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Doubleday Books

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Bonnie Garmus

Goodreads Author

Born

Riverside, CA, The United States

Website

https://www.bonniegarmus.com/

Twitter

bonniegarmus

Genre

Fiction, Humor and Comedy

Member Since

February 2014

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Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who’s worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She’s an open-water swimmer, a rower, and mother to two pretty amazing daughters. Born in California and most recently from Seattle, she currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.

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Popular Answered Questions

I loved Lessons in Chemistry. Any chance you will be writing more books? I am anxiously awaiting anything you will publish (or not publish)!

Bonnie Garmus That's really nice--thanks so much, Jennifer! I'm writing another book. I'll try to go faster!…moreThat's really nice--thanks so much, Jennifer! I'm writing another book. I'll try to go faster!(less)

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Yay, love this! Your book is one of the best I've read this year -- and I'm nearly 70 titles in. I'd love to hear about your inspiration for the novel. How did you settle on the storyline and characters, and what inspired you to make Six-Thirty an occassional narrator? (Which, of course, was an awesome decision!)

Bonnie Garmus Thanks, Margot! The story was inspired by a bad day at work. I'd been in a meeting and had endured some standard sexism. Furious, I felt like I needed…moreThanks, Margot! The story was inspired by a bad day at work. I'd been in a meeting and had endured some standard sexism. Furious, I felt like I needed some reassurance that things for women had improved since the 60s--and they have, but not enough. But I also picked that era because that's when my mom was a mom and the book gave me a chance to look back and see what kind of societal limits she'd endured. (A lot!) As for the storyline, I wrote the first chapter of Lessons in Chemistry that day at work, and I also knew how I wanted it to end. But the rest was a blank. I don't write from an outline; I let characters walk on and guide me. As for Six-Thirty, I didn't know he was going to have a voice. The first time he offered his POV, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it. But he had so much to say! So he stayed. I'm really glad you liked him.(less)

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Bonnie Garmus’s books

Average rating: 4.28 · 1,805,470 ratings · 158,422 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Lessons in Chemistry 4.28 avg rating — 1,802,724 ratings — published 2022 — 147 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Listen In: A Conversation with Bonnie Garmus: An Exclusive Interview by The Audible Editors, Bonnie Garmus (Goodreads Author) 4.13 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

It's time once again, gentle readers, for our end-of-year status check on the annual Goodreads Reading Challenge, in which dedicated bookworms...

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Bonnie’s Recent Updates

Bonnie answered Kristen Kniest's question: We just finished Lessons in Chemistry in my book club and we all absolutely loved it. All the characters were so well developed and the book overall was a wonderful balance of laughter, love, sadness, trial...all the stuff of life. We especially all loved 6:30 and the perspective of a dog. So clever. Do you think you'd ever consider a sequel? We all wished we knew how Mad's life turned out, etc Thanks so much for reading! I've answered this question a lot because I do sometimes think about writing a sequel, and with Mad as the main protagonist. (Fun fact: I started a different novel, well before Lessons in Chemistry, where Mad WAS the main See Full Answer
Feb 12, 2026 09:08AM · 12 likes · like
Bonnie answered Reader's question: I loved the character and enjoyed the book but i didnt think it rang true that Elizabeth would bottle feed her baby as a scientist and someone who cares so much about nutrition?? Modified dried cows milk felt unbeleiveable. It's a great question--thank you for asking. But because the book is set in a era where formula was extremely common--and because it had been developed by a chemist--I thought it would be harder to believe that she wouldn't use it. It was endorsed by See Full Answer
Feb 12, 2026 09:05AM · 3 likes · like

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Quotes by Bonnie Garmus (?)

“Whenever you feel afraid, just remember. Courage is the root of change - and change is what we're chemically designed to do. So when you wake up tomorrow, make this pledge. No more holding yourself back. No more subscribing to others' opinions of what you can and cannot achieve. And no more allowing anyone to pigeonhole you into useless categories of sex, race, economic status, and religion. Do not allow your talents to lie dormant, ladies. Design your own future. When you go home today, ask yourself what YOU will change. And then get started.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

tags: inspirational

525 likes

“(On religion) "I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; the ultimately, we're not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

tags: religion

258 likes

“Sometimes I think," she said slowly, "that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

tags: feminism

243 likes

See all Bonnie Garmus's quotes »

Polls

Time to vote for the nominations for May Member's Choice - voting will stay open until April 14th.
(there will also be nominations for our next nonfiction book on the homepage later today)

Pick your favorite - then plan to read it so our discussion will be a good one - Thanks

Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

12 votes, 48.0%

Take My Hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

10 votes, 40.0%

The Lightkeepers

by Abby Geni

2 votes, 8.0%

Have You Seen Luis Velez?

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

1 vote, 4.0%

25 total votes

2 comments

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