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Lake Wobegon Summer, 1956

Garrison Keillor · back to the book

What’s in it

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24 books with the same feel

Include books by the same author
❤️

Crum: The Novel

Lee Maynard · 262 pages

In Crum, a gritty coal town on the West Virginia-Kentucky border, the boys fight, swear, chase and sometimes catch girls. The adults are cramped in and clueless, hemmed in by the mountains. The weight of wonder, dejection, and even possibility loom over this tiny, suffocating town. This story is the tale of Jesse Stone, who doesn't know where he's going, but knows he is leaving, and whose rebellio

BildungsromanComing of AgeSmall TownContemporary Fiction
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Setting Free the Kites

Alex George · 326 pages

"From the author of the "lyrical and compelling" (USA Today) novel A Good American comes a powerful story of two friends and the unintended consequences of friendship, loss, and hope. For Robert Carter, life in his coastal Maine hometown is comfortably predictable. But in 1976, on his first day of eighth grade, he meets Nathan Tilly, who changes everything. Nathan is confident, fearless, impetuous

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicSmall Town
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Human Punk

John King · 352 pages

Summary:For fifteen year old Martin, growing up in Slough, the summer of 1977 means punk rock, reggae, disco, stolen cars, cut-throat gangs, and a job picking cherries for the gypsies. Life is sweet until hes beaten up and thrown in the Grand Union canal with his best friend, Smiles. Fast forward to 1988 and Joe is heading home on the Trans-Siberian Express after three years working in a Hong Kong

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicTeen Protagonist
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Anita and Me

Meera Syal · 336 pages

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeSmall Town
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The Gargoyle Hunters

John Freeman Gill · 339 pages

"Griffin Watts is 13 years old in 1974 New York, a city which, at the brink of financial collapse, seems to crumble around him at roughly the same rate as his family. Desperate to forge a connection to his father, Griffin gets co-opted into his illicit and dangerous architectural salvage business, which allows him to discover the centuries old sculptures (gargoyles) carved into buildings all over

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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Cold Sassy Tree

Olive Ann Burns · 395 pages

Had difficulty with the unfamiliar language spoken by the characters, but once I was able to figure it out I enjoyed the family dynamics. Upon finishing this book, I immediately borrowed "Leaving Cold Sassy".

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeSmall Town
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BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeSmall Town
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Sag Harbor

Colson Whitehead · 288 pages

The warm, funny, and supremely original new novel from one of the most acclaimed writers in AmericaThe year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs, playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, and trying to catch glimpses of nudity on late-night cable TV. After a tragic mishap on his

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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Summer of '42

Herman Raucher · 251 pages

One summer in the life of a 15-year old boy.

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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Jim the Boy

Tony Earley · 227 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicSmall Town
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How to Build a Girl

Caitlin Moran · 341 pages

After she shames herself on local television, Johanna Morgan reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde--a fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero--until two years later, while eviscerating bands as a music critic, she realizes she's built Dolly with a fatal flaw.

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeContemporary Fiction
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The Excellent Lombards

Jane Hamilton · 273 pages

"From the internationally bestselling author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, a heartfelt coming-of-age story that Karen Joy Fowler calls "a timeless classic book you will read and reread." Mary Frances "Frankie" Lombard is fiercely in love with her family's sprawling apple orchard and the tangled web of family members who inhabit it. Content to spend her days planning capers with her b

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeTeen Protagonist
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain · 330 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicTeen Protagonist
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Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me

Martin Millar · 212 pages

Set in 1972 Scotland, this novel takes readers on a ride through Martin's angsty and fumbling youth, when Led Zeppelin comes to Glasgow and rocks Martin's world, and through his angst-ridden and fumbling adult years.

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeContemporary Fiction
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Red Sky at Morning

Richard Bradford · 256 pages

The experiences of a teenager growing up in a small town in New Mexico are, at various times, funny, sad, and poignant.

BildungsromanComing of AgeSmall TownTeen Protagonist
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky · 216 pages

Charlie writes letters to an unknown mail recipient, detailing his struggles with high school, family, and finding his place in the world. Full of beautiful quotes and written with such sincerity, this is a book that makes the reader reflect on their purpose in life, while simultaneously reminding us about the power music, friendships, and "feeling infinite" can have on our life. Read this book.

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeContemporary Fiction
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Circle of Friends

Maeve Binchy · 560 pages

It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Benny--the only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents...Eve--the orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Benny--they knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains

BildungsromanNostalgicComing of AgeSmall Town
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Anne of Green Gables

L.M. Montgomery · 308 pages

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

BildungsromanSmall TownNostalgicComing of Age
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The Silver Star

Jeannette Walls · 304 pages

Two motherless sisters--Bean and Liz--are shuttled to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that's been in their family for generations. When school starts in the fall, Bean easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz becomes increasingly withdrawn. Then something happens to Liz and Bean is left to challenge the injustice of the adult world.

BildungsromanComing of AgeSmall TownContemporary Fiction
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A Walk to Remember

Nicholas Sparks · 240 pages

There was a time when the world was sweeter....when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats.... Every April, when the wind smells of both the sea and lilacs, Landon Carter remembers 1958, his last year at Beaufort High. Landon had dated a girl or two, and even once sworn that he'd been in love. Certainly the last person he thought he'd fall for was Jamie, the s

NostalgicComing of AgeSmall TownContemporary Fiction
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Me and Orson Welles

Robert Kaplow · 269 pages

"This is the story of one week in my life. I was seventeen. It was the week I slept in Orson Welles's pajamas. It was the week I fell in love. And it was the week I changed my middle name—twice." With this beginning, Robert Kaplow sweeps readers into a break-neck romantic farce that reads like a Who's-Who of the classic American theater. At center stage is the twenty-two-year-old Orson Welles, abo

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicTeen Protagonist
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A Fine Dark Line

Joe R. Lansdale · 308 pages

NostalgicComing of AgeSmall TownTeen Protagonist
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Blue Hole Back Home

Joy Jordan-Lake · 303 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicSmall Town
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48 Shades of Brown

Nick Earls · 304 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionTeen Protagonist

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