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Recommendations based on Bee Seasonby Myla Goldberg
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Two cousins create a comic book superhero and find success and adventure in 1940s New York.
The novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old Josef "Joe" Kavalier as a refugee in New York City , where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin, Sammy Klayman. With the help of his ... (Wikipedia)
Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Collection of stories exploring the complexities of family, culture, and identity.
From the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written—that take ... (Goodreads)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
A boy's search for faith, set against a backdrop of unlikely events.
The story is narrated by John Wheelwright, a former citizen of New Hampshire who has become a voluntary expatriate from the United States, having settled in Toronto , Ontario , Canada and taken on ... (Wikipedia)
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.
The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Collection of stories exploring the struggles of Indian-American immigrants in the US.
A married couple, Shukumar and Shoba, live as strangers in their house until an electrical outage brings them together when all of sudden "they [are] able to talk to each other again" in the four ... (Wikipedia)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
A young boy's quest to find the lock that matches a mysterious key his father left behind.
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and ... (Goodreads)
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
A story of redemption and transformation amidst a hostage crisis.
Set in an unspecified South American country, , the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country's vice presidential home in honor of Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Blindness
by José Saramago
A society is plunged into chaos when everyone suddenly loses their sight.
Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortune of a ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The Corrections
by Jonathan Franzen
A family drama exploring the complexities of relationships, aging and life’s choices.
The novel shifts back and forth through the late 20th century, intermittently following spouses Alfred and Enid Lambert as they raise their children Gary, Chip, and Denise in the traditional ... (Wikipedia)
Testimony
by Anita Shreve
A sex scandal rocks a prestigious New England boarding school, unraveling the lives of those involved.
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found, here, At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that ... (Goodreads)
Terms of Endearment
by Larry McMurtry
A mother-daughter relationship is tested by love, loss, and life's challenges.
Widowed Aurora Greenway ( Shirley MacLaine ) keeps several suitors at arm's length in Houston , focusing instead on her close, but controlling, relationship with daughter Emma ( Debra Winger ). ... (Wikipedia)
Euphoria
by Lily King
Three anthropologists in the 1930s study a tribe in New Guinea, leading to a complex love triangle and ethical dilemmas.
A New York Times Bestseller,Winner of the 2014 Kirkus Prize,Winner of the 2014 New England Book Award for Fiction,A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award,A Best Book of the Year for:,, ... (Barnes & Noble)
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)
A Conspiracy of Paper
by David Liss
A historical mystery set in 18th century London, following a Jewish detective as he uncovers a conspiracy involving the stock market and his own family.
Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged ... (Goodreads)
The Bonfire of the Vanities
by Tom Wolfe
An ambitious Wall Street banker's moral downfall in New York City.
The story centers on Sherman McCoy, a successful New York City bond trader . His $3 million Park Avenue co-op , combined with his aristocratic wife's extravagances and other expenses required to keep ... (Wikipedia)
Infinite Jest
by David Foster Wallace
A journey through the absurdist world of entertainment, drugs, addiction & death.
There are four major interwoven narratives: , These narratives are connected via a film, Infinite Jest , also referred to in the novel as "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat ". The film is so ... (Wikipedia)
Tallgrass
by Sandra Dallas
During WWII, a small Colorado town is forced to house Japanese-Americans in an internment camp, causing tension and revealing secrets.
An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions... During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government ... (Goodreads)
Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn
A family of self-made circus freaks navigates love, loyalty, and morality in a world that shuns them for their differences.
The novel takes place in two interwoven , time periods: the first deals with the Binewski children's constant struggle against each other through life. They especially have to deal with the ... (Wikipedia)
Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood
A psychological thriller that examines the true story of a 19th century Canadian murderess.
Grace Marks, the convicted murderess, has been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A Committee of gentlemen and ladies from the ... (Wikipedia)
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
by Margaret Atwood
Nine stories exploring human relationships and the complexities of modern life.
A collection of highly imaginative short pieces that speak to our times with deadly accuracy. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late ... (Goodreads)
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)
At the Edge of the Orchard
by Tracy Chevalier
A family's journey from Ohio to California during the Gold Rush, with a focus on their struggles with apple farming and family dynamics.
From internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, a riveting drama of a pioneer family on the American frontier 1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in ... (Goodreads)
The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
A young woman's struggle to find her place in society, while being held back by her family.
The play is introduced to the audience by Tom, the narrator and protagonist, as a memory play based on his recollection of his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Because the play is based on memory, ... (Wikipedia)
The Body
by Robin Waterfield
A philosophical exploration of the human body, its functions, and its relationship to the mind and soul.
Gordon "Gordie" LaChance reminisces about his childhood in Castle Rock, Maine. At that time, Gordie's elder brother Dennis, whom his parents favored, had recently died, leaving Gordie's parents too ... (Wikipedia)
Different Seasons
by Stephen King
Four novellas exploring the power of morality, justice, and redemption.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption–the most satisfying tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape since The Count of Monte Cristo. Apt Pupil--a golden California schoolboy and an old man ... (Goodreads)
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
by Harlan Ellison
Post-apocalyptic survivors confront an evil, immortal computer bent on torturing them.
In a dystopian future, the Cold War has degenerated into a brutal world war between the United States , the Soviet Union , and China , who have each built an "Allied Mastercomputer" (or AM) to manage ... (Wikipedia)
The Hazel Wood
by Melissa Albert
Alice's grandmother, a reclusive author of dark fairy tales, dies, and Alice discovers that the stories may be more than just fiction.
Welcome to Melissa Albert's, The Hazel Wood, — the fiercely stunning, New York Times, bestseller everyone is raving about!, Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on ... (Barnes & Noble)
Reconstructing Amelia
by Kimberly McCreight
A mother unravels the truth behind her teenage daughter's death, uncovering secrets from the past.
In Reconstructing Amelia , the stunning debut novel from Kimberly McCreight, Kate's in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter’s ... (Goodreads)
