Recommendations based on An Object of Beautyby Steve Martin

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

  1. Shopgirl

    by Steve Martin
    A story of love, loss, and self-discovery as a woman seeks meaning in her life.

    Lonely, depressed, Vermont transplant Mirabelle Buttersfield, who sells expensive evening gloves nobody ever buys at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills and spends her evenings watching television with ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Paris Wife

    by Paula McLain
    A woman's journey of self-discovery, navigating the complexities of a passionate and tumultuous relationship.

    The Paris Wife focuses on the romance, marriage and divorce of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson, who met when Hemingway was 20 years old, and Richardson 28. They marry and move ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Freedom

    by Jonathan Franzen
    A family saga revealing the struggles of a divided nation, and the power of love to heal.

    The novel opens with a brief look at the Berglund family during their time living in St. Paul, Minnesota , from the perspective of their nosy neighbors. The Berglunds are portrayed as an ideal ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Beautiful Ruins

    by Jess Walter
    A romantic story of fate, secrets, and destiny, spanning from Italy in the 1960s to present day.

    "The best novel of the year." — Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air A #1 New York Times bestseller, this “absolute masterpiece” (Richard Russo) is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the ... (Goodreads)

  5. Angle of Repose

    by Wallace Stegner
    A man's search for his ancestors and their stories, leading to a journey of self-discovery.

    Lyman Ward narrates a century after the fact. Lyman interprets the story at times and leaves gaps that he points out at other times. Some of the disappointments of his life, including his divorce, ... (Wikipedia)

  6. We Are Water

    by Wally Lamb
    A family's struggle to reconcile their differences and make peace with their past.

    In middle age, Annie Oh—wife, mother, and outsider artist—has shaken her family to its core. After twenty-seven years of marriage and three children, Annie has fallen in love with Viveca, the ... (Goodreads)

  7. 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)

  8. 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)

  9. 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)

  10. The Elephant Vanishes

    by Haruki Murakami
    Collection of short stories depicting the surreal and mysterious aspects of life.

    Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679750536 With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Marriage Plot

    by Jeffrey Eugenides
    A young woman's exploration of love, life, and her place in the world.

    It's the early 1980s - the country is in a deep recession, and life after college is harder than ever. In the cafés on College Hill, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to the ... (Goodreads)

  12. A Confederacy of Dunces

    by John Kennedy Toole
    A satirical tale of an eccentric slacker's misadventures in New Orleans.

    Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found, here, "A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Sun Also Rises

    by Ernest Hemingway
    A group of expatriates in 1920s Europe, struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of WWI.

    On the surface, the novel is a love story between the protagonist Jake Barnes—a man whose war wound has made him unable to have sex—and the promiscuous divorcée usually identified as Lady Brett ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Widow of the South

    by Robert Hicks
    Based on a true story, a woman struggles to cope with the aftermath of the Civil War and the Battle of Franklin.

    Tennessee, 1864. On a late autumn day, near a little town called Franklin, 10,000 men will soon lie dead or dying in a battle that will change many lives for ever. None will be more changed than ... (Goodreads)

  15. One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

    by B.J. Novak
    Collection of short stories, exploring the quirks of life with wit and humor.

    New York Times Bestseller , A startlingly original debut from the actor, writer, director, and executive producer hailed as “a gifted observer of the human condition and a very funny writer capable ... (Barnes & Noble)

  16. Capital

    by John Lanchester
    An exploration of the lives of a group of characters in London, revealing the dark side of modern capitalism.

    Celebrated novelist John Lanchester (author of The Debt to Pleasure ) returns with an epic novel that captures the obsessions of our time. It’s 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and ... (Goodreads)

  17. A Million Little Pieces

    by James Frey
    An addict's story of recovery, as he struggles to overcome his demons.

    Intense, unpredictable, and instantly engaging, this is a story of drug and alcohol abuse and rehabilitation as it has never been told before. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented ... (Goodreads)

  18. Wishtree

    by Katherine Applegate
    An ancient oak tree tells the story of a community coming together to accept difference and promote understanding.

    The, New York Times-,bestselling story of kindness, friendship, and hope. ,, Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . . Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  19. Griffin & Sabine

    by Nick Bantock
    A mysterious correspondence between two artists, Griffin and Sabine, unfolds through a series of beautifully illustrated postcards and letters.

    Griffin Moss is an artist living in London who makes postcards for a living. He is unhappy and lonely, though he is unaware of these feelings. His life is changed forever when he receives a cryptic ... (Wikipedia)

  20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

    by Ian Fleming
    James Bond's mission to stop a criminal mastermind, complete with espionage, gadgets and action.

    For more than a year, James Bond, British Secret Service operative 007, has been involved in "Operation Bedlam": trailing the private criminal organisation SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Close Range: Wyoming Stories

    by Annie Proulx
    A collection of short stories set in the rural landscape of Wyoming, exploring the lives of its inhabitants.

    From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes comes one of the most celebrated short story collections of our time. Annie Proulx's masterful ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

    by Mohsin Hamid
    A rags-to-riches story of a young man's journey to success in a changing world.

    From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist , the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy's quest for wealth and love. His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a ... (Goodreads)

  23. Girl in Translation

    by Jean Kwok
    A young immigrant girl's struggles to keep up academically and financially in the US.

    Introducing a fresh, exciting Chinese-American voice, an inspiring debut about an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures. When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from ... (Goodreads)

  24. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

    by Therese Anne Fowler
    A reimagining of the life of the iconic Jazz Age socialite and her tempestuous marriage with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

    A dazzling novel that captures all of the romance, glamour, and tragedy of the first flapper, Zelda Fitzgerald. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a ... (Goodreads)

  25. Where the Heart Is

    by Billie Letts
    A journey of resilience and courage, as a young woman faces her struggles with poverty and hardship.

    This novel opens with Novalee and Willy Jack, her then boyfriend, traveling from Tennessee to California , where Willy Jack claims he was promised by his cousin, J. Paul, a job working at a train ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Aviator's Wife

    by Melanie Benjamin
    A woman's emotional journey of growth and self-discovery, learning to stand on her own.

    In the spirit of, Loving Frank, and, The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America’s most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and ... (Goodreads)

  27. Moonglow

    by Michael Chabon
    A multigenerational family saga reflecting on the past to unlock secrets of the present.

    The novel is about the story of the author's (Chabon) grandfather. Throughout the book, the grandfather's name is not referred to. The story is sort of a memoir, jumping around in time. It starts ... (Wikipedia)

  28. 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)

  29. Faeries

    by Brian Froud
    An exploration of the fairy realm and the world of enchantment.

    Edited by David Larkin. Two talented artists explore the world of faeries in myths, legends, and folklore. ... (Goodreads)

  30. Their Eyes Were Watching God

    by Zora Neale Hurston
    A woman's journey of self-discovery, liberation and empowerment.

    Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person – no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three ... (Goodreads)