Autumn Read-Alikes and More! |
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| The Book Swap by Tessa BickersErin accidentally puts a novel she's lovingly annotated into a Little Free Library near her London home -- but even worse, it held a bookmark from her late best friend. She longs for the book's return, and one day it appears...with additional notes. Corresponding via classic novels, Erin discusses grief and more with a mystery man, who might be someone she knows. Read-alike: Kristina Forest's The Neighbor Favor. |
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The Neighbor Favor
by Forest, Kristina
Enlisting the help of her new neighbor to find a date for her sister's wedding, not realizing he is her favorite fantasy author—the very same one who ghosted her months ago—aspiring children's book author Lily Greene finds this simple favor between them becoming anything but. Original.
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| We Need No Wings by Ann Dávila CardinalAfter her husband of over 30 years dies, Tere Sanchez feels unmoored and is stunned to find herself hovering over her garden. A descendent of levitating St. Teresa of Ávila, Tere visits a cousin who's a nun in Spain to learn more, and meets people who change her life in this moving story about loss, self-discovery, and second chances. Try these next: Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore; Anamely Salgado Reyes' My Mother Cursed My Name; Beth Morrey's The Love Story of Missy Carmichael. |
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My Mother Cursed My Name
by Salgado Reyes, Anamely
Three generations of fiercely strong and stubborn Mexican American women face grief head-on as they attempt to shed generational trauma and discover the true meaning of home.
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| The Mighty Red by Louise ErdrichIn 2008 Argus, North Dakota, where the Red River flows north, Crystal hauls sugar beets every night while her daughter Kismet ponders college even as two boys want to marry her: the wealthy school quarterback and the homeschooled son of a bookstore owner. In lyrical prose, this latest by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores love, nature, industrial farming, and rural life. Try these next: Joselyn Takacs' Peace Oysters; Amy Jo Burns' Mercury; Ash Davidson's Damnation Spring. |
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Mercury
by Burns, Amy Jo
Arriving in Mercury, Pennsylvania, in 1990, gorgeous teenager and perpetual loner Marley West marries one of the Joseph brothers and tries to lead this family of roofers to stability in this hardworking, blue-collar town by helping them escape their unwieldy father's shadow.
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| Our Evenings by Alan HollinghurstIn this "tour de force" (Publishers Weekly), sixtyish British Burmese actor Dave Win tells the story of his life, including being raised by a single mother in England, winning a scholarship to an elite boarding school in the 1960s, dealing with racism and homophobia, making a living in the theater, his romances, and seeing his childhood bully become a right-wing Brexit leader. Read-alikes: Shastri Akella's The Sea Elephants; Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors. |
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The House of Doors
by Tan, Twan Eng
In 1921 Penang, when Willie, a famed writer and old friend of her husband's, arrives for an extended stay, Lesley, as her friendship with Willie grows, makes a dangerous decision to confide in him about life in the Straits, including her relationship with a charismatic Chinese revolutionary—a confession that has devastating consequences.
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| The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna JohnstonWidowed 82-year-old Frederick Fife is lonely, broke, and nearly homeless. When a park outing for dementia patients finds him mistakenly gathered up and taken to a care home, Frederick embraces his new life, though at least one nurse has concerns about him. Fans of charming stories like Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures or Brooke Fossey's The Big Finish will enjoy this debut novel. |
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Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Van Pelt, Shelby
After her husband dies, widow Tova Sullivan starts working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, where she forms a special bond with a giant Pacific octopus who holds the key solving the mysterious disappearance of her 18-year-old son, Erik, over thirty years ago on the Puget Sound. 175,000 first printing.
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| The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen LoigmanNewly arrived at a senior community in 1987 Boca Raton, Florida, retired pharmacist Augusta Stern bumps into Irving Rivkin, who broke her heart when they were teenagers in 1920s Brooklyn. This moving and whimsical tale of love lost and found unfolds in two timelines, revealing that it's never too late for a second chance at love. Read-alikes: Jill Santopolo's Stars in an Italian Sky; Heather O'Neill's The Lonely Hearts Hotel. |
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The Lonely Hearts Hotel
by O'Neill, Heather
Two orphaned soulmates—one a piano prodigy, the other a dancing savant—dream up a plan for the most extraordinary circus show the world has ever seen against a backdrop of the Great Depression. By the award-winning author of Lullabies for Little Criminals.
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| This Motherless Land by Nikki MayAfter her mother and brother die in a car accident in Lagos, Nigeria, young Funke is sent to Somerset, England, where she finds both her relatives and the weather to be cold. Still, she finds joy with her cousin Liv, though later events tear them apart. Loosely based on Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, this vibrant novel explores identity, family, and belonging, and takes place between 1978 and the 1990s. Try this next: Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions. |
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Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions
by Ogunyemi, Omolola
"Moving between Nigeria and America, Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is a window into the world of accomplished Nigerian women, illuminating the challenges they face and the risks they take to control their destinies. Students at an all-girls boarding school, Nonso, Remi, Aisha, and Solape forge an unbreakable sisterhood that is tempered during a school rebellion, an uprising with repercussions that will forever reverberate through their lives. The children of well-to-do families, these young women have been raised with a thirst for independence, believing a university education is their right--a legacy of ambition and hope inherited from their foremothers. Leaving school and adolescence behind, the women grapple with the unexpected possibilities--and limitations--of adulthood and the uncertainties of the world within and outside of Nigeria"
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| Colored Television by Danzy SennaIn Los Angeles, biracial writing professor Jane is desperate for money to support her family, so she gives up on the novel she's been writing for years and goes Hollywood with a TV comedy featuring a biracial main character. This "brilliant, of-the-moment" (Kirkus Reviews) novel satirically looks at race, class, identity, creativity, and more. Read-alikes: R.F. Kuang's Yellowface; Claire Jiménez’s What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez. |
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What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez
by Claire Jimenez
When she spots her missing sister, Ruthy, who disappeared when she was 13, on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show, Jessica, along with her younger sister, mother, and her mothers holy roller best friend, set out on a family road trip to find the truth. 75,000 first printing.
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| The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk; translated by Antonia Lloyd-JonesIn 1913 Poland, a weakened young man with tuberculosis travels to a men's health resort in the mountains, where each night the guests gather for philosophical discussions. But once there, he soon learns about strange events. This modern take on Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain cleverly combines folklore, literary fiction, and horror, and is the latest novel by Nobel Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk. |
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Flights
by Tokarczuk, Olga
A meditative collection from Poland explores themes of travel, movement and existentialism in stories that feature protagonists who question their shifting perspectives in time and space as they tackle extreme agendas.
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| Rejection by Tony TulathimutteThis sharply observed novel-in-stories offers a "hilariously brazen and existentially unsettling portrait of modern life, love, and identity" (Kirkus Reviews). Readers meet a variety of characters who've felt the sting of rejection, including a male feminist who realizes his views are getting him nowhere with women and a lonely woman who stalks her one-night stand. Try this next: Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly. |
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Greta & Valdin
by Rebecca K. Reilly
In Auckland, New Zealand, queer 20-something siblings Greta and Valdin navigate adulthood, explore their Russian and Māori family history, and long for love in this witty first novel that also includes a sojourn in Argentina when Valdin meets up with his ex. "Say hello to your new favorite fictional family" (Kirkus Reviews). For fans of: The Guncle by Steven Rowley; Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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