Books like 'School Days'
Readers who enjoyed School Days by Jonathan Galassi also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
psychological dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq friendship literary-fiction coming-of-age
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Time Regained by Marcel Proust, D.J. Enright
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTime Regained, the final volume of In Search of Lost Time, begins in the bleak and uncertain years of World War I. Years later, after the war’s end, Proust’s narrator returns to Paris and reflects on time, reality, jealousy, artistic creation, and the raw material of literature—his past life...Categorized as:
dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book -
![Dark Mother Earth by Kristian Novak]()
Dark Mother Earth by Kristian Novak
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn amnesiac writer’s life of lies and false memories reaches a breaking point in this stunning English-language debut from an award-winning Croatian author.As a novelist, Matija makes things up for a living. Not yet thirty, he’s written two well-received books. It’s his third that is as big a failure as his private life...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction 21st-century adult book contemporary crime -
![One Moment by Linda Green]()
One Moment by Linda Green
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFinn and Kaz are about to meet for the first time. Ten-year-old Finn, a quirky, sensitive boy who talks a lot and only eats at cafes with a 5-star hygiene rating, is having a tough time at school and home. Outspoken Kaz, 59, who has an acerbic sense of humour and a heart of gold, is working at the café when Finn and his mum come in... -
![The Innkeeper by Tess Thompson]()
The Innkeeper by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was supposed to be a night to forget. After a night of sizzling passion, they agreed to never contact each other again. Fate disagreed.Jamie Wattson has no use for men who leave and as far as she’s concerned, they all do. She’s focused on running her inn and spending time with girlfriends. Life is simple and she wants it that way... -
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![Body and Soul by Frank Conroy]()
Body and Soul by Frank Conroy
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the dim light of a basement apartment, six-year-old Claude Rawlings sits at an old white piano, picking out the sounds he has heard on the radio and shutting out the reality of his lonely world.The setting is 1940s New York, a city that is "long gone, replaced by another city of the same name...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century book classics drama epic -
![To Live by C.G. Cooper]()
To Live by C.G. Cooper
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsElmore Thadeus Nix, it's retirement time. You're sixty-five and ready. Take that final physical and then it's adios to your old life and hello to the new. Not so fast. Sorry, Elmore. Your plan's about to change. It's Elmore's last day of work. As part of his retirement, he heads to the family doctor for the follow-up to a routine physical. That's when the universe shifts on its axis. Cancer...Categorized as:
coming-of-age friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction adult book contemporary drama -
![Demian by Hermann Hesse]()
Demian by Hermann Hesse
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsEmil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a bourgeois home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words that means "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Emil's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth... -
![The Complete Stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote]()
The Complete Stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA landmark collection that brings together Truman Capote’s life’s work in the form he called his “great love,” The Complete Stories confirms Capote’s status as a master of the short story...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics drama -
![The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna]()
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for the ISBN can be found here."Ned was beside me, his messages running easily through him, with space between each one, coming through him like water. He was the go-between, going between the animal kingdom and this one. I watched the waves as they rolled and crashed towards us, one after another, never stopping, always changing... -
![Everything Calls for Salvation by Daniele Mencarelli]()
Everything Calls for Salvation by Daniele Mencarelli
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWINNER OF THE 2020 YOUTH STREGA PRIZEFrom one of the most exciting voices in a new generation of Italian writers, a powerful and moving novel that explores both the darkest recesses and the most luminous regions of the human heartJune 1994. Twenty-year-old Daniele wakes up in a hospital room, confused and surrounded by strangers... -
![The Waves (Annotated) by Virginia Woolf, Molly Hite]()
The Waves (Annotated) by Virginia Woolf, Molly Hite
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe Waves is often regarded as Virginia Woolf's masterpiece, standing with those few works of twentieth-century literature that have created unique forms of their own. In deeply poetic prose, Woolf traces the lives of six children from infancy to death who fleetingly unite around the unseen figure of a seventh child, Percival...Categorized as:
coming-of-age friendship historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook -
![Prove Me Right by Anna Brooks]()
Prove Me Right by Anna Brooks
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOne weakness can change everything. Meara and Liam were friends before they could talk, in love since they could drive, and planning their future before they graduated high school. In order to start the life they’ve always dreamed of, Liam just has to finish his tour with the band. He doesn't want anyone else. Liam's only ever had eyes for Meara, and he can't wait to finally get home to her... -
![Bodies of Water by T. Greenwood]()
Bodies of Water by T. Greenwood
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1960, Billie Valentine is a young housewife living in a sleepy Massachusetts suburb, treading water in a dull marriage and caring for two adopted daughters. Summers spent with the girls at their lakeside camp in Vermont are her one escape--from her husband's demands, from days consumed by household drudgery, and from the nagging suspicion that life was supposed to hold something different... -
![The House of Gazes by Daniele Mencarelli]()
The House of Gazes by Daniele Mencarelli
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWinner of the 2019 John Fante First Novel Prize The critically acclaimed novel from the author of Everything Calls for Salvation , adapted into a Netflix Original series, is a powerful coming-of-age story about loss, identity, and rebirth Daniele is a young poet plagued by an unknown darkness, “an invisible disease of the heart, or of the mind...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction contemporary audiobook drama psychological book -
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![A Life Worth Living by Louise Guy]()
A Life Worth Living by Louise Guy
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAre some white lies simply too big to forgive?Eve and Leah are identical twins—but beyond that, they’re polar opposites. Struggling journalist Leah envies Eve’s seemingly perfect life—the loyal husband, the beautiful twin daughters, the stellar career—little knowing that what Eve longs for most is Leah’s independence... -
![The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth]()
The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis novel in verse about a group of California yuppies was one of the most highly praised books of 1986 and a bestseller on both coasts...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult book classics contemporary -
![The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf]()
The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter 25 years in exile, Adam travels from France to his homeland in the Middle East to bid farewell to his dying childhood friend.One night, a phone rings in Paris. Adam learns that Mourad, once his closest friend, is dying. He quickly throws some clothes in a suitcase and takes the first flight out, to the homeland he fled twenty-five years ago...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult book contemporary drama -
![In the Distance by Hernan Diaz]()
In the Distance by Hernan Diaz
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA young Swedish boy finds himself penniless and alone in California. He travels east in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great push to the west. Driven back over and over again on his journey through vast expanses, Håkan meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend... -
![Bloodsport by Yves Olade]()
Bloodsport by Yves Olade
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingswe say sacrifice / we mean murder / our lips are red for a... -
![A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas, Imre Goldstein]()
A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas, Imre Goldstein
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis extraordinary magnum opus seems at first to be a confessional autobiographical novel in the grand manner, claiming and extending the legacy of Proust and Mann. But it is more: Peter Nadas has given us a superb contemporary psychological novel that comes to terms with the ghosts, corpses, and repressed nightmares of Europe's recent past...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book classics -
![The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis]()
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA sensational new novel from the best-selling author of Less Than Zero and Imperial Bedrooms that tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 21st-century adult audiobook -
![Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram]()
Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is a novel by the author of Hold Tight... -
![Invisible Love by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt]()
Invisible Love by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEric-Emmanuel Schmitt is the author of three luminous collections of short stories published by Europa Editions, including the bestselling Most Beautiful Book in the World, and one novel, Three Women in a Mirror... -
![Five Steps to Happy by Ella Dove]()
Five Steps to Happy by Ella Dove
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'An up-lit treasure' Red magazine Life can change in a heartbeat... When struggling actress Heidi has a life-changing accident aged 32, her world falls apart. Stuck in hospital and unable to walk, her only companion is Maud, the elderly lady in the bed next to hers... -
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![Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad]()
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA pop-saturated epic novel about the second man on the moon, and the quiet thirty-year-old gardener who idolizes him. A story of unconventional psychiatry, the Faroe Islands, amateur boat building, and the journey across the space that divides us from other people: a journey as remote and dangerous as the trip to the moon itself... -
![Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin]()
Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn old American who lives in Brazil is writing his memoirs. An English teacher at the naval academy, he is married to a woman young enough to be his daughter and has a little son whom he loves. He sits in a mountain garden in Niterói, overlooking the ocean...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult book crime fiction -
![Sacred Country by Rose Tremain]()
Sacred Country by Rose Tremain
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAt the age of six, Mary Ward, the child of a poor farming family in Suffolk, has a revelation: she isn't Mary, she's a boy. So begins Mary's heroic struggle to change gender, while around her others also strive to find a place of safety and fulfilment in a savage and confusing world...Categorized as:
coming-of-age friendship historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook -
![The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White]()
The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFollowing A Boy's Own Story (now a classic of American fiction) and his richly acclaimed The Beautiful Room Is Empty, here is the eagerly awaited final volume of Edmund White's groundbreaking autobiographical trilogy...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics comedy -
![Maple & Willow Together by Lori Nichols]()
Maple & Willow Together by Lori Nichols
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCelebrating imagination and inventive play, Lori Nichols' follow-up to Maple perfectly captures the dynamics of siblings and their ability to figure things out on their own and find a way to meet halfway.Maple and Willow do everything together. They love playing outside throughout the whole year, welcoming the sun, rain, leaves, and snow... -
![Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright by Steven Millhauser]()
Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright by Steven Millhauser
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEdwin Mullhouse, a novelist at 10, is mysteriously dead at 11. As a memorial, Edwin's bestfriend, Jeffrey Cartwright, decides that the life of this great American writer must be told. He follows Edwin's development from his preverbal first noises through his love for comic books to the fulfillment of his literary genius in the remarkable novel, Cartoons...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction adult bildungsroman book classics fiction -
![The Vivisector by Patrick White]()
The Vivisector by Patrick White
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHurtle Duffield, a painter, coldly dissects the weaknesses of any and all who enter his circle. His sister's deformity, a grocer's moonlight indiscretion, the passionate illusions of the women who love him - all are used as fodder for his art...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book classics fiction -
![Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett]()
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShortlisted for the 2007 Costa Novel Award“I read Skin Lane with one eye closed out of sheer animal terror. Then, unimaginably, it brought me to tears; what a work of art—so unexpected and heartbreaking and lovely.”—Armistead Maupin“A powerful and complex story of sexual obsession. . . . A profoundly original meditation on thwarted desire... -
![War Against the Animals by Paul Russell]()
War Against the Animals by Paul Russell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCameron Barnes, formerly of New York City, lives in a small town in upstate New York. After having nearly succumbed to AIDS, he's recently regained a measure of his health but his long-term lover has moved away, and Cameron faces the daunting prospect of learning how to live with the idea of a future in mind again... -
![Eustace Chisholm and the Works by James Purdy]()
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![The Other Half of Me by Katherine Slee]()
The Other Half of Me by Katherine Slee
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe ran from her past, abandoned her dreams. But is it too late to start again?Since the death of her big sister, Beth has felt lost, a shadow of her former self...Categorized as:
literary-fiction friendship coming-of-age fiction contemporary family audiobook young-adult -
![Exposure by Ava Dellaira]()
Exposure by Ava Dellaira
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA life-changing moment encompasses conflicting truths that echo across time, in this powerful, provocative debut.One night, two people, four sides of a story.In 2004, Juliette Marker, a white college freshman, and Noah King, a Black high school senior, are two lonely souls who enter each other’s orbit, forge a connection, and, after a chance meeting, go home together...Categorized as:
literary-fiction lgbtq friendship coming-of-age fiction audiobook contemporary season-spring -
![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... -
![Pet by Catherine Chidgey]()
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA suspenseful new psychological thriller from the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted and Dublin Literary Award shortlisted author of Remote Sympathy, Catherine Chidgey.Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic new teacher and longs to be her pet... -
![Confusion by Stefan Zweig]()
Confusion by Stefan Zweig
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRoland, a young student at a new university, meets an inspirational teacher who sweeps him into his world of literature and learning. When the boy moves into the same building as the teacher and his wife, he becomes ever closer to this remarkable man, though he also senses his mentor pulling away from him – sometimes even seeming to hate him...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark-academia lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book -
![You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett]()
You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn his bestselling and lavishly praised first book of stories, Adam Haslett explores lives that appear shuttered by loss and discovers entire worlds hidden inside them. The impact is at once harrowing and thrilling.An elderly inventor, burning with manic creativity, tries to reconcile with his estranged gay son...Categorized as:
coming-of-age lgbtq literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
![A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch, Peter Reed]()
A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch, Peter Reed
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book -
![Apparitions by Adam Pottle]()
Apparitions by Adam Pottle
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"An intensely unsettling read." -David Demchuk, author of The Bone Mother and RED XVIOLENCE WAS HIS FIRST LANGUAGE. After years of imprisonment, a Deaf teen escapes his father's basement...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction horror fiction disability audiobook terror-horror -
![The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden]()
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsAn exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.A house is a precious thing...It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction historical fiction wlw journey psychological -
![Grand Opening by Jon Hassler]()
Grand Opening by Jon Hassler
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwelve-year old Brendan tells the story, set in 1944-45, that begins with his parents' decision to buy a run-down grocery store in a tiny Minnesota town. What they discover about small town idealism, bigotry, and good old American values will change them and the town forever...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction adult book family fiction historical psychological -
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![Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro]()
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA GRIPPING NEW NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF INHERITANCEOne Night. One Fateful Choice. A Constellation of Lives Changed Forever.SIGNAL FIRES opens on a summer night in 1985. Three teenagers have been drinking. One of them gets behind the wheel of a car, and, in an instant, everything on Division Street changes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction audiobook contemporary mystery family -
![Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker, Gary Giddins]()
Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker, Gary Giddins
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsRick Martin loved music and the music loved him. He could pick up a tune so quickly that it didn’t matter to the Cotton Club boss that he was underage, or to the guys in the band that he was just a white kid. He started out in the slums of LA with nothing, and he ended up on top of the game in the speakeasies and nightclubs of New York...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction classics 20th-century female-author wlw -
![All the Little Animals by Walker Hamilton]()
All the Little Animals by Walker Hamilton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA beguiling, unsettling and ultimately moving modern fable set on the byways of rural Cornwall; a story about running away, the search for acceptance and burying road-kill.Bobby is a 31 year old man with the mind of a small, frightened boy. He has run away from his privileged but abusive London home to rural Cornwall...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction action-adventure adult book contemporary drama fiction -
![Simon Says by Elaine Marie Alphin]()
Simon Says by Elaine Marie Alphin
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAspiring young artist, Charles Weston has enrolled in a private arts high school solely to meet the "famous" Graeme Brandt, a student whose recently published novel touched a chord deep within Charles.But Graeme is not at all what Charles expected, and soon the two teen prodigies are drawn into a clash of wills that threatens to destroy them both... -
![Punk Like Me by J.D. Glass]()
Punk Like Me by J.D. Glass
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA coming of age story, a love story…a brave, brilliant story of strength and seldiscovery. Twenty-one year old Nina writes lyrics and plays guitar in the rock band, Adam’s Rib, and she doesn’t always play by the rules. And, oh yeah—she has a way with the girls. Even her brother Nicky’s girlfriends think she’s hot... -
![Flatlands by Sue Hubbard]()
Flatlands by Sue Hubbard
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA moving tale of unlikely friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild wetland landscape of the English Fens during World War IIPerfect for fans of Atonement , this gorgeous coming of age explores the connection between Philip, a conscientious objector, and Freda, a young London evacuee housed by a cruel familyFreda is a twelve-year-old evacuee from East London, who has been sent away at...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age friendship fiction historical ww2 outdoors
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