Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoiseby Julia Stuart
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
State of Wonder
by Ann Patchett
A journey in the Amazon rainforest to find a missing colleague and unlock the secrets of a mysterious drug.
In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, "State of Wonder" presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional ... (Goodreads)
The Family Fang
by Kevin Wilson
A dysfunctional family of performance artists reunites after years of estrangement, leading to chaos and self-discovery.
Annie and Buster Fang are the children of famous performance artists who, in the late 80s and early 90s, perform public interactive pieces with audiences who are unaware that they are performers and ... (Wikipedia)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
An epic tale of love and adventure set in an 18th century Japanese trading port.
The novel begins in the summer of 1799 at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki . It tells the story of a Dutch trader's love for a Japanese midwife who is ... (Wikipedia)
The Private Patient
by P.D. James
A gripping crime-mystery of murder and secrets, set in a rural English village.
Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. A welcome ... (Goodreads)
Judge & Jury
by James Patterson
A ruthless and powerful mob boss is finally brought to trial, but the jury is being targeted by his hired killers.
It's the biggest trial of the decade - big time mobster Dominic Cavello has finally been put in the dock, and there's enough evidence to make a conviction. Heavy security surrounds the courtroom , ... (Wikipedia)
Instructions for a Heatwave
by Maggie O'Farrell
A family's struggles with secrets and lies amidst a summer of record-breaking heat.
Sophisticated, intelligent, impossible to put down, Maggie O'Farrell's beguiling novels - After You'd Gone, winner of a Betty Trask Award; The Distance Between Us, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; ... (Goodreads)
The Fourth Bear
by Jasper Fforde
A detective story that blends mystery and fantasy, uncovering a unique conspiracy.
DCI Jack Spratt heads the Berkshire Nursery Crime Division, handling all inquiries involving nursery rhyme characters and other PDRs (persons of dubious reality). After doubts arise concerning his ... (Wikipedia)
Speaking from Among the Bones
by Alan Bradley
A young detective investigates the mystery of a decades-old murder in a small English village.
From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as “one of the most remarkable creations in recent ... (Goodreads)
Chains
by Laurie Halse Anderson
A young girl's mission to secure her and her sister's freedom from enslavement.
As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become ... (Goodreads)
I Want My Hat Back
by Jon Klassen
A bear searches for his missing hat, encountering various animals along the way.
A bear laments his lost hat, and sets off to find it. He asks a fox and a frog if they’ve seen it, but neither has. The bear then asks a rabbit who is wearing a red pointy hat. The rabbit answers ... (Wikipedia)
Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde
A satirical fantasy adventure through a world divided by the ability to see colors.
Chromatacia is a future dystopian society that exists at least five hundred years (although possibly more) after the collapse of our own society, identified as 'the Previous'. All life is governed by ... (Wikipedia)
Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
A sweeping journey of two twin brothers and their search for identity, belonging and family.
The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa , in ... (Wikipedia)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
by Marina Lewycka
A humorous tale of two sisters dealing with their father's marriage to a much younger woman.
The novel describes the reactions of two daughters when their widowed, 84-year-old father Nikolai marries a highly sexual and much younger Ukrainian immigrant, Valentina. Concerned about Valentina’s ... (Wikipedia)
The King of Attolia
by Megan Whalen Turner
A young king's quest to reclaim his throne, aided by a mysterious thief.
Eugenides, the one-handed former Thief of Eddis, has married the Queen of Attolia, bringing peace to the two countries and becoming king. He appears to sleep during important briefings, makes snide ... (Wikipedia)
The Eyre Affair
by Jasper Fforde
An eccentric literary detective, in an alternate 1985, uses time-travel to save kidnapped characters from classic novels.
In a parallel universe , England and Imperial Russia have fought the Crimean War for more than a century; England still has a parliamentary government, although heavily influenced by the Goliath ... (Wikipedia)
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
by Matthew Dicks
A story of an invisible boy and his imaginary friend, confronting life's adversities.
I am not imaginary... Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He's been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age and thinks ... (Barnes & Noble)
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)
The Cat's Table
by Michael Ondaatje
A young boy's journey of self-discovery, exploring the world and its people.
A spellbinding story - by turns poignant and electrifying - about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage. ... (Goodreads)
Dreams of Joy
by Lisa See
A young woman's journey to discover her Chinese roots, only to find unexpected truth and tragedy.
Dreams of Joy is organized in four sections—The Tiger Leaps, The Rabbit Dodges, The Dog Grins, and The Dragon Rises. Joy is the Tiger – romantic, artistic, rash, and impulsive. In this novel, unlike ... (Wikipedia)
The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka
A story of Japanese picture brides, told through a chorus of their collective voice.
There is no plot in the usual sense of specific individuals going through particular events. The novel is told in the first person plural, from the point of view of many girls and women, none of whom ... (Wikipedia)
Okay for Now
by Gary D. Schmidt
A young boy struggles to find his place in a new town, but with the help of a kind librarian and John James Audubon's illustrations, he discovers his own talents and strengths.
Douglas "Doug" Swieteck is a fourteen-year-old boy living somewhere on Long Island in 1968 during the Vietnam War . After Doug's dad is fired for mouthing off to his boss, the Swietecks move to the ... (Wikipedia)
Barney's Version
by Mordecai Richler
A man's life story told with humour and heart, reflecting on his relationships, successes and regrets.
The story is written as if it is an autobiography by Barney Panofsky recounting his life in varying detail. Barney's version of events may be viewed as that of two unreliable narrators , in that his ... (Wikipedia)
Shanghai Girls
by Lisa See
Two sisters navigate the turmoil of 1930s Shanghai, while struggling to protect each other.
Shanghai Girls is divided into three parts: Fate, Fortune, and Destiny. Here See treats Chinese immigration from a personal view through Pearl's narration. In, On Gold Mountain, she objectively ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The House of Silk
by Anthony Horowitz
A thrilling detective story set in Victorian England, unravelling a devious criminal plot.
The House of Silk begins with a brief, personal recounting of events by Watson, much like that in, A Study in Scarlet, by the original author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The reader is informed of the ... (Wikipedia)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
by Helen Simonson
A widower finds love and acceptance in an unlikely place, challenging social conventions.
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as ... (Goodreads)
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)
People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks
A journey through time as an ancient book is discovered and its secrets revealed.
The "complex and moving" ( The New Yorker ) novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war. Inspired by a true story, "People of the ... (Goodreads)
The Snow Child
by Eowyn Ivey
A couple's dream of a child comes true in the Alaskan wilderness, but with unexpected consequences.
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart–he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she ... (Goodreads)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
by Alan Bradley
A young girl's detective journey to solve a murder mystery in a picturesque English village.
As the novel opens, Flavia Sabina de Luce schemes revenge against her two older sisters, Ophelia (17) and Daphne (13), who have locked her inside a closet in Buckshaw, the family's country manor home ... (Wikipedia)
