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Recommendations based on That Was Then, This Is Nowby S.E. Hinton
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Rumble Fish
by S.E. Hinton
Rusty-James, a teenage gang member, struggles to find his place in the world and live up to his older brother's reputation.
Rusty-James runs into his old friend, Steve Hays, at the beach. It has been five years since they last saw each other. Steve is in college and Rusty is not long out of the reformatory . When Steve ... (Wikipedia)
Tex
by S.E. Hinton
A teenage boy struggles to find his place in the world while dealing with family issues and a dangerous gang.
The book opens with Tex McCormick, a 15-year-old who loves horses, and his brother Mason (Mace), living in a small town and Jamie the girl next door. Tex is growing up mostly with Mace in a small ... (Wikipedia)
Pet Sematary
by Stephen King
A family's terrifying journey of life and death, as the line between the living and the dead blurs.
Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago , is appointed director of the University of Maine 's campus health service. He moves to a large house near the small town of Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their two ... (Wikipedia)
Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
Epic tale of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.
It is the late 1870s. , Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers , run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border ... (Wikipedia)
Where the Red Fern Grows
by Wilson Rawls
A young boy embarks on an adventure with his beloved hunting dogs, learning valuable life lessons.
An old man named Billy Colman rescues a redbone hound under attack by neighborhood dogs. He takes it home with him so that its wounds can heal. In light of this event, he has a flashback to when he ... (Wikipedia)
Fly Away Home
by Jennifer Weiner
A mother and daughter navigate life after a family scandal, finding solace in each other and their shared love of music.
Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . . When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as ... (Goodreads)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
A young woman's struggles against societal expectations, and her journey of resilience and self-realization.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141439594 . When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting ... (Goodreads)
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)
I Am the Cheese
by Robert Cormier
Teenage boy's search for the truth of his past, uncovering a web of lies and government conspiracies.
The novel opens with protagonist Adam Farmer biking from his home in the fictional town of Monument, Massachusetts , (based on Cormier's home town of Leominster, Massachusetts [,citation needed,] ) ... (Wikipedia)
The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book
by Bill Watterson
A compilation of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, exploring the humor of everyday life.
Find Sunday comic favorites in this classic, Calvin and Hobbes, collection. This is a collection of the classic comic strip that features Calvin, a rambunctious 6-year-old boy, and his stuffed tiger, ... (Goodreads)
Ender's Shadow
by Orson Scott Card
A boy competes in a battle school to save humanity from a deadly alien race.
Welcome to Battleschool. Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to ... (Goodreads)
Shane
by Jack Schaefer
A mysterious stranger, Shane, helps a family of homesteaders fight against a ruthless cattle baron in the Old West.
The story is set in 1889 Wyoming , when the Wyoming Territory was still open to the Homestead Act of 1862. , It is narrated by a homesteader's son, Bob Starrett. The original unclaimed land ... (Wikipedia)
Rubyfruit Jungle
by Rita Mae Brown
A coming-of-age story of a young girl's journey of self-acceptance and finding her place in the world.
The novel focuses on Molly Bolt, the adopted daughter of a poor family, who possesses remarkable beauty and who is aware of her lesbianism from early childhood. Her relationship with her mother is ... (Wikipedia)
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
A coming-of-age story about two boys and their complex friendship set during World War II.
Gene Forrester returns to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly veiled portrayal of Knowles's alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy ), , 15 years after he graduated, to visit two places he regards as ... (Wikipedia)
The Green Mile
by Stephen King
A prison guard discovers the power of redemption, and miracles, when he meets a mysterious inmate.
Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the ... (Wikipedia)
Junky
by William S. Burroughs
A gritty, autobiographical account of a man's descent into the underworld of addiction.
Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch , an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junky , his first novel. It is a candid eye-witness account of times and places that are now long gone, an ... (Goodreads)
The Surgeon's Mate
by Patrick O'Brian
A tale of adventure and romance set during the Napoleonic Wars.
Sailing into Halifax, the victorious HMS Shannon contends with her losses in officers and crew, with particular concern for Captain Broke, who lies unconscious from head wounds. The American Captain ... (Wikipedia)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
A boy moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935, where his father works as a prison guard, and navigates life with a sister on the autism spectrum.
Moose Flanagan and his family composed of father Cam, mother Helen, and sister Natalie move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island in 1935. The move was caused by Cam's new job as an electrician and ... (Wikipedia)
Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.
The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)
All My Friends Are Dead
by Avery Monsen
A lighthearted exploration of death, in the context of the animal kingdom.
"Laugh out loud funny, and a tiny bit disturbing. In other words, perfect.", - The Huffington Post An amusing and captivating tale that's a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable: If you're ... (Goodreads)
The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
A retired detective called to investigate a mysterious murder.
The story is set in New York City in December 1932, in the last days of Prohibition. The main characters are a former private detective , Nick Charles and Nora, his clever young wife. Nick, son of a ... (Wikipedia)
Children of the Mind
by Orson Scott Card
Epic sci-fi adventure across space and time, with a final battle to save humanity.
At the start of Children of the Mind , Jane , the evolved computer intelligence , is using her newly discovered abilities to take the races of buggers, humans and, pequeninos, outside the universe ... (Wikipedia)
A Painted House
by John Grisham
A young boy's journey of growing up on an Arkansas cotton farm, learning life lessons along the way.
"The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked ... (Goodreads)
The Cabinet of Curiosities
by Douglas Preston
Adventure through a mysterious mansion, uncovering secrets and solving puzzles.
Dr. Nora Kelly's life as an archaeologist at New York City 's American Museum of Natural History becomes complicated when Aloysius X. L. Pendergast , a secretive and highly resourceful FBI Special ... (Wikipedia)
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
by Dr. Seuss
A whimsical and inspiring journey through life's ups and downs, encouraging readers to persevere and follow their dreams.
The story begins with the narrator, relating the decision of the unnamed protagonist (who represents the reader) to leave town. The protagonist travels through several geometrical and polychromatic ... (Wikipedia)
Love Is a Dog from Hell
by Charles Bukowski
A poetic exploration of the human experience, from joy to heartache and everything in between.
Collection of poems rising from and returning to Bukowski's personal experiences reflect people, objects, places, and events of the external world, and reflects on them, on their way out and back. ... (Goodreads)
Tales of the City
by Armistead Maupin
A warm and comedic exploration of 1970s San Francisco and its colorful inhabitants.
San Francisco, 1976. A naïve young secretary, fresh out of Cleveland, tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, pot-growing landladies, cut throat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts ... (Goodreads)
Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian
A midwife's journey of self-discovery, uncovering secrets of her own past.
The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads ... (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)
Tales from Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Epic fantasy saga of a young wizard's quest to restore peace to the world of Earthsea.
Five stories of Ursula K. Le Guin's world-renowned realm of Earthsea are collected in one volume. Featuring two classic stories, two original tales, and a brand-new novella, as well as new maps and a ... (Goodreads)
