Melinda Gates, who helped libraries around the world get $1 billion, shares three of her favourite books, with a note to her followers
Bill Gates ex-wife and philanthropist Melinda French Gates who helped direct $1 billion to libraries worldwide has shared a new reading list. The list shared includes two debut novels and a new release from one of America’s best-known authors. In a recent Instagram post, Melinda Gates shared what she called “a few of my favourite reads from the last months.” The three titles are Whistler by Ann Patchett, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. She closed the post with a question for her followers: what have you read recently that you loved, and what is on your list for fall? The picks combine established literary acclaim with strong reader enthusiasm. Two of the three are debut novels that have spent months on bestseller lists and climbed to the top of Goodreads rankings. The third is a summer release from a prizewinning author that went straight to No. 1. For a woman who has spent decades funding access to books and information, the list is also a reminder of where much of her philanthropic work began.
The Three books that Melinda Gates wants you to read
Whistler by Ann Patchett. Released earlier this summer, Patchett’s novel debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list. The author was recently honored as well: in August, she received the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival.The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Evans’s debut novel was published in April 2025 and has had a long run since. It spent 36 weeks on the Times bestseller list and won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Goodreads, the book-recommendation and review platform, ranks it No. 3 on its list of the most-read books this year.Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. Another debut, this one from Levi, was published in 2023. It has spent 42 weeks on the Times bestseller list and currently holds the No. 7 spot on the Goodreads most-read list.
An Invitation to readers
French Gates framed the post as a conversation rather than a pronouncement. Her closing question, asking followers about their own recent favourites and fall reading plans, is a familiar format for book-minded public figures. It also signals that the list is meant to start a conversation about reading rather than rank the books.It is unclear whether she considers any of the three her single favourite. She has named another book as the one she thinks everyone should read. In a 2025 interview with Wired, she pointed to The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo, a poet and cancer survivor. Published in 2000, it is a collection of 356 daily reflections and exercises. French Gates said in a 2018 social media post that she opens it almost every day and still finds something new in it after years.
A long record on libraries and literacy
The reading list lands against a long philanthropic backdrop. In 1997, French Gates and her then-husband, Bill Gates, established the Gates Library Foundation. A press release at the time described it as a nonprofit that would partner with public libraries in the United States and Canada to bring computers and digital information to the communities they serve. French Gates said then that public libraries represent “free and open access to important information and knowledge.“The effort grew well beyond North America. Over 20 years, the foundation invested $1 billion in libraries around the world. In 2014, the foundation’s director announced that its global libraries program would be phased out over the following three to five years.
