Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Heavenby Mieko Kawakami
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Convenience Store Woman
by Sayaka Murata
A darkly comic story of a woman's search for acceptance and belonging in a society that doesn't fit her.
Keiko Furukura is a 36-year old woman who has been working part-time at a convenience store , or konbini , for the last 18 years. She has known since childhood that she is "different" and that ... (Wikipedia)
Bunny
by Mona Awad
A darkly comedic novel about a graduate student's obsession with a clique of glamorous and mysterious women in her MFA program.
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark ... (Goodreads)
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)
The Memory Police
by Yōko Ogawa
A mysterious power erasing memories of everyday objects, leading to a fight for freedom.
The story follows a novelist on an island under the control of the Memory Police. An unknown force causes the people of the island to collectively 'forget' and lose their attachment to objects or ... (Wikipedia)
A Month in the Country
by J.L. Carr
A man's journey of personal and spiritual redemption, set in rural England during WWI.
In J. L. Carr's deeply charged poetic novel, Tom Birkin, a veteran of the Great War and a broken marriage, arrives in the remote Yorkshire village of Oxgodby where he is to restore a recently ... (Goodreads)
The Housekeeper and the Professor
by Yōko Ogawa
A gentle story of friendship and understanding between a brilliant mathematician and his housekeeper.
The narrator's housekeeping agency dispatches her to the house of the Professor, a former mathematician who can remember new memories for only 80 minutes. She is more than a little frustrated to find ... (Wikipedia)
A Tale for the Time Being
by Ruth Ozeki
An exploration of the connections between two lives, bridging time, space and cultures.
In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her ... (Goodreads)
Social Creature
by Tara Isabella Burton
A twisted tale of obsession and manipulation between two young women in New York City's elite social scene.
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Donna Tartt, a dark, propulsive and addictive debut thriller, splashed with all the glitz and glitter of New York City. They go through both bottles of champagne ... (Goodreads)
What We Lose
by Zinzi Clemmons
A young woman navigates the complexities of identity, grief, and love after the death of her mother.
Thandi, the daughter of a South African mother and an American father, comes of age in Pennsylvania . When she is in college, her mother is stricken by cancer and dies, causing Thandi's life to fall ... (Wikipedia)
Earthlings
by Sayaka Murata
A dark and surreal novel about a woman who feels alienated from society and finds solace in the idea of becoming an alien herself.
Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the ... (Goodreads)
Mr Salary
by Sally Rooney
A short story about a young woman's relationship with her older, wealthier lover.
My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all. Years ago, Sukie moved in with Nathan because her mother was dead and her father was ... (Goodreads)
When She Returned
by Lucinda Berry
A woman returns home after being abducted as a child, but her family struggles to accept her and secrets from the past resurface.
One woman’s reappearance throws her family into turmoil, exposing dark secrets and the hidden, often devastating truth of family relationships., Kate Bennett vanished from a parking lot eleven years ... (Barnes & Noble)
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)
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)
Just One Night
by Gayle Forman
A whirlwind romance between two strangers in Paris leads to a night of adventure and self-discovery.
After spending one life-changing day in Paris with laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter, sheltered American good girl Allyson “Lulu” Healey discovered her new lover had disappeared without a trace. ... (Goodreads)
The Idiot
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A man's struggle to find his place in society, and the moral dilemmas he faces.
Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to ... (Wikipedia)
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of two people entangled in a mysterious dual-world conspiracy.
The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized year of 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and ... (Wikipedia)
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
Social satire exploring morality and class in 19th century England.
Fanny Price, at age ten, is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live as one of the family at Mansfield Park, the Northamptonshire country estate of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. There ... (Wikipedia)
Where Angels Fear to Tread
by E.M. Forster
A young widow travels to Italy and falls in love with a local man, causing a clash between English and Italian cultures.
On a journey to Tuscany with her young friend and travelling companion Caroline Abbott, widowed Lilia Herriton falls in love with Gino, a handsome Italian man much younger than herself, and decides ... (Wikipedia)
Breasts and Eggs
by Mieko Kawakami
A story of three women in contemporary Japan, exploring the complexities of womanhood, motherhood, and the female body.
Challenging every preconception about storytelling and prose style, mixing wry humor and riveting emotional depth, Kawakami is today one of Japan’s most important and best-selling writers. She ... (Goodreads)
On a Sunbeam
by Tillie Walden
A group of women travel through space to restore old buildings. A love story unfolds between two of the crew members.
Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As new member Mia gets to know her team, the story flashes back ... (Goodreads)
The Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A butler reflects on his past, grappling with the lost opportunities of a life devoted to service.
The novel tells, in first-person narration , the story of Stevens, an English butler who has dedicated his life to the loyal service of Lord Darlington (who is recently deceased, and whom Stevens ... (Wikipedia)
I Was Here
by Gayle Forman
A grieving teenager searches for answers after her best friend's sudden suicide.
Cody and Meg were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Until . . . they weren’t anymore. When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is ... (Goodreads)
Manacled
by SenLinYu
A young man is kidnapped and sold into slavery, enduring brutal treatment and struggling to survive.
Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Hermione Granger has an Order secret, lost but hidden ... (Goodreads)
Under the Greenwood Tree
by Thomas Hardy
A romantic tale set in a small English village, where a young woman's heart is torn between two suitors.
The novel follows the activities of a group of west gallery musicians , the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new village schoolmistress , ... (Wikipedia)
The Time of My Life
by Cecelia Ahern
Lucy Silchester's life is a mess until she meets her life. Literally. A humorous and heartwarming story about self-discovery and love.
Lucy Silchester has an appointment with her life – and she’s going to have to keep it. Lying on Lucy Silchester’s carpet one day when she returns from work is a gold envelope. Inside is an invitation ... (Goodreads)
Nick and Charlie
by Alice Oseman
A heartwarming novella about two boys falling in love and navigating their relationship.
CHARLIE: “I have been going out with Nick Nelson for two years. He likes rugby, Formula 1, dogs, the Marvel universe, the sound felt-tips make on paper, rain and drawing on shoes. He also likes me.” ... (Goodreads)
Blue-Eyed Devil
by Lisa Kleypas
Romance between a wealthy socialite and a blue-collar worker, uncovering secrets and lies of the past.
The, New York Times, bestselling author of, Sugar Daddy, is back with her most breathtaking, hot-and-bothered novel yet!,MEET THE BLUE-EYED DEVIL,His name is Hardy Cates. He's a self-made millionaire ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Discomfort of Evening
by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
A Dutch family's grief and trauma after the death of their son. Told through the eyes of a young girl who grapples with her own fears and desires.
WINNER OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE,A stark and gripping tale of childhood grief from one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature,Ten-year-old Jas lives with her strictly ... (Barnes & Noble)
Homer & Langley
by E.L. Doctorow
Eccentric brothers live in a decaying mansion in New York City, hidden away from the rest of the world.
From Ragtime and Billy Bathgate to The Book of Daniel, World’s Fair, and The March, the novels of E. L. Doctorow comprise one of the most substantive achievements of modern American fiction. Now, ... (Goodreads)
