Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on The Animatorsby Kayla Rae Whitaker
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Idaho
by Emily Ruskovich
A haunting story of a family tragedy, told through the perspectives of different characters and across different timelines.
One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the ... (Goodreads)
The Nix
by Nathan Hill
A middle-aged man's quest to discover the truth about his mother and his own identity.
The Nix is an American epic novel in 10 parts that follows community college professor of English, Samuel Andresen-Anderson who is struggling to find meaning in his life in the years following his ... (Wikipedia)
Tin Man
by Sarah Winman
A story of friendship, love, and loss as three characters navigate life-altering decisions.
This is almost a love story. Ellis and Michael are twelve when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to ... (Goodreads)
Marlena
by Julie Buntin
A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl's intense friendship with a troubled girl named Marlena, and the aftermath of her tragic death.
An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades Everything about fifteen-year-old ... (Goodreads)
Heroes of the Frontier
by Dave Eggers
A mother takes her two children on a road trip through Alaska, escaping her past and searching for a new beginning.
A captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, Dave Eggers's Heroes of the Frontier is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a ... (Goodreads)
The Astonishing Color of After
by Emily X.R. Pan
After her mother's suicide, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her grandparents and uncovers family secrets through her mother's vividly colored bird visits.
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
by Hannah Tinti
A father-daughter journey of healing, as they confront the secrets of the past.
A father protects his daughter from the legacy of his past and the truth about her mother's death in this thrilling new novel from the prize-winning author of, The Good Thief., After years spent ... (Goodreads)
Juliet Takes a Breath
by Gabby Rivera
A young Puerto Rican woman's journey of self-discovery, exploring her identity and sexuality.
Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, ... (Goodreads)
There There
by Tommy Orange
A powerful novel that follows the lives of twelve Native Americans living in Oakland, California, as they prepare for a powwow.
The book begins with an essay by Orange, detailing "brief and jarring vignettes revealing the violence and genocide that Indigenous people have endured, and how it has been sanitized over the ... (Wikipedia)
The Mars Room
by Rachel Kushner
A gritty and raw portrayal of life in a women's prison, following the story of a young mother serving two consecutive life sentences.
It's 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility, deep in California's Central Valley . Outside is the world from which she has ... (Wikipedia)
Meddling Kids
by Edgar Cantero
A group of former teen detectives reunite to solve a case they couldn't solve as kids, but find something much more sinister.
1990 . The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon) are all grown up and haven't seen each other since ... (Goodreads)
Did You Ever Have a Family
by Bill Clegg
A tragic event shatters a woman's life, forcing her to leave her hometown and confront her past. A story of grief, loss, and redemption.
The novel focuses on June Reid, a beautiful, rich Connecticut woman. On the night before her daughter’s wedding, June Reid loses her daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend ... (Wikipedia)
All My Puny Sorrows
by Miriam Toews
A heart-wrenching story of two sisters as one battles depression and the other struggles to keep her alive.
The novel recounts the tumultuous relationship of the Von Riesen sisters, Elfrieda and Yolandi, the only children of an intellectual, free-spirited family from a conservative Mennonite community. ... (Wikipedia)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
by Gabrielle Zevin
Life of an isolated bookseller is transformed when an unexpected visitor brings unexpected joy.
“Marvelously optimistic about the future of books and bookstores and the people who love both.”—, The Washington Post, A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his ... (Barnes & Noble)
LaRose
by Louise Erdrich
A family's tragedy brings them together, pushing them to confront the past and embrace their future.
LaRose is set in North Dakota , on an Ojibwa reservation in the "era of George W. Bush and 9/11." , The novel's protagonist is LaRose Iron, a young Native American boy. , His father, Landreaux Iron, ... (Wikipedia)
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
A woman lives multiple lives, reflecting on choices and consequences and the power of love.
The novel has an unusual structure, repeatedly looping back in time to describe alternative possible lives for its central character, Ursula Todd, who is born on 11 February 1910 to an ... (Wikipedia)
The Last Days of Night
by Graham Moore
In 19th century New York City, a lawyer battles a powerful inventor in a fight over patents and the future of electricity.
NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • ,“A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.”—Erik Larson, , ,“A model of superior historical fiction . . . an ... (Barnes & Noble)
Stay with Me
by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
A sweeping tale of love, betrayal, and the power of family, set in Nigeria.
This celebrated, unforgettable first novel, shortlisted for the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction and set in Nigeria, gives voice to both husband and wife as they tell the story of their ... (Goodreads)
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
by Bryn Greenwood
A story of forbidden love, testing the boundaries of morality and redemption.
- A, New York Times, and, USA Today, bestseller - Book of the Month Club 2016 Book of the Year - Second Place Goodreads Best Fiction of 2016 A beautiful and provocative love story between two ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Cartel
by Don Winslow
An explosive battle of power and greed between Mexico's drug cartels and the US government.
From the internationally best-selling author of the acclaimed novel The Power of the Dog comes The Cartel, a gripping, true-to-life, ripped-from-the-headlines epic story of power, corruption, ... (Goodreads)
American War
by Omar El Akkad
A vivid account of a second American Civil War and its devastating consequences.
In 2074, after the passage of a bill that bans the use of fossil fuels anywhere in the United States, Mississippi , Alabama , Georgia , South Carolina and Texas secede from the Union, starting the ... (Wikipedia)
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1
by Emil Ferris
A young girl in 1960s Chicago investigates the murder of her neighbor, while navigating her own identity and imagination through her love of monsters.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp ... (Goodreads)
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)
Conversations with Friends
by Sally Rooney
Two college students explore the complexity of relationships and their place in the world.
A sharply intelligent novel about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple. Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A ... (Goodreads)
The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne
A man's life journey spanning seven decades and three continents, searching for love and acceptance.
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast ... (Goodreads)
Less
by Andrew Sean Greer
A man's journey of self-discovery and coming to terms with his life choices.
PROBLEM: You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes–it would all be ... (Goodreads)
The Shark
by Mary Burton
A serial killer is on the loose, and the only person who can stop him is a detective haunted by her past.
At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum’s past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on ... (Goodreads)
I Am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak
An unassuming young man is unexpectedly thrust into a journey of redemption and courage.
During a visit to the bank, the protagonist Ed Kennedy, a nineteen-year-old Australian taxi driver, accidentally foils a robbery. After speaking to the police, he is interviewed by local media and ... (Wikipedia)
An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
A newlywed couple's lives are torn apart when the husband is wrongfully convicted of a crime. The novel explores love, loyalty, and injustice.
Roy, a sales representative for a textbook company, and Celestial, an artist specializing in custom made baby dolls, are newlyweds who live in Atlanta. After their first year of marriage they travel ... (Wikipedia)
Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid
Reflection on displacement and immigration as two refugees traverse the world in search of a new life.
Nadia and Saeed meet when they are working students in an unnamed city. Saeed is more conservative and still lives at home, as custom generally requires, but the more independent Nadia has chosen to ... (Wikipedia)
