Recommendations based on How to Build a Girlby Caitlin Moran

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

  1. The Shock of the Fall

    by Nathan Filer
    A young man's struggle with mental illness and his journey to find understanding and acceptance.

    What begins as the story of a lost boy turns into a story of a brave man yearning to understand what happened that night, in the years since, and to his very person. While on vacation with their ... (Goodreads)

  2. A Keeper

    by Graham Norton
    A woman returns to her hometown in Ireland to settle her mother's estate, uncovering secrets about her family's past.

    From Graham Norton—the BAFTA Award–winning Irish television host and author of the “charming debut novel” (,New York Journal of Books,), Holding,—a masterly and haunting tale of secrets and ill-fated ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Us

    by David Nicholls
    A couple's marriage is tested during a summer trip across Europe, forcing them to confront their past and future together.

    Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Paying Guests

    by Sarah Waters
    A forbidden affair between two women in 1920s London, amidst an era of social change.

    It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now ... (Goodreads)

  5. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

    by Joshua Ferris
    A successful dentist questions his identity and purpose after discovering a fake website impersonating him.

    A big, brilliant, profoundly observed novel about the mysteries of modern life by National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris, one of the most exciting voices of his generation Paul O'Rourke is a man ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Narrow Road to the Deep North

    by Richard Flanagan
    A man's journey to reconcile his past and make sense of his actions during the Japanese occupation of Burma.

    Dorrigo Evans has found fame and public recognition as a war veteran in old age, but inwardly he is plagued by his own shortcomings and considers his numerous accolades to be a “failure of perception ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    by Junot Díaz
    An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.

    Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)

  8. 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)

  9. The Story of the Lost Child

    by Elena Ferrante
    An exploration of the complexities of motherhood and female friendship, spanning four decades.

    "Nothing quite like this has ever been published before," proclaimed The Guardian about the Neapolitan novels in 2014. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Witch with No Name

    by Kim Harrison
    The final installment of the Hollows series, Rachel Morgan must face her greatest challenge yet to save the world she loves.

    At long last... The final book in the, New York Times, bestselling Hollows series by Kim Harrison! Rachel Morgan's come a long way from the clutzy runner of Dead Witch Walking . She's faced vampires ... (Goodreads)

  11. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

    by Elena Ferrante
    Two friends navigate the changing relationships of their youth and adulthood, and the consequences of their choices.

    In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her abusive ... (Goodreads)

  12. An Untamed State

    by Roxane Gay
    A woman's fight against her captors, as she struggles to survive the horrors of captivity.

    Mireille Duval Jameson is born and raised in the United States, her parents are from Haitian descent. Her parents move back to Haiti. While vacationing at her parents' house with her husband and ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Power

    by Naomi Alderman
    A world where women have the power to control electricity, and use it to fight against gender-based oppression.

    In a matriarchal society, a gushing male writer writes to an influential author about his fictional account of how the matriarchy came to be. Five thousand years earlier (in our current time), men ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Rosie Effect

    by Graeme Simsion
    A professor's unexpected journey of self-discovery, learning to embrace change.

    Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they're about to face a new challenge because - surprise - Rosie ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Silkworm

    by Robert Galbraith
    Detective investigates the murder of a novelist, uncovering shocking secrets.

    Several months after solving the Lula Landry case , Cormoran Strike is asked by Leonora Quine to locate her novelist husband Owen, a former literary genius whose attempts to recreate his past success ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Story of a New Name

    by Elena Ferrante
    Two young women's search for identity and independence in a patriarchal society.

    In 2012, Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend introduced readers to the unforgettable Elena and Lila, whose lifelong friendship provides the backbone for the Neapolitan Novels. The Story of a New ... (Goodreads)

  17. Warm Bodies

    by Isaac Marion
    A zombie's story of overcoming his undead state to find true love.

    Now a major motion picture from Summit Entertainment. R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He ... (Goodreads)

  18. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

    by Shirley Jackson
    A family isolated from society, struggling to cope with prejudice and tragedy.

    My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Mystery of Mercy Close

    by Marian Keyes
    Private investigator Helen Walsh is hired to find a missing member of a boy band, while dealing with her own mental health struggles.

    Helen Walsh doesn’t believe in fear – it’s just a thing invented by men to get all the money and good job – and yet she’s sinking. Her work as a Private Investigator has dried up, her flat has been ... (Goodreads)

  20. 'Salem's Lot

    by Stephen King
    A small town's battle against an ancient evil that threatens to consume its inhabitants.

    Ben Mears, a writer who spent part of his childhood in Jerusalem's Lot , Maine , has returned after 25 years. He quickly becomes friends with high-school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Behind the Scenes at the Museum

    by Kate Atkinson
    A young girl's exploration of her family's history, unravelling their secrets and lies.

    Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn ... (Goodreads)

  22. An Abundance of Katherines

    by John Green
    A teenage boy's quest for love and self-discovery, learning to accept himself and find happiness.

    Colin Singleton, a child prodigy living in Chicago , fears he will not maintain his genius as an adult. Over the span of his life, Colin has dated nineteen girls named Katherine, all spelled in that ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version

    by Philip Pullman
    Classic tales of magical heroes and heroines, reimagined in a modern setting.

    Two hundred years ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Children’s and Household Tales. Now, at a veritable fairy-tale moment—witness the popular television shows Grimm and Once ... (Goodreads)

  24. Man and Boy

    by Tony Parsons
    A father's struggle to hold onto his son and his family amidst turmoil and tragedy.

    HE HAD TO FACE THE TOUGHEST JOB OF HIS LIFE. AND HE NEVER ONCE THOUGHT HE'D BE ON HIS OWN. Harry had it all: a beautiful wife, an adorable four-year-old son, and a high-paying media job. But on the ... (Goodreads)

  25. Dust

    by Hugh Howey
    A post-apocalyptic world struggles to survive against oppressive forces.

    The story of Wool takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth. , Humanity clings to survival in the Silo, a subterranean city extending one hundred forty-four stories beneath the surface. The series ... (Wikipedia)

  26. This Is How You Lose Her

    by Junot Díaz
    A collection of stories about young love, heartache, and the struggle to find one's place in the world.

    On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a ... (Goodreads)

  27. Son

    by Lois Lowry
    A young boy's journey of personal growth as he discovers the truth about his past and his family.

    Son is written in three parts, each with a subtitle: Before , Between , and Beyond . Before takes place in the same location, "The Community," and at the different time as The Giver . Claire's ... (Wikipedia)

  28. A History of Loneliness

    by John Boyne
    Uncovering the truth about Ireland's past, exploring the lasting effects of abuse.

    Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly ... (Goodreads)

  29. The Sellout

    by Paul Beatty
    An outrageous satire of race and civil rights in modern America.

    The novel concerns a narrator, referred to by his childhood nickname "Bonbon" or his last name, "Me," who attempts to reintroduce segregation and keep a slave named Hominy in Dickens, his Los Angeles ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Fingersmith

    by Sarah Waters
    A thrilling tale of two women who conspire to swindle a wealthy gentleman.

    Sue Trinder, an orphan raised in "a Fagin -like den of thieves" by her adoptive mother, Mrs Sucksby, is sent to help Richard "Gentleman" Rivers seduce a wealthy heiress. Posing as a maid, Sue is to ... (Wikipedia)