Books like 'Mostly Dead Things'
Readers who enjoyed Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary comedy lgbtq literary-fiction family wlw grief animals humor realistic
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Until You by T.J. Klune
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSequel to The Queen & the Homo Jock King Together with their families and friends, Paul Auster and Vincent Taylor request the honor of your company at the celebration of their marriage. Paul Auster and Vince Taylor just want to have a simple wedding. Really, is that too much to ask? As the big day approaches, they struggle to keep everything from spiraling out of control... -
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant... -
The Chronicles of Audy: 4R by Orizuka
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHai. Namaku Audy. Umurku 22 tahun. Hidupku tadinya biasa-biasa saja, sampai kedua orangtuaku jatuh bangkrut karena ditipu. Aku hanya tinggal selangkah lagi menuju gelar sarjanaku. Selangkah lagi! Tapi kedua orangtuaku rupanya tega merusak momen itu. Jadi sekarang, di sinilah aku berada. Di rumah aneh yang dihuni oleh 4 bersaudara yang sama anehnya: Regan, Romeo, Rex dan Rafael... -
Sabtu Bersama Bapak by Adhitya Mulya
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“Hai, Satya! Hai, Cakra!” Sang Bapak melambaikan tangan. “Ini Bapak. Iya, benar kok, ini Bapak. Bapak cuma pindah ke tempat lain. Gak sakit. Alhamdulillah, berkat doa Satya dan Cakra. … Mungkin Bapak tidak dapat duduk dan bermain di samping kalian. Tapi, Bapak tetap ingin kalian tumbuh dengan Bapak di samping kalian. Ingin tetap dapat bercerita kepada kalian... -
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The Chronicles of Audy: 21 by Orizuka
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHai. Namaku Audy. Umurku masih 22 tahun. Hidupku tadinya biasa-biasa saja, sampai aku memutuskan untuk bekerja di rumah 4R. Aku sempat berhenti, tapi mereka berhasil membujukku untuk kembali setelah memberiku titel baru: "bagian dari keluarga". Di saat aku merasa semakin akrab dengan mereka, pada suatu siang, salah seorang dari mereka mengungkapkan perasaannya kepadaku... -
I Thought You Said This Would Work by Ann Wertz Garvin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA road trip can drive anyone over the edge—especially two former best friends—in bestselling author Ann Garvin’s funny and poignant novel about broken bonds, messy histories, and the power of forgiveness.Widowed Samantha Arias hasn’t spoken to Holly Dunfee in forever. It’s for the best. Samantha prefers to avoid conflict. The blisteringly honest Holly craves it... -
Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDrama, American Literature, Gay and Lesbian Studies, PlaysTorch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the late 1970 and 1980s... -
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRichard Russo's slyly funny and moving novel follows the unexpected operation of grace in a deadbeat town in upstate New York—and in the life of one of its unluckiest citizens, Sully, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years... -
The Magic of White Oak Lake by Robin Alexander
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLove’s potion is once again being brewed in the next installment of the White Oak Lake series. The matchmakers have found a new project in Leslie Parker when she rents Morgan Chassion’s cabin. As always, the intentions are good when Clarice Minden and her cohorts begin to work their magic, but sometimes things just don’t go as planned and the results are disastrously funny... -
Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating by Jiang Zi Bei, 酱子贝
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe cousin that Jing Huan has been closest to since he was a child was labelled as “the other woman” in a certain popular online game: only after devoting herself did she know that the other party was a jerk with a girlfriend.After several days of being bullied online by people in the game, his cousin went abroad in a fit of anger and sorrow... -
Geraldine Verne's Red Suitcase by Jane Riley
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHis dying wish was to set her free. So why does she feel so trapped?Jack had two dying wishes: that his wife scatter his ashes somewhere ‘exotic’, and that she not give up on life once he was gone. He intended to spur her on to new adventures, but despite clinging to her red suitcase, Geraldine Verne hasn’t left the house for three months... -
Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA couple adopts a depressed hedgehog; a stranger shows up, claiming to be the father of a girl's imaginary friend; a woman kidnaps her ex-husband's turtle; a family is evicted from their home, but was it ever really theirs? Heartbreaking and hilarious, the eight stories of Einstein's Beach House examine how we deceive ourselves and others, all to arrive at something far more real... -
Grave Talk by Nick Spalding
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTime is a healer, but it helps to have a friend.The last thing Alice expects to see at her husband’s graveside on his birthday is a giant, talking frog. On closer inspection, it’s a grown man dressed as Kermit... -
The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLeft quad. Right quad. Lunge. A girls indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. A portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals... -
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Not Playing Fair by Terri Osburn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe universe is not playing fair.First, my new boss says changes are coming to our library that threaten the programs I run. Then a letter arrives from my mother—whom I haven’t seen in more than twenty years—saying who knows what because I’m refusing to open it. Last but not least, the man who dumped me eight months ago is telling people that I’m trying to get him back... -
The Language of Love and Loss by Bart Yates
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsReaders of Mad Honey will adore this clever, deeply touching, buoyant new novel from an award-winning author. When his difficult mother is diagnosed with ALS, a sharp-witted yet sensitive artist reluctantly returns to his New Hampshire hometown – and all the ghosts he left behind.As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don’t want to . . -
Wish I Might by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the Life of Willa Havisham--the next story! Willa Havisham is Cape Cod's summer girl, and this summer brings new things for everyone. Most notably, a long-lost brother Willa never knew existed... -
The Flick by Annie Baker
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn a rundown movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees sweep up popcorn in the empty aisles and tend to one of the last thirty-five-millimeter projectors in the state. With keen insight and a ceaseless attention to detail, The Flick pays tribute to the power of movies and paints a heartbreaking portrait of three characters and their working lives... -
The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe world has changed around Missy Carmichael. At seventy-nine, she's estranged from her daughter; her son and only grandson live across the world in Australia; and her great love is gone. Missy spends her days with a sip of sherry, scrubbing the kitchen in her big empty house and reliving her past--although it's her mistakes, and secrets, that she allows to shine brightest... -
Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now by Lauren Child
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThere seems to be an awful lot in Clarice's life to worry about and when she finds herself unable to sleep at night, she follows Ruby Redfort's advice. But Clarice soon realises that your worst worry is the worry you haven't even thought to worry about... -
Handling Sin by Michael Malone
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible... -
The Saturday Night Sauvignon Sisterhood by Gill Sims
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt’s time for a w(h)ine‘Oh, for f*ck’s sake’ muttered Claire under her breath, as she opened the fridge to see what she could find for a no effort dinner. The children continued to fight behind her... -
Temporary Girl by Robin Alexander
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsJodi Chenault has a lot of things going for her; she has a successful business, looks, and intelligence. And she’s a master flirt. She has no problem meeting women or getting dates. She just can’t hold on to any of the women she goes out with. It’s not because she’s unlikeable, she simply can’t handle commitment. Val Mason is hoping to find the right woman to build a life with... -
Caddy's World by Hilary McKay
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHilary McKay revisits the Casson family, but this time with a difference ... Go back in time ...Caddy is 12, grappling with school, best friends, first boyfriends, younger siblings and the unexpected arrival of one baby Permanent Rose who has arrived in the world a little sooner than expected... -
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Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith great narrative inventiveness and emotional amplitude, Allan Gurganus gives us artistic Manhattan in the wild 1980s, where young artists--refugees from the middle class--hurl themselves into playful work and serious fun. Our guide is Hartley Mims Jr., a Southerner whose native knack for happiness might thwart his literary ambitions... -
Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life by Ann M. Martin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsPearl Littlefield’s first assignment in fifth grade is complicated: She has to write an essay about her summer... -
Boys Rock! by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWally Hatford dreams of long lazy days far away from school and Caroline Malloy. But Wally, the best speller among the Hatford brothers, gets roped into helping them with a summer newspaper project that will earn the twins school credit.What does that get Wally? When he hears scratching noises coming from Oldakers’ bookstore cellar, Mr... -
Binny for Short by Hilary McKay
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen she was eight, Binny’s life was perfect: She had her father’s wonderful stories and Max, the best dog ever. But after her father’s sudden death, money is tight, and Aunty Violet decides to give Max away—he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she can’t get her dad back, but she never stops missing Max, or trying to find him... -
First Time for Everything: A Novel by Henry Fry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsDanny Scudd is absolutely fine. At twenty-seven years old he's finally moved to London and escaped his parents' tiny fish and chip shop, his beloved collection of house plants are thriving and every Monday evening he has a date night with his boyfriend, Tobbs.But Danny's life is thrown into chaos when he discovers at an STI clinic that Tobbs might be cheating on him... -
Waiting for Milo by Angel Devlin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe first in a brand new series! Meet the Waite family. He called her Rapunzel. Now she’s back in a tower of her own making. Can he rescue his princess and live happily ever after? After purchasing her nan’s old home, Violet Blake wonders if the mysterious Waite family still live in the house across the garden... -
Noah Goes Nuclear by Simon James Green
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNoah Grimes is back, in a new, original short story!Noah is v excited: his class have been shipped off to a hotel in the Lake District to study a nearby Nuclear Power Station! On arrival, all Noah wants to do is settle in to his crisp hotel sheets and get proper rest, but his conniving secret half-brother Eric Smith has other plans... -
The Snapper by Roddy Doyle
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, the follow up to his acclaimed debut novel The CommitmentsWatch for Roddy Doyle's new novel, Smile, coming in October of 2017Twenty-year-old Sharon Rabbitte is pregnant. She's also unmarried, living at home, working in a grocery store, and keeping the father's identity a secret. Her own father, Jimmy Sr., is shocked by the news... -
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA delightfully offbeat story that features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery.Audrey (a.k.a. Oddly) Flowers is living quietly in Oregon with Winnifred, her tortoise, when she finds out her dear father has been knocked into a coma back in Newfoundland... -
The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRussel Middlebrook needs to get away. It's tough being sixteen and out at your high school. So being a summer camp counselor sounds like the perfect solution -- but Russel has no idea how crazy this summer will be. Rowdy ten-year-old burn survivors, Indian legends, moonlit skinny dipping, and passionate summer romance are just the beginning . . -
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The Cafe at Seashell Cove by Karen Clarke
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWelcome to the Café at Seashell Cove, where you’ll find irresistible home-baked cakes, smiling friendly faces – and maybe even a second chance at love… When Cassie Maitland needs a holiday from her glamorous but stressful job in event management, she escapes home to gorgeous Seashell Cove, where her family’s cosy café sits perched on the cliffs above sparkling waves and golden sand... -
The Humans by Stephen Karam
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThree generations of the Blake family have assembled for Thanksgiving in Brigid and Richard’s ramshackle pre-war apartment in Lower Manhattan. Whilst the event may have a slightly improvised air, the family is determined to make the best of its time together... -
Elling by Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsELLING is the endearing and hilarious story of two outsiders struggling to come to terms with the real world... -
The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRight after high school, Joe Goffman left sleepy Bush Falls, Connecticut and never looked back. Then he wrote a novel savaging everything in town, a novel that became a national bestseller and a huge hit movie... -
Nothing Special by Casey Cox
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey don't write romance novels about guys like me… Benji:Trust me, I know. Crafting swoon-worthy happily ever afters is literally my day job. Being a quirky introvert with an overactive imagination, underwhelming social skills, and a few pounds overweight, I'm no leading man. My best friend, though? He's total cover model, call the plumber because I just flooded my basement material... -
Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGrief is a funny thing. Gil’s boyfriend has left him, his acting career isn’t exactly taking off, and his mother just passed away. He’s not taking it all very well. But luckily his boisterous Aunt Glo, a sensitive funeral director, and his outrageous best friend may be exactly what he needs... -
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThree-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee’s most provocative, daring, and controversial play since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Goat won every major award for best new play of the year: the Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards... -
Stop Kiss by Diana Son
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBen Brantley of the New York Times summed up the critical reaction to Diana Son's play Stop Kiss when he stated that it "generated the warmest advance word of mouth of any downtown production this season" and heralded it as a Barefoot in the Park for a new generation... -
Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? by Jerry Spinelli
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWho Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? Sibling rivalry at its finest! Whether it's on the hockey ice, at school, or at home, Greg and Megin just can't seem to get along. She calls him Grosso, he calls her Megamouth. They battle with donuts, cockroaches, and hair... -
The Cows by Dawn O'Porter
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFearlessly frank and funny, the debut adult novel from Dawn O’Porter needs to be talked about. COW [n.]/kaʊ/ A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd. Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype. THE COWS is a powerful novel about three women. In all the noise of modern life, each needs to find their own voice. It’s about friendship and being female... -
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Como en las películas by Ciara Smyth
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSaoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out... -
One Way or Another by Colleen Coleman
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘OMG, OMG, OMG I love this book!… A laugh-out-loud, entertaining read… Hilarious.’ Chelle’s Book Reviews Twenty-nine-year-old Katie Kelly is at an all-time low. The love of her life, gorgeous Ben Cole, took a job abroad and broke her heart, the restaurant she’d put her all into went bust, and now she works in a retirement home, cooking beige mush for the residents... -
Wish You Were Here by Victoria Connelly
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSun, sea and secrets…A week on the sunny Greek island of Kethos is just what Alice Archer needs, even if she has to put up with her difficult sister. Stella’s tantrums and diva-like demands are a fair price to pay for crystal-clear waters, blue skies and white clifftop villas... -
Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA tragicomic story of bad dates, bad news, bad performances, and one girl's determination to find the funny in high school from the author of Denton Little's Deathdate .Winnie Friedman has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already she's hilarious.It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnie has kept her jokes to herself... -
How to Find Your Way Home by Katy Regan
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat if the person you thought you'd lost forever walked back into your life? A warm, life-affirming novel about what happens when a sister discovers that the brother she hasn't seen in more than a decade is homeless, and in reconnecting with him learns the true meaning of belonging, from the author of Little Big Love.When they were children, Emily and her brother Stephen were inseparable... -
It Had to Be You: A Novel by Georgia Clark
Rated: 3.84 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsThe author of the “emotional, hilarious, and thought-provoking” (People) novel The Bucket List returns with a witty and heartfelt romantic comedy featuring a wedding planner, her unexpected business partner, and their coworkers in a series of linked love stories—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Casey McQuiston...
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