Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Shortcomingsby Adrian Tomine
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Ghost World
by Daniel Clowes
Two teenage girls navigate the awkward transition to adulthood, grappling with identity, relationships, and the mundanity of suburban life.
Ghost World has become a cultural and generational touchstone, and continues to enthrall and inspire readers over a decade after its original release as a graphic novel. Originally serialized in the ... (Goodreads)
Sputnik Sweetheart
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal exploration of love and longing, as two people struggle to come to terms with their feelings.
Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'. K is an elementary ... (Wikipedia)
Black Hole
by Charles Burns
A darkly comic journey through the lives of teenagers in the 1970s, dealing with anxieties and insecurities.
Set in the suburbs of Seattle during the mid 1970s, the story follows a group of teenagers who contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease referred to as "the Bug", which causes them to ... (Wikipedia)
Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
A young man's journey of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1960s.
Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of ... (Goodreads)
No One Belongs Here More Than You
by Miranda July
Short stories of everyday people struggling to find their place in the world.
Screenwriter, director, and star of the acclaimed film Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July brings her extraordinary talents to the page in a startling, sexy, and tender collection. ... (Goodreads)
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)
Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.
Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)
Ghost in the Shell
by Masamune Shirow
Cyborg policewoman searches for the truth in a world of cyber-terrorism and political intrigue.
In the rapidly converging landscape of the 21st century Major Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including ghost hackers When he track ... (Goodreads)
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)
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
by Bryan Lee O'Malley
A young man's misadventures in love, learning lessons of responsibility and maturity.
Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rock band, he's "between jobs," and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously ... (Barnes & Noble)
Batman: Year One
by Frank Miller
The origin story of Batman, tracing his journey to become Gotham City's greatest hero.
Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City at the age of twenty-five from training abroad in martial arts, man-hunting, and science for the past 12 years. James Gordon moves to Gotham City with his ... (Wikipedia)
Self-Help
by Lorrie Moore
Collection of humorous short stories exploring the lives of characters facing disappointments and heartbreaks.
In these tales of loss and pleasure, lovers and family, a woman learns to conduct an affair, a child of divorce dances with her mother, and a woman with a terminal illness contemplates her exit. ... (Goodreads)
This One Summer
by Mariko Tamaki
A poignant coming-of-age story about two teenage girls navigating growing up, family relationships, and the complexities of summer.
Rose has been coming to a cottage in Awago every summer and meeting her summer friend, Windy, as long as she can remember. , Rose is about eighteen months older than Windy and is the narrator of the ... (Wikipedia)
Stone Butch Blues
by Leslie Feinberg
A transgender woman's journey of self-discovery and search for acceptance in a hostile society.
The narrative of Stone Butch Blues follows the life of Jess Goldberg, who grows up in a working-class area of upstate New York in the 1940s. Her parents, frustrated with Jess's gender nonconformity, ... (Wikipedia)
Here
by Richard McGuire
A graphic novel that explores the history of a single room and the events that have occurred within it over the course of thousands of years.
Here is Richard McGuire's unique graphic novel based on the legendary 1989 comic strip of the same name. Richard McGuire's groundbreaking comic strip Here was published under Art Spiegelman's ... (Goodreads)
Grendel
by John Gardner
A modern retelling of the Beowulf story from the perspective of the monster, Grendel.
In the opening scene, Grendel briefly fights with a ram when frustrated with its stupidity. He then mockingly asks the sky why animals lack sense and dignity; the sky does not reply, adding to his ... (Wikipedia)
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
by Michael Chabon
A young man's journey of exploration and self-discovery, discovering a world of crime and excitement in his hometown.
Art Bechstein is the son of a mob money launderer , who wants him to succeed in a legitimate career (He has even set up a job for him at the end of the summer in Baltimore at a financial firm managed ... (Wikipedia)
Titus Groan
by Mervyn Peake
A young man's rise to power in a decaying castle, amidst a backdrop of a decaying world.
The novel begins as the imperious and ritual-driven servant Mr. Flay seeks to tell someone new of the birth of an heir to the House of Groan in a remote part of the sprawling castle of Gormenghast. A ... (Wikipedia)
Fever Pitch
by Nick Hornby
A humorous memoir of a man's obsession with soccer and how it shapes his life and relationships.
In America, it is soccer. But in Great Britain, it is the real football. No pads, no prayers, no prisoners. And that's before the players even take the field. Nick Hornby has been a football fan ... (Goodreads)
Microserfs
by Douglas Coupland
A humorous and poignant look at the lives of tech employees in the 1990s.
The plot of the novel has two distinct movements: the events at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington , and the move to Silicon Valley and the "Oop!" project. The novel begins in Redmond as the characters ... (Wikipedia)
The Pale King
by David Foster Wallace
A group of IRS workers battle tedium and boredom in a quest for meaning and purpose in life.
The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and ... (Goodreads)
Daytripper
by Fábio Moon
Each chapter explores a different moment in the life of an obituary writer, Brás de Oliva Domingos, as he navigates love, loss, and the meaning of life.
What are the most important days of your life? Meet Brás de Oliva Domingos. The miracle child of a world-famous Brazilian writer, Brás spends his days penning other people's obituaries and his nights ... (Goodreads)
The Collector
by John Fowles
A man's obsession with a young woman leads to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of ... (Wikipedia)
Blankets
by Craig Thompson
A young man's journey of faith, love, and growing up in a rural Wisconsin town.
Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. ... (Goodreads)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Muriel Spark
A teacher's unconventional methods, inspiring young lives while challenging the status quo.
In 1930s Edinburgh , six ten-year-old girls, Sandy, Rose, Mary, Jenny, Monica, and Eunice are assigned Miss Jean Brodie, who describes herself as being "in my prime," as their teacher. Miss Brodie, ... (Wikipedia)
Asterios Polyp
by David Mazzucchelli
A brilliant architect's life falls apart, forcing him to confront his past and rebuild his identity.
The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions. An epic story long awaited, ... (Goodreads)
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)
The Hard Goodbye
by Frank Miller
A brutal and gritty noir tale of revenge, as a man seeks to avenge the death of his one true love.
Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found, here, The first volume of the crime-comic megahit that introduced the now-infamous character Marv and spawned a blockbuster film returns in a newly ... (Goodreads)
Skim
by Mariko Tamaki
A teenage girl discovers her identity and sexuality through the struggles of self-discovery and acceptance.
Skim is a "not slim" sixteen-year-old Japanese-Canadian who is a student at an all-girls Catholic school. She is known as a Goth , and practices Wicca . When popular girl Katie Matthews gets dumped ... (Wikipedia)
The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A sci-fi exploration of utopian and dystopian societies, and the struggle for a better world.
Librarian note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN, 9780061054884,. Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the ... (Goodreads)
