Why am I passionate about this?

Richard Vetere’s teleplay adaptation of his published stage play The Marriage Fool, starring Walter Matthau, Carol Burnet, and John Stamos, now streaming on Amazon. He co-wrote the movie The Third Miracle, which is a screenplay adaptation of his own novel. It was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, directed by Agnieszka Holand, and stars Ed Harris and Anne Heche released by Sony Picture Classics. His screenplay Caravaggio, an adaptation of his own published stage play, won the Golden Palm Award for Best Screenplay at the Beverly Hills International Film Festival in 2021. In 2005, the Frank Melville Library at Stony Brook University created the Richard Vetere Collection, an archive of his work.  


I wrote

She's Not There

By Richard Vetere,

Book cover of She's Not There

What is my book about?

It's the summer of 1965 and Christopher’s mother has run away. Teenage Christopher is not only angry but also perplexed.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of A Separate Peace

Richard Vetere Why did I love this book?

A Separate Peace published in 1958 is a terrific example of a coming-of-age novel and perhaps the first one I myself read in this genre. 

I read the novel as a teenager and found that I had to read it twice to truly understand it. The story is set in England during WWII and shows the closes friendship of two young men, Phineas, a charismatic, outgoing athlete and Gene Forrester, an introverted, intellectual who is secretly jealous of his friend. Without ruining the story, Gene commits a hideous, physical act to destroy Phineas.

Reading this when so young, I had a problem understanding Gene’s behavior but as I grew older and understood better the dynamic of codependency and youthful jealousy, it all makes amazing sense. Told in flashback, it is a must read. Made into a movie twice I have yet to see either adaptation.

By John Knowles,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked A Separate Peace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 'A GOOD READ'

'A novel that made such a deep impression on me at sixteen that I can still conjure the atmosphere in my fifties: of yearning, infatuation mingled indistinguishably with envy, and remorse' Lionel Shriver

An American coming-of-age tale during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to the second world war.

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual.…


Book cover of Portnoy's Complaint

Richard Vetere Why did I love this book?

Portnoy's Complaint published in 1969 I read the novel in college and I still have my copy.

I remember wondering if Phil Roth had lost his mind showing no shame in his brilliant revealing of male sexuality no one up to that time had the courage to write about. I thought a lot of it was grandstanding until I realized I too had the same fantasies Portnoy did. 

What is interesting is that Portnoy’s Complaint, was created in a world before cell phones, Instagram, and digital porn. Do young men today still have this struggle with sexual desire? Are they beyond it or perhaps they have less struggle with their desires. I recommend the novel because what is still clear is that the novel’s theme is still relevant, sexual desire is proof we are alive.

I recently screened the film version and unfortunately it was filmed at a pitch of hysteria and does not work at all. The novel is much more relevant.

By Philip Roth,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Portnoy's Complaint as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The most outrageously funny book about sex written' Guardian

Portnoy's Complaint n. [after Alexander Portnoy (1933-)]:A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature.

Portnoy's Complaint tells the tale of young Jewish lawyer Alexander Portnoy and his scandalous sexual confessions to his psychiatrist.

As narrated by Portnoy, he takes the reader on a journey through his childhood to adolescence to present day while articulating his sexual desire, frustration and neurosis in shockingly candid ways.

Hysterically funny and daringly intimate, Portnoy's Complaint was an immediate bestseller upon its publication…


Book cover of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Richard Vetere Why did I love this book?

Published in 1943, this was certainly my favorite coming-of-age novel which I read in high school. I grew up in a neighborhood in Queens with trees and parks while to me, Brooklyn was a world of concrete.

Francie intrigued me with how she survived her drunk father, her single-minded mother, and the harshness of poverty. My working-class world was a lot less dangerous and drastic than Francie’s so she intrigued me as she never wavered or lost her belief that everything would work out. The novel is the epitome of the coming-of-age book since it is truly about growing up and looking back on childhood memories no matter how unforgiving they are.

You are only young once and the novel tells us to relish those memories since there is always something good in them even if they are buried. The movie directed by Kazan is a good watch showing the basic truth of the novel. 

By Betty Smith,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

A special 75th anniversary edition of the beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century.

From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn, New York demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior―such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce―no one, least of all Francie, could…


Book cover of My Brilliant Friend

Richard Vetere Why did I love this book?

This is a series of four novels with the first one titled My Brilliant Friend.

The novel is set in the outskirts of Naples in the 1950s following the early lives of two friends. One is dark and outgoing but seems to contain an inner strength as well as inner demons while the other is lighter, more introspective, and tentative. Life quickly rushes at them as they deal with the families of local mafia sons and their girlfriends both in school and the neighborhood.

The writing is so intimate and perceptive it brings you right to the doorsteps of both young girls as their surroundings mold them into grown women. When the darker one decides to ignore her teacher’s pushing her to take a creative writing class, her friend takes her place and both of their destinies are set in motion. The HBO series is a true and exact adaptation of the books and it is as amazingly fluid and brilliant as the novels. 

By Elena Ferrante, Ann Goldstein (translator),

Why should I read it?

21 authors picked My Brilliant Friend as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN ENGLISH WORLDWIDE

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN THE UK

OVER 14 MILLION COPIES OF THE NEAPOLITAN QUARTET SOLD WORLDWIDE

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

GUARDIAN 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY

58 WEEKS ON THE BOOKSELLER'S TOP 20 ORIGINAL FICTION BESTSELLERS LIST

SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015

43 INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS DEALS

Now in B-format Paperback

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, comes this ravishing and generous-hearted novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but…


Book cover of Great Expectations

Richard Vetere Why did I love this book?

You cannot mention a coming-of-age novel without mentioning this classic.

Pip is an orphan who meets an escaped prisoner in a graveyard, does him a good deed, then is made a gentleman from an inheritance he knows nothing about. All of us enter our youth with great expectations and some of us are lucky enough, or unlucky, to meet our own beautiful Estella or the damaged and doomed Miss Havisham or the worldly and wise attorney Mister Jaggers.

Set in London where the worlds of extreme poverty and privilege co-exist side by side, we experience this world firsthand as Pip does wondering, all the time, if we can survive it unscathed. Ignore all other movie adaptations since they will only disappoint. Screen the 1946 version directed by David Lean. It is a great film.

By Charles Dickens,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Great Expectations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'His novels will endure as long as the language itself' Peter Ackroyd

Dickens's haunting late novel depicts the education and development of a young man, Pip, as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'. This definitive edition includes appendices on Dickens's original ending, giving an illuminating glimpse into a…


Explore my book 😀

She's Not There

By Richard Vetere,

Book cover of She's Not There

What is my book about?

It's the summer of 1965 and Christopher’s mother has run away. Teenage Christopher is not only angry but also perplexed. His father knows he cannot work and take care of Christopher on summer vacation so he sends his son to live with his sister Angie and her husband in Saugerties New York for the summer. Born and raised in the borough of Queens, Christopher has never seen cornfields or experienced rural living conditions before so it's all a culture shock. All is looking awful until he meets his next-door neighbor, Sarah. Smitten, he learns that he has a rival, the cool, much older 18-year-old Billy Dean who has just been drafted and will probably be sent to Vietnam. Christopher gets a crash course in growing up in the turbulent sixties.

Book cover of A Separate Peace
Book cover of Portnoy's Complaint
Book cover of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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Book cover of The Constant Tower

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The Constant Tower

By Carole McDonnell,

What is this book about?

Sickly fifteen year old Prince Psal, the son of the nature-blessed warrior-king Nahas, should have been named Crown Prince of all Wheel Clan lands. A priest-physician like his friend Ephan, Psal lacks a warrior's heart, yet he desires to earn Nahas's respect and become a clan chief. If he cannot do this, he must escape his clan altogether. But his love for Cassia, the daughter of his father's enemy, and his own weaknesses work against him. When war comes, Psal defends Ktwala and her daughter Mahari, wronged by Nahas, and speaks out against the atrocities his clan commits, further jeopardizing…


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