Book Recs

A Few Self-Helpy Books I Actually Recommend

New year, new perspectives

Feb 11 • Alisha Ramos

7 Great Books About Love

Get ready to swoon and to weep

Feb 9 • Alisha Ramos

The Books We All Need to Read in 2026

New releases worth knowing about

Jan 22 • Alisha Ramos

15+ Books to Curl Up With This Winter

A comfort-read list for cold days, suggested by favorite Substackers and Downtime readers.

Dec 10, 2025 • Alisha Ramos

Novels on marital implosions, pregnancy as body horror, and climate grief

Checking in with a few mini book reviews from July

Aug 7, 2025 • Alisha Ramos

Summer escapism, in novel form

10 transportive books for summer reading pleasure

Jul 2, 2025 • Alisha Ramos

I love a book that makes me think

A short discussion of "Audition" by Katie Kitamura

Jun 11, 2025 • Alisha Ramos

Tartufo is the book we all need right now

Set in a Tuscan village filled with quirky characters, giant truffles, and one endearingly clever dog.

Mar 13, 2025 • Alisha Ramos

Downtime Special: The Fall Books Issue

Eight special guests share their best picks for the season (that go *beyond* the new and buzzy titles).

Sep 11, 2024

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts