I’ve always had a hard time finding a book I’d enjoy so going to the library is a frustrating/nearly crying experience for me. I get to a point where I just figure reading isn’t my thing but every once in a while a book kinda just appears and I can’t put it down and it’s a life changing experience. Then the book ends, and I try to read recommendations off of that given book and I hate them.
So if someone can help me understand what similarities are among the books I love, that’d be wonderful before I give up on reading again.
Below are all the books I enjoyed, and their googled genre descriptions. It seems I like the whole coming-of-age with some trauma thrown in there. Though, when I try to find similar books it’s a hit or miss with majority being miss. So I’d love to hear an outside opinion or some suggestions from actual people and not the algorithm.
–Flowers in the Attic Series by VC Andrews
* Gothic Fiction/Thriller
* Horror/Taboo
* Family Saga/Drama
– No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
* I-Novel (Shishōsetsu)
* Psychological/Literary Fiction
* Dark/Existential Drama
– They Cage the Animals at night by Jennings Micheal Burch
* Autobiography/Memoir
* Traumatic/Childhood Narrative
* Young Adult Non-fiction
– The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
* Memoir/Autobiography
* Nonfiction
* Coming-of-age
* Resilience/Redemption
– The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
* Bildungsroman (Coming-of-Age)
* Roman à clef
* Psychological Fiction
* Confessional Literature
– Im Glad my Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
* Memoir/Autobiography
* Trauma/Dysfunctional Relationships
* Celebrity Memoir
* Dark Comedy/Poignant
– Stiff by Mary Roach
* Science/Medical
* Humorous/Nonfiction
– The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
* Bildungsroman (Coming-of-Age)
* Psychological/Domestic Fiction
* Literary Fiction
by gracew0002
2 Comments
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo and Bandit by Molly Brodak are some of my all-time favorite memoirs, definitely hits the trauma/difficult family relationships points you mentioned.
What happens when you try other books by an author whose work you’ve already enjoyed? For me personally, I’m far less enchanted by plot and character as I am by an author’s general writing style. That’s just me of course and you may be a dead opposite, I’m just curious what your answer to the question is.
A lot of the time when I’m reading books that are along the lines of “If you liked X then you’d like Y too,” I find that even if I can tell the subject matter of the book is up my alley, that the style will inevitably make or break my relative appreciation of the story itself.