89 books like Welcome to the Neighborhood

By Lisa Roe,

Here are 89 books that Welcome to the Neighborhood fans have personally recommended if you like Welcome to the Neighborhood. 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 For the Love of Friends

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why did Annie love this book?

For the Love of Friends is a fun and humorous book that delves into friendships and how the dynamics shift when friends become bridesmaids.

Throughout the years, I’ve been a bridesmaid in numerous weddings and this story rang true for me, especially trying not to get caught up in any drama. I remember some friends of the brides taking strides to prove who is the better friend.

I couldn’t put this book down with all the jaw-dropping scenes, snark, and the lengths friends will go for love

By Sara Goodman Confino,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked For the Love of Friends as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A sharp and hilariously relatable novel about the business of weddings, the toll they can take, and the lengths one exasperated bridesmaid will go to for the love of friends.

Lily Weiss is her mother's worst nightmare: thirty-two and single-the horror! She's also a talented writer but hides behind a boring job at a science foundation. To her friends, she's reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is...well, she'd rather not talk about…


Book cover of Firefly Lane

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why did Annie love this book?

Firefly Lane is a beautiful story of a friendship that spans three decades.

Tully and Kate have been through so much together—a wild roller coaster ride of a friendship. It’s a touching look at the promises, secrets, and sacrifices that bond the two.

A powerful story of treasured friends that made me think of my best friend who I’ve been friends with for thirty years as well.

We’ve had our ups and downs too, but we have always found our way back to each other.

By Kristin Hannah,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series!

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a…


Book cover of The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why did Annie love this book?

I loved every minute of this book.

This is the type of book you read with tabbies and attach them to all the amazing lines that strike a chord with you.

Set in charming Charleston, this story is about community, friendship, and self-discovery. It’s heartwarming, endearing, and packs an emotional punch.

By Marie Bostwick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Restoration of Celia Fairchild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is wise, witty, and utterly compelling." -Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Friends We Keep

Evvie Drake Starts Over meets The Friday Night Knitting Club in this wise and witty novel about a fired advice columnist who discovers lost and found family members in Charleston, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Second Sister.

Celia Fairchild, known as advice columnist 'Dear Calpurnia', has insight into everybody's problems - except her own. Still bruised by the end of a marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family, Celia…


Book cover of Brunch and Other Obligations

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why did Annie love this book?

This book has such an intriguing and powerful premise.

Molly is best friends with three women who are seemingly different. These three frenemies have only one thing in common and that is their mutual friend Molly.

When Molly passes away, her last wish is for these women to meet for brunch once a month for a year.

It’s the mysterious gifts Molly leaves each of them that leads them on a journey of self-discovery and exhibits how much Molly understood each of her friends.

And a standing brunch date may be more beneficial than they think.

By Suzanne Nugent,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

"Poignant, funny, and smart, Brunch and Other Obligations is a must-have for contemporary women's fiction shelves. Readers will want to watch for what Nugent does next."
-Booklist

"A thoroughly upbeat and fully entertaining novel from cover to cover."
-Midwest Book Review

"Brunch and Other Obligations is women's fiction at its finest! A tender, witty, heartfelt novel that had me laughing out loud in one chapter and reaching for tissues in the next. With humor, heart, and hope, Nugent reminds us that, once in a lifetime, if we're very, very lucky, we just might find a friend who knows us better…


Book cover of Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools

Aubrey Fox Author Of Gradual: The Case for Incremental Change in a Radical Age

From my list on how government works in practice – and when it doesn’t.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father advised me that to be a good writer, I should first learn a trade and particular subject matter from the inside out. As a working criminal justice practitioner for the last two decades, I’ve been lucky to work with some of the smartest people and best run organizations in the country. I’ve always been a big reader and someone who likes to link the sometimes brutally practical, day-to-day work of running an organization (I lead New York City’s main pretrial services agency) to larger philosophical issues. My life’s goal is to show how big ideas play themselves out in the day-to-day practice of public policy. 

Aubrey's book list on how government works in practice – and when it doesn’t

Aubrey Fox Why did Aubrey love this book?

We don’t have enough books that celebrate how thoughtful and patient reform strategies can pay big dividends over time.

Journalist and Public Policy Professor David Kirp embedded himself in the community of Union City, New Jersey and documented how the school district has worked to improve educational outcomes in decidedly non-flashy ways.

As Kirp writes, all too often education reform has a “flavor of the month” and faddish quality to it, trapped in seemingly endless cycles of unrealistic big bang-style reforms and inevitable disappointments.

Improbable Scholars provides a hopeful counternarrative, showing that large-scale change is possible beyond a single stand-out school or teacher.

By David L. Kirp,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Improbable Scholars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The conventional wisdom, voiced by everyone from Bill Gates to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, is that public schools are so terrible that simply reforming them won't do the trick. Instead, they must be "transformed," blown up and then rebuilt, if they're going to offer students a good education. We relish stories about electrifying teachers like Jaime Escalante, who made math whizzes out of no-hoper teenagers in East LA, or inner city charter schools like the KIPP
academies. But success in the public schools of an entire city-a poor, crowded city, with more than its share of immigrant Latino youngsters, the…


Book cover of Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

James Lindholm Author Of Calypso Down

From my list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined.

Why am I passionate about this?

The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as I’ve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, I’ve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels. 

James' book list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined

James Lindholm Why did James love this book?

I love this book despite the incredible discomfort I experience every time I read it.

Diving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic on a good day is no picnic. But diving deep into the wreck of a mystery U-boat, not knowing if you are going to come out? Epic.

I just recently listened to the Audible book while driving back from an undersea research project in a van filled with young scientific divers. The climax had us all squirming in our seats!

By Robert Kurson,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Shadow Divers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller 

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the…


Book cover of The Reminders

Jennifer Salvato Doktorski Author Of The Summer After You and Me

From my list on set in New Jersey by NJ authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a proud Jersey girl who grew up walking to the ice cream shop where Tony Soprano took his last breath and spending summers “Down the Shore,” near the MTV house, where Snookie and Co. tried to claim the Jersey Shore as their own. When I was younger, outsiders almost had me convinced those overdone jokes about New Jersey were on to something. After traveling the world and living in other places, I realized how much my home state had to offer. My four young adult novels feature proud Jersey girl protagonists and two of my books are set at the real Jersey shore—The Summer After You and Me and August and Everything After.

Jennifer's book list on set in New Jersey by NJ authors

Jennifer Salvato Doktorski Why did Jennifer love this book?

I was honored to read an early draft of this novel by fellow human and Jerseyite, Val Emmich, and was immediately taken with the voice of Joan, a 10-year-old girl with a special condition that gives her the ability to remember everything, but is afraid of being forgotten. To remedy that, she wants to win a prestigious songwriting contest by writing a song that makes people both want to dance and cry (two of the strongest feelings in her opinion). So she strikes a deal with Gavin, an adult songwriter who she believes can help her make that happen. Jersey City is the primary setting for this novel, a city that along with its many other charms, offers spectacular views of the New York City skyline. 

By Val Emmich,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'A wonderful and unusual story told in a beautifully understated way. Quietly magnificent' Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things

Ten-year-old Joan was born with a rare gift: she can remember every single day of her life in perfect detail. She can tell you how many times her mother has uttered the phrase 'it never fails' in the last six months (twenty-seven), or what she was wearing when her grandfather took her fishing on a particular Sunday in June years ago (fox socks).

But Joan doesn't want to be the girl who remembers everything - she wants to…


Book cover of This is New Jersey from High Point to Cape May

Joseph G. Bilby Author Of The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey

From my list on New Jersey history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New Jersey and my paternal ancestors have lived here since 1732. My ancestors served in the Civil War, my father served in World War II and I also served in the military. From an early age, I wanted to be a writer, and that ambition, as well as my experience as an army officer in the Vietnam War, provided the sparks that ignited my writing career.

Joseph's book list on New Jersey history

Joseph G. Bilby Why did Joseph love this book?

John Cunningham Was a journalist who became a historian -- and a great one. The World War II veteran and Newark Evening News columnist wrote innumerable books about his native state, and they were all great. Perhaps his most significant contribution to the state’s story was This is New Jersey, a classic which has remained in print since its initial publication in 1953.

By John T. Cunningham,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This is New Jersey from High Point to Cape May as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Large, heavy hardback edition with 165 illustrations and 22 full page maps...


Book cover of New Jersey and the Rebellion: A History of the Services of the Troops and People of New Jersey in Aid of the Union Cause

Joseph G. Bilby Author Of The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey

From my list on New Jersey history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New Jersey and my paternal ancestors have lived here since 1732. My ancestors served in the Civil War, my father served in World War II and I also served in the military. From an early age, I wanted to be a writer, and that ambition, as well as my experience as an army officer in the Vietnam War, provided the sparks that ignited my writing career.

Joseph's book list on New Jersey history

Joseph G. Bilby Why did Joseph love this book?

There are a lot of legends regarding New Jersey and its role in the Civil War, including bogus stories that the state was considering joining the Confederacy. This book was the first attempt at relating the actual story of the state and the war. While it can be criticized in some respects, it is largely correct, and details the history of each of New Jersey’s units in the conflict. It is an invaluable starting point and a resource for anyone writing about the state and its role in the Civil War.

By John Young Foster,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked New Jersey and the Rebellion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been…


Book cover of The Big Book of the Dead

Emily Blejwas Author Of Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened

From my list on for contemplating mortality.

Why am I passionate about this?

Emily Blejwas directs the Alabama Folklife Association. She is the author of The Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods (UA Press) and two middle grade novels: Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened and Once You Know This (Random House). Emily grew up in Minnesota, attended Auburn University, and now lives in Mobile, Alabama with her husband and four children.

Emily's book list on for contemplating mortality

Emily Blejwas Why did Emily love this book?

The premise is simple but ingenious. Winik catalogs the lives and deaths of people she’s known throughout her life, some well, others hardly at all. Each entry is no longer than a page or two, and her writing is stark and unruffled, creating moments of dark humor. She never glorifies the departed, yet her emotion buzzes below the surface. And you immediately wonder how your own page or two might go.

By Marion Winik,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Big Book of the Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Marion Wink is esteemed for bringing humor and wit to that most unavoidable of subjects: death.

At last, Winik's critically acclaimed, cult favorites, Glen Rock Book of the Dead and Baltimore Book of the Dead, have been carefully combined in their proper chronological order, revealing more clearly than ever before the character hidden throughout these stories: Winik herself.

Featuring twelve additional vignettes along with a brand-new introduction, The Big Book of the Dead continues Winik's work as an empathetic, witty chronicler of life.


5 book lists we think you will like!

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