Here are 93 books that Shadows of Pecan Hollow fans have personally recommended if you like
Shadows of Pecan Hollow.
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I am an award-winning author of two five-star rated memoirs: “My Whorizontal Life: An Escort’s Tale” and “A Someday Courtesan,” and the creator/performer of the 90-minute solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!” I co-host the podcast My Index to Sex. and I am a Juilliard Drama Graduate and the former #1 escort in the country. Thinking about how I grew up in a safe, typical suburb in the middle of America made me wonder if the things that happened to me with men as a girl happened to many women as we came of age in the 70s.
We all know the incomparable poet, writer, and speaker she became, but before that was her coming-of-age story. Raw and painful yet written with Maya Angelou's lyrical and insightful eye, this too was a book I started and could not put down.
Drawn into her world as a girl feeling imprisoned inside herself for terrible reasons, she finds that self-love and kindness and the world of words, books, poetry, and writing unlock the cage she was in.
As a woman, as a girl, I would never know the cruel racism she experienced, but her journey into art and its ability to heal and set one free was something I felt kin to.
Maya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy,achievement and celebration. In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover.
I was raised by strong Southern women, including my Mamaw Myers, whose life inspired The Tobacco Wives, my debut novel. Mamaw was a hairdresser for the wives of RJ Reynolds tobacco executives in Winston-Salem, NC in the 1940s, and as a girl, I was fascinated by the idea of her glamourous, wealthy clients. I’ve always been drawn to stories about women who are “Steel Magnolias, a complex mix of strength and vulnerability” that writer Robert Harling so beautifully defined and brought to life in his play and film of the same name. His is one of the five stories that I recommend if you’re a fan of strong Southern women.
As a child of the 80s, I adored the film. But did you know you can also read the play? After the death of his sister to diabetes in 1985, Harling wrote a play about six women set in a beauty parlor in Louisiana. He later adapted the play for the big screen, bringing to life the touching, at times hilarious, and incredibly moving tale of M’Lynn, Shelby, Truvy, Ouiser, Clairee, and Annelle. A true classic!
Within the walls of Truvy's beauty shop are six women whose lives increasingly hinge on the existence of one another. Together, they absorb the passing seasons, just like the weathered wooden structure of the salon "home" that they share.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production, starring Frances Fisher, Jeanie Hackett, Shannon Holt, Amy Pietz, Brittany Snow, and Jocelyn Towne. Additional voices by Josh Clark. Directed by Jessica Kubzansky and recorded before an audience by L.A. Theatre Works.
I have always believed that everyone has a story to tell. I have connected to people throughout my life because I chose to sit, listen, and share stories. I do this in my own neighborhood and on my travels worldwide. I do it with people I don’t have anything in common with and people I think I might not like. Every time, without exception, I learn something. Often, I am inspired. These experiences have tested and grown my compassion, empathy, kindness, and understanding capacity. I suppose this is why I love reading. It’s like meeting strangers and sharing stories.
In the voice of her little girl self, Karr masterfully tells of her fractured childhood. Innocent, vulnerable, and pure, Karr describes life with her sister, a mentally ill, alcoholic mother, and a mostly absent father as only a child can.
She is sure life isn’t supposed to be this way, but without any responsible adults, she doesn’t really know how it should be. It’s beautifully written. I found myself rereading sentences and underlining my favorites. I wanted to read everything about Mary Karr when I had finished.
#4 on The New York Times' list of The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years
The New York Times bestselling, hilarious tale of a hardscrabble Texas childhood that Oprah.com calls the best memoir of a generation
"Wickedly funny and always movingly illuminating, thanks to kick-ass storytelling and a poet's ear." -Oprah.com
The Liars' Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr's comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J.…
I was raised in middle-class America by a strong woman and an alcoholic. I survived an abuser when I realized that I was the answer to my problems. I write about tough subjects but am an eternal optimist who believes a strong spirit will always ensure a happy ending.
A dual-timeline novel, about a family on the ‘Titanic of the South’, the Pulaski a paddlewheel steamer that sunk in 1838, and a historian today, who is creating a museum showing of the disaster.
She also has a huge decision to make—live in the past, in survivor’s guilt, or to grab an uncertain future she’s not sure she deserves.
"An atmospheric, compelling story of survival, tragedy, the enduring power of myth and memory, and the moments that change one's life." --Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds
"[An] enthralling and emotional tale...A story about strength and fate."--Woman's World
“An epic novel that explores the metal of human spirit in crisis. It is an expertly told, fascinating story that runs fathoms deep on multiple levels.”—New York Journal of Books
It was called "The Titanic of the South." The luxury steamship sank in 1838 with Savannah's elite on board; through time, their fates were forgotten--until the…
I grew up loving sci-fi and fantasy, but especially today, I recognize how a lot of older sci-fi is patriarchal or even misogynistic. When I started to write my own books, like A Dragonbird in the Fern, I vowed to create my fantastical settings as I’d like our world to be someday—with all genders considered equal. Whether it’s a queen wielding all of the power or a witch who can save the world, women and girls in my stories get things done, and no one bats an eye.
The two girls in City of
Shattered Light could not be fiercer! Asa’s a runaway rich girl who flees
home to save her sister, a victim of scientific tests. Riven’s a tough smuggler
gunning for a big bounty to guarantee her a place in one of the city’s
matriarchal (!) crime syndicates. There’s kidnapping, a wild neon sci-fi world,
and a healthy portion of romantic longing. I loved this misfit team!
As darkness closes in on the city of shattered light, an heiress and an outlaw must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other. As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she's more than her manipulative father's shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sister’s mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming—including fleeing her predetermined future with her sister’s digitized mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue AI hunting her, Asa’s getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible…
I’ve always been drawn to stories that feature mysterious locales and secret objects and strange or magical occurrences, so books with these elements—particularly when the main characters in the books are young people learning about themselves and the world around them—are often very satisfying to me. There’s something naturally engaging, I believe, in tales where someone is thrust into a disorienting situation and has to make sense of the uncertainty he or she faces. The books I’ve written for young readers all tend in this direction, and so I’m always on the hunt for stories along these same lines.
Long a favorite of mine, every couple of years I enjoy returning to this book about two brothers who fall in with a group of Venetian street children and the young master-thief who oversees them. Funke's classic, assured style grants this relatively contemporary novel (first published in Germany in 2000) a charming, old-fashioned sensibility, while the pacing and characterization should appeal to the most modern of readers, at least to my eyes. The book has everything I love in stories for young readers–mystery, magic, friendship, and startling plot twists–and the interior illustrations done by Funke herself are lovely.
The magical multi-award-winning modern classic from master storyteller and New York Times-bestselling author, Cornelia Funke - over a million copies sold worldwide!
'A completely delicious read.' THE OBSERVER
'Today's young readers will probably love this book as they love the Harry Potter series' THE NEW YORK TIMES
'My enjoyment of The Thief Lord grew and grew as I read it' DIANA WYNNE JONES
Winter has come early to Venice.
Two orphaned children are on the run, hiding among the crumbling canals and misty alleyways of the city. Befriended by a gang of street children and their mysterious leader, the Thief…
As a clinical psychologist, a man, and a human being on his own journey of healing and becoming, I suppose I’m interested in stories with struggling but lovable male protagonists because I’m the struggling male protagonist in my own life story, learning how to fall in love again with myself and my story and the little boy who lives on within me. The courage my clients show in the process of facing their pain and finding something beautiful in it is inspiring to me. I hope my life reflects that courage, too. And I want to write stories that give others hope and inspiration for this kind of healing, as well.
Don’t be fooled.A Town Called Solacemay open with little Clara, and Elizabeth may be the character who speaks in the first person, but neither is the primary protagonist. According to the litmus test for primary protagonist—"Which character is transformed the most?”—it’s Liam Kane. Once a lonely boy unloved by his mother, his wife is now leaving him, and he has retreated to the small town of Solace to care for the estate of a mother figure he barely remembers. Will little Clara and her lost sister and the ordinary people of this rural town be enough to coax him out of his loneliness and back into participation with his own existence? The answer is nuanced and tender and ultimately very satisfying.
Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a novel of painful histories and the moments in life when we can change for the better.
Clara's rebellious older sister is missing. Grief-stricken and bewildered, she yearns to uncover the truth about what happened.
Liam, newly divorced and newly unemployed, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.
Elizabeth is thinking about a crime committed thirty years ago, one that had tragic consequences for two families. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.…
Bad boys in young adult romance have always been one of my favorite tropes to read. For seven years, I facilitated a poetry workshop with teens in a juvenile detention center and got to hear their stories—the heartbreak, the challenges, and the triumphs under all that bad boy façade. My memoir, Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention, is about the workshops and helped me understand both myself as a writer and the “bad boys” who wrote poetry each week. There are a lot of complexities to bad boy characters and the most satisfying stories are the ones where the bad boys redeem themselves and find love.
Pushing the Limits is a can’t put down, read until the middle of the night book. Noah Hutchins is the ultimate bad boy with a tough attitude and soft interior. He knows just how to understand Echo Emerson and what she needs to fall in love again. I loved how a scar was used to show both Echo’s external appearance as well as the internal scar both characters carry. This concept of using a scar as a metaphor was an inspiration for a scene in my memoir, Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention.
They say be a good girl, get good grades, be popular. They know nothing about me.
I can't remember the night that changed my life. The night I went from popular to loner freak. And my family are determined to keep it that way. They said therapy was supposed to help. They didn't expect Noah. Noah is the dangerous boy my parents warned me about. But the only one who'll listen. The only one who'll help me find the truth.
I know every kiss, every promise, every touch is forbidden. But what if finding your destiny means breaking all the…
As a writer, I strive to create stories that I wish I had found on shelves when I was younger. In that same way, every title on this list not only brings new ways to find adventures through reading, but will hopefully leave young readers with new skills to face the world around them. We often think just cause a story has fantastical elements that it makes them detached from reality, but give any of these a read and you'll find, the farther it is from real life, the brighter the common themes we all share shine through.
Got a kid with a want for the supernatural? May and Bream's heartfelt approach to cryptids and the supernatural make a perfect mix to carry this compelling and page-turning book. Perfect to share among friend groups and explore what it is to belong and how we can all help each other even past our differences.
Six kids search for a new place to call home in this middle grade graphic novel debut by comic creators Cait May and Trevor Bream, for fans of Marvel's Runaways and The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag. Another Kind is not your average monster story.
Tucked away in a government facility nicknamed the Playroom, six not-quite-human kids learn to control their strange and unpredictable abilities. Life is good-or safe, at least-hidden from the prying eyes of a judgmental world.
That is, until a security breach forces them out of their home and into the path of the Collector, a…
I’m a middle grade writer with a passion for books that inspire readers to feel empowered. Children’s books, especially middle grade books, played a crucial, transformative role in my own life. When I became a public school teacher in New York City, I was able to see firsthand the importance of providing kids with books that offer windows to new worlds, reflect their own experiences, and build connections across differences. Strong protagonists are able to do just that. This list features books with some of my favorite middle grade protagonists – some from my own childhood, and others more recent discoveries. I hope you and the middle grade reader(s) in your life enjoy these recommendations!
Bud is one of my absolute favorite middle grade protagonists. Equally heartbreaking and hilarious, Bud is determined to find his father, who he believes is a jazz musician. He embarks on a journey from Michigan out west, which vividly depicts life during the Great Depression. Bud’s honest account of the evils he encounters – racism, violence, and poverty – illuminates the tragedy and absurdity of racist ideologies and the suffering of so many.
Throughout the novel, Bud’s humor provides a beautifully child-like perspective that will delight readers. The novel also does a wonderful job of celebrating jazz and highlighting the ways that adversity can create strong bonds.
I remember reading this book as a ten year old and loving Bud’s determination to succeed despite the obstacles placed in his way. It’s historical fiction at its best. It will open readers’ eyes to historic wrongs captured through Bud’s preteen lens, while…
A heart-warming, funny and fast-moving story set in 1930s America - past winner of the highly prestigious Newbery Medal.
Bud is on a journey. He has hit the road with one idea in mind - he wants to discover his father. He's not got a lot to go on - just a flyer for a jazz band and his very own Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. Despite encounters with a car-driving vampire, a monster-infested woodshed and even a real live girl, Bud presses on towards a surprising discovery ...
