to join numerous retellings. The Huntsman becomes a Pinkerton, the dwarves now a band of women on the run, and the Prince a melancholy expression of America’s history where many have no voice. It’s a bit cerebral and reveals heart-wrenching lessons when reflected on current times. Which, I suppose, is the purpose of a fable, right?

By Catherynne M. Valente, Charlie Bowater (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Six-Gun Snow White as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times bestselling author offers a brilliant reinvention of one of the best-known fairy tales of all time with Snow White as a gunslinger in the mythical Wild West.

Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a masterfully evoked Old West where you are more likely to find coyotes as the seven dwarves. Insert into this scene a plain-spoken, appealing narrator who relates the history of our heroine’s parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. Although her mother’s life ended…


Book cover of Serenity: Those Left Behind

Chantal Noordeloos Author Of The Outlander

From my list on the Wild West and the ladies who rule it.

Why am I passionate about this?

My love for both the Weird and the Wild West started somewhere in the 90s. I watched many movies and adored playing Deadlands (TTRPG) with my friends. I picked this theme because most Western-themed books and movies were very male-orientated, yet I always found myself drawn to the heroines in these stories. While I loved characters like Billy the Kid and Wild Bill Hickok, I could better relate to Calamity Jayne or Belle Starr. During our Role Play game nights, I often played female gunslingers. That’s how I ended up creating Coyote, who inspired me to write her story in a series of novels. 

Chantal's book list on the Wild West and the ladies who rule it

Chantal Noordeloos Why did Chantal love this book?

Being a really big fan of the TV Show Firefly, I felt a need to mention at least one of the comics that were written after it was canceled. Perhaps not the most conventional recommendation, but I thought Cowboys in Space was a good fit for my list. And where would I ever find more well-rounded strong female characters? Zoe, Inara, Kaylee, and even River all embody different elements of strength in women who try to survive in a futuristic frontier world. These four fierce ladies take us on adventures full of hijinks and shenanigans through space. Serenity: Those Left Behind is a well-written and beautifully illustrated story about a lovable band of intergalactic scoundrels. 

By Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad (illustrator) , Adam Hughes (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Serenity TPB Volume 1 - 1st printing. "Those Left Behind!" Collects Serenity (2005) #1-3. Written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews. Art by Will Conrad. Cover by Adam Hughes. Introduction by Nathan Fillion (the actor who portrays Mal in the movie, Serenity). In this prequel to the Serenity feature film - the follow-up to the cult-hit TV show Firefly - Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, unveils a previously unseen chapter in the lives of the crew of Serenity. Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 80 pages, full color.


Book cover of Heresy

Chantal Noordeloos Author Of The Outlander

From my list on the Wild West and the ladies who rule it.

Why am I passionate about this?

My love for both the Weird and the Wild West started somewhere in the 90s. I watched many movies and adored playing Deadlands (TTRPG) with my friends. I picked this theme because most Western-themed books and movies were very male-orientated, yet I always found myself drawn to the heroines in these stories. While I loved characters like Billy the Kid and Wild Bill Hickok, I could better relate to Calamity Jayne or Belle Starr. During our Role Play game nights, I often played female gunslingers. That’s how I ended up creating Coyote, who inspired me to write her story in a series of novels. 

Chantal's book list on the Wild West and the ladies who rule it

Chantal Noordeloos Why did Chantal love this book?

Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw,” but sometimes life just hands you a rough deal. Especially if you are a woman in the Wild West. This novel is an interesting journey of strong women choosing to take fate into their own hands. They don’t want to end up on their backs to make money, and decide they rather take the money they feel the world owes them. Heresy is a classical Wild West tale with a bit of a female twist. A good read for any lover of this genre.

By Melissa Lenhardt,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The Parker-LaCour Gang. The first and only all-female band of outlaws in the American West. Ignored during their time. Written out of history.

Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw.

After being run off their ranch by a greedy cattleman, their family is left destitute. As women alone they have few choices: marriage, lying on their backs for money, or holding a gun. For Margaret and Hattie the choice is easy. With their small makeshift family, the gang pulls off a series of heists across the West.

Though the newspapers refuse to give the female gang credit,…


Book cover of Oreo

Emma Smith-Stevens Author Of The Australian

From my list on “funny-sad” contemporary novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

Much laughter is born out of sadness. Humor can be a way to cope or even reinvent our realities in ways that bring relief—and release. There's a misconception that “serious literature” should be humorless; crack a smile and you’re a fraud. However, the worlds and characters that emerge from this way of thinking do not ring true to me. Who among us hasn’t joked to help deal with sorrow? Or to satirize the outrageous? Or simply because life--however brutal—is also sometimes funny? The more a writer allows laughter to intermingle with tears, the more I believe in the story, and the more I enjoy it. That is why I wrote a “funny-sad” novel, The Australian.

Emma's book list on “funny-sad” contemporary novels

Emma Smith-Stevens Why did Emma love this book?

Oreo (originally published in 1974, then out of print, and finally repopularized by Harriette Mullen and republished in 2000), a satirical novel by Fran Ross, a journalist and, briefly, a comedy writer for Richard Pryor, is widely considered to be “before its time.” This aching and hilarious, experimentally structured story is about a girl, Oreo, with a Jewish father and a Black mother, who ventures to New York City to find her father only to discover there are hundreds of Sam Schwartzes in the phonebook, and then goes on a quest to find him.

By Fran Ross,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Oreo is raised by her maternal grandparents in Philadelphia. Her black mother tours with a theatrical troupe, and her Jewish deadbeat dad disappeared when she was an infant, leaving behind a mysterious note that triggers her quest to find him. What ensues is a playful, modernized parody of the classical odyssey of Theseus with a feminist twist, immersed in seventies pop culture, and mixing standard English, black vernacular, and Yiddish with wisecracking aplomb. Oreo, our young hero, navigates the labyrinth of sound studios and brothels and subway tunnels in Manhattan, seeking to claim her birthright while unwittingly experiencing and triggering…


Book cover of Aftershocks: A Memoir

Susan Lewallen Author Of Distorted Vision

From my list on postcolonial Africa through the eyes of foreigners.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve lived and worked intensely in the medical field for over two decades in many countries in Africa. I’ve seen global health programs from the academic, research, developmental, and humanitarian viewpoints of both Africans and Europeans. It’s a complicated mix of politics, good intentions, and, sometimes, egos. There’s much to be learned from both fiction and nonfiction about the complexity of it all. 

Susan's book list on postcolonial Africa through the eyes of foreigners

Susan Lewallen Why did Susan love this book?

Nadia Owusu is the quintessential third culture kid, holder of a US passport, but born in Dar-es-Salaam to a Ghanaian father and an Armenian-American mother. Her UN-employed father moved his two daughters around through Kumasi (Ghana), Kampala (Uganda), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Rome (Italy), and the UK. Her mother left the family when Nadia was three years old and didn’t look back, save for a rare, short visit and some trinket gifts. Aftershocks is Ms. Owusu’s tribute to a loving father, but her upbringing was a shaky foundation that reverberated throughout her life, and provided the earthquake metaphor around which she structures her memoir. She weaves bits of political history and culture from the countries she lived in into her own story, comprised of the foreshocks, main shock, and aftershocks. It’s held together by beautiful prose descriptions, both of place and emotions.

By Nadia Owusu,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the tradition of The Glass Castle, this “gorgeous” (The New York Times, Editors’ Choice) and deeply felt memoir from Whiting Award winner Nadia Owusu tells the “incredible story” (Malala Yousafzai) about the push and pull of belonging, the seismic emotional toll of family secrets, and the heart it takes to pull through.

“In Aftershocks, Nadia Owusu tells the incredible story of her young life. How does a girl—abandoned by her mother at age two and orphaned at thirteen when her beloved father dies—find her place in the world? This memoir is the story of Nadia creating her own solid…


Book cover of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Erica Bauermeister Author Of No Two Persons

From my list on (re)immersing you in the magic of books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been book-besotted my entire life. I've read, studied, taught, reviewed, and written books. I went to “gradual” school, as John Irving calls it, earning a PhD in literature before gradually realizing that what I really loved was writing. For me, books contain the intellectual challenge of puzzles, the fun of entertainment, the ability to fill souls. They have changed my life, and the best compliments I have received are from readers who say my books have changed theirs. I read widely and indiscriminately (as this list shows) because I believe that good books are found in all genres. But a book about books? What a glorious meta-adventure. 

Erica's book list on (re)immersing you in the magic of books

Erica Bauermeister Why did Erica love this book?

Magical doors that appear out of nowhere, a fantastical book that may not be fiction, some truly sketchy villains, a quest, and an intrepid heroine.

The author had me at fantastical book, but what I love about this novel is the world and character building, that feeling of opening the cover and being somewhere that has nothing to do with ordinary life.

And yet, there is mystery. And romance. A lost father. A daring daughter. You’ll want to race through it, but slow down at the same time, just to savor the ride.

By Alix E. Harrow,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Ten Thousand Doors of January as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers, and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting."—Christina Henry, bestselling author of Alice and Lost Boys

LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER! Finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. 

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely…


Book cover of The House of Broken Bricks

Julie Ma Author Of Love Letters

From my list on diverse characters as main characters, not just stereotypes or sidekicks.

Why am I passionate about this?

If I were a supermarket pie, my label would say, ‘Made in the UK with Chinese ingredients.’ Born in Wales to parents from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, my Cantonese is appalling, I’m bad at maths, and I can barely ride a bike without falling off. In short, I am an example of a real-life person and not a cliché or stereotype from the sorts of books we used to have to read if we wanted to see diverse characters. It’s about time the stories we read and the shows we watch become so effortlessly diverse that we don’t even notice. I hope my novels are playing a part in making that commonplace.

Julie's book list on diverse characters as main characters, not just stereotypes or sidekicks

Julie Ma Why did Julie love this book?

This is the most beautiful, poetic book packed with exquisite descriptions of the English countryside as we meet the seemingly perfect country family of mother and homemaker, Tess; her gardener husband, Richard; and the very non-identical twins, Sonny and Max.

Because Tess is a Londoner of Jamaican heritage–a pregnant bride that Richard brought back to his West Country family home after their student love affair–Sonny is dark and curly-haired like his mother while Max could ‘pass’ because he looks so much like his father.

This was an uncomfortable read for me–the micro-aggressions and casual racism of rural life stirred up unhappy memories–but it is also a hopeful story about what really counts and those times when actions speak louder than words.

By Fiona Williams,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The House of Broken Bricks as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'An almanac for the heart.'
EVIE WOODS, author of The Lost Bookshop

'Haunting prose that cracks the English pastoral novel and lets the darkness in. A pleasure to read.'
SARAH MOSS, author of Ghost Wall

'A clever, heartbreaking, heartwarming depiction of family love, grief and the possibility of hope.'
JO BROWNING WROE, author of A Terrible Kindness

'Poignant and unexpected . . . brave and subtle.'
EMMA HEALEY, author of Elizabeth is Missing

'Wonderful . . . brave in its deep truths about loss and love.'
INGRID PERSAUD, author of Love After Love

Ain't nothing wrong with being broken. Nothing…


Book cover of The Weight of Blood

Sami Ellis Author Of Dead Girls Walking

From my list on the bloodiest YA books for bad bitches.

Why am I passionate about this?

Maybe it was too much reality TV growing up, especially being raised on figures like Tiffany "New York" Pollard or A Different World's Whitley Gilbert, but bad girl protagonists are insta-buys for me. I love them, and I have a particular fondness for when they're black girls. We're already seen as so angry, but bad girl books show you not only why a girl could get to be so angry but also that you ain't seen nothing yet. I need more people to see how much joy there is in rage, and I chose to explain it with YA horror because it's a genre so driven by catharsis and mood that it's a perfect fit.

Sami's book list on the bloodiest YA books for bad bitches

Sami Ellis Why did Sami love this book?

Maddy is not, and never will be, a bad girl. She's just a scared girl that did some very, very bad things.

That doesn't mean I wasn't cheering her on. Maddy is the kind of heroine that I fantasized about jumping into the pages to fight for. I cussed out many a side-character in my head, just wishing they would try to talk to me like that so I could give them what they deserve.

But Maddy gets her lick back without my help - and it's a remorseless gorefest. The ending of this book is part slasher, part action film that I needed. After getting frustrated with all her hardships, I needed Maddy’s revenge to take over the book, just like her rage took over her.

By Tiffany D. Jackson,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Weight of Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

* AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * INDIE BESTSELLER * JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION * KIDS' INDIE NEXT LIST PICK * NPR BEST PICK * KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *

New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson ramps up the horror and tackles America's history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom.

When Springville residents-at least the ones still alive-are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation . . . Maddy did it.

An…


Book cover of Black, Jewish, and Interracial: It's Not the Color of Your Skin, but the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity

Cheryl Lynn Greenberg Author Of Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century

From my list on Black-Jewish relations.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professor who teaches and works in the field of African American History. Because I am both white and Jewish, I’ve been repeatedly asked to give talks about relationships between African Americans and white Jewish Americans, and about what “went wrong” to shatter the “grand alliance” of the civil rights movement embodied by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. I had no answer, but I suspected that none of the stories that we had been told, whether good or bad, were fully true. So I went back to the sources and uncovered a complex and multilayered history. Black and Jewish collaboration was never a given, and underlying tensions and conflicts reflected the broader realities of race and class in the U.S. In the book I explored how these historical and political forces operated, and continue to resonate today.

Cheryl's book list on Black-Jewish relations

Cheryl Lynn Greenberg Why did Cheryl love this book?

Not all Jews are white. Again, there are a number of wonderful books by African American Jews that remind us of this fact, and how often we use the word “Jewish” to refer only to Jews of European descent. Azoulay insists on confronting this unthinking racism head-on by reflecting on her experiences as a Black woman who struggled to feel at home in the Jewish community. Too often “Black-Jewish relations” as a phrase defines two discrete communities. This book reminds us that this distortion of the truth both erases Jews of color and lets white Jews avoid taking responsibility for challenging social systems that privilege whiteness.

By Katya Gibel Azoulay,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

How do adult children of interracial parents-where one parent is Jewish and one is Black-think about personal identity? This question is at the heart of Katya Gibel Azoulay's Black, Jewish, and Interracial. Motivated by her own experience as the child of a Jewish mother and Jamaican father, Gibel Azoulay blends historical, theoretical, and personal perspectives to explore the possibilities and meanings that arise when Black and Jewish identities merge. As she asks what it means to be Black, Jewish, and interracial, Gibel Azoulay challenges deeply ingrained assumptions about identity and moves toward a consideration of complementary racial identities.
Beginning with…


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