Recommendations based on Commencementby J. Courtney Sullivan

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Engagements

    by J. Courtney Sullivan
    A novel that explores the concept of marriage through the stories of four couples and the creation of the iconic De Beers diamond campaign.

    A, People Magazine, Top 10 Best Book of the Year, The bestselling author of Maine returns with an exhilarating novel about Frances Gerety, the real pioneering ad woman who coined the famous slogan “A ... (Goodreads)

  2. This is Where I Leave You

    by Jonathan Tropper
    A family comes together during a week of sitting shiva, rediscovering the joys of being a family.

    A riotously funny, emotionally raw New York Times bestselling novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not. The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks ... (Goodreads)

  3. Maine

    by J. Courtney Sullivan
    Four generations of women in an Irish-American family confront their past and present during a summer in Maine.

    In her best-selling debut, Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan explored the complicated and contradictory landscape of female friendship. Now, in her highly anticipated second novel, Sullivan takes us ... (Goodreads)

  4. American Wife

    by Curtis Sittenfeld
    A woman's story of her life as a wife, mother and political spouse.

    On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband’s presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House–and the repercussions of ... (Goodreads)

  5. Prep

    by Curtis Sittenfeld
    A teenage girl's struggle to find her place and identity in an elite prep school.

    Curtis Sittenfeld’s debut novel, Prep , is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ... (Goodreads)

  6. Keeping Faith

    by Jodi Picoult
    A mother's legal battle to keep her daughter's faith against a court ruling.

    When Mariah White catches her husband, Colin White, having an affair with another woman for the second time in their marriage, he files for divorce and gives her full custody of their child, Faith. ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Christmas List

    by Richard Paul Evans
    A woman writes a Christmas list of her desires, but it falls into the hands of others, leading to unexpected results.

    The New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Box returns with a holiday novel of hope, love, and redemption. Dear Reader, When I was in seventh grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, gave ... (Goodreads)

  8. Revenge of the Spellmans

    by Lisa Lutz
    A private investigator family must protect its secrets while solving a mystery.

    YOU THOUGHT YOUR LIFE WAS COMPLICATED Private investigator Isabel Spellman is back on the case and back on the couch – in court-ordered therapy after getting a little too close to her previous ... (Goodreads)

  9. Hold Still

    by Nina LaCour
    A young girl navigates the grief of losing her best friend through photography and self-discovery.

    An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction. dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t. ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Kitchen House

    by Kathleen Grissom
    A young Irish girl is taken in by a plantation family in Virginia and becomes entangled in the lives of the slaves who work there.

    When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship ... (Goodreads)

  11. Love Walked In

    by Marisa de los Santos
    A young woman's journey of self-discovery, unlocking the mysteries of love and friendship.

    From the New York Times bestselling author of I’d Give Anything and I’ll Be Your Blue Sky comes a “bewitching, warmhearted grown-up fairy tale about old movies, charming princes, and finding happily ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Hypnotist's Love Story

    by Liane Moriarty
    A hypnotherapist's new love interest is stalked by his ex-girlfriend, who happens to be one of her patients.

    Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. ... (Goodreads)

  13. The 19th Wife

    by David Ebershoff
    A hybrid of historical fiction and detective novel, exploring the realities of polygamy.

    Jordan Scott has been expelled from his fundamentalist sect in modern-day southern Utah, but returns to determine whether his mother killed his father. His mother is the 19th wife of his father. ... (Wikipedia)

  14. She's Come Undone

    by Wally Lamb
    A young woman's trial-filled journey to self-acceptance and self-preservation.

    Dolores Price is heartbroken when her handsome, but irresponsible father, Tony, leaves their suburban home for another woman. She and her mother, Bernice, move into her uptight Catholic grandmother's ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Juliet, Naked

    by Nick Hornby
    A story about a complex love triangle, set against a backdrop of music and fandom.

    Duncan, an obsessive music fan, receives a CD of Juliet, Naked , an album of solo acoustic demos of the songs on the album Juliet by his favourite artist, Tucker Crowe. Duncan's girlfriend, Annie, ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Her Fearful Symmetry

    by Audrey Niffenegger
    Two sisters explore a haunted London estate, uncovering secrets of a mysterious past.

    Elspeth dies of leukemia. Her apartment, located beside Highgate cemetery in London, is left for the daughters of Edwina, her estranged twin sister. Elspeth's nieces, identical twins Julia and ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Mockingbird

    by Kathryn Erskine
    A young girl with Asperger's syndrome navigates the aftermath of her brother's death and seeks closure through a school play.

    The book centers around a school shooting. The main character is a 10-year-old girl with autism named Caitlin Smith who is preoccupied with drawing and dictionaries. Her older brother Devon has just ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Handle with Care

    by Jodi Picoult
    A story of a family struggling with difficult decisions, facing tough truths about life.

    The story follows the life of a young girl, Willow O'Keefe, and her family. Willow has Type III osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a disease also known as brittle bone syndrome. To her parents, Sean and ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Interestings

    by Meg Wolitzer
    A group of friends meet at a summer camp and navigate their way through life's ups and downs, successes and failures.

    The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and ... (Goodreads)

  20. Good in Bed

    by Jennifer Weiner
    A story of finding identity, redemption, and self-love in spite of life's challenges.

    Candace (Cannie) Shapiro is a smart, sarcastic, and successful entertainment journalist living in Philadelphia . Although she has a small group of close friends, including her best friend Samantha, ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Empire Falls

    by Richard Russo
    A small town's citizens struggle to find meaning and find their place in a rapidly changing world.

    Set in the decaying, nearly bankrupt, small town of Empire Falls, Maine, this is the story of the unassuming manager of the Empire Grill, Miles Roby, who has spent his life in the town. The town, and ... (Wikipedia)

  22. People of the Book

    by Geraldine Brooks
    A journey through time as an ancient book is discovered and its secrets revealed.

    The "complex and moving" ( The New Yorker ) novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war. Inspired by a true story, "People of the ... (Goodreads)

  23. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

    by Jonathan Safran Foer
    A young boy's quest to find the lock that matches a mysterious key his father left behind.

    Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Vanishing Year

    by Kate Moretti
    A woman with a dark past marries a wealthy man, but her secrets catch up with her.

    Zoe Whittaker is living a charmed life. She is the beautiful young wife to handsome, charming Wall Street tycoon Henry Whittaker. She is a member of Manhattan’s social elite. She is on the board of ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Art of Fielding

    by Chad Harbach
    A college baseball team's success and failures are intertwined with the lives of five individuals.

    Henry Skrimshander begins the novel as a 17-year-old playing on a Legion baseball team in Lankton, South Dakota. Although physically short and not muscular, Henry has an unusual gift for fielding, ... (Wikipedia)

  26. House Rules

    by Jodi Picoult
    A family's struggle with Autism, and the power of acceptance and understanding.

    Eighteen-year-old Jacob Hunt lives with his mother Emma and his younger brother, Theo. Jacob has Asperger's syndrome , then considered a form of high-functioning autism . Jacob lives by a highly ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Let the Great World Spin

    by Colum McCann
    Interconnected stories of ordinary lives in 1970s New York, inspired by a high-wire artist's death-defying feat.

    The events of the story are told in a largely non-linear fashion, with several different narrators telling the story from different perspectives. The story is interspersed with fictionalized accounts ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Falling Together

    by Marisa de los Santos
    Three estranged friends reunite to fulfill a dying friend's last wish, leading to revelations about their past and present selves.

    “Her writing is both vividly descriptive and surprisingly insightful.” — Boston Globe “It’s the three-dimensional men, women, and children who populate her fiction that I’ll remember for a very long ... (Barnes & Noble)

  29. Intercepted

    by Alexa Martin
    Marlee Harper's life is turned upside down when she discovers her NFL boyfriend's infidelity. She finds herself caught up in the drama of the football world.

    Marlee thought she scored the man of her dreams only to be scorched by a bad breakup. But there's a new player on the horizon, and he's in a league of his own... Marlee Harper is the perfect ... (Goodreads)

  30. The History of Love

    by Nicole Krauss
    A journey through a web of intertwining stories, searching for the meaning of love.

    Approximately 70 years before the present, the 10-year-old Polish-Jewish Leopold (Leo) Gursky falls in love with his neighbor Alma Mereminski. The two begin a relationship that develops over the ... (Wikipedia)