If You Liked This, Try. . .
One of my favorite parts of being a bookseller is getting to recommend new books to readers based on books they already love! Sometimes you don’t quite know what you are looking for until you see it and shopping for someone else is even harder. However, if you know of at least one book you like, that's all you really need to find your next great read.
Myself along with some other BaM booksellers have curated a list of popular titles that you may have already read and loved and paired them with a new title to try out! Even our very own, Emma Straub, got in on the action. What can we say? We just can’t resist talking about books!
Liked One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston? Try How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow
With a ton of heart and queer joy, this McQuiston-esque love story (just trade NYC for DC) has amazing lesbian Jewish representation PLUS an adorable corgi! It's the perfect cozy, wintry romance.
Loved Babel by R.F. Kuang? Try Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
A group of Chinese American college students commit a museum heist to take back stolen art all while navigating what it means to them to be Chinese, imperialism, and colonialism. Like Babel, great read if you are pissed off at structural oppression and how it’s baked into a lot of parts of our lives..
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner? Get into Diary of a Misfit by Casey Parks
Moms are complicated! Diary of a Misfit follows Casey, an aspiring journalist gripped by a decades-long mystery. Casey enlists the help of her mom, a by turns vivacious and temperamental Southern woman who for years struggles to accept Casey as she is.
Loved She Drives Me Crazy? Get She Gets the Girl
If you love the golden era of queer YA that we’re living in, you’ll love both of these books. Like She Drives Me Crazy, She Gets the Girl focuses on classic rom-com lies, hijinks, and laughs. Plus, the authors are married to each other. What could be more romantic than that?
Liked Little House in the Big Woods? Try The Birchbark House
Little House is a beloved classic with its own long-running TV show adaptation, but many readers are unsure of how to reckon with its racist depictions of Native Americans. If you want to share the excitement, joy, distress, and warmth of a way of life many of us aren’t aware of, I recommend The Birchbark House, written by the legend Louise Erdrich. Once you pick it up, it’s almost impossible to put down, and even harder to forget.
Had love for Hamnet? Land on The Bass Rock
Fantastic historical fiction centered around women’s experiences. The Bass Rock is eerie, drawing on a expansive landscape and rural community’s hang ups on sexuality, discipline and family. I loved it
Read All About Love by bell hooks? Give Conversations on Love a try!
Much like hooks’ beloved All About Love, Natasha Lunn postulates that love is an active act, through many interviews conducted with artists, writers, thinkers, and lovers alike. There is so much to enjoy in this book, so keep a highlighter and notepad around to jot down the amazing words and wisdom provided in this book!
Read Pride and Prejudice? Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is literally right here!
This might be cheating. Apologies if this is cheating. Eligible is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, which you might be asking yourself, is that necessary? Haven't there been enough? Well, this is Curtis Sittenfeld so the answer is, yes, it's necessary. I love this book, which is simultaneously fresh and new and reminiscent of Austen's masterpiece.
And again! All About Love? Read Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
If you are willing to drift from the topic of love (at times), turn to Lorde’s provocative and always hopeful collection of essays. You could read the essays in order, but I recommend starting with “Uses of the Erotic as Power” (1978) to get a sense of Lorde’s timeless criticisms and manifestations.
Loved If I Survive You? Try In the Country
If you enjoyed the depth, nuance, and total skill Escoffery put into If I Survive You, then boy do I have a short story treat for you! Alvar’s short story collection is a favorite of mine, and for good reason: stellar navigation of Filipino life coupled with rich, extensive histories and written with all the talent and craft you can imagine. Truly an underlooked collection!
Still stuck on Twilight? Ferryman by Claire McFall might be for you!
I’m an adult who loves to read YA - I know more of you are out there, don’t hide! We loved Twilight for its “teenage angst forbidden love” - if you want to newly experience those feels again - frustrating yet guiltily pleasurable - I for sure recommend Ferryman. No vampires - but still has an otherworldly element you want to be a part of. C’mon I know you wanted to be a vampire :p
Loved Percy Jackson and The Olympians? Read The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
This book is the perfect mix of PJO and The Hunger Games—with the addition of some great queer representation! I cannot tell you how much I got into the whole world of The Sunbearer Trials. You get introduced to a whole new pantheon of gods (or dioses as they are called in this book) and have to dig into the mystery of an age-old competition of semi-dioses to see if there is something more sinister going on. AND THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK! It’s a must-read.
Loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin?
Try An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green!
I’ll admit, finding a recommendation for lovers of Tomorrow x3 (as we call it around the bookstore) was a challenge! It’s such a unique read. However this book has similar vibes and also tackles social commentary on art and technology—while adding a bit more levity and playfulness. Plus both books look at the evolution of relationships when friendship and collaboration mix. Tore through both this book and Tomorrow x3 in a matter of days!
Did The Giving Tree give what it needed to give? Say Thank You, Omu!
The Giving Tree is a classic, and for a good reason! If you’re looking for a kids book that has a similar themes and poignancy, but with a more hopeful tone, than Thank You, Omu is for you. With a focus on community, caregiving, and food, Thank You, Omu is uplifting as it is timeless.
Liked shows like Yellowjackets or The Wilds? Give FantasticLand by Mike Rockoven a try!
What happens when a group of teens are left deserted, to their own devices, and with dwindling resources? Much like The Wilds on Amazon Prime or Yellowjackets on Showtime, everything goes to hell in a hand basket in Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven. Unflinchingly brutal and searingly honest about the depths people will go to ensure their own survival, Fanasticland is as captivating as it is searing.
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