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Recommendations based on The Road to Wellvilleby T. Coraghessan Boyle
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The Tortilla Curtain
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
A story of two families, one affluent and one struggling, and their intersecting paths.
Cándido Rincón (33) and América (his pregnant common law wife , 17) are two Mexicans who enter the United States illegally, dreaming of a good life in their own little house somewhere in California. ... (Wikipedia)
Drop City
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
An isolated commune in California's wilds, and its inhabitants' trials and tribulations.
It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life has decided to relocate to the last frontier—the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska—in ... (Goodreads)
The Women
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
A fictionalized account of Frank Lloyd Wright's life, told through the perspectives of the women who loved him.
Welcome to the troubled, tempestuous world of Frank Lloyd Wright. Scandalous affairs rage behind closed doors, broken hearts are tossed aside, fires rip through the wings of the house and paparazzi ... (Goodreads)
Lush Life
by Richard Price
A gripping crime mystery with a sprawling cast of characters, set in the heart of New York City.
" Price is the greatest writer of dialogue, living or dead, this country has ever produced. Wry, profane, hilarious, and tragic, sometimes in a single line, Lush Life is his masterwork. I doubt ... (Goodreads)
A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews
A teenage girl navigates life in a strict Mennonite community while dealing with family dysfunction and questioning her faith.
The novel is set in a small religious Mennonite town called East Village, generally considered to be a fictionalized version of Toews' hometown of Steinbach , Manitoba . The narrator is Nomi Nickel, ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
A humorous and heart-wrenching journey of life, love and literature.
This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields—a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a ... (Goodreads)
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead
An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.
The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)
Tortilla Flat
by John Steinbeck
A comedy of friendship and adventure, focusing on a group of paisanos living in California during the Great Depression.
Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the shabby district of Tortilla Flat, inhabited by a loose gang of jobless locals of Mexican-Indian - Spanish-Caucasian descent (who typically ... (Wikipedia)
The Wind Through the Keyhole
by Stephen King
A young boy embarks on a quest for truth, uncovering secrets of a forgotten past.
The novel begins with Roland and his ka-tet arriving at a river on their journey to the Dark Tower. An elderly man who operates a ferry gets them across the river, and warns them that a severe ... (Wikipedia)
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
A man's journey of self-discovery in a politically charged atmosphere in Turkey.
Though most of the early part of the story is told in the third person from Ka's point of view, an omniscient narrator sometimes makes his presence known, posing as a friend of Ka's who is telling ... (Wikipedia)
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
by Helen Fielding
A journalist's wild imagination leads her on a thrilling adventure to uncover a terrorist plot.
Olivia Jules, a journalist for the British Sunday Times newspaper and Elan magazine is in Miami to cover the launch of a face cream when she meets Pierre Feramo, who she finds attractive, but also ... (Wikipedia)
The Arrival
by Shaun Tan
A thought-provoking story of a man's journey to an unknown land in search of a new home.
In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship to cross the ocean. He's embarking on the most painful yet important journey of his life—he's leaving ... (Goodreads)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A single day in a Soviet prison camp, detailing the hardships and struggle of the inmates.
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov has been sentenced to a camp in the Soviet gulag system. He was accused of becoming a spy after being captured briefly by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II ... (Wikipedia)
Savannah Breeze
by Mary Kay Andrews
A woman inherits a beach house in Georgia and discovers secrets about her family's past while navigating new friendships and romance.
“A sheer delight and will have readers laughing out loud by the second page.” — Daytona Beach News-Journal “The perfect mix of comedy, action and romance makes this book nearly impossible to put ... (Barnes & Noble)
Paint it Black
by Janet Fitch
A young woman struggles with grief and self-destruction after her boyfriend's suicide. Set in the 1980s Los Angeles punk scene.
Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from ... (Goodreads)
Cannery Row
by John Steinbeck
An exploration of the lives of the inhabitants of a small town in California.
Cannery Row has a simple premise: Mack and his friends are trying to do something nice for their friend Doc, who has been good to them without asking for reward. Mack hits on the idea that they ... (Wikipedia)
Stories of Your Life and Others
by Ted Chiang
A collection of short stories exploring themes of science, technology, and humanity.
Ted Chiang's first published story, ",Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon ... (Goodreads)
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
A mysterious game of wit and skill, with a fortune as the prize.
BE CLASSIC with, The Westing Game, introduced by, New York Times, bestselling author Mac Barnett. A highly inventive mystery begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of the very ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Man from Beijing
by Henning Mankell
A small Swedish village is rocked by a brutal murder, which leads to a global conspiracy. A thrilling mystery with political undertones.
In January 2006 the police make the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 19 people who have been brutally murdered in the remote hamlet of Hesjövallen in northern Sweden . The protagonist Birgitta ... (Wikipedia)
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield
A mysterious storyteller reveals a dark family secret, transforming the lives of those around her.
Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists' questions about her past, refusing to answer their inquiries and spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her ... (Wikipedia)
Promise Not to Tell
by Jennifer McMahon
A woman returns to her hometown to confront a traumatic past and a present-day murder mystery. Secrets unravel as she digs deeper.
In 2002, Kate Cypher, a 41-year-old school nurse, returns home to her Vermont hippie commune where she grew up to care for her aging mother, who is afflicted with Alzheimer's disease . Her first ... (Wikipedia)
High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby
A man reflects on his past relationships while trying to understand the nature of love.
Rob Fleming is a 35-year-old man who owns a record shop in London called Championship Vinyl. His lawyer girlfriend, Laura, has just left him and now he's going through a crisis. At his record shop, ... (Wikipedia)
The House on Tradd Street
by Karen White
Real estate agent inherits a haunted house and uncovers secrets of the past. A ghostly mystery with a touch of romance.
Practical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she's going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died, leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with ... (Goodreads)
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
by Neil Gaiman
A surreal journey of a boy who trades his father for two goldfish and encounters a world of fantastical creatures.
"I'll swap you my dad," I said. ,"Oh-oh," said my little sister., What if you wanted your best friend's two goldfish so much that you'd swap anything for them, even your father? What if your mother ... (Goodreads)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
by Christopher Moore
A retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, told through the eyes of his childhood best friend.
Biff is resurrected in the 20th Century to complete missing parts of the Bible , under the inefficient supervision of Raziel ; wherefore Biff narrates that he and Joshua (by Biff's account, the ... (Wikipedia)
This Song Will Save Your Life
by Leila Sales
A teenage girl discovers her passion for music and finds a place to belong.
Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity ... (Goodreads)
Selected Poems
by E.E. Cummings
A compilation of lyrical poetry that explores the beauty and complexity of life.
E.E. Cummings is without question one of the major poets of this century, and this volume, first published in 1959, is indispensable for every lover of modern lyrical verse. It contains one hundred ... (Barnes & Noble)
Minding Frankie
by Maeve Binchy
A struggling single father, aided by a community of unlikely friends, learns to care for his special needs daughter.
Emily Lynch arrives from America to the fictional Dublin neighborhood of St. Jarlath Crescent and, in her encouraging and resourceful way, rehabilitates the lives of everyone she meets. The main plot ... (Wikipedia)
What the Night Knows
by Dean Koontz
A detective investigates a series of murders that seem to be connected to a case from his past, but the killer may not be entirely human.
The novel begins with John Calvino investigating the murder of a family, committed by Billy Lucas. Billy is in a mental institution and being monitored for being schizophrenic. He openly admits to ... (Wikipedia)
