Recommendations based on Sweetbitterby Stephanie Danler

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

  1. The Girls

    by Emma Cline
    An exploration of the dark side of teenagehood, as a young girl is drawn into a cult.

    Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their ... (Goodreads)

  2. A Little Life

    by Hanya Yanagihara
    A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.

    The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Fates and Furies

    by Lauren Groff
    A tale of the secrets and passions of a marriage, exploring the depths of private lives.

    Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, ... (Goodreads)

  4. Commonwealth

    by Ann Patchett
    Intertwining story of two families across multiple generations, and how their lives become intertwined.

    It started at Franny Keating’s christening party. Bert Cousins wasn’t even invited, but looking for an excuse to get out of the house, away from his three noisy children and pregnant wife for a few ... (Wikipedia)

  5. 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)

  6. 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)

  7. Homegoing

    by Yaa Gyasi
    Spanning centuries, the intertwining stories of two African sisters, their descendants, and the legacy of slavery.

    Effia is raised by her mother, Baaba, who is cruel to her. Nevertheless she works hard to please her mother. Known as a beauty, Effia is intended to be married to the future chief of her village, but ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Immortalists

    by Chloe Benjamin
    Four siblings visit a fortune teller who predicts the dates of their deaths, leading them to confront mortality and shape their lives accordingly.

    If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Royal We

    by Heather Cocks
    A modern fairytale of a young woman's romance with a prince, and the challenges of life as a royal.

    An American girl finds her prince in this "fun and dishy" (, People,) royal romance inspired by Prince William and Kate Middleton.,American Bex Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. The Pisces

    by Melissa Broder
    A woman's life is transformed when she falls in love with a merman. A darkly funny and erotic exploration of love, desire, and identity.

    An original, imaginative, and hilarious debut novel about love, anxiety, and sea creatures, from the author of, So Sad Today., Lucy has been writing her dissertation about Sappho for thirteen years ... (Goodreads)

  11. Americanah

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    An exploration of race, identity, and belonging as two Nigerian immigrants experience life in America and beyond.

    Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to ... (Goodreads)

  12. My Year of Rest and Relaxation

    by Ottessa Moshfegh
    A young woman's year-long experiment with prescription drugs to escape her life and numb her emotions.

    The unnamed narrator, a slender and beautiful blonde from a wealthy WASP family, is a recent graduate of Columbia University , where she majored in art history . During her senior year in college, ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Station Eleven

    by Emily St. John Mandel
    Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.

    An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  14. Attachments

    by Rainbow Rowell
    A budding online romance between two co-workers, hindered by an unlikely obstacle.

    "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you..." Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's ... (Goodreads)

  15. 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)

  16. The Enchanted

    by Rene Denfeld
    Adventure into a magical forest reveals secrets and a path to redemption.

    “ The Enchanted wrapped its beautiful and terrible fingers around me from the first page and refused to let go after the last. A wondrous book that finds transcendence in the most unlikely of places. ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. A Visit from the Goon Squad

    by Jennifer Egan
    A mosaic of characters, lives, and relationships as they intertwine and evolve over time.

    Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. ... (Goodreads)

  18. 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)

  19. When God Was a Rabbit

    by Sarah Winman
    A family story of love and loss, capturing a childhood in all its innocence and complexity.

    When God was a Rabbit is an incredibly exciting debut from an extraordinary new voice in fiction. Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Idiot

    by Elif Batuman
    A young woman's journey of self-discovery, learning to navigate the complexities of life.

    Selin Karadağ is a freshman studying linguistics at Harvard University . She meets an older Hungarian mathematics student, Ivan, in a Russian language class and the two begin corresponding over ... (Wikipedia)

  21. 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)

  22. The Virgin Suicides

    by Jeffrey Eugenides
    A dark and mysterious tale about the mysterious suicides of five teenage sisters in a suburban town.

    As an ambulance arrives for the body of Cecilia Lisbon, a group of anonymous adolescent neighborhood boys recalls the events leading up to her death. The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in the ... (Wikipedia)

  23. White Teeth

    by Zadie Smith
    A multi-generational saga exploring identity, race, and culture in modern-day London.

    On New Year's Day 1975, Archie Jones, a 47-year-old Englishman whose disturbed Italian wife has just walked out on him, is attempting to take his own life by gassing himself in his car when a chance ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Sleeping Beauties

    by Stephen King
    A female-only virus putting women to sleep, creating a chaotic and divided society.

    In the impoverished town of Dooling, part of the fictional Tri-Counties region of Appalachia , a bizarre murder occurs when two men running a meth lab out of their mobile home are beaten to death by ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Casual Vacancy

    by J.K. Rowling
    A small town is split by a heated local election, sparking social tensions and hidden secrets.

    A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ... When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ... (Goodreads)

  26. Always and Forever, Lara Jean

    by Jenny Han
    A young girl navigates the ups and downs of first love and family.

    Now in her final year of high school, Lara Jean Song Covey is excitedly looking forward to attending school with her boyfriend, Peter Kavinsky, at the University of Virginia (UVA). Peter has been ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Rich People Problems

    by Kevin Kwan
    An exploration of the luxurious and scandalous world of the ultra-wealthy.

    In 2015, two years after the events that take place in China Rich Girlfriend , Nick and Rachel Young (née Chu), an economics professor at New York University (NYU), are happily married and living ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Manhattan Beach

    by Jennifer Egan
    A female-led story of crime, courage and sacrifice set in 1940s Brooklyn.

    Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea ... (Goodreads)

  29. Long Way Down

    by Jason Reynolds
    A young boy's journey of grief and redemption, as he seeks retribution for his brother's death.

    William Holloman is ready to exact vengeance on the person who murdered his older brother, Shawn. As Will rides the elevator down from his 8th-floor apartment at each floor a new person, who is dead, ... (Wikipedia)

  30. 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)