Books like 'Once a Runner'
Readers who enjoyed Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Different Seasons by Stephen King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the Magical Pen of Stephen King, Four Mesmerizing Novellas…“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge…the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah]()
The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOne unbearable mistake at the edge of the forest.In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended—for just a few minutes. But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well—into grief, guilt, and addiction...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction north-america realistic usa action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Still Alice by Lisa Genova]()
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsStill Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction realistic university 21st-century action-adventure adult aging -
![내 토끼가 또 사라졌어! by Mo Willems]()
내 토끼가 또 사라졌어! by Mo Willems
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsKorean edition of the last story of Knuffle Bunny series, KNUFFLE BUNNY FREE: An Unexpected Diversion by Mo Willems, the author of a three-time Caldecott Honor winner (for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny, and Knuffle Bunny Too)...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age realistic 21st-century action-adventure animals book children -
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![Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall]()
Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back...Categorized as:
coming-of-age realistic sports action-adventure black-mc book children children-books -
![Gentry Boys by Cora Brent]()
Gentry Boys by Cora Brent
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“All my life I’d always known what the Gentry boys were. A set of fraternal triplets born to a depraved family, they were rough, sexy and wild as wolves..." DRAW They called us ‘those white trash Gentry boys’ until we believed that’s what we were. Our people squatted at the edge of a hellhole prison town for generations. The childhood we endured was the stuff of nightmares... -
![Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst]()
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe perennially popular tale of Alexander's worst day is a storybook that belongs on every child's bookshelf.Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair.And it got worse...His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age realistic 20th-century action-adventure book children children-books -
![The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran]()
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsKahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction personal-growth university 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![No, David! by David Shannon]()
No, David! by David Shannon
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWhen author and artist David Shannon was five years old, he wrote a semi-autobiographical story of a little kid who broke all his mother's rules. He chewed with his mouth open, jumped on the furniture, and he broke his mother's vase...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age realistic action-adventure book children children-books comedy -
![Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar]()
Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsHoracio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university 20th-century action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![Suicide Watch by Kelley York]()
Suicide Watch by Kelley York
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings18-year-old Vincent has spent his entire life being shuffled from one foster home to the next. His grades sucked. Making friends? Out of the question thanks to his nervous breakdowns and unpredictable moods. Still, Vince thought when Maggie Atkins took him in, he might've finally found a place to get his life--and his issues--in order.When Maggie dies, it all falls apart... -
![The Deep End by Traci Hunter Abramson]()
The Deep End by Traci Hunter Abramson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Another exciting read by Traci Abramson, Traci brings together personal experience in competitive swimming and insider knowledge of US spy agencies to deliver a riveting story from the first paragraph to the... -
![Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk]()
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsIt follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, the protagonist finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and establishes an underground fighting club as radical psychotherapy...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction north-america realistic usa 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz]()
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn irreverent comic adventure, spanning three continents, about a father and son against each other and against the world.For most of his life, Jasper Dean couldn’t decide whether to pity, hate, love, or murder his certifiably paranoid father, Martin, a man who overanalyzed anything and everything and imparted his self-garnered wisdom to his only son...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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![Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano]()
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsOne summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction north-america realistic usa 21st-century action-adventure audiobook -
![The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera]()
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 75 ratingsIn The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction realistic university 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Time Machine/The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells]()
The Time Machine/The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe Time Machine and The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university action-adventure adult book contemporary dystopia -
![Tiffany Lynn Is Missing by Dan Alatorre]()
Tiffany Lynn Is Missing by Dan Alatorre
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA young Florida woman goes missing; everybody believes she is dead. They even have a body at the morgue that her mother identified as her.But the mother keeps getting letters from the daughter saying “Don’t worry, and don’t look for me.” They are in the deceased girl’s handwriting and there’s even a DNA match - but the body at the morgue is definitely her... -
![Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh]()
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsBrace yourself, America, for Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting—the novel and the film that became the cult sensations of Britain. Trainspotting is the novel that first launched Irvine Welsh's spectacular career—an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives. It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby, Jr... -
![Devils Within by S.F. Henson]()
Devils Within by S.F. Henson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsKilling isn’t supposed to be easy. But it is. It’s the after that’s hard to deal with.Nate was eight the first time he stabbed someone; he was eleven when he earned his red laces—a prize for spilling blood for “the cause... -
![Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner]()
Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the tradition of Jack London, Seth Kantner presents an Alaska far removed from majestic clichés of exotic travelogues and picture postcards. Kantner’s vivid and poetic prose lets readers experience Cutuk Hawcly’s life on the Alaskan plains through the character’s own words — feeling the pliers pinch of cold and hunkering in an igloo in blinding blizzards...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic action-adventure animals book contemporary family -
![Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman]()
Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsTold with drama and insight, this novel begins when Dan, a world champion gymnast, meets his powerful 96-year-old mentor Socrates, an all-night gas station attendant. Guided by this wise old mentor, Dan learns new ways to see the world and live life to its fullest... -
![Chasing River by K.A. Tucker]()
Chasing River by K.A. Tucker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArmed with two years' worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude. Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic university action-adventure alpha-mc audiobook book -
![This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston]()
This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFive went in. Four came out.No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them... -
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![What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges]()
What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJust about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure book comedy -
![The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector]()
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector's consummate final novel, may well be her masterpiece. Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre]()
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsJean-Paul Sartre, the great French existentialist, displays his mastery of drama in NO EXIT, an unforgettable portrayal of hell.The play is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for all eternity...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university 20th-century action-adventure adult afterlife audiobook -
![Room by Emma Donoghue]()
Room by Emma Donoghue
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsTo five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world....Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience—and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic 21st-century abuse action-adventure audiobook -
![Tell Me Something True by Katherine Owen]()
Tell Me Something True by Katherine Owen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTell Me Something True is the third book in the Truth In Lies series and cannot be read as a standalone. Please read This Much Is True and The Truth About Air & Water, books 1 and 2 in the Truth In Lies Series, first... -
![Alice on a Friday Night: A Novel of Addictions and Dreams by Dessi Nikko, Diana Naneva]()
Alice on a Friday Night: A Novel of Addictions and Dreams by Dessi Nikko, Diana Naneva
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNational Award for Debut Fiction (Bulgaria) * Eastern European Bestseller * Deliciously Illustrated She is youwhen youwere lost...Love is an addiction. Trying to understand people is an addiction. As are drugs, alcohol, and eating disorders. And every addiction is a whole new world worth exploring.So Alice explores... -
![Otherside of Fear by Ashley Claudy]()
Otherside of Fear by Ashley Claudy
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn sale for 2.99. Price will rise after release. Book Three in the Outside The Ropes Series.Regan and Gage have fought their entire lives.For themselves.For each other.Now together, side by side. But as new fears arise, mixing with the old ones of their past, they will face their greatest fight yet... -
![Weaver's Needle by Robin Caroll]()
Weaver's Needle by Robin Caroll
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo recovery specialists. One murder. A hunt for the Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine becomes a race of survival. Former Army MP Landry Parker fell into the recovery specialist role quite by accident—to help her ailing father. Now that she’s on her own, she is determined to prove herself and honor her family legacy... -
![Never Far Away by Michael Koryta]()
Never Far Away by Michael Koryta
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOnce a wife, mother, and witness to a gruesome crime, Nina Morgan has been in hiding for a decade as Leah Trenton. She left behind her Midwestern roots to move to the northernmost tip of Maine. She also left behind a family... -
![OCDaniel by Wesley King, Roman De Campo]()
OCDaniel by Wesley King, Roman De Campo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the author of Incredible Space Raiders from Space! comes a brand-new coming-of-age story about a boy whose life revolves around hiding his obsessive compulsive disorder—until he gets a mysterious note that changes everything.Daniel is the back-up punter for the Erie Hills Elephants. Which really means he’s the water boy...Categorized as:
coming-of-age realistic sports action-adventure audiobook book children contemporary -
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![The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa]()
The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWinner of the Yomiuri Literature PrizeWinner of the Honya Taisho (The Booksellers Prize)Winner of the Sugaku Shuppan-Sho (from the Japanese Academy of Mathematics)A Japan Foundation Selection A publishing phenomenon in Japan--and a heartwarming story that will change the way we all see math, baseball, memory, and each other She is a housekeeper by trade, a single mom by choice, shy, brilliant,...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic sports 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure -
![The Long Walk by Richard Bachman, Stephen King]()
The Long Walk by Richard Bachman, Stephen King
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsOn the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as The Long Walk. If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying. Reissue...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook -
![There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar]()
There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWith the new school counselor's help, Bradley begins to see himself as less of a monster and more of an individual capable of believing in himself...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age realistic 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book bullying -
![Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz]()
Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLast fall, sixteen-year-old Camelia fell for Ben, a new boy at school who had a very mysterious gift – psychometry, the ability to sense the future through touch. But just as Camelia and Ben's romance began to heat up, he abruptly left town. Brokenhearted, Camelia has spent the last few months studying everything she can about psychometry and experiencing strange brushes with premonition... -
![A Heart So White by Javier Marías]()
A Heart So White by Javier Marías
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university 20th-century action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens]()
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsCollege student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction north-america realistic usa 21st-century abuse action-adventure -
![She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper]()
She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEleven-year-old Polly is smart far beyond her years. But she's a loner. Her mother tells her she has 'gunfighter eyes', like the father she's never met. In prison, about to be released, Nate runs afoul of the powerful leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. Marked for death on his release, Nate soon realizes that everyone he has ever loved is a target - including his daughter, Polly...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic action-adventure audiobook book contemporary crime -
![Girl Underwater by Claire Kells]()
Girl Underwater by Claire Kells
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer’s harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her—only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness. Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic sports university action-adventure audiobook book -
![Nightwork by Irwin Shaw]()
Nightwork by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dead man’s briefcase presents a down-on-his-luck pilot with the chance of a lifetime.Pilot Douglas Grimes’s best days are long behind him. Grounded due to a medical condition, Douglas has resigned himself to menial work as a desk clerk at a seedy hotel. But his fortune flips when he discovers a hotel guest dead from a heart attack and, next to him, a tube jammed with hundred-dollar bills...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge]()
Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGeorge Gastin is a Bay Area tow-truck operator who wrecks cars as part of an insurance scam. One of the cars he is hired to demolish is a snow-white Cadillac that was supposed to be a present for the Big Bopper, who died in the Iowa plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Gastin has a change of heart and takes off in the car, heading for Texas where the Bopper is buried...Categorized as:
literary-fiction realistic action-adventure adult book contemporary dark-humor fiction -
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![Little White Lies by Katie Dale]()
Little White Lies by Katie Dale
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe first time Lou meets mysterious Christian, she knows he is The One. But Christian is hiding a terrible secret. Why does he clam up every time Lou asks about his past? Why doesn’t he have any family photos, and why does he dye his blond hair black? When Christian’s house goes up in flames, his tires are slashed, and he flees for his life, Lou insists on going with him... -
![Pregnant with My Roommate's Dad by Sofia T. Summers]()
Pregnant with My Roommate's Dad by Sofia T. Summers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDaily schedule:Wake upPartyCrush on the roommate’s dadRepeatI have one word for this messed up life of mine.Disaster.My best friend literally lives with me.And I drool over her dad right in front of her eyes.She trusts me too much to notice it.And I love him too much to stop.He adores my curves.He nurtures the crazy side of me.And now… Now he’s also put a baby in me...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university action-adventure age-gap anthologies contemporary female-mc -
![The Outsider by Albert Camus]()
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsMeursault will not pretend. After the death of his mother, everyone is shocked when he shows no sadness. And when he commits a random act of violence in Algiers, society is baffled...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction realistic university 20th-century action-adventure adult africa -
![Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk]()
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsShe's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction realistic university 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Ishmael by Daniel Quinn]()
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsWinner of the 1992 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, "Ishmael" is a unique and captivating novel that has earned a large and passionate following among readers and critics worldwide... -
![The Horse Dancer by Jojo Moyes]()
The Horse Dancer by Jojo Moyes
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, a novel about a lost girl and her horse, the enduring strength of friendship, and how even the smallest choices can change everythingWhen Sarah's grandfather gives her a beautiful horse named Boo--hoping that one day she'll follow in his footsteps to join an elite French riding school, away from their gritty London...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic action-adventure adult animals audiobook book
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