100 books like Flea Circus

By Mandy Keifetz,

Here are 100 books that Flea Circus fans have personally recommended if you like Flea Circus. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Priestdaddy: A Memoir

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a storyteller. I’ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: “The Magazine of the Art of Screenwriting” I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angle—history told, not by the “losers” but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

This book is quietly hilarious. I loved being “inside” Patricia Lockwood’s mind. As a fellow lapsed Catholic, I resonated with her upbringing and living in the strange shadow of religion. Lockwood weaves a contradictory coming-of-age story with profound wit and lyricism.

She also explores the complexities of what she calls “The Portal”—the internet of things that boggle the mind even as they bring solace. I loved how Lockwood used “the portal” to understand her conservative upbringing and eventually find her own irreverent path in the world.

The book led me to follow her online presence too, and helped me learn new ways to “be” online. As Lockwood writes in Priestdaddy: “Part of what you have to figure out in this life is, who would I be if I hadn’t been frightened? What hurt me, and what would I be if it hadn’t?” 

By Patricia Lockwood,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Priestdaddy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW STATESMAN AND OBSERVER BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017

'Glorious' Sunday Times
'Laugh-out-loud funny' The Times
'Extraordinary' Observer
'Exceptional' Telegraph
'Electric' New York Times
'Snort-out-loud' Financial Times
'Dazzling' Guardian
'Do yourself a favour and read this memoir!' BookPage

The childhood of Patricia Lockwood, the poet dubbed' The Smutty-Metaphor Queen of Lawrence, Kansas' by The New York Times, was unusual in many respects. There was the location: an impoverished, nuclear waste-riddled area of the American Midwest. There was her mother, a woman who speaks almost entirely in strange riddles and warnings of impending danger. Above all, there was her gun-toting, guitar-riffing,…


Book cover of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a storyteller. I’ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: “The Magazine of the Art of Screenwriting” I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angle—history told, not by the “losers” but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

I’ve always loved so-called monsters, and Emil Ferris, with her comforting voice and detailed, luminous drawings, elevates “monsters” to a transcendent place. This is a compelling graphic novel, a must-read for anyone who has felt labeled “monstrous” by societal norms or felt at all marginalized.

In reading My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Emil Ferris’s deep empathy for outsiders is felt in every line and drawing. The child’s point-of-view of 10-year-old Karen’s wild imagination felt like the author and protagonist were sharing their private diary with us. All this, and a mystery too, as Karen, who sees herself as a werewolf, tries to solve a monstrous murder mystery.

By Emil Ferris,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked My Favorite Thing Is Monsters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.


Book cover of I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a storyteller. I’ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: “The Magazine of the Art of Screenwriting” I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angle—history told, not by the “losers” but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

Lucy Sante’s memoir is about discovering something she’s always known - that while she was born Luc Sante, she has always been Lucy Sante. I found the book transcendent.

As my young friends began to question their sexuality and crave a non-binary world, I became curious about how that felt from the inside. As a journalist, when I’m confronted by something complex, I turn to original sources and voices. When Lucy Sante, one of the greatest wordsmiths of our time, began her transition, I knew this was a book for me. Her story took me on a tender, brutal, intimate journey that ultimately had me wondering: Am I living my true life?

By Lucy Sante,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Heard Her Call My Name as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Reading this book is a joy... much to say about the trans journey and will undoubtedly become a standard for those in need of guidance. ”
— The Washington Post

"Sante’s bold devotion to complexity and clarity makes this an exemplary memoir. It is a clarion call to live one’s most authentic life.”
— The Boston Globe

“Not to be missed, I Heard Her Call My Name is a powerful example of self-reflection and a vibrant exploration of the modern dynamics of gender and identity.” — Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024

An iconic writer’s lapidary memoir of a…


Book cover of Burn Book: A Tech Love Story

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a storyteller. I’ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: “The Magazine of the Art of Screenwriting” I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angle—history told, not by the “losers” but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

Kara Swisher has spent decades writing about and reporting on the tech kings of the world, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others. Her insights into the rise of tech giants from the early 1990s to the present illuminate the forces that have shaped our world

I loved Swisher’s insight into these powerful men. She’s blunt, funny, and direct in how she exposes their flaws, and the book feels like it’s written by someone who understands and is fed up with these white, controlling male demigods of tech. I imagine the book’s title refers to how she’s burning all bridges by telling all.

As a journalist who was raised pre-internet, I could deeply relate to Swisher’s outrage in lines such as “What struck me was how easily people could be manipulated by fear and rage, and how facts could be destroyed without repercussions.”

By Kara Swisher,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Burn Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Instant New York Times Bestseller

From award-winning journalist Kara Swisher comes a witty, scathing, but fair accounting of the tech industry and its founders who wanted to change the world but broke it instead.

“Swisher, the bad-ass journalist and OG chronicler of Silicon Valley…takes no prisoners in this highly readable look at the evolution of the digital world…Bawdy, brash, and compulsively thought-provoking, just like its author, Burn Book sizzles” (Booklist, starred review).

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. From “the queen of all media” (Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal), this…


Book cover of Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving

James Withey Author Of How to Get to Grips with Grief: 40 Ways to Manage the Unmanageable

From my list on to get to grips with grief.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm the author of the best-selling books How to Tell Depression to Piss Off: 40 Ways to Get Your Life BackHow to Tell Anxiety to Sod Off: 40 Ways to Get Your Life Back, The Recovery Letters, and What I Do to Get Through. My sixth book will be, How to Smash Stress: 40 Ways to Manage the Unmanageable.

James' book list on to get to grips with grief

James Withey Why did James love this book?

The useful thing about this book is that it breaks down the different types of losses we can experience and examines those. Sibling loss, parental loss, loss of a child, etc. You can connect to your type of grief and learn specifics about how to manage it. It is also filled with compassion and wisdom from one of the grief experts in the world. 

By Julia Samuel,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Grief Works as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*** Sunday Times Bestseller ***

'Fascinating. A wise and compassionate book full of insight and understanding that would help anyone experiencing grief, or those surrounding them' Cathy Rentzenbrink

'A wonderfully important and transforming book - lucid, consoling and wise' William Boyd

____________________________________________________________________

Grief Works is a compassionate guide that will inform and engage anyone who is grieving, from the 'expected' death of a parent to the sudden unexpected death of a small child, and provide clear advice for those seeking to comfort the bereaved.

Julia Samuel guides you gently through her eight practical pillars of strength - that include the…


Book cover of ADA Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist

Emily Arnold McCully Author Of Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business - And Won!

From my list on Ada Byron Lovelace.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve enjoyed a long career as an author-illustrator of picture books for children. I search for stories of girls and women whose greatness has been overlooked: - Caroline Herschel, pioneering astronomer, - Oney Judge, the slave who escaped from George and Martha Washington, - Margaret Knight, the inventor who fought the man who tried to steal her idea and won in court - and Lizzie Murphy, the big-league baseball star. Every one of them had to overcome centuries of fierce resistance to female empowerment. A few of my biographies began as picture books, but their subjects quickly outgrew that format.

Emily's book list on Ada Byron Lovelace

Emily Arnold McCully Why did Emily love this book?

Written by mathematicians with a great literary flair, and beautifully illustrated with archival materials, this most recent Lovelace book is a comprehensive and lively recounting of her genius and its consummation in her collaboration with Charles Babbage.  It should banish any lingering doubts about Lovelace’s ability to interpret Babbage’s invention (even better than he did, at times) and to envision the potential that could only be realized nearly 100 years after her tragically early death. 

If just one book is to be read about Ada (other than my own), this is it!

By Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, Adrian Rice

Why should I read it?

1 author picked ADA Lovelace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron and his highly educated wife, Anne Isabella, is sometimes called the world's first computer programmer and has become an icon for women in technology. But how did a young woman in the nineteenth century, without access to formal school or university education, acquire the knowledge and expertise to become a pioneer of computer science?

Although an unusual pursuit for women at the time, Ada Lovelace studied science and mathematics from a young age. This book uses previously unpublished archival material to explore her precocious childhood, from her ideas for…


Book cover of The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars

Fernando J. Ballesteros Author Of E.T. Talk: How Will We Communicate with Intelligent Life on Other Worlds?

From my list on humanistic answers from the skies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an astronomer and astrobiologist, and my field of work leads me to wonder about the origin of life in the universe and how scientific discoveries (and especially those related to space) affect culture, people's lives, or even civilization itself. All of the books listed here focus precisely on answering some of these concerns, which is why I find them extremely interesting.

Fernando's book list on humanistic answers from the skies

Fernando J. Ballesteros Why did Fernando love this book?

I find it a lovely book that highlights the work of many hidden figures in the field of astronomy for the mere fact of being women. The book shows the groundbreaking work of a group of women astronomers at the Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy.

I always find Sobel's prose fascinating and very enjoyable to read; I love the way she writes. Drawing from letters, diaries, and scientific papers, Sobel paints a vivid portrait of these pioneering women and their remarkable discoveries. Reading the book is like being present in that time.

By Dava Sobel,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Glass Universe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday

Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

"A joy to read." -The Wall Street Journal

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or "human computers," to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the…


Book cover of The Kiss Quotient

Demi Blaize Author Of Apparently, I'm A Bitch

From my list on romantic comedies to keep you swooning.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been the dorky bookworm, the party girl who laughs too loud, the gamer-tomboy, and the doting mother of two kids who is now in a happy, loving marriage. Through all my shifts and changes, the one constant thread in my life was love. But not the rough, I-have-to-hurt-someone-to-get-it kind of love you might find in dark romance novels (although I enjoy those too sometimes). My kind of experience with love is that it’s at its best when it’s fun and when it’s easy. If you can find your most authentic you in the pages of a rom-com, you’re guaranteed an escape from reality that’ll pull you deeper into yourself. 

Demi's book list on romantic comedies to keep you swooning

Demi Blaize Why did Demi love this book?

You will fall in love with Stella. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. If there was any way to dive into the mind of a person with autism, to witness the social struggles they face in a way that leaves you wanting to know more, this book takes a step in that much-needed direction.

But this book isn’t just about Stella’s character exploration or growth; it’s also about the fun and sexy deal she makes with an escort. Michael is the kind of guy who is good right down to his core and is just doing whatever he can to support his family. Having his perspective adds so many layers to this incredibly fun, endearing read.

This book is a must for any rom-com lover.

By Helen Hoang,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Kiss Quotient as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Goodread's Romance Book of the Year, 2018

A Washington Post Book of the Year, 2018
An AmazonBook of the Year, 2018
Cosmopolitan's 33 Books to Get Excited About in 2018
Elle Best Summer Reads 2018

__________

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

It's high time for Stella Lane to settle down and find a husband - or so her mother tells her. This is no easy task for a wealthy, successful woman like Stella, who also happens to have Asperger's. Analyzing…


Book cover of ADA Byron Lovelace & the Thinking Machine

Vivian Kirkfield Author Of From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moves

From my list on budding inventors.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I loved stories about people who accomplished extraordinary things – I read our set of encyclopedias from cover to cover. Those first forays into research stood me in good stead when I started writing nonfiction picture books about people who believed that nothing is impossible if you can imagine it – people like Robert Goddard who climbed a cherry tree when he was 13 and looked at the moon and decided he was going to build a vehicle that could take people there. As a teacher and as a parent, I read picture books on a daily basis, and as a writer for children, I love sparking the curiosity of young readers.

Vivian's book list on budding inventors

Vivian Kirkfield Why did Vivian love this book?

Picture books are a unique genre because there are really three people who participate in telling the story – the author, the illustrator, and the children who are reading and/or listening. With each page turn, ADA Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine brings us to another time and allows us to become part of that history – a time before computers and other electronic devices proliferated our lives and before women in science were accepted. The lush illustrations and the lyrical text capture my heart each time I read this book, and I love how we get a small peek into the life of the main character’s famous parents, Lord Byron, and Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke.

By Laurie Wallmark, April Chu (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked ADA Byron Lovelace & the Thinking Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math. When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world's first computer program in order to demonstrate its capabilities.


Book cover of Zero Sum Game

R. E. Stearns Author Of Barbary Station

From my list on looking at the familiar differently.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always read speculative fiction for its new perspectives on reality. Now that I write it too, I appreciate the fabulous minds that create these unique views of our universe even more. Experience in higher education and instructional design led me to appreciate organization that flows at the speed and direction of thought. I adore a well-turned phrase and a well-built world, and I hope this list leads you to a new experience of that same joy.

R. E.'s book list on looking at the familiar differently

R. E. Stearns Why did R. E. love this book?

Many readers fear math, and this action-packed adventure may give you new reasons to fear it. The protagonist’s superpower is super-fast mental calculation that lets her dodge bullets and kick incredible quantities of butt in a fight. Even more devious minds are opposing her. If you’ve ever wondered what use your high school physics and calculus classes were, this novel offers some explanation, although you can appreciate the story without them. This is, and I cannot stress this enough, a fun and exciting tale that treats math like magic and totally gets away with doing so.

By S. L. Huang,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Zero Sum Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ZERO SUM GAME Best of Lists:
* Best Books of the Month at The Verge, Book Riot, Unbound Worlds, SYFY, & Kirkus
* The Mary Sue Book Club Pick
* Library Journal Best Debuts of Fall and Winter

A blockbuster near-future thriller, S.L. Huang's Zero Sum Game introduces a math-genius mercenary who finds herself being manipulated by someone possessing unimaginable power…

Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right…


Book cover of Priestdaddy: A Memoir
Book cover of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
Book cover of I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition

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Interested in women in mathematics, suicide, and loss?

Suicide 197 books
Loss 121 books