By Collection Management Librarian Kathy
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT book you are waiting for or that you finally read and loved.
Anxious People read-alikes
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Why you should try it: Like Fredrik Backman, Liane Moriarty combines literary fiction, suspense, and humor in a similar setup—strangers thrown together.
Description: Gathering at a remote health resort for a 10-day fitness program, nine strangers and their enigmatic host become subjects of interest to a brokenhearted novelist who develops uncomfortable doubts about the resort's real agenda.
Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman
Why you should try it: While Judy is only one anxious person, not eight, her story is told with similar wit and heft.
Description: A once-promising children’s book writer navigates the humbling realities of middle age and dysfunctional family life while pursuing well-intentioned but increasingly disastrous changes.
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Why you should try it: McBride inserts humor into his weighty novel and, like Backman, is a master of characterization whether major or minor players.
Description: In the aftermath of a 1969 Brooklyn church deacon’s public shooting of a local drug dealer, the community’s African-American and Latinx witnesses find unexpected support from each other when they are targeted by violent mobsters.
The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas
Why you should try it: For the title alone, which is indicative of the compelling and satirical story lying within.
Description: A U.S. release of a best-selling debut from France finds a con artist from India traveling to France to shop at IKEA and unwittingly embarking on a European tour during which he makes friends in unlikely places.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Why you should try it: Both books are quirky and humorous but with a heart of gold.
Description: Agreeing to help her former college roommate care for two stepchildren who possess the ability to spontaneously combust when agitated, Lillian endeavors to keep her young charges cool in the face of an astonishing revelation.
About Kathy
Kathy is a Collection Management Librarian who loves reading, sharing, and talking about books. Her missions in life are to: create communities of readers, convince folks that her official title should be "Book Pusher," and refute that "disco" is a dirty word.
