Chapter 42 - The Twin

I was speaking with a friend recently who told me how much she enjoyed a book I'd recommended. She then asked if I had another recommendation just like that book but completely different. An odd request one might think but I totally got it. I started to go down the road of what she liked about the first book, was it the story, the time period, the protagonist, the environment, or maybe the genre. She stated that she liked it because of the time period (World War II) and the location (Channel Islands) as she had not known about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during the war. I gave her a few suggestions and we signed off.

Interestingly enough I was in a large bookstore last week and bumped into a woman who was looking for a read-alike for a book she had just read. The bookseller was leading her down all sorts of paths without really asking what it was about the book she had enjoyed. The woman was frustrated, the clerk was frustrated as the woman kept saying no to the recommendations, so, of course, I had to poke my nose in. (Not a habit I usually have unless we are talking books!) I started to ask my routine questions (see above) and after determining the woman was looking for something where older people are the protagonists, the bookseller and I were able to rattle off a few suggestions.

So since this has come up several times in the past months, here are some read-alikes that I've been thinking about.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - Published in 2017 this novel tells the parallel stories of a young blind girl in France and a young German boy in the years leading up to and through World War II. It is an interesting reveal as to how and why their paths cross.

and

Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner - A similar time period again with two parallel stories. In 1938 a 16 year old orphan, Roseanne, is taken in by her dead parents' employer, owners of a vineyard. She is carrying more than just one secret. In 1947 Helen returns to the United States from Austria to her brother's vineyard. In her quest to find Roseanne, a girl she had befriended in the past, Helen learns there are some terrible things happening in America. This was published in March, 2024.

The Measure by Nikki Erlick - When you wake up one morning you find a box outside your door which tells you the exact amount of time you are going to live. What do you do with this information? Do you ignore it? Decide to live your life differently? Or do you decide not to open the box? The story follows eight people in their journey of discovery of the box. This novel was first published in June, 2022.

and

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin - Four children get up their nerve and go to see a Romani fortune teller. She tells each of them the exact day of their deaths. What each child does with the information is the rest of the story. This novel was published in 2018.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - First published in 2022, Klara is an artificial friend with exceptional observational skills. She is picked to be the companion of a young girl and is terrific at her job. But, what happens when the girl grows up and Klara becomes obsolete due to new technology? Great themes of artificial intelligence, friendship, and love in this book.

and

The Echo Wife by Sara Gailey - Evelyn Caldwell has made Martine, an product of Artificial Intelligence, through years of meticulous research. She is everything Evelyn is not - sweet, subservient, and gentle. Just so happens that Martine is also having an affair with Evelyn's husband. Now Evelyn's husband is dead leaving both Caldwell wives to clean the mess up. The Echo Wife was first published in 2021.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - Feeling as if his life is worthless, Ove, a curmudgeonly Swede is ready to be done with it. Enter his next door neighbors, a helpless young Swede, a vivacious Iranian woman, and two beautiful children. It is a story of who rescued whom. Originally published in 2014, this book has become a best seller and a movie.

and

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg - Arthur's life has been pretty much the same for the past six months. He tends to his garden, takes care of his cat, and then hops a bus to have lunch with his wife - in the cemetery. Eighteen year old Maddy Harris also escapes to the cemetery to get away from the kids at school. Their friendship becomes a surprise and a blessing to them both.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in the Hotel Metropole where he has been staying in well appointed rooms. Moved to a small attic room and never working a day in his life, the count must now figure out how to make his existence bearable while Russia changes drastically around him. This is a wonderful book published in 2017.

Shashenka by Simon Sebeg Montefiore - Shashenka is a young, headstrong, revolutionary in 1916 as the Bolsheviks rise up against the Czar. Imprisoned by the Czar's secret police, Shashenka finds herself 20 years later married to a powerful man with two children. As a friend of Stalin's her own family is safe although friends around her are disappearing. Shashenka is about to embark on a course of action that will put everyone she loves at risk. This is the first of a trilogy which spans the same time period as A Gentleman in Moscow. This novel was originally published in 2008.

Can you think of any read-alikes, you'd like to share? Let me know.