If You Loved This Book, Here’s What to Read Next

Previously in the series: Put These Books on Your TBR List 

Last time around, I put together a short list of book recommendations that I had recently read. Something in my gut told me to give you all some more recommendations based on those books, in case you ended up really liking one of them and you’re looking for similar reads.

Many of the books I have listed are of a similar genre or writing style. Personally, I loved reading these back to back and seeing how each author incorporates their own unique writing style into the genre. 

If you loved A Little Life, you should read… All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Like A Little Life, this book also follows the two main characters, Werner and Marie-Laure, throughout their lives, carefully weaving together the similarities between them to show how the two are connected and how they meet under unlikely circumstances.

While A Little Life is a more contemporary novel, All the Light We Cannot See takes place during World War II. It’s one of the best historical fiction books I’ve ever read because of the way Doerr intricately builds a relationship between these two people who don’t even know the other exists at the beginning of the story, which is not an easy feat with a story as long and complex as this one. I also love how the novel paints such a realistic picture in your mind by describing even the smallest details without going overboard. I’m a visual learner, which is why I have extra love for books like these. 

If you loved Beneath A Starless Sky or Dreamland, you should read… The Only Woman in The Room by Marie Benedict

The Only Woman in The Room, although relatively short at 243 pages, is a much heavier read. It’s based on the story of Hedy Lamarr, formerly known as Hedwig Kleiser—a famous Austrian-born film actress from the 1930s. The novel talks about her contributions to wartime technology as well as her private life, including her abusive marriage that she fought to escape from and the struggles she went through as a Jewish woman in Nazi Germany. With a heavy focus on both these aspects of her life, the author neatly brings together themes from both Beneath A Starless Sky and Dreamland.

Again, this is another one of those books that really invokes a lot of emotions in you. As someone who works in the field of gender-based violence, it weighed heavy on my heart—especially seeing Hedy go through some of the same things I am trained on how to approach, whether in theory or in practice. 

If you loved Dreamland, you should read… We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz 

While these two plots are nowhere near alike, both of the main characters end up falling into a type of subconscious trance, after a turn of events that leads them to feel as if life is no longer real. We Were Never Here is a story about two long-distance best friends, Kristen and Emily, who meet up for an annual BFF trip to Chile. After last year’s trip ended in disaster, they hope to put the past behind them. It’s a shame how the past always finds a way of sneaking up on you.

Even though Emily and Caitlin are two drastically different people, I feel like they would end up becoming an unlikely friendship duo if you found a way to put them in the same room together. They’re both keeping secrets they can’t share with anyone else in their lives, so it wouldn’t be long before they start spilling. 

Let me know if you end up checking one of these reads out and if you liked them (or if you didn’t, it makes for a good conversation either way). 

Next Up in the series: going more in-depth with my thoughts on Dreamland.