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The Sterile Cuckoo

John Nichols · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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Normal People

Sally Rooney · 288 pages

At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they’re b

First HeartbreakFirst LoveCollege CampusBittersweet
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This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald · 256 pages

This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald's romantic and witty first novel, was written when the author was only twenty-three years old. This semi-autobiographical story of the handsome, indulged, and idealistic Princeton student Amory Blaine received critical raves and catapulted Fitzgerald to instant fame. Now, readers can enjoy the newly edited, authorized version of this early classic of the

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Looking for Alaska

John Green · 262 pages

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Ala

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetComing of Age
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Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami · 400 pages

As his plane lands at a European airport, thirty-seven-year-old Toru Watanabe casually hears an old Beatles song. Suddenly, the music transports him back to his youth, to the turbulent Tokyo of the late sixties. He then remembers, with melancholy and unease, the unstable and mysterious Naoko, the girlfriend of his best—and only—friend from adolescence, Kizuki, and how Kizuki's suicide distanced th

College CampusFirst LoveBittersweetComing of Age
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Forever . . .

Judy Blume · 208 pages

There's a first for everything. When you build up something in your mind -- really imagine it, wish for it -- sometimes, when it actually happens, it doesn't live up to your expectations. True love is nothing like that. Especially not for Katherine and Michael, who can't get enough of each other. Their relationship is unique: sincere, intense, and fun all at the same time. Although the

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetCollege Campus
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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.

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetComing of Age
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Call Me by Your Name

Andre Aciman · 256 pages

It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will

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The Mothers

Brit Bennett · 288 pages

"A dazzling debut novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community--and the things that ultimately haunt us most. Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret. "All good sec

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Underdogs

Markus Zusak · 505 pages

Presents three novels in which two brothers, Ruben and Cameron Wolfe, strive to overcome the limitations of their family's poverty, taking jobs as fighters, and Cameron, the younger brother, tries to find love with his brother's ex-girlfriend.

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Tipping the Velvet

Sarah Waters · 480 pages

Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-h

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetComing of Age
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It's Not Summer Without You

Jenny Han · 288 pages

Teenaged Isobel "Belly" Conklin, whose life revolves around spending the summer at her mother's best friend's beach house, reflects on the tragic events of the past year that changed her life forever.

First HeartbreakFirst LoveComing of AgeBittersweet
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That Summer

Sarah Dessen · 198 pages

During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past.

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetComing of Age
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The Spectacular Now

Tim Tharp

In the last months of high school, charismatic eighteen-year-old Sutter Keely lives in the present, staying drunk or high most of the time, but that could change when starts working to boost the self-confidence of a classmate, Aimee.

First HeartbreakFirst LoveComing of AgeBittersweet
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Anatomy of a Boyfriend

Daria Snadowsky · 272 pages

In her last semester at a private school in Fort Myers, Florida, seventeen-year-old Dom finds her life transformed by her first boyfriend, Wes, a track star at the public school her best friend attends.

First HeartbreakFirst LoveComing of AgeContemporary Fiction
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Dusty Answer

Rosamond Lehmann · 348 pages

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Other Words for Love

Lorraine Zago Rosenthal · 354 pages

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All About Lulu

Jonathan Evison · 340 pages

Weakness has always been a concern for William Miller: growing up vegetarian in a family of bodybuilders will do that to a person. But William is further weakened by the death of his mother, the arrival of a new step-mother, and his irrepressible crush on his new step-sister, Lulu. As Lulu faces down her own challenges, William watches his life shift into tumult and despair. Once Lulu departs for

First LoveComing of AgeBittersweetLiterary Fiction
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Our Chemical Hearts

Krystal Sutherland · 320 pages

"When high school senior Henry Page meets Grace Town, he finally experiences the ups and downs of first love"--

First HeartbreakFirst LoveBittersweetFirst Person Narrator
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The Hottest State

Ethan Hawke · 196 pages

With disarming emotional honesty, Ethan Hawke's first novel captures that agitated, electric moment between youth and adulthood when every new feeling becomes a source of mystery and wonder, and every experience seems overlaid with staggering possibility or certain doom. Hawke's narrator will be disconcertingly familiar to anyone who has ever felt the fierceness of young love: Meeting Sarah catap

First HeartbreakFirst LoveLiterary FictionContemporary 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

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David Copperfield

Charles Dickens · 742 pages

First HeartbreakFirst LoveComing of AgeFirst Person Narrator
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I Too Had a Love Story

Ravinder Singh · 272 pages

Do love stories ever die? Can modern day gadgets like mobile phones and the 'http:\\www' era of internet bring you the love of your life? You haven't met her earlier, but commit to marry. Will you still call this a love marriage? And what if on the engagement day while you pull the ring out from your pocket, you realize what you planned was just a dream which never comes true...? How would you

First LoveFirst HeartbreakBittersweetContemporary Fiction
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This Is How You Lose Her

Junot Diaz · 240 pages

This is a collection of stories that explores the power of love in all its forms, obsessive love, illicit love, fading love, maternal love, as it is shaped by passion, betrayal, and the echoes of intimacy.

First HeartbreakBittersweetLiterary FictionContemporary Fiction
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Starter for Ten

David Nicholls · 480 pages

It's 1985 and Brian has just started his first term at university. But he is harbouring a dark secret - a long-held, burning ambition to appear on "University Challenge". At last the dream is about to become reality, but Brian has a whole lot of living to do before the match starts.

College CampusFirst LoveComing of AgeFirst Person Narrator

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