12 recommended reads for those traveling to Washington, D.C. – Modern Mrs Darcy
When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area little more than a year ago, I discovered there were so many good and many not-so-good things about living in the nation’s capital—especially during an election year. I quickly learned how great it is to have a robust and reliable metro system, how few residents are locals so being new in town is nothing unusual, and, most importantly, what times of day to stay off the Beltway.
I also happily gathered that this is a reading town, with an abundance of independent bookstores, including my own favorite local shop, Old Town Books in Alexandria. I’m overjoyed to find that authors make their way through town frequently and that I can meet up with bookish friends at frequent Silent Reading parties or for yummy sandwiches with a side of books at Busboys & Poets in their restaurant-meets-bookshop space.
But there’s still so much to learn! Where do I turn? To books, of course. In the pages of books, I learned how we got those famous cherry blossoms, which neighborhoods and restaurants mean this or that, and what a lobbyist actually does. I hope to be a rare long-term resident of this capital capitol city, so I’ve got more reading to do. Vote for your favorite D.C. books in the comments!
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Power is the currency in this town: name dropping, security clearances, how many degrees of separation you are from the top jobs. There are acronyms galore and polite questions that are really code and it’s all a study in anthropology, especially for someone observing who doesn’t work in politics like me. That’s the situation for Beth in this smart and funny literary fiction. Beth is, like me, both horrified and fascinated by the ambition, competition, and… the traffic. So much traffic. More info →
This political satire is on my TBR because I hear it’s darkly humorous with a playful cast of charming characters. The premise sounds believable: a staffer gets fired after firing off a critical email of a certain politician. As she’s leaving the building, she’s involved in an accident that leaves her recovering while surrounded by well-meaning parents and roommates. A new job and a new love interest should keep this light, gossipy, and fun. More info →
Media is a big part of life in Washington. The press is powerful, so when 20-something Adrienne gets a chance to be on staff at the fictional Capitolist (aka the List), she knows it’s the place to be and jumps at the chance, even though that means leaving her perk-filled job at Town & Country. Working 14-hour days and breaking political scandal stories, all of this humorous contemporary fiction novel was great fun to read and very DC; my favorite part was reading about her forays back to hometown of Middleburg. Middleburg is a small and somewhat sleepy historic town just outside the Beltway, but because of the mix of hunting and horse country vibes with high-tech company proximity, it is very much a part of the power structure of DC. More info →
Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict joined us in the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club to talk about another D.C.-adjacent book, The Personal Librarian, so of course I want to read everything they’ve written now. The authors’ partnership produces work rooted in history and friendship. This historical novel is the story of a friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Civil Rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune. More info →
I’m not sure Nora Ephron would be happy to see her novel on a D.C. list since she famously hated it here, but the city figures heavily in the dissolution of her own thinly-veiled fictional marriage to Mark aka Carl Bernstein. Rachel aka Nora has left her beloved NYC for love in DC but despite a glittering group of friends, successful careers, beloved children, their picture-perfect power couple goals come to an end in ways heartbreaking and hilarious. More info →
This work of historical fiction is on my TBR because I’m looking forward to a good story well told by an author who has a reputation for a satisfying ending. Readers follow two Black women living in the 1950s in alternating perspectives; one of the characters in Philadelphia, the other a student at Howard University in D.C. who finds herself working her way up the social ladder with the social elite. I’m also looking forward to finding out what the title could mean! More info →
This satire has not exactly flown under the radar, but if you’ve read this, you’ll never get that scene on the steps in Georgetown out of your head. I’d never read a story set in the literary world set in DC before and author R.F. Kuang says that’s deliberate: “I’ve never lived in NYC and couldn’t write convincingly about it.” This Potomac-soaked novel makes it clear she’s been a Washington resident as it explores diversity, fictional identities, and social media. What could be more Washingtonian than that? More info →
Some of you might remember how I could not stop talking about my favorite book of last year, The Tree Collectors by Amy Stewart, which led me down a tree rabbit hole to this title. I got to experience my first cherry blossom season here in the capital last spring and it’s such a unifying and formative part of living in this town. For a few dreamy weeks, it’s all anyone can talk about. You can visit vicariously through the pages of photographs, maps, and my favorite Hiroshige prints, no allergy pill required. More info →
If you’ve seen the excellent political thriller The Post, the story of The Washington Post’s publication of the classified Pentagon Papers, you might have wanted to learn more about the powerhouse woman behind Meryl Streep’s character. I immediately dashed out and bought this memoir. This would be an excellent nonfiction counterpoint to Heartburn, since Graham presided over the Washington Post as it broke the famous Watergate scandal, which made Carl Bernstein famous. (It’s a small, big town.) More info →
This is the psychological litfic novel I rarely recommend even though I took it down in practically one unputdownable gulp. Here’s why: this book is salacious and shocking. There’s a rough and ugly core papered over with public gentility. The Cave Dwellers follows the lives of privileged teens and their families as they socialize, power-grab, and deal with the aftermath of a murder in their midst. It grapples with hard topics like class and is positively filled with unlikeable characters, which is kind of like this city sometimes. Have I talked you out of it? Don’t let me. For all that, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I read it years ago. Even so, mind your (many) triggers. It’s not going to be for every reader. More info →
DC meets DA? Yes, please. Many of you might remember I have a thing for DA (Dark Academia), so I picked this up for the premise of a clinical study of psychopaths on a college campus. I was DC-lighted (too punny?) to find all the District details sprinkled throughout. The author’s note made clear that Washington D.C. is her “city of my heart” and the mentions of Old Ebbitt Grill, Logan Circle, U Street, Logan Circle, and I-95 (ugh… the traffic!) throughout the story made it even clearer. More info →
Yes, Dan Brown. Many of his stories take place, or at least start, in the capital. But this one is underrated and too often forgotten in favor of his more popular titles that take place in Washington, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. This spy novel delves into national intelligence and coding. There’s a whole etymological exploration of the word “sin-cere” that was just good nerdy fun. The perfect page-turning distraction if you need a break from politics. More info →
Do you have any favorite books set in D.C.? Please share in the comments.
Ginger Horton is our Book Club Community Manager here at MMD. Her go-to genres are literary fiction and classics. You can find Ginger on Instagram posting as herself @gthorton or in the MMD Book Club account @MMDBookClub
