Here are 100 books that Piglet fans have personally recommended if you like
Piglet.
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I think I sometimes get in trouble for saying this, but the truth is, I don’t give a shit about the likability of characters, whether I’m reading or writing. I’m here for a good time, not a long time. Because of that, fiction is the most riveting for me when interesting characters start making bad decisions. Any good narrative train wreck must create tension that keeps ratcheting up in its pages, and these are some of the books that do that most expertly, in my opinion. So, grab something to hold onto while you go on some of my favorite wild rides.
This book is chaos-defined, and I felt absolutely giddy when I first read it. Olivie Blake knows what readers want, and her books are not afraid to speak to their id. How could I not love a school of twentysomething lust-filled, murderous magicians?
It is also happy to scratch the romance itch; it’s the rare book where it feels like any two characters could have a romantic relationship, and many do. Even better, it’s full of delicious twists and betrayals and never lets its characters off the hook.
An Instant New York Times Bestseller A Goodreads Best Fantasy Choice Award Nominee
The much-acclaimed viral sensation from Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six—now newly revised and edited with additional content.
• The tag #theatlassix has millions of views on TikTok • A dark academic debut fantasy with an established cult following that reads like The Secret History meets The Umbrella Academy • The first in an explosive trilogy • Indigo's Top 10 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books of 2022 • Tor.com's Most Anticipated SFF of 2022
Each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to earn…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’m Gen X, through and through. And because I grew up in that (glorious?) time before social media, I didn’t have the worry that my messy-woman missteps would be exposed online. But the trade-off to keeping my mistakes as private as possible was that I often felt like I couldn’t live boldly. So now I’m fascinated by the ways other women handle the messier aspects of their lives: the obsessions and frustrations, the secrets we all keep, the duality we choke down. I want to know what we’re each quietly starving for, what’s driving us when we strip away social expectation and are left to sit with our gnawing hungers.
Humor has always pulled me through the hard parts of life, and laughter is the test that tells me if I’ll be compatible with someone when we first meet. So to read a ridiculous character who’s coming in hot right on page one, charging through the story with absolutely no filter, epic foibles fully (and uncomfortably) detailed, and unable to stop making terrible decisions had me cackling out loud.
I was initially drawn to this book for the perfect cover, but I quickly fell in love with the writing and a story that captures that frustrating push and pull of wanting what we can’t have. It’s a delightful mess of bees, goats, awkward sex, strange conversations, and women doing whatever they want.
** SOON TO BE A MAJOR HBO SERIES STARRING JODIE COMER **
'Made me laugh and think too much (the right amount?) about sex and death and honesty.' MONICA HEISEY 'Utterly addictive. . . I laughed so hard it ached.' GILLIAN ANDERSON 'Juicy, salacious and compelling. Trauma shouldn't be this fun.' SARA PASCOE
Greta liked knowing people's secrets. That wasn't a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.
Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her - she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Greta can see her now: dressed top to toe in white, that adorable gap between her two…
When I set out to write a novel in the female voice, it was purely intended as an interesting riff on one of my favorite works, Alfie. There were no literary ambitions, or frankly, awareness of other works to benchmark myself against or build upon. My motivation was the rawness of the idea itself and the excitement of an uncharted, enjoyable venture. It wasn’t until I read other reference works—before, during, and after the writing process—that I became aware of the unique and enriching reading experience such an approach can offer. A multi-faceted experience that, for many, ultimately becomes less about the story and more about the introspection and awareness it fosters.
This was provocative in a different way, in that it made me realize how accurately an author can capture the voice of the opposite sex.
Dolly’s portrayal of Andy was, in many ways, both convincing and emotionally resonant, and she achieves this while sustaining a thoroughly entertaining narrative. It was a bittersweet experience because, as enjoyable as the read was, it set an excessively high benchmark for my own attempt.
Thankfully, by the time I got around to reading her book, it was too late to do anything about it, other than make a mental note of how much work would be required if I ever decided to make another run at it.
'Funny - of course it's funny - but also smart, insightful and sincere about heartbreak' David Nicholls, author of One Day
'A novel to be devoured, adored, underlined ... if only more books made you laugh as much as this' The i
'The author of Everything I Know About Love nails the zeitgeist with a witty, relatable and acutely insightful page-turner about the trials and tribulations of the lovelorn' Daily Express
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Every relationship has one beginning. This one has two endings.
Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can't work out why she stopped.
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall
by
Paul Wilborn,
It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…
I think I sometimes get in trouble for saying this, but the truth is, I don’t give a shit about the likability of characters, whether I’m reading or writing. I’m here for a good time, not a long time. Because of that, fiction is the most riveting for me when interesting characters start making bad decisions. Any good narrative train wreck must create tension that keeps ratcheting up in its pages, and these are some of the books that do that most expertly, in my opinion. So, grab something to hold onto while you go on some of my favorite wild rides.
I truly believe Kiley Reid is a national treasure. Her second book centers around a small southern college town, and as someone who attended one of those myself, I can tell you that it perfectly captures that spirit. Even though the book is more character study than plot-forward, the southern sorority girls, the writing professor, and the overworked RA all come together to make an absolute mess in the end.
Effortlessly weaving multiple narrators and storylines together, this book is everything I want satire to be. Each character is rich and fully realized, often dabbling in doing “bad” things but never making you quite dislike them. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching everything go tits up.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER National Bestseller USA Today Bestseller
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick
An Indie Next Pick A LibraryReads Pick
From the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age comes a fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students.
It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the…
I am a long-time journalist and have been passionate about understanding history ever since taking a wonderful AP course in European history in high school. I have read many historical books, both fiction and nonfiction, so it makes sense that my first novel, Rebecca of Ivanhoe, is historical fiction. To be a good journalist and citizen, you have to know and understand history to inform your reporting and try to prevent the bad moments of history from repeating themselves.
The protagonist in this book is ConaLee, a 12-year-old girl mature beyond her years whose father, a Union soldier, is severely injured in the Civil War and doesn’t remember who he is (he never makes it back home). Her mother is raped by a roaming Confederate war veteran and traumatized to the point of muteness.
The Confederate soldier drops the mother and ConaLee off at a lunatic asylum in West Virginia, where a mysterious night watchman joins what becomes a compelling tale. I enjoyed this book because it introduces a spirited preteen protagonist who is trying to keep her family together and shows how devastating the Civil War was to so many families.
From one of our most accomplished novelists, a mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War
In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has…
I moved to New York when I was 15 and fell in love with the city. I was starting high school then, and arriving in Manhattan felt like the world opened up to me. Suddenly, I could ride the subway anywhere I wanted, see the best theater in the world, and feel as if anything was possible. The female journey has also been a topic I have long been fascinated by, and when I began my journalism career and became a wife and mother, the need to explore those dynamics grew ever more pressing. I recommend these books because they combine my two favorite topics—New York and women’s history.
I can’t get enough of this novel about a group of young women making their way into the world of publishing in New York City. A window into what it was like to find a career, fall in love, and negotiate life as a single woman in the big city in the 1950s, Rona Jaffe’s book was a watershed when it was published in 1958. I think it should be required reading for all women, regardless of whether they work in publishing, or have ever lived in New York.
Who are you, and why do you have expertise or a passion for the topic/theme/mood of the book list you created?
Rona Jaffe's beloved novel about 1950s NYC women in the workplace that paved the way for the #MeToo movement and iconic cultural touchstones like Sex and the City and Mad Men, now for the first time in Penguin Classics, in a 65th anniversary edition with an introduction by New Yorker staff writer Rachel Syme
A Penguin Classic
When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing…
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
I’ve always been fascinated by the influence technology and science on culture and our lives, especially women’s lives. The history of women’s rights, in many ways, is a story of science and technology’s influence on women’s evolution towards having more freedom (and now less) to control our bodies. As a science writer, these themes influence many of the stories that I choose to read and tell, including both my books, In Her Own Sweet Time: Unexpected Adventures in Finding Love, Commitment and Motherhood and Reconceptions: Modern Relationships, Reproductive Science and the Unfolding Future of Family. I also love to read both fictional and non-fiction stories about the nuances of personal identity.
This novel tells the story of Maise, a devoted wife and mother of four children.
It takes place over the course of a single day in October that begins with Maise nursing her infant and leads to a family outing to an orchard the following afternoon. It beautifully captures the daily emotions that a mother feels, ranging from anxiety to grief to deep love, and explores the feelings around the unpaid labor of motherhood and the financial anxiety that being a parent brings to us all.
A novel about womanhood, modern family, and the interior landscape of maternal life, as seen through the life of a young wife and mother on a single day.
At night, Maisie Moore dreams that her life is perfect: the looming mortgages and credit card debt have magically vanished, and she can raise her four children, including newborn Esme, on an undulating current of maternal bliss, by turns oceanic and overwhelming, but awash in awe and wonder. Then she jolts awake and, after checking that her husband and baby are asleep beside her, remembers the real-world money problems to be resolved…
Why I chose to write about cold climates: I spent nearly seven years living in the North of Norway in the Sámi reindeer herding village called Guovdageaidnu, or Kautokeino in Norwegian. I cherish my time in that part of the world.
This novel had to go to the top of my list because it’s brilliant and delivered through an indigenous perspective.
Authored by the Swedish Sámi journalist Ann-Helén Laestadius, the book tells a story–based on real events–involving reindeer, an essential part of culture and identity for many Sámi. It takes place in a part of the world where I spent many years, Sápmi, which is the Sámi region that contains parts of, and predates, the modern borders of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
Laestadius brings a compelling voice to the still prevalent issue of prejudice against this cultural minority. A film adaptation of the book will air on Netflix in April 2024, and I’m excited to see it because so many friends from that part of the world worked on it.
**SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** **THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER** 'Written with heart and great appeal' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A coming-of-age-story to be loved everywhere in the world' FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVE 'Has struck a chord worldwide' NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ___________________________________________ The international sensation: the story of a young Sami girl's coming-of-age, and a powerful fable about family, identity and justice Nine-year-old Elsa lives just north of the Arctic Circle. She and her family are Sami - Scandinavia's indigenous people - and make their living herding reindeer. One morning when Elsa goes skiing alone, she witnesses…
I’m a bit fairy tale obsessed. I love how the characters go into the woods and face wolves, witches, stepmothers, and ogres. But despite the abuse and neglect and trauma, they somehow emerge whole. These five books each have a unique heroine, not with a sword, but with her own quiet strength. Each one is a cathartic but reassuring guide into the woods and out again, acknowledging that though there will be hurt and heartbreak, transformation and healing will follow. If you love fairy tales for the same reasons I do, come, step onto the path. The magic of hope and healing awaits.
This book has everything I want in a fairy tale novel: an immersive setting, green magic, romance, shape-shifting creatures, and of course, resilience and healing.
Before I read Kell Wood’s debut novel, I had never thought about the long-term consequences Hansel and Gretel surely experienced at the hands of the witch in the gingerbread house, but now I can’t un-see it. Of course, these two people, now young adults, would have some serious (but unique) struggles.
Also, I love it when an author weaves multiple fairy tales and/or folkloric elements into a story, and Woods is fantastic at this!
After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.”
Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.
Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta's…
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
During Covid, I gave myself the Story-a-Month Challenge. I started a story on the first day of each month and stopped on the last day. A subconscious theme emerged: the struggles of grown people and their parents, done fantastically. By year’s end, I had twelve stories, placed in magazines somewhere. I collected them, adding earlier stories, longer and with younger protagonists, but with the same theme of arrested development. I called the book “Adult Children,” a wry reference to offspring of alcoholics (I am one). Also subconscious: my inspiration from other authors of fantastical collections, some of whom I’ve included here.
A French import published in the US in 2024, Plasmas is an intriguingly spare, linked collection of short futuristic scenes.
Acrobats whose routines are programmed by biotechnology…tomorrow’s La Brea Tar Pits, where artifacts of both the distant past—and future—are unearthed…a female scientist bonds idealistically and tragically with great apes…these compelling stories revolve around a post-human world, written in an icy style that often feels post-human, as well.
Prodigiously translated by Annabel Kim, it’s a subdued, sort-of successor to Cosmicomics and won the French Prix de L’imaginaire, that country’s top prize for speculative fiction.
A speculative masterpiece of technology and mythmaking that contemplates humanity.
The stories in Plasmas dive into a post-human, more-than-human world where life as we know it has been replaced by life as it goes on. Acrobats glide through the air attached to biotech devices, an archivist presents scenes from Earth after interstellar colonization to her students, and scientists in Siberia play god with a manmade beast.
Written as a series of vignettes into futures near and far, Plasmas dives into questions of legacy, memory, the body, and technology through striking prose from one of France's leading sci-fi writers.…
