What’s in it
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorEmpire Falls
Richard Russo · 483 pages
"Dexter County, Maine, and specifically the town of Empire Falls, has seen better days, and for decades, in fact, only a succession from bad to worse. One by one, its logging and textile enterprises have gone belly-up, and the once vast holdings of the Whiting clan (presided over by the last scion's widow) now mostly amount to decrepit real estate. The working classes, meanwhile, continue to eke o
Pontoon
Garrison Keillor · 248 pages
The first new Lake Wobegon novel in seven years is a cause for celebration. And Pontoon is nothing less than a spectacular return to form—replete with a bowling ball-urn, a hot-air balloon, giant duck decoys, a flying Elvis, and, most importantly, Wally's pontoon boat. As the wedding of the decade approaches (accompanied by wheels of imported cheese and giant shrimp shish kebabs), the good-loving
The Shipping News
Annie Proulx · 337 pages
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, The Shipping News is a celebration of Annie Proulx's genius for storytelling and her vigorous contribution to the art of the novel. Quoyle, a third-rate newspaper hack, with a "head shaped like a crenshaw, no neck, reddish hair...features as bunched as kissed fingertips," is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when his two-timing
Mossy Creek
Deborah Smith, Sandra Chastain, Donna Ball, Debra Dixon, Virginia Ellis, Nancy Knight · 370 pages
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout · 288 pages
Olive Kitteridge: indomitable, compassionate and often unpredictable. A retired schoolteacher in a small coastal town in Maine, as she grows older she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life. She is a woman who sees into the hearts of those around her, their triumphs and tragedies. We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and a young man who aches
Standing in the Rainbow
Fannie Flagg · 502 pages
Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tr
Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
Alexander McCall Smith · 295 pages
"Newlywed painter and sometime somnambulist Angus Lordie might be sleepwalking his way into trouble with Animal Welfare when he lets his dog Cyril drink a bit too much lager at the local bar. The longsuffering Bertie, on the cusp of his seventh birthday party, has taken to dreaming about his eighteenth, a time when he will be able to avoid the indignity of unwanted girl attendees and the looming t
Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly
Robert Dalby · 309 pages
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story
Leonie Swann · 352 pages
The mysterious death of their shepherd has sent a flock of sheep into a frenzy trying to piece together "whodunit." Overcoming their "sheepish" ways, the members of the flock realize that they may be the only ones who can solve it. The more intelligent sheep, who have better retention or the intuition to ask the right questions, develop a list of potential suspects. As the investigation continues,
Crazy Rich Asians
Kevin Kwan · 527 pages
(Description comes from the 2013 Anchor Books edition) When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees on a summer in Singapore to visit her boyfriend's "traditional" Chinese family, she expects the visit to be relaxing, if a little dull. She has no idea.... Nick's childhood home is a palace. He grew up riding in more private planes than cars. He and Rachel will be attending the wedding of the year. Oh, a
A Wish and a Prayer
Beverly Jenkins · 304 pages
"Anyone worried that life in a small town could get boring certainly hasn't lived in Henry Adams: With a pig on trial, the town's foster children still trying to find their place, and new love blossoming...there is plenty to occupy our favorite residents. Preston Miles is the only one of the original foster children with no information about his biological family, but an email from his maternal gr
The Bean Trees
Barbara Kingsolver · 240 pages
Taylor, a poor Kentuckian making her way west with an abandoned baby girl, stops in Tucson where she finds friends and discovers resources in apparently empty places.
The End of Vandalism
Tom Drury · 328 pages
Welcome to Grouse County, somewhere in the Midwest, where the towns are small but the people, their dreams and their eccentricities come in all sizes. When Sheriff Dan Norman arrests local troublemaker Tiny Darling for vandalising an anti-vandalism dance, he does not expect much in the way of fallout. But unseen wheels have been set in motion, and lives will be changed: Dan finds love, Tiny loses
The Winners
Fredrik Backman · 672 pages
'I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book' JOJO MOYES WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STAND TOGETHER? ‘It’s often said that winners write history, but there are no winners here’ This is a small story about big questions. It's a story about family, community, life. It starts with a storm - and a death. But how does it end? Two years have passed since the
The Two Mrs. Abbotts
D.E. Stevenson · 282 pages
The third and final book featuring Miss Buncle. Much has changed in Wandlebury since Barbara Buncle (now Barbara Abbott) first moved to the charming English village. If nothing else, World War II is keeping things interesting. But as the mistress of her own home with two small children to look after, Barbara finds that she has little time to keep up with the goings-on of her friends and neighbors.
We Solve Murders
Richard Osman · 460 pages
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life in the New Forest. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he likes his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favourite bench, his cat waiting for him when he gets home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now. Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul: she doesn’t stay still long enough fo
A Change of Heart
Philip Gulley · 256 pages
Now in paperback, in the fifth full-length novel in the beloved Harmony series Philip Gulley reunites us with the quirky cast of Quakers in Harmony, Indiana.
News from Thrush Green
Miss Read · 322 pages
Tullivers, the former home of old Admiral Trigg and his sister Lucy, had stood empty for many months. Then, one bright April day, two newcomers move in -- an attractive young woman and her son -- and the villagers begin to show their interest and attention, especially several bachelors.
Circle Mirror Transformation
Annie Baker · 100 pages
The Lake the River and the Other Lake
Steve Amick · 365 pages
The lives, loves, fates, and fortunes of the colorful inhabitants of Weneshkeen, a resort town on the shore of Lake Michigan, both townies and ritzy summer visitors, intertwine over the course of a single tumultuous summer.