Here are 97 books that White Ivy fans have personally recommended if you like
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I was born in Ukraine and moved to the Midwest in the early 1990s. I am the author of two novels: At the End of the World, Turn Left, which was called āelegant and authenticā by NPR and named by Booklist as one of the āTop Ten Crime Debutsā of 2021, and the domestic thriller Breakfall (April 2023). Perhaps one of the oldest literary tropes, affairs up the ante in literary works while simultaneously exploring human nature. Throw an affair into a novel, and most likely, some characters will be blowing up their lives; add it into a mystery novel, and murders are likely to happen.
This is one of my all-time favorite books; while the focus is not an affair exactly, the 1968 Prague-set novel goes into much depth exploring the nature of commitment and monogamy in general. Also, you get wonderful insight into some timeless ideas of what it means to be human, such as this one: "Living, there is no happiness in that.
Living: carrying oneās painful self through the world. But being, being is happiness. Being: becoming a fountain, a fountain on which the universe falls like warm rain."
'A cult figure.' Guardian 'A dark and brilliant achievement.' Ian McEwan 'Shamelessly clever ... Exhilaratingly subversive and funny.' Independent 'A modern classic ... As relevant now as when it was first published. ' John Banville
A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon; a man torn between his love for her and his womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals; while her other lover stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by choices and events, and everything occurs but once, existence seemsā¦
From my first exposure to Elisabeth Elliotās writing when I was a teenager, I was intrigued by her story: a missionary few had ever heard of who became an author with several books published by a Big Five publishing company. Over the years I both wrestled with and was encouraged by her work. Iāve now spent more than a decade conducting original research on Elliotās life. I believe learning more about her and the influences that shaped her enriches our understanding of our past and, thus, of our present and offers us important tools for approaching the future.
Leo Tolstoyās follow-up project to the massive War and Peace explores the meaning of human existence and the interplay of socio-political events and individual free will through the medium of infatuation, marriage, and love.
Itās also a real page-turner. When she finished it, Elisabeth Elliot called it the greatest book she had ever read, writing that Anna Kareninaās character had held a mirror up to her soul and showed her what her own heart was capable of.
In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself under a train at a station near Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the starting point he needed for composing what many believe to be the greatest novel ever written.
In writing Anna Karenina he moved away from the vast historical sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtship and marriage of Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters. Rich in incident, powerful in characterization,ā¦
Iām a Chinese Vietnamese American author who writes about the Asian girls I never saw in books as a kid. Growing up in Southern California, I was part of an Asian community that was extremely diverseāa reality that was rarely reflected in American pop culture. For years, I longed to see messy, flawed, fully humanized Asian characters in all different kinds of stories, not just the typical child-of-immigrant narratives. As a result, I now spend a lot of time thinking about representation (whether I want to or not!), and Iām always looking for writers who pull it off with nuance and realism. I hope youāll find these books are great examples of that.
The Other Side of Perfectis about a young ballet dancer, Alina, who suffers a life-changing injury and must learn to deal with her multilayered, sometimes unsympathetic, anger.
Even though its themes are heavy, I somehow couldnāt put this one down. The characters are so real (and often funny), and every conflict unfurls with realistic nuance, sometimes devastatingly so.
Mariko Turkās refusal to simplify emotionsāeven when exploring painful topics like racismāearns this book a standing ovation from me.
For fans of Sarah Dessen and Mary H.K. Choi, this lyrical and emotionally driven novel follows Alina, a young aspiring dancer who suffers a devastating injury and must face a world without balletāas well as the darker side of her former dream.
Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her legāand her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it.
After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantlyā¦
Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: āAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?ā Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itā¦
Iām a Chinese Vietnamese American author who writes about the Asian girls I never saw in books as a kid. Growing up in Southern California, I was part of an Asian community that was extremely diverseāa reality that was rarely reflected in American pop culture. For years, I longed to see messy, flawed, fully humanized Asian characters in all different kinds of stories, not just the typical child-of-immigrant narratives. As a result, I now spend a lot of time thinking about representation (whether I want to or not!), and Iām always looking for writers who pull it off with nuance and realism. I hope youāll find these books are great examples of that.
There isnāt another young adult book out there that makes me feel as seen asLucy and Linh, alternately titled Laurindain its native Australia.
It was the first novel Iād ever come across with a Chinese Vietnamese protagonist, and the details about her life as the daughter of working-class refugees really hit home.
That the prose is impeccable, the social observations incisive, and the themes not at all didactic (the main character Lucy makes plenty of mistakes) instantly turned me into an Alice Pung superfan.
From an author Amy Tan calls āa gem,ā this is a witty, highly acclaimed novel thatās āpart Mean Girls, part Lord of the Fliesā (The Bulletin, Starred review) about navigating life in private school while remaining true to yourself.
Lucy is a bit of a pushover, but sheās ambitious and smart, and she has just received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to a prestigious school, and a ticket out of her broken-down suburb. Though sheās worried she will stick out like badly cut bangs among the razor-straight students, she is soon welcomed into the Cabinet, the supremely popularā¦
Iām a Chinese Vietnamese American author who writes about the Asian girls I never saw in books as a kid. Growing up in Southern California, I was part of an Asian community that was extremely diverseāa reality that was rarely reflected in American pop culture. For years, I longed to see messy, flawed, fully humanized Asian characters in all different kinds of stories, not just the typical child-of-immigrant narratives. As a result, I now spend a lot of time thinking about representation (whether I want to or not!), and Iām always looking for writers who pull it off with nuance and realism. I hope youāll find these books are great examples of that.
Thanks to the evocative prose in Yvonne WoonāsIf You, Then Me, I found myself swept up in the protagonist Xiaās vision of the Bay Area as a perfect paradise, despite the fact that I definitely know better.
I was rooting for Xia, a talented but lonely coder whose best friend is her AI app, even when she started making all kinds of questionable choices. Though Iāve seen this book characterized as a rom com, I actually think itās more of a modern fairy taleāin all the best ways.
A warm and funny teen coming of age story set in Silicon Valley from Asian American author Yvonne Woon about the questions we all ask when making mistakes in life and in love, perfect for fans of Emergency Contact and When Dimple Met Rishi.
What would you ask your future self? First question: What does it feel like to kiss someone?
Xia is stuck in a lonely, boring loop. Her only escapes are Wiser, an artificial intelligence app she designed to answer questions as her future self, and a mysterious online crush she knows only as ObjectPermanence.
Iām a Chinese Vietnamese American author who writes about the Asian girls I never saw in books as a kid. Growing up in Southern California, I was part of an Asian community that was extremely diverseāa reality that was rarely reflected in American pop culture. For years, I longed to see messy, flawed, fully humanized Asian characters in all different kinds of stories, not just the typical child-of-immigrant narratives. As a result, I now spend a lot of time thinking about representation (whether I want to or not!), and Iām always looking for writers who pull it off with nuance and realism. I hope youāll find these books are great examples of that.
Iām always struck by how modern Eileen Changās voice feels to me, even though her stories take place in China decades ago.
Little Reunions, for instance, opens with the main character Julie facing her school exams just before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during WWII. But I found it easy to identify with Julieāher observations, her longings, and even her pettiness.
Itās one thing to read about a character who would get your background; itās another to read about a character who would get you. In Little Reunions, I got both.
A best-selling, autobiographical depiction of class privilege, bad romance, and political intrigue during World War II in China.
Now available in English for the first time, Eileen Changās dark romance opens with Julie, living at a convent school in Hong Kong on the eve of the Japanese invasion. Her mother, Rachel, long divorced from Julieās opium-addict father, saunters around the world with various lovers. Recollections of Julieās horrifying but privileged childhood in Shanghai clash with a flamboyant, sometimes incestuous cast of relations that crowd her life. Eventually, back in Shanghai, she meets the magnetic Chih-yung, a traitor who collaborates withā¦
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorāand only womanāon a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
I was born in Ukraine and moved to the Midwest in the early 1990s. I am the author of two novels: At the End of the World, Turn Left, which was called āelegant and authenticā by NPR and named by Booklist as one of the āTop Ten Crime Debutsā of 2021, and the domestic thriller Breakfall (April 2023). Perhaps one of the oldest literary tropes, affairs up the ante in literary works while simultaneously exploring human nature. Throw an affair into a novel, and most likely, some characters will be blowing up their lives; add it into a mystery novel, and murders are likely to happen.
āMoments of great import are often tinged with darkness because perversely we yearn to be let down,ā starts Courtney Maumās 2014 debut novel. A whole decade after its release, it is still one of my favorite first lines. Maumās book, which is set in London and Paris, follows an artist in his mid-thirties whose wife has found out about his affair just as his career begins to take off.
While he tries to win back her affection and find where it went in the first place, his journey brings up many questions (and, sometimes, answers) about life and love. Itās a slightly different approach to your run-of-the-mill literary dalliance, which is one of many reasons it resonated so much with readers at the time of its release in 2014. It is not just a story about infidelity and its consequences; itās an exploration of what it means to love someoneā¦
In this reverse love story set in Paris and London, which The Wall Street Journal hailed as "funny and soulful...immediately appealing," a failed monogamist attempts to woo his wife back and to answer the question: Is it really possible to fall back in love with your spouse?
Despite the success of his first solo show in Paris and the support of his brilliant French wife and young daughter, thirty-four-year-old British artist Richard Haddon is too busy mourning the loss of his American mistress to a famous cutlery designer to appreciate his fortune.
I was born in Ukraine and moved to the Midwest in the early 1990s. I am the author of two novels: At the End of the World, Turn Left, which was called āelegant and authenticā by NPR and named by Booklist as one of the āTop Ten Crime Debutsā of 2021, and the domestic thriller Breakfall (April 2023). Perhaps one of the oldest literary tropes, affairs up the ante in literary works while simultaneously exploring human nature. Throw an affair into a novel, and most likely, some characters will be blowing up their lives; add it into a mystery novel, and murders are likely to happen.
This 2022 psychological thriller was a fun read in so many ways. Like Maumās novel, it takes a slightly unique approach to the typical affair story, following a young woman whose life is torn apart when her married lover and his wife die, and she is blamed for it (despite not knowing the man was even married!)
In this book, Collins explores the most archaic notion known to man: that people have been blaming women for things since the dawn of time. Literally, since Eveās consumption of an apple in the Garden of Eden, through the twentieth century, women paid consequences, and men went on their merry way. Flora Collins gives this notion a modern twist. Yes, some things never seem to changeābut technology has increased both the risks and the consequences of any relationship.
Veraās entire life is destroyed by what happens to her; she canāt even return toā¦
āMoney, romance, and murder are always key ingredients for a delicious thriller. And in the latest from Flora Collins, they're used expertly.ā āTown & Country, The 30 Must-Read Books of Winter 2023
A young womanās life is torn apart when her wealthy ex-lover is found deadāalong with his wife.
Vera is ruthlessly ambitious, beautiful, and knows how to get exactly what she wantsāno matter who stands in the way. When she meets a wealthy older man on an exclusive dating app, she thinks nothing of the wife he tells her heās separated from. But days later, when the man andā¦
I love novels that show female characters finding their way in life, and especially women who use writing to help themselves to grow and evolve. Finding my own voice through writing has been my way of staking my claim in the world. It hasnāt always been easy for us to tell our stories, but when we do, weāre made stronger and more complete. The protagonist of my novel The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann fights hard to tell her own story. I know something about being held back by male-dominated expectations and Victoriaās situation could easily take place today. But when women writers finally find their voices, the works they create are of great value.
Lily KingāsWriters & Lovers is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1997, where my own novel takes place a century earlier. Itās a fictional coming-of-age story of a young woman who tries to write her way into adulthood.
Casey Peabody works as a waitress in Harvard Square, spends time with her aspiring writer friends, walks along the Charles River, and sits for hours at her desk trying to write, all of which I did in those same places at her same age and often with the same sense of longingāand which, incidentally, Victoria Swann does, too, albeit while wearing a floor-length skirt and using a fountain pen.
Casey, Victoria, and I, (and I assume Lily King herself), were not alone: so many people Iāve met over the years have spent time in their twenties hanging out around Harvard Square, anxious and waiting to become the grown-ups we hoped to be.ā¦
#ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today Emma Roberts Belletrist Book Club Pick A New York Times Book Reviewās Group Text Selection
"I loved this book not just from the first chapter or the first page but from the first paragraph... The voice is just so honest and riveting and insightful about creativity and life." āCurtis Sittenfeld
An extraordinary new novel of art, love, and ambition from Lily King, the New York Times bestselling author of Euphoria
Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with another instant New York Times bestseller:ā¦
Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherāsheās determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseā¦
As a history buff I am also fascinated by folklore and magic, and how it has influenced society during various time periods. I love discovering writers who seamlessly manage to present a parallel magical universe grounded in actual history or who manage to incorporate fantastical or magical elements into a historical novel. Over the last few years Iāve been increasingly drawn to exploring the philosophical, magical, and spiritual underpinnings of society as part of my historical research. Although my own published works to date have been straight historical fiction, my current work in progress is definitely veering into the speculative, alternative history realm.
Set in Victorian England, this novel is a sinister, gothic tale based on the ability of a young woman to read the souls of man-made objects and the disappearance of a young man drawn to the occult. I loved how this book was grounded in the real Victorian London and yet managed to incorporate gorgeously gothic supernatural elements as well as a love triangle involving well-drawn and believable characters. For me, the writing was what really drew me in and I have to admire anyone who can weave historical and fantastical elements as beautifully as this author.
In this hauntingly original debut novel about a young woman whose peculiar abilities help her infiltrate a mysterious secret society, Adam McOmber uses fantastical twists and dark turns to create a fast-paced, unforgettable story.
Young Jane Silverlake lives with her father in a crumbling family estate on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Jane has a secretāan unexplainable gift that allows her to see the souls of man-made objectsāand this talent isolates her from the outside world. Her greatest joy is wandering the wild heath with her neighbors, Madeline and Nathan. But as the friends come of age, their idyll isā¦