Books like 'A Common Pornography'
Readers who enjoyed A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary 20th century family coming-of-age tragedy dark politics
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The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsRenowned hip-hop artist, writer, and activist Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life in a powerful and utterly unforgettable first novel.I came busting into the world during one of New York's worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter.Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family... -
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsA young woman holds her newborn son And looks at him lovingly. Softly she sings to him: "I'll love you forever I'll like you for always As long as I'm living My baby you'll be."So begins the story that has touched the hearts of millions worldwide... -
When I Last Saw You by Bette Lee Crosby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom USA Today Bestselling Author Bette Lee Crosby comes a powerful southern saga based on a true story... Betrayal and secrets tore her family apart decades ago, now a lonely widow must search for the pieces of her broken childhood. WHEN I LAST SAW YOUGeorgia, 1968 - Margaret Rose McCutcheon has just buried her husband and must now name a beneficiary for the estate upon her demise...Categorized as:
family 20th-century adult book contemporary fiction historical-fiction womens-fiction -
The Short Novels of John Steinbeck by John Steinbeck
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsCollected here for the first time in a deluxe paperback volume are six of John Steinbeck's most widely read and beloved novels... -
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Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPart of the Penguin 60s series, issued to celebrate 60 years of Penguin books. This collects "Sonny's Blues", "The Rockpile" and "Previous Condition", all taken from Going to Meet the Man (Penguin, 1991)... -
Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratings'Promise at Dawn' begins as the story of a mother's sacrifice. Alone and poor, she fights fiercely to give her son the very best. Gary chronicles his childhood with her in Russia, Poland, and on the French Riviera. And he recounts his adventurous life as a young man fighting for France in the Second World War... -
Searching for David's Heart: A Christmas Story by Cherie Bennett
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen her older brother, David, dies in an accident, Darcy feels responsible for his death. Then she meets the boy who received David's heart in an organ transplant, and learns that life truly does go on.A journey of faith, hope, and love.Life at Darcy's house isn't always easy. Money is tight, and her parents argue a lot...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family tragedy 20th-century action-adventure book children children-books -
The Grapes of Wrath/The Moon is Down/Cannery Row/East of Eden/Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Grapes of Wrath / The Moon Is Down / Cannery Row / East of Eden / Of Mice and... -
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H... -
A Wing and a Prayer: A young womans journey to love and happiness by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFor Mary Callaghan marriage has brought heartaches and disappointment. But with it have come joys, the greatest of which are her daughters, Daisy and Nell. Mary longs for them to have the one thing denied to her -- a husband who will offer them kindness, security and love. But when Daisy confesses she's pregnant, Mary knows the future looks grim, for the father's a rough, pleasure-loving man... -
Fool for Love and Other Plays by Sam Shepard
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHere are eight of Pulitzer-prizewinning Sam Shepard's most stunning plays. This brilliant American dramatist creates what The New Yorker dubbed "Shepard Country"--a landscape of the imagination, a unique theatrical experience that captures our culture and consciouness, our fears and fantasies... -
Seven Plays by Sam Shepard
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIncludes "Buried Child", "Curse of the Starving Class" , "The Tooth of Crime", "La Turista" , "Savage Loge", and "True West". Brilliant, prolific, uniquely American, Pulitzer prizewinning playwright Sam Separd is a major voice in contemporary theatre. And here are seven of his very best. "One of the most original, prolific and gifted dramatists at work today... -
Whisper on the Wind by Elizabeth Elgin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWorld War Two. For men, an era of terrible devastation, broken lives and perhaps a glimpse of heroism. But for many women, a time of opportunity, a new-found freedom, a challenge in a changing world... -
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe sixties and seventies witnessed the emergence of Joyce Carol Oates as one of America's foremost writers of the short story. In 1962, 'The Fine White Mist of Winter, ' composed when the author was 19 years old, appeared in The Literary Review and was selected for both the O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories of that year...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary female-author -
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Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNearing fifty, Joe Ransom won't slow down, not in his pickup, not with a gun-and certainly not with women. But all the fast living in Mississippi won't fill the hunger Joe can't name. At fifteen, Gary Jones is already slipping through the cracks. Part of a hopeless, homeless wandering family, he's desperate for a way out. He finds it in Joe... -
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn this Newbery Honor Book from beloved author Beverly Cleary, eight-year-old Ramona Quimby's zest for life is infectious as ever. Whether speaking her mind to her third-grade teacher, or befriending her schoolyard bully, Ramona can't be kept down!Then one day an embarrassing incident in the classroom leaves Ramona completely humiliated... -
The Lost Son by Prue Leith
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGripping family drama from household name Prue Leith. Perfect for fans of Penny Vincenzi and Barbara Taylor Bradford. The Angelotti family reels when the lost son, given up for adoption in the war, traces his birth family and returns to the fold, with devastating consequences... -
If You Were the Only Girl by Anne Bennett
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA moving family drama of one young woman’s fight to survive, to find her long-lost relatives and to find a place to call home Bridgette has been hurt many times in her life. Her early years were blighted by her spoilt brother; her marriage ruined by World War Two. Now her mother is dying. And then comes a deathbed revelation – somewhere Bridgette has another family and a father... -
The Mistress of Pennington's: Can a woman succeed in a man's world? by Rachel Brimble
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings1910 – A compelling tale of female empowerment in Bath's leading department store. Perfect for the fans of the TV series Mr Selfridge and The Paradise. Elizabeth Pennington should be the rightful heir of Bath's premier department store through her enterprising schemes and dogged hard work...Categorized as:
family politics romance contemporary historical-fiction audiobook female-author fiction -
Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDoomed loves, failed families, nixed dreamssomeone else's leftovers are heaped on our plates the day we come into this world. Big Macs and pop tunes mask the emptiness as Madeline watches her mom drink away their welfare checks. Until the day Tad, a quirky McDonald's counter boy, asks Madeline out for a date, and she gets her first taste of normal... -
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry;..." Girl, a short story by Jamaica Kincaid, was originally published in the June 26, 1978 issue of The New Yorker and subsequently included in the short story collection At the Bottom of the River in 1983...Categorized as:
family coming-of-age fiction feminism classics contemporary university literary-fiction -
The China Garden by Liz Berry
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker. Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden. Then her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate... -
Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOffering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Indecent Exposure... -
The Risk Pool by Richard Russo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Risk Pool is a thirty-year journey through the lives of Sam Hall, a small-town gambling hellraiser, and his watchful, introspective son Ned... -
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The Book Of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGalway Kinnell's poetry has always been marked by richness of language, devotion to the things and creatures of the world, and an effort to transform every understanding into the universality of art... -
Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill, Harold Bloom
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsEugene O'Neill's autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as his finest work. First published by Yale University Press in 1956, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and has since sold more than one million copies. This edition includes a new foreword by Harold Bloom... -
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsDear Reader,If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled... -
Superfudge by Judy Blume
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsHe knows a lot of big words, but he doesn’t know where babies come from. He’s never heard of a stork, but he plans to be a bird when he grows up. He’s Superfudge, otherwise known as Farley Drexel Hatcher. And, according to his older brother Peter, the biggest pain ever invented. Among other things.As fans of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing already know, nothing is simple for Peter Hatcher... -
My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVenus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing... -
Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSasha Filipenko traces the arc of Russian history from Stalin's terror to the present day, in a novel full of heart and humanity.One struggles not to forget, while the other would like nothing better. Tatiana Alexeyevna is an old woman, over ninety, rich in lived experience, and suffering from Alzheimer's. Every day, she loses a few more of her irreplaceable memories...Categorized as:
politics family historical-fiction fiction contemporary literary-fiction audiobook war -
The Family Ship by Sonja Yoerg
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a disarming and emotional novel about a family in distress and a daughter’s mission to keep it from going under.Chesapeake Bay, 1980. Eighteen-year-old Verity Vergennes is the captain of the USS Nepenthe, and her seven younger siblings are her crew...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family dark historical-fiction fiction contemporary audiobook young-adult -
Hello Summer, Goodbye by Michael G. Coney
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was an alien planet - yet not too alien from Earth. It had its differences; its ice goblins, its curious furry lorrin, its thickening water, and its unearthly tides, but for a young man like Alika-Drove thinking of a vacation by the sea these oddities were the norm.But this vacation was different...Categorized as:
coming-of-age politics 20th-century action-adventure bildungsroman book classics contemporary -
Another You by Jane Cable
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA book that will stay with you long after the story ends! Perfect for fans of Diane Chamberlain, Nora Roberts, Lorna Cook and Victoria Connelly. Sometimes the hardest person to save is yourself… Marie Johnson fell in love with The Smugglers pub when she first moved to Dorset with her husband, Stephen... -
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Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn epic spanning three generations, Leaves of the Banyan Tree tells the story of a family and community in Western Samoa, exploring on a grand scale such universal themes as greed, corruption, colonialism, exploitation, and revenge. Winner of the 1980 New Zealand Wattie Book of the Year Award, it is considered a classic work of Pacific literature...Categorized as:
family politics historical-fiction fiction literary-fiction 20th-century journey classics -
The Lockhart Women by Mary Camarillo
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBrenda Lockhart’s family has been living well beyond their means for too long when Brenda’s husband leaves them—for an older and less attractive woman than Brenda, no less. Brenda’s never worked outside the home, and the family’s economic situation quickly declines...Categorized as:
family coming-of-age fiction historical-fiction womens-fiction audiobook contemporary 20th-century -
Mona in Three Acts by Griet Op de Beeck, Michele Hutchison
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this international bestseller, a woman comes of age in a poignant novel about forgiveness, pain, and self-discovery.Mona’s demanding mother ruled their home until a car crash took her life and changed their family forever. Left to tend to a distant father and a needy younger brother, Mona finds her new role almost too much to bear... -
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... -
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this bestselling classic novel which became a famous film, Jane Graham, alone and pregnant, retreats to a dingy attic bedsit in Fulham where she finds unexpected companionship, happiness and love... -
Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith his vivid, stylized prose, cyberpunk intensity, and seemingly limitless imagination, Jack Womack has been compared to both William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut - though Gibson admits, "If you dropped the characters from Neuromancer into Womack's Manhattan, they'd fall down screaming and have nervous breakdowns"... -
Ruby by V.C. Andrews
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe New York Times best-selling novels of V.C. Andrews have captivated millions of readers worldwide. Now comes a thrilling new series about the dark, forbidden secrets that change the lives of the Landry family. Ruby Landry is a 15-year -old Cajun girl who lives on the Louisiana bayou. An illegitimate child whose young mother died at her birth, Ruby lives with her Grandmere Catherine... -
White People by Allan Gurganus
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn these eleven stories, Allan Gurganus—author of the highly acclaimed Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All—gives heartbreaking and hilarious voice to the fears, desires and triumphs of a grand cast of Americans... -
Project for a Revolution in New York by Alain Robbe-Grillet
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPart prophecy and part erotic fantasy, this classic tale of otherworldly depravity features New York itself or a foreigner's nightmare of New York as its true protagonist... -
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Harvey sisters are unconventional, unschooled and oddly named. They have been brought up at quite some distance from the rest of the world. Living with their famous detective writer father, and their fragile mother, they have been one another’s friends – with hardly any experience of people outside their family... -
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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... -
The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this series of interweaving stories, Munro recreates the evolving bond between two women in the course of almost forty years. One is Flo, practical, suspicious of other people's airs, at times dismayingly vulgar. The other is Rose, Flo's stepdaughter, a clumsy, shy girl who somehow leaves the small town she grew up in to achieve her own equivocal success in the larger world...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook bildungsroman classics -
Black Box by Amos Oz
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA powerful and tragicomic blend of politics and personal destiny, Black Box records in a series of letters the wrecked marriage of Ilana and Alex. Seven years of silence following their bitter divorce is broken when Ilana writes to Alex for help over their wayward and illiterate son, Boaz, and old emotional scars are reopened... -
Anastasia Again! by Lois Lowry
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"As soon as I finish this chocolate pudding, I'm going to jump out the window." Twelve-year-old Anastasia Krupnik has just discovered that her parents are planning a move to the suburbs. And she happens to know that people in the suburbs do not have meaningful paintings on their walls. They have paint-by-numbers pictures of kittens with big eyes playing with balls of yarn...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family 20th-century children children-books classics contemporary female-author -
Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst by Lois Lowry
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNo one understands thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnik, least of all her parents and her little brother, Sam, who happens to be a genius. They're such an embarrassment. Why can't they be normal, like Anastasia?Then presto! Anastasia realizes that she has the problem--not her relatives--and she must find help immediately. There's not a moment to lose...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family 20th-century children children-books comedy contemporary female-author -
Anastasia on Her Own by Lois Lowry, Diane deGroat
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHer family's new, organized schedule for easy housekeeping makes Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town, until she hits unexpected complications...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family 20th-century children children-books contemporary female-mc fiction
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