Expand the Canon Book Club: "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende

In our newest Greedy Reads book club hosted by bookseller Valerie Hsu, we read and discuss works that are considered classics today, but might be excluded from standard curricula or reading lists because of subject matter, personal identities of their authors, societal reactions at publication, etc. In other words, we read influential texts that you could have read in a high school English class but probably didn’t because of racism, sexism, homophobia, colonialism, eurocentrism, etc. in how our educational systems operate.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I’m embarrassed I’ve never read ____” or “Why didn't anyone tell me about ___?” or “I was too young to appreciate ___ and I’d like to re-read it as an adult,” we’re here to help you out. Fill in your reading gaps with these classics you might have missed, and come discuss with us on the first Tuesdays each month.

We’ll kick off on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 with The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Here are other selections on the docket for you to get a sense of the types of books we’ll read:

• The Joyluck Club by Amy Tan
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
• Winter in the Blood by James Welch
• America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Passing by Nella Larson
• The Bondswoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• No-No Boy by John Okada

About The House of the Spirits:

The House of the Spirits, which introduced Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.

One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.

The House of the Spirits is available for purchase here!

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