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Recommendations based on Californiaby Edan Lepucki
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Summer House with Swimming Pool
by Herman Koch
A doctor's summer vacation with his family turns into a nightmare when a patient dies after visiting their rented house.
The blistering, compulsively readable new novel from Herman Koch, author of the instant New York Times bestseller, The Dinner., When a medical procedure goes horribly wrong and famous actor Ralph ... (Goodreads)
The First Bad Man
by Miranda July
A woman's exploration of her inner life, as she discovers unexpected depths of her own desires.
From the acclaimed filmmaker, artist, and bestselling author of No One Belongs Here More Than You, a spectacular debut novel that is so heartbreaking, so dirty, so tender, so funny–so Miranda ... (Goodreads)
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.
The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)
The Age of Miracles
by Karen Thompson Walker
An exploration of the effects of a global phenomenon on a young girl's life.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY,, People ∙ O: The Oprah Magazine ∙ Financial Times ∙ Kansas City Star ∙ BookPage ∙ Kirkus Reviews ∙ Publishers Weekly ∙ Booklist, , , With a voice as ... (Barnes & Noble)
On the Road
by Jack Kerouac
A young man's journey across America, seeking adventure and freedom.
The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Sal Paradise, and his friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense of adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to ... (Wikipedia)
MaddAddam
by Margaret Atwood
A futuristic tale of courage, resilience and hope in a post-apocalyptic world.
The novel continues the story of some of the same characters in the wake of the same biological catastrophe depicted in Atwood's earlier novels in the trilogy. The narrative starts with Ren and Toby ... (Wikipedia)
Bird Box
by Josh Malerman
A family's fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, where creatures lurk in the shadows.
Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it ... (Goodreads)
Bright Lights, Big City
by Jay McInerney
A young man's journey of personal growth, navigating the chaos of New York City.
The story's narrator is a 24-year-old writer who works as a fact checker for a highbrow magazine for which he had once hoped to write. By night, he is a cocaine -using party-goer seeking to lose ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)
Absalom, Absalom!
by William Faulkner
A tangled web of family secrets, betrayal, and tragedy in the American South.
Absalom, Absalom! details the rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen , a white man born into poverty in West Virginia who moves to Mississippi with the complementary aims of gaining wealth and becoming a ... (Wikipedia)
Whatever Happened to Janie?
by Caroline B. Cooney
A girl who was kidnapped as a child discovers her true identity and struggles to adjust to her new life.
How could it possibly be true? But it is true. As Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl on the milk carton, she was overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl - it ... (Goodreads)
The Year of the Flood
by Margaret Atwood
A dystopian tale of survival as humanity faces a new plague, and two women fight against a powerful corporation.
The Year of the Flood details the events of, Oryx and Crake, from the perspective of the lower classes in the pleeblands , specifically the God's Gardeners. God's Gardeners are a religious sect that ... (Wikipedia)
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt
A unique western, following two brothers on a quest to find and murder a prospector.
In 1851, Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of assassins of minor repute, are hired by a wealthy businessman known only as "the Commodore" to travel from Oregon City to California in order to murder a ... (Wikipedia)
Tenth of December
by George Saunders
A collection of stories exploring the human condition through diverse characters and their struggles.
A young girl named Alison is kidnapped three days before her birthday. Kyle, a boy who lives nearby whose parents enforce very strict household rules, sees the event unfold and must decide whether to ... (Wikipedia)
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands
by Chris Bohjalian
After a nuclear disaster, a teenage girl navigates a dangerous world alone, haunted by her past and struggling to survive.
A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the best-selling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily ... (Goodreads)
The One & Only
by Emily Giffin
A small-town girl navigates love, loss, and loyalty in the world of college football.
In her eagerly awaited new novel, beloved, New York Times, bestselling author Emily Giffin returns with an extraordinary story of love and loyalty—and an unconventional heroine struggling to ... (Goodreads)
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
An exploration of a post-apocalyptic world, and the power of human nature.
The novel focuses on a post-apocalyptic character called "Snowman", living near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers . Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named ... (Wikipedia)
Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
A team of four women venture into a mysterious, surreal landscape in search of answers.
A team of four women cross the border into an uninhabited area known as "Area X", an unspecified coastal location that has been closed to the public for three decades. The group consists of a ... (Wikipedia)
The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K. Dick
Set in an alternate 1962, a man must confront a dark and oppressive new world order.
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty ... (Goodreads)
The Accident
by C.L. Taylor
A mother searches for her missing daughter, uncovering dark secrets and lies. A gripping psychological thriller that keeps you on edge.
Would you risk it all to uncover the truth?,, This secret is killing me., It's only one line from her fifteen-year-old daughter's diary, but Susan knows it means everything. Charlotte is smart, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Target: Alex Cross
by James Patterson
Detective Alex Cross is on the hunt for a sniper targeting the rich and famous in Washington D.C.
Someone is killing the nation's political leaders. Alex Cross is now on assignment to the FBI and his wife, Bree Stone, is now the chief of detectives for the DC Police. Alex and a team of FBI ... (Wikipedia)
The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight
by R.L. Stine
Two siblings visit their grandparents' farm and discover a scarecrow that comes to life at night.
They're alive! Jodie loves visiting her grandparents' farm. Okay, so it's not the most exciting place in the world. Still, Grandpa tells great scary stories. And Grandma's chocolate chip pancakes are ... (Goodreads)
Ms. Marvel
by G. Willow Wilson
Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teenager from Jersey City, discovers she has superpowers and becomes the new Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Comics presents the all-new MS. MARVEL, the ground breaking heroine that has become an international sensation! Kamala Khan is just an ordinary girl from Jersey City–until she is suddenly ... (Goodreads)
Orphan Number Eight
by Kim van Alkemade
A historical fiction about a Jewish orphan seeking revenge on the doctor who experimented on her at a Jewish orphanage during WWII.
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller In this stunning new historical novel inspired by true events, Kim van Alkemade tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Weight of Blood
by Laura McHugh
A young woman searches for the truth about her mother's disappearance in a small Ozark town. Dark secrets and family ties are uncovered.
For fans of Gillian Flynn and Daniel Woodrell, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense about two mysterious disappearances, a generation apart, and the meaning of family-the sacrifices we ... (Goodreads)
The Gate to Women's Country
by Sheri S. Tepper
In a post-apocalyptic world, women and men live in separate communities. A woman's discovery of a forbidden truth threatens the status quo.
The Gate to Women's Country is set in the future, 300 years after a nuclear war destroyed most of human civilization. The book focuses on a matriarchal nation known as Women's Country , and ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl in the Red Coat
by Kate Hamer
A mother's search for her missing daughter, who was abducted at a festival. Told from both perspectives, it explores the bond between parent and child.
Librarian note: An alternative cover for this edition can be found here She is the missing girl. But she doesn't know she's lost. Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local ... (Goodreads)
The Year of Fog
by Michelle Richmond
A woman's fiancé's daughter disappears on a foggy beach, and she must navigate the complexities of memory and grief to find her.
Life changes in an instant. On a foggy beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée soon-to-be-stepmother—looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, ... (Goodreads)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
A soldier's story of courage and survival in the Spanish Civil War.
The novel graphically describes the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. It is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan. It draws on Hemingway's own ... (Wikipedia)
All the Birds, Singing
by Evie Wyld
A woman's journey of self-discovery, dealing with the consequences of her past.
From one of Granta 's Best Young British Novelists, a stunningly insightful, emotionally powerful new novel about an outsider haunted by an inescapable past: a story of loneliness and survival, guilt ... (Goodreads)
