This list provides suggested reading based on popular television shows.
The Americans
You Are One of Them (Elliot Holt, 2013)
Adult fiction
F HOLT, E.
The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal (David Hoffman, 2015)
Adult biography
B TOLKACHEV, A.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John Le Carre, 2011)
Adult fiction
F LE CARRE, J.
Velvet (Ed Brubaker, 2014)
Adult graphic fiction
F BRUBAKER, E.
Boardwalk Empire
The Wettest County in the World (Matt Bondurant, 2008)
Adult fiction
F BONDURANT, M.
Live By Night (Dennis Lehane, 2012)
Adult fiction
F LEHANE, D.
Breaking Bad
Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh, 1996)
Adult fiction
F WELSH, I.
Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio (Misha Glenny, 2015)
Adult non-fiction
363.45 GLENNY
Problems (Jade Sharma, 2016)
Adult fiction
F SHARMA, J.
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel (Bryn Greenwood, 2016)
Adult fiction
F GREENWOOD, B.
Narconomics: How To Run a Drug Cartel (Tom Wainwright, 2016)
Adult non-fiction
363.45 WAINWRIGHT
First Fix Your Alibi (Bill James, 2016)
Adult fiction
F JAMES, B.
Community
Straight Man (Richard Russo, 1997)
Adult fiction
F RUSSO, R.
The Marriage Plot (Jeffrey Eugenides, 2011)
Adult fiction
813.5400
Downton Abbey
The World of Downton Abbey (Jessica Fellowes, 2011)
Adult Nonfiction
791.457 FELLOWES
Lady Almina and the real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclare Castle (The Countess of Carnarvon, 2011)
Adult Nonfiction
942.271 CARNARVON
Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey (The Countess of Carnarvon, 2013)
Biography
B CARNARVON, C.
Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall (Hannah Dennison, 2015)
Mystery Fiction
F DENNISON, H.
While We Were Watching Downton Abbey (Wendy Wax, 2013)
Adult Fiction
F WAX, W.
Upstairs and Downstairs: An Illustrated Guide to the Real World of Downton Abbey (Sarah Warwick, 2011)
Adult Nonfiction
640.46 WARWICK
The Song of Hartgrove Hall (Natasha Solomons, 2015)
Adult Fiction
F SOLOMONS, N.
Empire
The Cartel (Ashley and JaQuavis, 2012)
Adult Fiction
F ASHLEY
The Dopeman’s Wife (JaQuavis, 2009)
Adult Fiction
F JAQUAVIS
The Expanse
The Quiet War (Paul J. McAuley, 2009)
Science Fiction
F MCAULEY, P.
2312 (Kim Stanley Robinson, 2012)
Science Fiction
F ROBINSON, K.
The Unincorporated Man (Dani and Eytan Kollin, 2009)
Science Fiction
F KOLLIN, D.
Girls
The Love Affairs of Nathanial P. (Adelle Waldman, 2013)
Adult fiction
F WALDMAN, A.
The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion, 2013)
Adult fiction
F SIMSION, G.
Eligible: A Novel (Curtis Sittenfeld, 2016)
Adult fiction
F SITTENFELD, C.
How Should a Person Be?: A Novel from Life (Sheila Heti, 2012)
Adult fiction
F HETI, S.
Homeland
The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth (Mark Mazzetti, 2013)
Adult non-fiction
356.16 MAZZETTI
House of Cards
Thank You for Smoking (Christopher Buckley, 2006)
Adult Fiction
F BUCKLEY, C.
Democracy in America (Alexis Tocqueville, 2004)
Adult Nonfiction
320.973 TOCQUEVILLE
All the King’s Men (Robert Penn Warren, 1996)
Adult Fiction
F WARREN, R.
Personal History (Katharine Graham, 1997)
Adult Biography
B GRAHAM, K.
How to Get Away With Murder
The Secret History (Donna Tartt, 2004)
Adult Fiction
F TARTT, D.
The Dinner (Herman Koch, 2012)
Adult Fiction
F KOCH, H.
Black Chalk (Christopher Yates, 2013)
Adult Fiction
F YATES, C.
Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence (Bill James, 2011)
Adult Nonfiction
364.109 JAMES
Mad Men
The Real Mad Men: The Renegades of Madison Avenue and the Golden Age of Advertising (Andrew Cracknell, 2011)
Adult non-fiction
659.109 CRACKNELL
The Best of Everything: A Novel (Rona Jaffe, 2005)
Adult fiction
F JAFFE, R.
Mr. Robot
Little Brother (Cory Doctorow, 2008)
Young Adult Fiction
YAF DOCTOROW, C.
Don’t Turn Around (Michelle Gagnon, 2012)
Young Adult Fiction
YAF GAGNON, M.
Alif the Unseen (G. Willow Wilson, 2012)
Adult Fiction
F WILSON, G.
This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World’s Information (Andy Greenberg, 2012)
Adult Nonfiction
364.168 GREENBERG
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker (Kevin D. Mitnick with William Simon-2011)
Adult Biography
B MITNICK, K.
Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground (Kevin Poulsen, 2011)
Adult Nonfiction
364.168 POULSEN
Orange is the New Black
Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian (Avi Steinberg, 2010)
Adult biography
B STEINBERG, A.
Something Like Hope (Shawn Goodman, 2011)
YA Fiction
YAF GOODMAN, S.
Juvie (Steve Watkins, 2013)
YA Fiction
YAF WATKINS, S.
Couldn’t Keep It To Myself: Testimonies From our Imprisoned Sisters (Wally Lamb, 2003)
Adult non-fiction
810.809 COUL
I’ll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison (Wally Lamb, 2007)
Adult non-fiction
810.809 I’LL
Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett (Jennifer Gonnerman, 2004)
Adult biography
B BARLETT, E.
Orphan Black
The Lost Girl (Sangu Mandanna, 2012)
Young Adult Fiction
YAF MANDANNA, S.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsmith, 2008)
Mystery Fiction
F HIGHSMITH, P.
Eve and Adam (Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate, 2012)
Young Adult Fiction
YAF GRANT, M.
Queen of the South
No Questions Asked: The Secret Life of Women in the Mob (Clare Longrigg, 2004)
Adult Nonfiction
364.106 LONGRIGG
Gangsta Divas (De’nesha Diamond, 2013)
Adult Fiction
DIAMOND, D.
Mafia Princess (Joy Deja King, 2011)
Adult Fiction
F KING, J.
Agnes and the Hitman (Jennifer Crusie, 2007)
Adult Fiction
LF CRUSIE, J.
Divorced from the Mob: My Journey from Organized Crime to Independent Woman (Andrea Giovino, 2004)
Adult Biography
B GIOVINO, A.
Mob Daughter: The Mafia, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, and Me! (Karen Gravano, 2012)
Adult Biography
B GRAVANO, K.
Pit Bulls in a Skirt (Mikal Malone, 2012)
Adult Fiction
F MALONE, M.
Scandal
The Newsmakers (Lis Wiehl, 2016)
Mystery fiction
F WIEHL, L.
The Husband’s Secret (Liane Moriarty, 2013)
Adult fiction
F MORIARTY, L.
Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy: Bratva (Christopher Golden, 2014)
Adult fiction
F GOLDEN, C.
The Sopranos
Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business (Joseph D. Pistone and Charles Brandt, 2007)
Adult Nonfiction
364.109 PISTONE
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (Misha Glenny)
Adult Nonfiction
364.406 GLENNY
Bringing Down The Mob: The War Against the American Mafia (Thomas A. Reppetto, 2006)
Adult Nonfiction
364.106 REPPETTO
Blood Brotherhoods: A History of Italy’s Three Mafias (John Dickey, 2014)
Adult Nonfiction
364.106 DICKIE
Mob Boss: The Life of Little Al D’Arco, the Man Who Brought Down the Mafia (Jerry Capeci, 2013)
Adult Biography
B D’ARCO, A.
Bone in the Throat (Anthony Bourdain, 1995)
Adult Fiction
F BOURDAIN, A.
Gas City (Loren D. Estleman, 2008)
Adult Fiction
F ESTLEMAN, L.
Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust (Louis Ferrante, 2008)
Adult Biography
B FERRANTE, L.
Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI, and a Story of Betrayal (Sandra Harmon, 2009)
Adult Biography
B SCARPA G.
Turn: Washington's Spies
Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring (Alexander Rose, 2006)
Adult Nonfiction
973.385 ROSE
George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Resolution (Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger, 2013)
Adult Nonfiction
973.41 KILMEADE
Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution (Robert Patton, 2008)
Adult Nonfiction
973.35 PATTON
Desperate Sons: Samiel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Band of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War (Les Standiford, 2012)
Adult Nonfiction
973.3 STANDIFORD
Founders as Fathers: The Private Lives and Politics of the American Revolutionaries (Lorri Glover, 2014)
Adult Nonfiction
973.309 GLOVER
Operatives, Spies and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II’s OSS (Patrick K. O’Donnell, 2004)
Adult Nonfiction
940.548673 O26o
Palace of Spies (Sarah Zettel, 2013)
YA Fiction
YAF ZETTEL, S.
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal (Ben Macintyre, 2014)
Adult Nonfiction
327.124 MACINTYRE
Updated: August 27, 2016
