Here are 100 books that The Foreign Student fans have personally recommended if you like
The Foreign Student.
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I’m a poet, novelist, and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Teesside University in the UK. I like to write and read about particularly gender power dynamics, and how those come to play in domestic situations. I love lyrical novels and books that explore characters’ interiority, and I’m interested in how, generally speaking, ‘toxic’ and ‘abusive’ relationships have become synonymous – even though they are quite different. These novels helped me write my own, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did!
This novel is a masterclass in unreliable narration. It follows Will, a young man estranged from his family and religion, as he attends college and falls in love with Phoebe.
As Will takes over and narrates his recollections of their relationship, Phoebe’s friendship with a man named John Leal, and her inculcation into a religious cult, he becomes increasingly untrustworthy. Will rails against John Leal, his lies, and the damage he has done to Phoebe, revealing his complicity in toxic masculinity and his own harmful actions.
Kwon renders her characters as entirely believable, frightening people, in lyrical and considered prose.
'Absolutely electric . . . Everyone should read this book' GARTH GREENWELL'Every explosive requires a fuse. That's R. O. Kwon's novel, a straight, slow-burning fuse' VIET THANH NGUYEN'In dazzlingly acrobatic prose, R. O. Kwon explores the lines between faith and fanaticism, passion and violence, the rational and the unknowable' CELESTE NG'A sharp, little novel as hard to ignore as a splinter in your eye' WASHINGTON POST'Raw and finely wrought' NEW YORK TIMES'The Incendiaries packs a disruptive charge, and introduces R. O. Kwon as a major talent'…
A Korean American author myself, I published my first book in 2001, and in the ensuing years I’ve been heartened by the number of Korean Americans who have made a splash with their debut novels, as these five writers did. All five have ventured outside of what I’ve called the ethnic literature box, going far beyond the traditional stories expected from Asian Americans. They established a trend that is happily growing.
I feel Chang-Rae Lee broke out of the mold of Asian American books that always dealt with immigration or stories set in Old Asia. A young man, Henry Park, is hired to infiltrate the campaign of a Korean American running for mayor in New York City. Yes, this delves into the issues of assimilation and alienation, but the novel is about so much more. It’s lyrical and poignant and universal in its explorations of familial and marital love.
The debut novel from critically-acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of On Such a Full Sea and My Year Abroad.
In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away.
Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has…
I’m a writer who grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Austin, Texas. Though I haven’t lived in Massachusetts for over a decade now, I find myself drawn back to the state’s coast in my fiction. My novel, Women and Children First, takes place in a fictional town south of Boston called Nashquitten. I’m obsessed with how where we’re from shapes who we become and the ways we use narrative to try and exert control over our lives.
This is a book about many things—guilt, artmaking, and love among them—but when I think of it, I think of a novel that depicts the complexities of making and sustaining a life more deftly than anything else I’ve read. How things like cruelty and beauty, innocence and evil, truth and lies all coexist. How we move forward despite this uneasy balance.
The novel follows Fee, a boy who grows up in Maine and sings in an all-boys choir. The choir director turns out to be an abuser, and his actions haunt Fee and the other boys in the choir into adulthood.
On a prose level alone, Chee’s writing is unparalleled, his sentences sharp enough to cut glass. I don’t see how anyone could read this book and come away unchanged.
A poignant work of mature, haunting artistry, Edinburgh heralds the arrival of a remarkable young writer. Fee, a Korean-American child growing up in Maine, is gifted with a beautiful soprano voice and sings in a professional boys' choir. When the choir director acts out his paedophilic urges on the boys in the choir, Fee is unable to save himself, his first love, Peter, or his friends.
My recommendations are more like a diary of my nascent writing career. I don’t mean to get melodramatic here, but these five Korean-American authors literally (get it?) built me. None of them know this, but they were a quintet of Dr. Frankensteins who created Sung J. Woo, writer. I dared to write my first novel because these authors showed me how, in the best possible way, the only way, really: through their printed words. When I held their books in my hands, I believed a little more that I could do the same. I’ll always be proud to be in their debt.
The year is 2003, and I’m finishing up my first year at NYU’s Creative Writing Program. And a colleague of mine tells me a recent Korean-American graduate will be publishing her first novel. He tells me that Caroline’s book is a romantic comedy in novel form. And I pause for a moment – ten years ago I could not name a single Korean American writer, and now we have our own Jennifer Weiner? How cool is that? And how cool is In Full Bloom? You probably have never heard of this novel, and now that you have, you will thank me when you race through these hilarious pages. Ginger Lee is our heroine, and yes, that type of punny humor is de rigueur in this book. I don’t know who I love more, Ginger or her mother. Probably her mother.
In Caroline Hwang's debut novel, In Full Bloom, all Ginger Lee wants is a promotion at the fashion glossy A la Mode magazine. All her mother wants is a nice, professional Korean son-in-law. Unable to keep her mother at bay, Ginger reluctantly agrees to let her play matchmaker.
At work, Ginger's efforts at advancement are thwarted by style fiends better practiced in the art of office warfare. Away from the job, she's surprised that her arranged dates are rejecting her before she gets a chance to reject them.
With wry humor, lively dialogue, and a compassionate take on being a…
My recommendations are more like a diary of my nascent writing career. I don’t mean to get melodramatic here, but these five Korean-American authors literally (get it?) built me. None of them know this, but they were a quintet of Dr. Frankensteins who created Sung J. Woo, writer. I dared to write my first novel because these authors showed me how, in the best possible way, the only way, really: through their printed words. When I held their books in my hands, I believed a little more that I could do the same. I’ll always be proud to be in their debt.
And now the year is 2007, and here’s the big-ass Korean-American book we’ve all been waiting for – Free Food for Millionaires. In baseball terms: while the rest of us first-time novelists choked up our bats and hit our singles and doubles, Min Jin swung for the fences. At the center of the novel is Casey Kim and her quest to find her passion, never mind the consequences of being basically disowned by her parents, but make no mistake: the scope of this book is like that of Casey’s favorite authors, George Eliot, the Brontë sisters, and Anthony Trollope. There are multiple generations of Koreans at work and play here. It’s exactly the type of book I love to read and never even consider writing, because I just don’t have that kind of ambition. Thank goodness some do!
The brilliant debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Pachinko.
'Ambitious, accomplished, engrossing... As easy to devour as a nineteenth-century romance.' NEW YORK TIMES
Casey Han's years at Princeton have given her a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriend and a degree in economics. The elder daughter of working-class Korean immigrants, Casey inhabits a New York a world away from that of her parents. But she has no job, and a number of bad habits.
So when a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she's determined to carve a…
A Korean American author myself, I published my first book in 2001, and in the ensuing years I’ve been heartened by the number of Korean Americans who have made a splash with their debut novels, as these five writers did. All five have ventured outside of what I’ve called the ethnic literature box, going far beyond the traditional stories expected from Asian Americans. They established a trend that is happily growing.
This stunning, superlative novel soars in its lyricism. In just 194 pages, we get a lifetime. Yohan leaves the Korean peninsula after the war and becomes an apprentice to a Japanese tailor in Brazil. This story is quiet, without a lot of fireworks, but it’s nonetheless haunting and just gorgeous.
OPRAH.COM BOOK OF THE WEEK DAILY BEAST HOT READ NEW YORKER BOOK TO WATCH OUT FOR
"At once as delicate and durable as the filament a spider weaves...the finest of fables...a small but radiant star in the current literary firmament." -Dallas Morning News
"[A] quotidian-surreal craft-master." -New York Magazine Yoon's highly anticipated debut novel SNOW HUNTERS promises to be even more beloved than the collection of stories that introduced him to the literary world. Snow Hunters traces the extraordinary journey of Yohan, who defects from his country at the end of the Korean War, leaving his friends and family behind…
I’m a CDQ (caffeinated drama queen) who does everything passionately, whether piping company’s initials into twice-baked potatoes or writing Christian romance. Dubbed the CBA’s “Kissing Queen,” I fell in love with romance at age twelve after reading Gone With the Wind. Today I write Irish-family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. As American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year, I’ve garnered 21+ romance awards, was Family Fiction magazine’s #1 Romance Author 2011, 2012 Reader’s Choice Awards, Best of 2014, 2015, and Essential Christian Romance Authors 2017-2021. So, I know passion—and these authors have it!
Tamera and I had the same agent who said Tamera’s books and mine were similar in that both were “a cut above” your typical Christian romance. I concur because Tamera’s books are not only beautifully written, they are a wealth of spiritual passion that perfectly dovetails with classic romantic passion.
A gifted rider in a world where ladies never race, Maggie Linden is determined that her horse will become a champion. But the one man who could help her has vowed to stay away from thoroughbred racing forever.
An Irishman far from home, Cullen McGrath left a once prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He's come to Nashville for a fresh start, hoping to buy land and begin farming, all while determined to stay as far away from thoroughbred racing as possible. But starting over proves harder than he'd wagered, especially when…
I'm a retired correctional officer and parole officer who writes contemporary romance. I'm partial to law-abiding yet atypical heroes who rise above perceived limitations. In other words, no biker dudes or trust fund babies in my novels. I love kayaking, boating, and biking when I'm not hunched over the laptop straining my neck. As a Canadian, I'm crazy about hockey, poutine, and apologizing. I live in rural Alberta with my husband and our crazy Yorkie. My love of dogs ensures every story I write includes a furry friend.
I have read all the Winston Brother novels this author wrote, but Beard Science is my favorite. Cletus is an oddball hillbilly who meets his match in Jennifer Sylvester. Thanks to Reid's compelling storytelling, this bearded self-professed weirdo is my favorite romantic character. As a fan of hilarious romance novels with atypical heroes, this book was up my alley. And because Cletus is part of a new series, I didn't have to say goodbye to the character for some time.
*Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Best Romance * *Amazon Top 10 Romances of 2016* *AAR Top 10 Romances of All Time*
From the NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, & USA TODAY bestselling series.
Make a deal with the devil and you might get what you want, but will it be what you need?
Jennifer Sylvester wants one thing, and that one thing is NOT to be Tennessee’s reigning Banana Cake Queen. Ever the perpetual good girl and obedient daughter, Jennifer is buckling under the weight of her social media celebrity, her mother’s ambitions, and her father’s puritanical mandates. Jennifer…
Long before I earned a degree in psychology, I was fascinated by human relationships and motivations. Since reading novels is an excellent way to delve into the minds of a variety of people, the library became my second home. I well remember my first binge-read—Nancy Drew. I devoured the entire series sitting under a catalpa tree in my grandfather’s backyard. So it’s probably not surprising that I’m now the author of 60+ novels in the romantic suspense and contemporary romance genres—none of which include sex, swear words, or gratuitous violence. Because as suspense superstar Mary Higgins Clark once said, you don’t need any of those to tell a compelling story.
I expected great things from this wonderful writer and was not disappointed. This was my first-ever split-time novel, and I was hesitant to pick it up because historical fiction isn’t my favorite genre. But this beautiful tale of love, duty, honor, devotion, and second chances seamlessly wove together two remarkable love stories—one present day, one Civil-War era—in a lovely, lyrical tapestry that tugged at my heartstrings. And as you can see from my list, it opened me up to other stories that use the split-time technique to tell generational stories.
New York Times bestselling author Linda Goodnight welcomes you to Honey Ridge, Tennessee, and a house that's rich with secrets and brimming with sweet possibilities
Memories of motherhood and marriage are fresh for Julia Presley—though tragedy took away both years ago. Finding comfort in the routine of running the Peach Orchard Inn, she lets the historic, mysterious place fill the voids of love and family. No more pleasure of a man's gentle kiss. No more joy in hearing a child call her Mommy. Life is calm, unchanging…until a stranger with a young boy and soul-deep secrets shows up in her…
I’m a CDQ (caffeinated drama queen) who does everything passionately, whether piping company’s initials into twice-baked potatoes or writing Christian romance. Dubbed the CBA’s “Kissing Queen,” I fell in love with romance at age twelve after reading Gone With the Wind. Today I write Irish-family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. As American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year, I’ve garnered 21+ romance awards, was Family Fiction magazine’s #1 Romance Author 2011, 2012 Reader’s Choice Awards, Best of 2014, 2015, and Essential Christian Romance Authors 2017-2021. So, I know passion—and these authors have it!
A friend once told me to read Becky Wade because her books were similar to mine.
I did and wow, I loved her style and immediately put everything of hers on auto-buy! Realistic temptation and passion mixed with heart- and soul-wrenching life lessons—home run for the Christian romance reader!
Winner of the Contemporary Romance category of the Christy Award
Winner of the Romance Category of the Kipp Book Award
Loving her is a risk he can't afford . . . and can't resist.
When acclaimed Bible study author Genevieve Woodward receives an anonymous letter referencing her parents' past, she returns to her hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains to chase down her family's secret. However, it's Genevieve's own secret that catches up to her when Sam Turner, owner of a historic farm, uncovers the source of shame she's worked so hard to hide.
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