85 books like Pet

By Catherine Chidgey,

Here are 85 books that Pet fans have personally recommended if you like Pet. 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 Deployment: Strategies for Working with Kids in Military Families

Jerilyn Marler Author Of Lily Hates Goodbyes

From my list on military families dealing with deployment.

Why am I passionate about this?

I know the pain of separations. Navy doctor father. Missionary kid at boarding school in India. Military wife. Military mother. Separations suck. So when my three-year-old grandchild Lily struggled with her daddy’s deployment in 2010, I felt her pain. I composed the story and used personal photos to illustrate Lily Hates Goodbyes. Whenever we read about book Lily’s emotions, my Lily would say, “Just like me!” Wanting other children to have this cathartic experience, I hired Nathan Stoltenberg, a brilliant illustrator, and self-published the book. It’s available in a Navy version and an All Military version—the only difference is daddy’s uniform. Book Lily is a friend to young military children around the world. 

Jerilyn's book list on military families dealing with deployment

Jerilyn Marler Why did Jerilyn love this book?

Whether you are a parent, teacher, caregiver, grandparent, or friend of a military child, you’ll gain understanding and develop strategies that help you to help the child through the pain and frustrations of deployment. The child needs you. This book will help you meet that need.

By Karen Petty,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Military kids face many unique stressors and difficult transitions related to deployment, relocation, separation from loved ones, and changes in family structure. Caring for these kids requires a clear understanding of the challenges and triumphs military families deal with so that you can offer the best support possible.

Based on current research and best practices in child development and early education, Deployment provides purposeful information and theory-based strategies


Book cover of My Last Innocent Year

Stephanie Newman Author Of Barbarians at the PTA

From my list on mom culture.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a practicing clinical psychologist, teacher of psychotherapy theory and technique, and author (Barbarians at the PTA, Madmen on the Couch, Money Talks) who writes about the psychopathology of daily life for various online and print publications, I am a participant in/observer of mom culture. I love a juicy mother-child story. 

Stephanie's book list on mom culture

Stephanie Newman Why did Stephanie love this book?

Florin will make you ache for a mother’s love. She writes masterfully about her female character’s experience at a remotely insular and male-dominated elite college campus.

A coming of age and loss of innocence story, the novel is beautifully realized and thoroughly relatable–even if we didn’t attend this particular cold and icy campus, we’ve had moments of questioning our choices and have stumbled along the path before figuring it all out. 

By Daisy Alpert Florin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked My Last Innocent Year as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An incisive, deeply resonant debut novel about a nonconsensual sexual encounter that propels one woman’s final semester at an elite New England college into controversy and chaos―and into an ill-advised affair with a married professor.

It’s 1998 and Isabel Rosen, the only daughter of a Lower East Side appetizing store owner, has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire. Desperate to shed her working-class roots and still mourning the death of her mother four years earlier, Isabel has always felt like an outsider at Wilder but now, in her final semester, she believes she has…


Book cover of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Kevin Clouther Author Of Maximum Speed

From my list on literary fiction about the passage of time.

Why am I passionate about this?

I live in the past, even as the wellness industry tells me to be present. I try to be present! Of course, I also worry about the future. Time for me, inexorably, moves both backward and forward. I’m always writing things down, scared of forgetting. How do other people do it? That’s why I read fiction (or one of the reasons). As Philip Roth said of his father in Patrimony, “To be alive, to him, is to be made of memory—to him if a man’s not made of memory, he’s made of nothing.”

Kevin's book list on literary fiction about the passage of time

Kevin Clouther Why did Kevin love this book?

The popularity of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie may have obscured its structural genius.

Never have I read a book so comfortable drifting between present and future within a single paragraph, even a single sentence. The short novel simultaneously exists inside a classroom in the 1930s and throughout the lives the students will later have as women.

If the Scottish author Muriel Spark had a literary model for this design, I’ve yet to discover it. Sometimes an artist creates something entirely new.

By Muriel Spark,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The brevity of Muriel Spark's novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit.
Spark's most celebrated novel, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher's catastrophic effect on her pupils. THE GIRLS OF SLENDER MEANS is a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. THE DRIVER'S SEAT follows the final haunted hours of a woman…


Book cover of Tampa

Elwin Cotman Author Of Weird Black Girls: Stories

From my list on staring into the abyss.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since childhood, I’ve been interested in dark stories, and this led me to writing dark fantasy. To this day, my main inspirations as a writer are Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, both dark fantasists. I think it is only through understanding evil that we can appreciate goodness. As such, I strive to explore the darker parts of my characters’ psyches. I also write a fair deal about racism, which is a socially accepted, even celebrated form of evil. Fiction, because it has so few limits as far as subject matter, is, in my opinion, the best medium to have these conversations. Thank you for reading my list!

Elwin's book list on staring into the abyss

Elwin Cotman Why did Elwin love this book?

Statutory rape between teachers and students is a very uncomfortable subject that Alissa Nutting tackles head-on in her 2013 breakthrough novel.

I was impressed with how Nutting avoided sympathy for the devil. Her hebephilic protagonist, Celeste, is a terrible person who, like Richard III, conspiratorially lets the reader in on her plans to manipulate and seduce 12-year-old boys. The longer the book goes on, the clearer it becomes that Celeste isn’t some evil mastermind, just a dunderheaded rapist who gets out of trouble by virtue of being an attractive white woman.

I respect Nutting for writing this book. By staring at the monster in all her ugliness, she creates sympathy for the people whose lives are destroyed by Celeste and by people like her in the real world.

By Alissa Nutting,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She is attractive. She drives a red Corvette. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed and devoted to her. But Celeste has a secret. She has a singular sexual obsession - fourteen-year-old boys. It is a craving she pursues with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought.
Within weeks of her first term at a new school, Celeste has lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web - car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods.…


Book cover of My Dark Vanessa

Catherine Evans Author Of All Grown Up

From my list on books about girls lured into inappropriate relationships.

Why am I passionate about this?

Men have always been attracted to young women, who possess a glow that their mothers have possibly lost. Girls are more vulnerable and impressionable and are more likely to believe what they are told. Their passionate desire to be loved, combined with their conviction that no one understands them, makes them uniquely vulnerable to predators. But there is another side to the story. Girls do not passively wait to be seduced or exploited. They thrill in actively testing their own sexual power and often put themselves in physical and emotional danger with no understanding of the long-term consequences of relationships where the power dynamic leaves them exposed to exploitation and abuse.

Cathy's book list on books about girls lured into inappropriate relationships

Catherine Evans Why did Cathy love this book?

My Dark Vanessa is a highly compelling, if disturbing read. I loved the book as I related so closely to the idealistic fifteen-year-old Vanessa, who is groomed by her English teacher, Jacob Strane, believing him to be the love of her life.

The book opens to Vanessa at thirty-two, leading a lonely and unfulfilling life in a dead-end job at the beginning of the #MeToo era, when other girls come forward to accuse Strane. She finds herself torn: how can she do anything but defend him? Otherwise, she would have to admit to herself that their great love has been a great lie.

By Kate Elizabeth Russell,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 DYLAN THOMAS AWARD

'A package of dynamite' Stephen King

'Powerful, compulsive, brilliant' Marian Keyes

An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher

ALL HE DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND THE WORLD TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTER

Vanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher.

She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student.…


Book cover of Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

Taha Kehar Author Of No Funeral for Nazia

From my list on cope with death and grief.

Why am I passionate about this?

Grief is now an unwanted travel companion and a friend to me. At times, I find myself incapable of understanding it. Even so, it has helped me view myself through a different lens. When I wrote my book, my mother was still alive. Grief had yet to announce itself as my lifelong companion, but I was aware of its menacing presence. That amazing prescience spilled into my book. After my mother died, I discovered that there was a lot more to discover about death and grief. For months, I reviewed books on these topics for various publications. I'm still on this enlightening journey.

Taha's book list on cope with death and grief

Taha Kehar Why did Taha love this book?

Over the last fifteen years, I've returned to this book on numerous occasions. I read it a few months before my mother's death while I and my siblings attended to her needs as full-time caregivers.

Mitch Albom's book enabled me to understand how to channel my anticipatory grief by discovering the value of life through a deeper exploration of death.

Unlike the author, I never got the opportunity to have candid discussions with my mother about life and death, but this book helped me realize that it wasn't impossible to have such therapeutic conversations.

By Mitch Albom,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Tuesdays with Morrie as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON THAT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF OVER 9 MILLION READERS

'Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary' Cecelia Ahern
__________

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague? Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it? For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to…


Book cover of Being Lolita: A Memoir

Liz Kinchen Author Of Light in Bandaged Places: Healing in the Wake of Young Betrayal

From my list on teenage abuse and healing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I resonate with these stories; I feel a kinship with authors of books about teen sexual abuse. My heart breaks for another innocent young person, and I am also inspired by the different ways we find healing and peace. I am so grateful for my healing journey that I want to share what helped me with others who are looking for greater peace with their struggles and scars. I am proud to join the ranks of these authors because we all shine a spotlight on the harm done by this too-common abuse of the trust and innocence of teenage girls. 

Liz's book list on teenage abuse and healing

Liz Kinchen Why did Liz love this book?

I resonated with this memoir of teen grooming because I saw myself in it and I felt less alone, like I had found a kindred spirit. Many details of our stories are different, but the core wounding from being taken advantage of by an older more powerful man felt the same.

The author and I both experienced the thrill of being chosen and the deep sadness resulting from this kind of betrayal, and we both found a way to heal, even though the scars remain.

By Alisson Wood,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

AS FEATURED IN THE HULU DOCUMENTARY KEEP THIS BETWEEN US

A dark relationship evolves between a high schooler and her English teacher in this breathtakingly powerful memoir about a young woman who must learn to rewrite her own story.

“Have you ever read Lolita?”

So begins seventeen-year-old Alisson’s metamorphosis from student to lover and then victim. A lonely and vulnerable high school senior, Alisson finds solace only in her writing—and in a young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. North.

Mr. North gives Alisson a copy of Lolita to read, telling her it is a beautiful story about love. The book soon…


Book cover of My Education

Sarah Terez Rosenblum Author Of Herself When She's Missing

From my list on people who should know better than to be obsessed.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with obsession; with the nature of intimate relationships. If I could obsess about a topic as easily and naturally as I can about a human, I’d probably have five or six advanced degrees. As a writer I’m most frequently drawn to third-person limited because I love the marriage of intimacy and distance it can create. It's that marriage that confounds me; the dark inner spaces contained by the people we love. 

Sarah's book list on people who should know better than to be obsessed

Sarah Terez Rosenblum Why did Sarah love this book?

Gender takes a backseat to obsession when college student Regina becomes enamored with Professor Nicholas Brodeur, before finding a deeper romantic connection with his volatile wife. Choi nails the mix of awe and attraction that can characterize the relationship between a young person and an older counterpart. Lyrical and emotionally immersive, this academic novel depicts a regular young woman who believes (as we all do) that the strength of her passion is unique. 

By Susan Choi,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An intimately charged novel of desire and disaster from the National Book Award-winning author of Trust Exercise and A Person of Interest

Regina Gottlieb had been warned about Professor Nicholas Brodeur long before arriving as a graduate student at his prestigious university high on a pastoral hill. He's said to lie in the dark in his office while undergraduate women read couplets to him. He's condemned on the walls of the women's restroom, and enjoys films by Roman Polanski. But no one has warned Regina about his exceptional physical beauty-or his charismatic, volatile wife.

My Education is the story of…


Book cover of Gimme Everything You Got

Vanessa L. Torres Author Of The Turning Pointe

From my list on bell bottoms and big hair of the 70s and 80s.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up, a child of the eighties, in a Minneapolis household filled with music and dance. My mom took me to see the movie Purple Rain when I was thirteen and I was never the same. And though I no longer rat and spray the life out of my hair, I’ve always felt an affinity for the decade. The music of the time inspired so much of what we hear today. Notes and lyrics are just another forms of story. So, please enjoy my list. And if you find your foot tapping, pop in a cassette, a CD, or maybe even spin a record while you read. 

Vanessa's book list on bell bottoms and big hair of the 70s and 80s

Vanessa L. Torres Why did Vanessa love this book?

This wonderful YA set in the seventies is part Booksmart with a bit of Judy Blume sprinkled in. I love humor in books and at times, this one will have you snorting your latte through your nose. The story follows Susan, an aspiring soccer player who just happens to have the hots for the foxy coach. What follows is a book that shines a light on a teenage girl owning her sexuality, building lasting friendships, and discovering what she really wants. I loved this book and though I read it a while ago, it has stuck with me in such a good way.

By Iva-Marie Palmer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gimme Everything You Got as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“One part Judy Blume, one part Amy Schumer, Gimme Everything You Got is incredibly warm, bracingly frank, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I didn't want the game to end.” —Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days

It's 1979—the age of roller skates and feathered bangs, Charlie’s Angels and Saturday Night Fever—and Susan Klintock is a junior in high school with a lot of sexual fantasies . . . but not a lot of sexual experience. No boy—at least not any she knows—has been worth taking a shot on.

That is, until Bobby McMann arrives.

Bobby is foxy, he’s charming…


Book cover of The Secret History

Lorraine Boissoneault Author Of The Last Voyageurs: Retracing La Salle's Journey Across America: Sixteen Teenagers on the Adventure of a Lifetime

From my list on people a little too obsessed with history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved learning about history since childhood, as attested by my bookshelves full of American Girl series, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and The Royal Diaries (Cleopatra was my favorite). After writing my first book about reenactors pretending to be French explorers, I worked as a history writer for Smithsonian Magazine. I especially love the philosophical and political questions of how we still interact with the past and how history is presented. I hope you’ll enjoy thinking about that and learning some history from these books! 

Lorraine's book list on people a little too obsessed with history

Lorraine Boissoneault Why did Lorraine love this book?

This is the only fiction on a list otherwise full of nonfiction, but it more than deserves a place on this list. There are so many things to love about this book—its audacious opening line, the lush writing, the twisted relationships—but what I think history lovers might appreciate most is how deeply entwined the characters get with the history of Antiquities.

After all, the main group of characters in this dark academia only come together because they’re all studying Greek and Latin. In fact, the plot hinges on their obsession with Antiquity—but I won’t get too much more into that. I just recommend picking the book up and going along for the ride. 

By Donna Tartt,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked The Secret History as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE BESTSELLER THAT DEFINED AN AGE

'Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'

Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries.…


Book cover of Deployment: Strategies for Working with Kids in Military Families
Book cover of My Last Innocent Year
Book cover of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

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