4 books like Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek

By Thea Glassman,

Here are 4 books that Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek fans have personally recommended if you like Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of 1001 TV Shows You Must Watch Before You Die

Kimberly Potts Author Of The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch: How the Canceled Sitcom Became the Beloved Pop Culture Icon We Are Still Talking about Today

From my list on television history.

Why am I passionate about this?

Kimberly Potts is a TV and pop culture journalist and author who believes television is not only the ultimate entertainment medium, but is also the ultimate cultural common denominator. She has written for The New York TimesEntertainment Weekly, VultureThe Hollywood ReporterTV GuideThe Los Angeles Times, Yahoo, Variety, People.comUS Weekly, E! Online, Thrillist, Esquire.com, AOL, Movies.com, and The Wrap. Kimberly also co-hosts the Pop Literacy and #Authoring podcasts, and is a member of the Television Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, Authors Guild, and American Society of Journalist and Authors.

Kimberly's book list on television history

Kimberly Potts Why did Kimberly love this book?

The most important aspect of television history is, of course, the shows. And though there have been hundreds, at least, more series that will need to be added to the book since it was published in 2015, it is a gorgeously designed collection of viewing suggestions. And like any great guidebook, it’s also just a fun way for any TV fan to revisit the best series of the past, arranged by decades, and including American and international programming.

By Paul Condon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked 1001 TV Shows You Must Watch Before You Die as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The most groundbreaking and important must-see shows from the 1950s to today’s golden age of television. This latest addition to the best-selling and highly acclaimed 1001 series showcases the best programs produced for television from its inception to the bumper crop of great shows being produced in today’s era of original cable programming and digital streaming. 
Offering a critical evaluation of the most important and groundbreaking TV programs ever created, this book tracks television’s evolution through decades of social, cultural, and stylistic change. Included are shows that broke new ground, influenced the future, and left a lasting mark, ranging from…


Book cover of Complex Serial Drama and Multiplatform Television

Mareike Jenner Author Of Netflix and the Re-invention of Television

From my list on contemporary television.

Why am I passionate about this?

I like understanding television as culturally situated. Television is constructed along a number of sites: cultural, institutional, ideological, historical, or via the different ways audiences understand it. Interrogating television and what it does as a medium was historically relevant because it was a mass medium. But how can we evaluate the medium in times of highly fragmented audiences? Because of this, exploring Netflix as a new form of ‘television’ has become so important to me. The authors all try to get to terms with how television has changed over its short existence. This helps us understand the medium better, as well as our current moment.

Mareike's book list on contemporary television

Mareike Jenner Why did Mareike love this book?

Dunleavy explores what complexity means for contemporary ‘quality’ TV. She focusses on the narrative structures, creative strategies, and style of contemporary television.

For me, what stands out about this book is how it explores the interrelationship between recent technological changes and what we understand as television. This results in a redefinition of television.

When writing the second edition of my book, I found the different ways people have conceptualized contemporary television especially important.

By Trisha Dunleavy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Complex Serial Drama and Multiplatform Television as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book examines the creative strategies, narrative characteristics, industrial practices and stylistic tendencies of complex serial drama. Exemplified by shows like HBO's The Sopranos, AMC's Mad Men and Breaking Bad, Showtime's Dexter, and Netflix's Stranger Things, complex serials are distinguished by their conceptual originality, narrative complexity, transgressive lead characters and serial allure. As a drama form that continues to expand and diversify in today's television, HBO's Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, Netflix's Orange Is the New Black and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale provide further examples. Dunleavy investigates the strategies that underpin the innovations, influence and success of complex serial…


Book cover of Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Amy Hassinger Author Of After the Dam

From my list on flawed, fierce, and fascinating mothers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Becoming a mother reshaped me in ways I’m still wondering at now, two decades on. I’ve had to find ways to resist the repressive cultural mythology surrounding motherhood—the pressure I felt to suddenly become a perfect, self-sacrificing vessel for my children’s optimized development. When I read stories about flawed mothers—women, queer and straight, struggling beneath the magnitude of the job, yet fiercely loving their children all the way through—I felt I could breathe a little bit, could handle the task with a little more good humor and forgiveness, for myself, my partner, and my kids. Read a book, bust a myth, go hug your mom.  

Amy's book list on flawed, fierce, and fascinating mothers

Amy Hassinger Why did Amy love this book?

I devoured Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet (four novels that trace a lifetime friendship between two women living in a deeply patriarchal mid-twentieth-century Italy) in a single summer a few years back, and when I got to the end of those few thousand pages, I felt as though I wanted to start right over at the beginning again. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay is the third novel in the series, and I name it here because it’s the novel in which Elena—the book’s protagonist, and a writer herself—becomes a mother. Elena has a modern marriage compared to her friend Lina’s, but still, she finds the expectations and demands of motherhood difficult to reconcile with her own creative ambitions. Ferrante represents that central struggle with arresting honesty—a captivating read. 

By Elena Ferrante, Ann Goldstein (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 14M OF THE NEAPOLITAN QUARTET SOLD WORLDWIDE

"Nothing quite like this has ever been published before."-The Guardian

"This is high stakes, subversive literature."-The Daily Telegraph

"With the publication of her Neapolitan Novels, (Ferrante) has established herself as the foremost writer in Italy-and the world."-The Sunday Times

"An unconditional masterpiece . . . I was totally enthralled."-Jhumpa Lahiri

"An extraordinary epic."-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"To the uninitiated, Elena Ferrante is best described as Balzac meets The Sopranos and rewrites feminist theory."-The Times

"Ferrante's writing seems to say something that hasn't been said before, in a way so compelling…


Book cover of Spoiled Brats

Ginny Hogan Author Of I'm More Dateable Than a Plate of Refried Beans: And Other Romantic Observations

From my list on humor to make you laugh out loud.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a humor writer and stand-up comedian. I spend much of my time trying to get my comedy into the shortest form possible so it can “go viral,” but I’d rather work on projects that have space to breathe, like books. I don’t think enough people appreciate how funny books can be. Often, humor seems like the purview of more visual mediums. However, while books are quieter than TV shows and live performances, they have just as much capacity for humor. When a book truly makes me laugh out loud, I want to tell everyone. And the following five books do.

Ginny's book list on humor to make you laugh out loud

Ginny Hogan Why did Ginny love this book?

Spoiled Brats feels like the all-encompassing humor book about millennials. There’s no avocado-related stone Rich leaves unturned in his quest to mock his generation. As a millennial, I felt very seen by this book, but it also made me felt-conscious about all my participation trophies. I mean, I earned those trophies, didn’t I?

By Simon Rich,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

This edited collection examines organizational conflict and how it is handled in seven different countries (and cultures) around the globe: France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Experts on each country discuss how various social, cultural, and economic forces affect conflict management; how managerial styles differ with regard to organizational and interpersonal conflict management; alternative dispute mechanisms available in each country for the resolution of conflict; and how general managerial effectiveness can be improved with respect to organizational conflict.


4 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in television, Naples Italy, and female friendship?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about television, Naples Italy, and female friendship.

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