Here are 71 books that Norwood fans have personally recommended if you like
Norwood.
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When we speak in real life, much of what we say out loud doesn't have any real meaning. But when authors write, each word a character says must convey meaning to drive the scene forward. The words must exhibit some form of information—emotion, advancement of an idea, or even be the action itself—otherwise, they're just wasted words on the page. The true challenge of writing dialogue is to convey as much as possible with as few words as possible. I love a book in which I'm yearning for specific characters to return just so I can hear the carefully crafted, intelligent, and tight words they employ when speaking, especially when two characters are verbally dueling.
This is a unique and brilliant satirical work about the idea of paradoxical rules that trap people in impossible situations.
It's set during WWII and confuses the reader with circular attempts to convince the protagonist, Yosarian, that he must be sane if he is able to recognize that he is insane. It's less about characters contesting each other and more about them getting stuck in systems of language that deny resolution.
Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel's strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller's classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage.
Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. His real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the…
Nate Champion might be the most heroic figure of America’s Old West ... and yet one of popular history’s best-kept secrets. Now he finally gets his due in this historical novel duology. His humble beginnings in Texas prepare him for a life with horses and cattle. Though a well-known horse…
I love books about good people who go through hard times and come out okay. Different, but okay. The books can be contemporary, historical, magical—I don’t care. I just want goodness to triumph—not falsely, but with truth. Nobody has a %100 easy life. I believe it’s how we make our way through our difficulties that ultimately determines who we are. When asked to give four words that describe The Fractal Melody, I say: "Families, friendship, challenges, hope." Those are the kinds of things that matter. The Rolling Stones sang, "You can’t always get what you want." I believe that you always get what you need to develop into a full-fledged human being.
Everybody is lost at some time in their lives. It’s very uncomfortable. Sometimes disheartening. Maybe even frightening.
The character in this book, Lillian, tries a "Hail Mary": she leaps into a situation without really knowing where she is going, who she will be with, and what she will be expected to do. She finds herself a nanny to twins who—but only sometimes—spontaneously combust.
A New York Times Bestseller • A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar
“I can’t believe how good this book is.... It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect.... Wilson writes with such a light touch.... The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming. You’re laughing so hard you…
During my 25-year journalism career and now, in my books, I’ve specialized in telling powerful, human stories that are often humorous and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. To me, humor is an essential part of life. Real stories might make us cry, but just as often, they make us laugh. That’s the balance I try to achieve with all my writing.
There are a lot of books about Florida that are bad or shallowly written, but these days, some real writers are setting their books in the Sunshine State. Kristen Arnett, a Florida resident, uses the backdrop of a failing taxidermy business to write about a crazy family and an odd Central Florida town.
As a fourth-generation Floridian, I found the book true to life and extremely funny. That’s quite an accomplishment.
'Messed-up families, scandalous love affairs, art, life, death and the great state of Florida in one delicious, darkly funny package. Kristen Arnett is a wickedly talented and a wholly original voice' Jami Attenberg
What does it take to come back to life?
In the wake of her father's suicide, Jessa-Lynn Morton has stepped up to manage his failing taxidermy business while the rest of the Morton family falls apart. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make alarming art with stuffed animals; and while her brother Milo withdraws, his wife, Brynn - the only person Jessa's ever been in…
Nate Champion might be the most heroic figure of America’s Old West ... and yet one of popular history’s best-kept secrets. Now he finally gets his due in this historical novel duology. His humble beginnings in Texas prepare him for a life with horses and cattle. Though a well-known horse…
I’ve always been drawn to family stories, from King Lear to Anna Karenina. The ties that bind us to family—however strained or frayed those ties might be—contain within their fibers the entire spectrum of human emotion. For a writer, this is fertile territory. I could contemplate endlessly the rivalry that exists between a pair of siblings, or the expectations a child has for their parent. Family dynamics are often kept private, which makes encountering them on the page even more thrilling. To be let in on the life of another, granted permission to bear witness to their secrets and innermost longings, is the rare gift that literature brings us.
Paul Murray immediately sucked me in with this story about the Barneses, an Irish family who has been hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis. Murray’s writing is propulsive and gripping, as well as hilarious.
I laughed through much of the book and was blown away by the ending. This novel is one I’ve recommended several times since I first encountered it.
WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023 WINNER OF AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024 ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023
Book of the Year 2023 according to New York Times, New Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, The Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, The Standard, The Times, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M.
When I started writing mysteries, beginning with St. Martin’s Malice Award-winning Southern Fried,I wanted to get the medical, investigative, and courtroom details right. What better resource than good first-hand accounts from professionals who do those things every day? I must admit that, over several decades now, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. Real life is full of stories that, if told as fiction, would leave readers rolling their eyes in disbelief. The gruesome and cruel don’t interest me. I’m drawn to the storytellers who can capture the worst moments and turn them into finely written, compelling, accurate stories, showing us the complexity of life.
I discovered Texas Monthlymagazine and its in-depth crime reporting when one of my sisters lived in Fort Worth. I was hooked. Writers Skip Hollandsworth, Mimi Swartz, Mark Seal, Gary Cartwright, and others dig into each story. This isn’t “just the facts, ma’am” reporting. It’s whyit happened and how it affected people. Some made international headlines (the military school cadets convicted of an odd love-triangle murder or the cheerleader’s mom who plotted to kill her daughter’s rival). Some could only happen in Texas. All are memorable, well-told tales.
Nobody does it bigger than the state of Texas, whether it is a matter of cattle ranches, pro linebackers...or true crime. From EL Paso, from Dallas from tiny Channelview come tales of murder, mischief, and malice - complete with new epilogues on their dramatic final chapters - that have been torn out of the pages of the award - winning Texas Monthly magazine and still succeed in rocking an almost shockproof nation. Included are true tales of: * Charles Whitman, the University of Texas tower sniper who blew away sixteen lives. * The Cheerleader mum who planned to thwart her…
I started writing for kids and teens before I became a parent myself, but now, seeing these kinds of stories from both perspectives, I’m even more passionate about helping foster conversations among families, about the things that are hard to talk about. In the time of pandemics and global warming and school shootings, not to mention the access the internet provides, kids have more questions and concerns than ever. I’ve found, both in my research and in practice, that being honest with kids in a way that they can understand and process is a true gift to them.
Like many parents of kids and tweens, I sometimes forget that my kids weren’t alive yet on 9/11, nor do they understand the ripple effects of the terrorist attacks and surrounding time on our current political and social world. My husband and I had just moved to New York City on September 11, 2021, and witnessed the city’s grief and resilience firsthand, but it’s hard to explain to our kids the effects that that event had on how some people treat and regard American Muslims and people of color, and how history still very much affects us all today. This book is a wonderful way to start that conversation with kids.
At a time when we are all asking questions about identity, grief, and how to stand up for what is right, this book by the author of A Thousand Questions will hit home with young readers who love Hena Khan and Varian Johnson-or anyone struggling to understand recent U.S. history and how it still affects us today.
Yusuf Azeem has spent all his life in the small town of Frey, Texas-and nearly that long waiting for the chance to participate in the regional robotics competition, which he just knows he can win.
Whether writing under my pen name Kate Somerset, or showing up as Ann Louden in real life, I've always believed in the enriching value of making memorable connections. As a consultant to nonprofits, I emphasize it’s not the number of donors that guarantees philanthropic support. It’s the quality of relationships with the organization. The deeper the connections, the more likely that donors will significantly invest and re-invest. As a breast cancer survivor/spokesperson, I know the importance of having a support team. And as an author and relationship coach, I emphasize establishing trust in relationships. The books on this list describe how you can be a connector, each with uniquely valuable content. I hope you find them all meaningful!
This book speaks to a core belief of mine–that we are all connected to each other by just a slight degree of separation. I appreciated how Burkus describes how networks of friends can be powerful even when we don’t know someone directly.
Reading the book provided an “ah-ha” moment as I realized that even old ties (dormant relationships) can provide key introductions. When I was leaving Texas to move to New York City, I wrote on the inside jacket of the book’s cover a list of people I once knew in New York who could help me start over in a brand new place. That list—and those contacts—proved invaluable in building my new life.
Everybody knows that in order to expand your business opportunities, it's essential to reach out and build your network. But did you know that it's your secondary, or dormant, contacts who will be the most helpful to you? Or that too many of us inadvertently run the risk of isolating ourselves into corporate silos? And what do the very best networkers do that most of us do not?
Business school professor David Burkus digs deep to find the unexpected networking secrets that provide both a unique and science-based explanation on how best to grow your universe.
Born in Ohio, transplanted to Northern California, I’ve played many roles in life, including college teacher, environmental writer, urban planner, political activist, and mom. In the evening, when my body aches with tiredness, but my brain won’t stop churning on whatever subject I wrestled with that day, I love a good but “meaty” little cozy—one with a clever puzzle, something to make me smile, and a secondary theme that goes a bit into an important, really engaging topic. Then I snuggle down and enjoy my kind of decompression reading. After retirement, I started to write my own “cozies plus.” I hope you enjoy my picks.
This book wasn’t what I expected, given its set-up in a small west Texas town filled with testosterone-laced popular imagery of today—a fundamentalist cult smelling of illicit sex, anti-feminism, and gun show economics; bored adults insanely consumed by high-school football rivalries; a chain-rattling motorcycle crowd; and far too many sour, flag-waving vets.
Take your pick about important themes to follow in this well-crafted cozy featuring Sam Craddock. Sam is asked to stand in as policeman while the one local cop dries out. He’s cranky, flawed but likable, persistent, competent.
The puzzle mysteries are tricky enough to be interesting, no overwhelming thriller-type fight scenes or chases. I thoroughly enjoyed this surprisingly gentle read.
Small town mystery and veteran's issues collide as retired police chief Samuel Craddock investigates a murder. Right before the outbreak of the Gulf War, two eighteen-year-old football stars and best friends from Jarrett Creek signed up for the army. Woody Patterson was rejected and stayed home to marry the girl they both loved, while Jack Harbin came back from the war badly damaged. The men haven't spoken since. Just as they are about to reconcile, Jack is brutally murdered. With the chief of police out of commission, trusted ex-chief Samuel Craddock steps in--again. Against the backdrop of small-town loyalties and…
I have spent over twenty years over (fifteen in Texas) recommending crime fiction as a bookseller in a couple of prominent stores. Texas and its writers have always fascinated me. Now that I get to call myself one, I am connected more to the genre literature of my adopted state and have an insider's view as both writer and resident.
This coverage of the crime wave of the Overton gang who burgled, pimped, and committed various crimes up and down I-35 is nonfiction, but hard to believe at times.
The story paints vivid time in Austin with a supporting cast of colorful lawyers, madams, and even UT Tower sniper Charles Whitman. Jesse Sublett, author, musician, painter, journalist, and photographer is basically as close as Austin has to royalty and portrays the events in a rock n’ roll style.
I’d also recommend Jesse’s fiction series staring bass player and skip tracer Martin Fender.
Timmy Overton of Austin and Jerry Ray James of Odessa were football stars who traded athletics for lives of crime. The original rebels without causes, nihilists with Cadillacs and Elvis hair, the Overton gang and their associates formed a ragtag white trash mafia that bedazzled Austin law enforcement for most of the 1960s. Tied into a loose network of crooked lawyers, pimps and used car dealers who became known as the "traveling criminals," they burglarized banks and ran smuggling and prostitution rings all over Texas. Author Jesse Sublett presents a detailed account of these Austin miscreants, who rose to folk…
I have long been a fan of zombie apocalypse scenarios. The first movie I watched was the classic Dawn of the Dead remake. Shocked and fascinated, I wanted more, devouring anything I could find on the topic. It wasn’t long before I stumbled across my first zombie apocalypse book, and I was hooked. It became an obsession for a while, and I spent my free time reading one zombie book after another. Finally, I reached a point where I wanted to write my own story and version of the apocalypse, and I did. Fast-forward several years, and I’m now a full-time author with numerous completed series, most of them zombie.
This book's opening scene is one of the most visceral and shocking I have ever read. Incredibly tragic, it hits you in the gut with the force of a hammer blow before sweeping you along on an adventure of epic proportions. Once I started reading, I was unable to stop.
I just had to know what happened next and what lay in store for the main protagonists, Kati and Jenni. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with them, and I will never forget the hours I spent by their side. My only regret is that the story ended, though I’ve heard rumors of a possible continuation. If that’s true, it will be a dream come true!
Rhiannon Frater's As the World Dies trilogy is an internet sensation. The first two books, The First Days and Fighting to Survive, have won the Dead Letter Award for Best Novel from Mail Order Zombie. The First Days was named one of the Best Zombie Books of the Decade by the Harrisburg Book Examiner. AmericanHorrorBlog calls Rhiannon Frater "a writer to watch."
The morning that the world ends, Katie is getting ready for court and housewife Jenni is taking care of her family. Less than two hours later, they are fleeing for their lives from a zombie horde.
