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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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Combine Editions
Bonnie Garmus’s books

Average rating: 4.28 · 1,914,403 ratings · 168,027 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Lessons in Chemistry 4.28 avg rating — 1,911,040 ratings — published 2022 — 146 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
	The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love by Alice Hoffman (Goodreads Author), Karen Gundersen (Narrator), Max Meyers (Narrator) 4.31 avg rating — 6,714 ratings — published 2026 — 12 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
	Peck & Peck 3.94 avg rating — 495 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 16 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

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

Batter Gray has a poetry problem. Batter finds himself, a recent college graduate in 1980s New York City, with zero skills beyond having the...

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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 · 18 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 · 5 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

534 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

266 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

256 likes

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Polls

What book would you like to read for our May 2023 Group Read? The theme is Elements.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Historical Fiction

31 votes 29.8%

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Historical Fiction, Young Adult

14 votes 13.5%

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Classic, Romance

12 votes 11.5%

The Mist by Stephen King
Horror

11 votes 10.6%

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Nonfiction, Memoir

9 votes 8.7%

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
Fantasy

8 votes 7.7%

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
Mystery

7 votes 6.7%

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Non-Fiction, Mystery, True Crime

5 votes 4.8%

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Fiction, Magical Realism

4 votes 3.8%

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Nonfiction

3 votes 2.9%

104 total votes

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