Here are 100 books that This Is Where I Leave You fans have personally recommended if you like
This Is Where I Leave You.
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I’m a BIG reader of mysteries and thrillers, but I hate it when you read a thriller and guess who did it on page 20, or it turns out it’s a character so obscure you could never have guessed it! But it’s easy to criticize! I’ve wanted to write a young adult thriller since I was young, and over the last few years, I found myself more able to try. For me, writing my book was like running a marathon…I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but now I’m really happy that I did!
E. Lockhart's book is a really stunning blend of tragedy and mystery, set against the backdrop of a seemingly perfect, affluent family.
The story revolves around Cadence Sinclair, a young woman who spends her summers on her family's private island. After suffering a traumatic head injury, she struggles with amnesia and is desperate to piece together what happened during the summer of her accident.
The narrative is both haunting and beautifully poetic. It makes the shocking truths that slowly unravel feel even more impactful. What I love most about this book is its deep dive into themes of family, privilege, and the lies we tell ourselves and each other to uphold appearances. The Sinclairs are a family that seems to have it all, but beneath the surface lies greed, selfishness, and manipulation.
The story is told in a series of choppy, fragmented recollections that mirror Cadence's own disjointed memories, creating…
The TikTok phenomenon and #1 New York Times bestseller.
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends-the Liars-whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honouree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
Don't miss FAMILY OF LIARS, the thrilling prequel to We Were Liars, published in May 2022.
Ever since my younger years, I’ve spent many hours dwelling within the realms of my imagination, daydreaming myself into whirlwind romances from slow-burn to forbidden and everything in between. Why? The best answer I can give right now is my love of love, my innate understanding that the invisible string that pulls two people so fiercely together at the right time and place ultimately are the connections and relationships that propel us into up-leveling ourselves, evolving into our next best versions. So when I read, watch, or write romance, it’s beyond the physical–it’s emotional, mental, and truly spiritual.
I return to this book time and again because of the captivating connection Elizabeth and Darcy share. It’s not just the tension on the surface, but it’s what goes on emotionally and psychologically with them that has me enchanted.
Austen does a fantastic job of portraying how love will sneak up on you when you’re not even looking for it, how it will push you to face the parts of yourself you’ve been avoiding for too long and to stand boldly in your authentic character while holding compassion for another’s perspective.
Every time I read this book, I feel I know the characters at a more intimate level as new fractals of their personalities and behaviors shine through.
Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason, and above all the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Hugh Thomson and features an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.
A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and…
In 2017, I lost one of my best friends. He was one of those magical people—charismatic, impossibly talented, hilariously funny. So, in the aftermath of his death, I noticed many people in his life competing for recognition of their bond with him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there to recognize anyone. Though the stories are completely different, that experience inspired me to write Competitive Grieving, spotlighting the common—but rarely discussed—process of navigating someone’s life and relationships in their absence. For me, humor is the ultimate coping mechanism, as is the promise of brighter days, so the book attacks this serious topic with levity, honesty, and a bit of hope.
Okay. Fine. Maybe I only think this book is about loss because I know that, in later books, the same Glass family suffers losses and this sets the stage. But this isa story about a promise that is never realized and a relationship that is becoming progressively distant—and, in it, there is a sense of being lost if not having experienced a loss, specifically. In it, Buddy Glass takes Army leave to attend his brother’s wedding, but his brother never shows up. Somehow, Buddy winds up stuck in a limo with a group of disgruntled guests from whom he tries to hide his identity. In his sense of isolation, but also his awareness of the situation’s absurdity, we find humor and also sadness.
A Note from the Author: The two long pieces in this book originally came out in The New Yorker - RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM, CARPENTERS in 1955, SEYMOUR - An Introduction in 1959. Whatever their differences in mood or effect, they are both very much concerned with Seymour Glass, who is the main character in my series about the Glass family. Oddly, the joys and satisfactions of working on the Glass family peculiarly increase and deepen for me with the years. I can't say why, though. Not, at least, outside the casino proper of my fiction.
During my 25-year journalism career and now, in my books, I’ve specialized in telling powerful, human stories that are often humorous and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. To me, humor is an essential part of life. Real stories might make us cry, but just as often, they make us laugh. That’s the balance I try to achieve with all my writing.
Humor often comes from putting normal people in absurd situations. That’s what Kevin Wilson does here—setting the lovable loser Lillian in her rich friend’s home, where she’s asked to care for her two young children. Children who, when agitated, tend to burst into flames. This frightens everyone but leaves the kids unhurt.
I found myself laughing and caring at the same time. That’s a neat trick for any author.
A New York Times Bestseller • A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar
“I can’t believe how good this book is.... It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect.... Wilson writes with such a light touch.... The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming. You’re laughing so hard you…
Mid-life for women is many things, including greatly underrepresented in the stories around us. I am forever in awe of the women around me as they continue to rise to each crazy occasion that life presents, managing and coping with wisdom, humor, and strength. This is why I am recommending these books about kickass middle-aged women. I wrote a novel inspired by some of my own challenges in mid-life. It was published by Atria Books, Simon & Schuster. I hope you love the recommendations as much as I do and that you’ll be inspired to check out my book as well.
I am a fan of Nora Ephron’s films (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie/Julia…, etc.), but I hadn’t read any of her books. I started with this one—a slim one, as I remembered the movie from years ago.
Our protagonist, Rachael Samstat, seems to have an enviable life: a successful career as a cookbook writer, happily married to a dynamic man, a baby with another on the way, and a calendar of social events with equally lucky people. However, her husband’s betrayal while she is pregnant sends her spinning and onto a painful, witty, sometimes petty, and ultimately empowering journey.
I listened to the book, and Meryl Streep’s narration is relatable. It made me laugh out loud numerous times.
If I had to do it over again, I would have made a different kind of pie. The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been even better, since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer, the one he bought with Thelma ... I picked up the pie, thanked God for linoleum floor, and threw it' Rachel Samstat is smart, successful, married to a high-flying Washington journalist... and devastated. She has discovered that her husband is having an affair with Thelma Rice, 'a fairly tall person with a neck as long…
As a kid, our public library in the basement of the Methodist church became my second home. However, I considered any visit a bitter disappointment that didn’t result in one or two dog stories in the stack I signed out. Big Red, Old Yeller, Lassie, Lad a Dog, Call of the Wild, White Fang (the occasional wolf was also okay), I loved them all. That experience has continued to affect the adult I’ve become. As I’ve turned to reading, and writing, stories of family, relationships, and, lately, of aging, it’s become clear to me that I’ve never found a story that wasn’t improved by the appearance of a good dog.
I read Ann Tyler for her unrivaled ability to create heartfelt stories illuminated by humor about family in all its broken splendor.
The trepidatious Macon Leary is our accidental tourist, writer of an advice column full of tips for making travel feel like staying home. He’s lost his son; his wife has left him. He’s back living with his two brothers and sister when Edward, his choleric Welsh Corgi, starts biting people. This bit of bad luck pulls him into the orbit of the irritating, opinionated, big-hearted dog trainer, Muriel, and on a journey back to a life worth living for both Macon and his dog.
Read The Accidental Tourist if your family (or certain members thereof) make you crazy. You will feel seen. (It’s also a terrific movie.)
Discover a beautiful story of what it is to be human from Pulitzer prize-winning Sunday Times bestselling Anne Tyler
How does a man addicted to routine - a man who flosses his teeth before love-making - cope with the chaos of everyday life?
With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon's attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.
**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 1 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**
My faith is core to who I am. I love Jesus wholeheartedly and believe true fulfillment only comes through a relationship with Him. I believe we are all created on purpose for a purpose. I want every person I come in contact with to know that they are powerful, chosen, loved, and never alone. I also love creating and reading real and fictional stories that have a message. I believe that stories can seep through our layers and speak to the deepest parts of who we are. The books on my list are the ones that seeped deep down into my heart.
It is rare for a story to stay with me as long as this one has. The weaving together of grief and hope was both heartwrenching and heartwarming. We are created and called to love God and love others. That isn’t always easy or convenient. This story showed what loving your neighbor can look like and how it can change a life.
'A JOY FROM START TO FINISH' - Gavin Extence, author of THE UNIVERSE VERSUS ALEX WOODS
There is something about Ove.
At first sight, he is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
Growing up, I hardly ever saw books written by people who looked like me, about people who looked like me. When I did, the Asians were often side characters, typecast as nerds (and not in a good way). I didn’t get to see Asians being “cool” kids, and I definitely didn’t see them as love interests. When I went to a performing arts boarding school, it was the first time I wasn’t the only Asian student in my class, and it was life-changing. I think if I had had these books when I was a kid, it would’ve been easier to be confident about who I was.
I savored every sentence of this book about Ruth, a thirty-something who moves back home to help care for her father with Alzheimer’s. Reading it made me feel like I was in the company of someone delightful: there’s humor and unexpected quirkiness on every page.
The book includes snippets of Ruth’s dad’s diary chronicling moments in her childhood, which are both winning and poignant. Khong is great at choosing moments and helping me see the hilarious or odd in the everyday.
'Khong is a magician ... Brilliant' Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
'Khong's first novel sneaks up on you - just like life, illness and heartbreak. And love. A million small, human and often deeply funny details gather force to tell a tale that is ultimately, incredibly poignant' Miranda July, author of The First Bad Man
Ruth is thirty and her life is falling apart: she and her fiance are moving house, but he's moving out to live with another woman; her career is going nowhere; and then she learns…
Hi, I'm Bev Katz Rosenbaum, a young adult novelist whose fave topic is (surprise, surprise) dysfunctional families! I'm also a longtime fiction editor and writing instructor who loves to dance and hike in her spare time. Am trying to like yoga and meditation but am failing miserably.
Wong's book is a gut-punching yet hilarious memoir about the Chinese immigrant experience and the searing impact of mental illness that left me with an overwhelming it-could-have-been-worse feeling. But seriously, the value in books like these is they make those in truly terrible situations know they aren't alone. That itself—that feeling of being seen—can keep one going. This book also reminded me of the importance of setting boundaries with family members--a lesson I could have used far earlier in my life. Yay for Wong, a beloved Canadian writer and writing instructor, for triumphing (like Lizzie) in the end!
In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family whose members blamed their woes on ghosts and demons when in fact they should have been on anti-psychotic meds.
Lindsay Wong grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother and a mother who was deeply afraid of the “woo-woo”—Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. From a young age, she witnessed the woo-woo’s sinister effects; at the age of six, she found herself living in the food court of her suburban mall, which her mother saw as a safe haven…
I love romantic comedies with an emphasis on comedy. I’m not in love with sugary-sweet romance because I don’t think it’s true to life. I know that I laugh daily because my life is very 'Bridget Jones'. You know a book genre is strong when you can describe yourself as a character written in the late nineties. My own books are full of awkward moments, endearing observations, and humour that pushes the boundaries. Why? Because what are we if we are not fallible and vulnerable to whatever life throws at us?
Who doesn’t immediately fall in love with Bridget Jones upon meeting her?
This book is full of laughs, tears, and now parenthood! I adored the other books in the Bridget Jones series, and this didn’t disappoint. If, like me, you like to read about a woman who feels ‘real’ and relatable, this book is just divine.
Bridget Jones is the sister to all of us women who need to hear that someone else goes through such highs and lows.
What do you do when a girlfriend's 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend's 30th?
Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?
Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?
Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?
Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?
Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen's day?…
