Here are 48 books that The Burnout fans have personally recommended if you like
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I grew up in the era of sweeping historical epics, traveling with the turn of a page from Gaius Marius’s Rome to Victoria’s England and everything in between. I’ve always loved books that immerse you in places and time periods you know nothing about—and when I couldn’t find enough of them, I started writing my own. While my long-ago history PhD work is in Tudor-Stuart England (my specialty was the English Civil War), what I love most is being a historical dilettante and getting to hop around the historical record—which may be why my books can take you anywhere from Napoleon’s court to 1920s Kenya to Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt!
Fun fact: in college, my specialty was 16th-century Scotland, which meant I spent several months living in Edinburgh doing research for my senior thesis. In this book, Susanna Kearsley brings to life a Scotland we seldom see in novels but which brings back the Edinburgh I lived in and studied more vividly than anything else I’ve encountered.
There are so many books about the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, but this book tackles the precursor to all that, the tangled politics of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, from the fall-out of the Glorious Revolution and the exile of James II to the ferment around the 1707 Act of Union in all its glorious complexity, through the life of one woman who finds herself—as one does—a normal person buffeted by larger events. Every time I open this book, I feel like I’m back in Edinburgh again.
'Fascinating and immersive... I love a novel that deals with the many ways in which people keep their secrets' DIANA GABALDON A sweeping love story set against the Jacobite revolution from much-loved, million copy bestselling author Susanna Kearsley
Autumn, 1707. Old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are protesting the new Union with England. As the French prepare an invasion to bring the exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, the streets of Edinburgh are filled with discontent. To calm the situation, Queen Anne's commissioners are settling the losses and wages owed to those Scots involved…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
"This book has it all. Humor, heart, and a heroine I was desperately rooting for. Kirsty Greenwood has a new fan!” —Colleen Hoover, New York Times bestselling author
A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…
If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in…
Loved the email exchange. I was so invested in this couple and I couldn't put it down. This was recommended by The Ripped Bodice, and I'm so glad I bought it.
A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.
Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children’s books editor, but she’s been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
*DISCOVER YOUR NEXT ESCAPE WITH THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR*
'A tear-those-pages thriller' ABIGAIL DEAN 'Secrets galore' DAILY MAIL 'Atmospheric, haunting, and beautifully written' GILLIAN McALLISTER 'Queen of the destination thriller' CLAIRE DOUGLAS
Leaving behind their everyday lives, four friends hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild - nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky.
THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR
But there's a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago, scarring the mountain with suspicion and unanswered…
I like to read about people pursuing their dream because that’s not an easy thing to do. When I was working as a lawyer at a corporate law firm, I was sure I wanted to become a partner. But eventually I realized that being in-house counsel at a company was a much better fit for me so I changed jobs. And similarly, I’d always wanted to write a romantic comedy and so, after many years as a lawyer, I started taking courses at night, and eventually I found the courage to quit my legal job and pursue this passion. The underlying theme of all of my books is to encourage readers to pursue their dreams.
This is one of my favorite books—probably because I was a stressed-out corporate lawyer who definitely can’t iron.
The Undomestic Goddess is the story of a workaholic lawyer who is trying to become a partner at her law firm—only to get fired for an egregious mistake that she can’t believe she made. In her shock, she agrees to become a housekeeper. The only problem is she has no idea how to do any housework, which leads to some hilarious scenes.
I also loved how she figured out the mystery leading to her dismissal. This book made me feel less alone as a stressed-out workaholic lawyer and also made me consider that maybe being a partner at a law firm was not what I really wanted in life.
The hilarious romantic comedy from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Sophie Kinsella
Samantha thrives under pressure. A high-powered London lawyer, all she can concentrate on is taking the next step in her career; eating, sleeping, seeing friends - even taking a breath - will have to wait.
But just when she's about to get everything she has ever wanted, Samantha makes a mistake. A fifty-million-pound, career-destroying mistake. Unable to face the consequences, she does the unimaginable and runs away...
Catching the first train she can, she finds herself in the countryside, outside…
I have been writing fiction since an early age, and I naturally create central female characters that I hope are warm, funny, and in some way flawed. Modules of my university degree dealt with psychology and sociology, and I automatically studied other people to inspire elements of my character. Lee Child is quoted as saying readers remember characters more than the plot, so when compiling my list, I recalled five female leads that have made me laugh, cringe, and relate to in equal measure. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
The irony surrounding Becky Bloomwood (aka ‘The Shopaholic’) makes me smile. She’s a financial journalist who is constantly in a pickle with money. Her financial worries cause her stress, and the best way to deal with them is to go shopping, which continues the debt spiral.
Becky is flawed but lovable, and I can relate to her predicament. How many of us try to justify our small actions that we know deep down are wrong? The book is harmless, light-hearted, easy to read, and starts off a series of other Shopaholic books. I can’t remember the plots of many of them, but I certainly remember Becky Bloomwood.
Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She has a great flat, a fabulous wardrobe full of the season's must-haves, and a job telling other people how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time ... shopping.
Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can't. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The letters from the bank are getting harder to ignore. Can Becky ever escape from this dreamworld, find true love, and regain the use of her credit card?
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
As a writer, wife, and mom, I love reading novels and memoirs about women who are navigating parenting, relationships, and careers simultaneously. My favorites are those that make me laugh out loud while presenting a relatable picture of all this juggling act entails. Smart and witty heroines who approach life with a can-do spirit and the ability to laugh at themselves as the world tosses one curveball after another their way capture my heart every time.
Who can resist a diary? It’s hard not to fall in love with the title character, who’s on a perpetual quest for self-improvement. As Bridget, a lovable thirty-something singleton, finds herself in dozens of entertaining and embarrassing situations, she navigates them with her trademark pluck.
Very loosely based on Pride and Prejudice and complete with its own Mr. Darcy, I adored this novel and yearned for Bridget to realize she’s a catch exactly as she is. I read this at a time in my life when I, too, was a work in progress, and finding Bridget felt like connecting with a funny friend.
A dazzlingly urban satire on modern relationships? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?
As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay.
Welcome to Bridget's first diary: mercilessly funny, endlessly touching and utterly addictive.
Helen Fielding's first Bridget Jones novel, Bridget Jones's Diary, sparked a phenomenon that has seen…
I love to laugh! Laughter is a universal sort of magic that helps us connect with others, build rapport and trust, reduce stress, and overlook differences. It’s hard to be mad at someone you’re laughing with. How do I know so much about humor? Because I wrote the book on it. Literally. My debut book, The Joke Machine, teaches middle graders how to create a funny line. I wrote it after researching humor for years, analyzing jokes, and trying to figure out why each one made me laugh. I found patterns and my joke-making philosophy was born! Since then, I’ve been reading funny books, writing funny books, and best of all, laughing at funny lines.
“Bittersweet” is the best word I can use to describe Finding Audrey. The story is about a fourteen-year-old girl whose life is disrupted by an anxiety disorder. What I like so much about this book is that it’s notdepressing. The story brings to light a serious problem with a lot of levity and charm. I can really empathize with Audrey during her trip back to sanity after being bullied out of school. I laughed a lot, teared up a little, and smiled as Audrey is set on a new path, thanks in part to a pretty sweet romantic connection. The romance was totally unexpected and unfolds very naturally. The author’s light tone on this serious subject reminds me of the sage advice from the wise and wonderful Mary Poppins: a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down.
A New York Times Bestseller & A ZOELLA Book Club Pick!
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.
An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their…
Growing up at a time when both Monty Python and ‘alternative comedians’ like Ben Elton were on the telly, I couldn’t help but absorb British humor, and coupling that with a love of science fiction and fantasy (Asimov, Heinlein, Moorcock, etc.), I was ripe for an introduction to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett… And the rest is history. The world is too serious a place, and I find comedy of all kinds, but especially SFF, a welcome escape. My own writing has been inspired by all the books on this list, and while I work in a range of genres, almost everything includes at least some snarky humor.
I first encountered Douglas Adams when I caught The Hitchhiker’s Guide on late-night radio, and I was hooked. The novel is slightly different, with Adams giving a bit more consideration to plot and logic, but it has the same wonderful, rapid-fire dialogue style, which has seldom been replicated.
I absolutely love Arthur Dent’s ludicrous accidental odyssey, meeting characters like Zaphod Beeblebrox and the wonderfully named Slartibartfast. The Guide sits in the background, popping up to provide superbly funny explanations of the history of the universe, humanity’s obsession with money, and a lot more.
For me, the thing that sets this apart from a lot of SFF humor is its ‘Britishness’—there’s a distinct feel of the surreal comic legacy of, for example, Monty Python and The Goon Show.
This box set contains all five parts of the' trilogy of five' so you can listen to the complete tales of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Bebblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android! Travel through space, time and parallel universes with the only guide you'll ever need, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Read by Stephen Fry, actor, director, author and popular audiobook reader, and Martin Freeman, who played Arthur Dent in film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is well known as Tim in The Office.
The set also includes a bonus DVD Life, the Universe and…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I’ve spent my life in music and the creative industries, having worked in major record companies in London (among other places), and have loved every minute of it. Over the past 20 years, I've also studied it academically and run courses on entertainment management in colleges and Universities. It is rewarding to work with people who want to make a career in the creative industries. A colleague once said to me, “If you can give me a graduate who can have a conversation with a Chief Financial Officer and not freak them out, and then have a conversation with an artist and not freak them out, then you will be doing the world a great favor, because this is comparatively rare.”
I loved this fictitious expose of the New York fashion industry because it asks what we would sacrifice for ‘a job a million girls/boys would die for?’ Sometimes, in the creative industries, power can be concentrated in the hands of people for whom ‘the meaning of their life’ is about a creative project being successful.
This can lead them to make the lives of people around them miserable. How much abuse, poor pay, lack of credit, ‘self-exploitation’, being absent for loved ones, how much of this would you tolerate? What if you had to sell your soul to fulfill your dream? This might seem academic, but for many in the creative industries, it has been painfully real.
High fashion, low cunning - and the boss from hell
When Andrea first sets foot in the plush Manhattan offices of Runway she knows nothing. She's never heard of the world's most fashionable magazine, or its feared and fawned-over editor, Miranda Priestly - her new boss.
A year later, she knows altogether too much:
That it's a sacking offence to wear anything lower than a three-inch heel to work.
That you can charge cars, manicures, anything at all to the Runway account, but you must never, ever, leave your desk, or let Miranda's coffee get cold.
