If you have just awoken surrounded by cereal bowls with no idea of what's happened in the world in the past three days, odds are you have just finished binge-watching season three of Netflix's runaway hit Orange Is the New Black. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because we have compiled a list of our ten favorite books featured throughout the season to keep you reading until season four.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
In this luminous novel, 14-year-old Susie Salmon dies a violent death and goes to heaven while her family struggles to pick up the pieces left in her wake. While incarcerated, Flaca reads Alice Sebold's haunting classic on Mother's Day, perhaps hinting at the discord in Flaca's own past.
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
When an unlikely friendship blossoms between Big Boo and Pennsatucky, Boo explains supply and demand with the help of this now ubiquitous exploration of economics.
Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me by Meredith Zeitlin
It's a tough Mother's Day for Red, who is feeling betrayed by her husband and sons. Meredith Zeitlin's tale of a high school girl's adventures in Greece is just the light, escapist read that she needs.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
In this season, Piper brazenly takes the helm of a risky prison enterprise. Donna Tartt's hugely popular and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of survival and reinvention perfectly accompanies Piper's transformation into a Litchfield bigwig.
Read the review here
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
When a bedbug scare leads to a mass burning of the prison library's books, the inmates memorialize the lost tomes. These include, in Poussey's words, "All the David Sedarises." His newest laugh-out-loud funny book is sure to be missed.
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
During the book funeral, the women pay their respects to Tropper's hilarious and touching family drama alongside the works of literature's other notable Jonathans--namely, Jonathan Swift, Jonathan Lethem, and Jonathan Franzen.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
In a flashback to Nicky's drug-addled, criminal past in New York City, she and a friend discuss a rare signed first edition of Hemingway's most famous book.
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
As Alex becomes increasingly convinced that someone in the prison is out to get her, she quotes this classic science-fiction novel: "It's strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then."
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
As Red struggles to preserve both her biological and her adopted prison families, she reads this beautifully written tale of an unconventional family and the heartbreaking consequences of their good intentions.
Read the review here
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
While formulating the ultimate revenge plot, Big Boo references Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander's quest for retribution in Stieg Larsson's classic trilogy.
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