Character-Driven Fiction

Updated April 27, 2023
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The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao
Díaz, Junot
Paper Book
Winner of: The Pulitzer Prize The National Book Critics Circle Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the...
A man called Ove : a novel
Backman, Fredrik
Paper Book
"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life." --People The #1 New York Times bestseller about the grumpy old man next door that's an uplifting exploration of the unreliability of first impressions and a reminder that life...
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Barbery, Muriel
Paper Book
The phenomenal New York Times bestseller that "explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building" (Publishers Weekly). In an elegant hôtel particulier in Paris, Renée, the concierge, is all but invisible--short, plump, middle...
To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper.
Paper Book
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem...
Where'd you go, Bernadette : a novel
Semple, Maria.
Paper Book
A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times). Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's...
A gentleman in Moscow
Towles, Amor
Paper Book
A New York Times "Readers' Choice: Best Books of the 21st Century" Pick The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers--Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov From the #1 New York Times...
Gilead
Robinson, Marilynne.
Paper Book
2005 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction 2004 National Book Critics Circle Winner In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the...
The Interestings
Wolitzer, Meg.
Paper Book
Named a best book of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Time, and The Chicago Tribune, and named a notable book by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post “Remarkable . . . With this book [Wolitzer] has surpassed herself.”...
Everything I never told you
Ng, Celeste.
Paper Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Winner of the Alex Award and the Massachusetts Book Award * Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly,...
Lonesome Dove : a novel
McMurtry, Larry.
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize­-winning American classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America. Journey to the...
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Twain, Mark
Paper Book
"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote, "It's the best book we've had."nbsp;nbsp;A complex masterpiece that has spawned volumes of scholarly exegesis and interpretative theories, it is at heart a compelling adventure...
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Shaffer, Mary Ann.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NOW A NETFLIX FILM * A remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name. "Treat yourself to this book, please--I can't recommend it highly enough."--Elizabeth Gilbert,...
The corrections
Franzen, Jonathan.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER "A spellbinding novel" (People) from the New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections is a comic, tragic epic of worlds colliding: an old-fashioned world...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of two sisters through their correspondence. With a new Preface by the author.
The Joy Luck Club
Tan, Amy.
Paper Book
"The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever. It inspired me as a writer and still remains hugely inspirational."...
The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian
Alexie, Sherman
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller--over one million copies sold!   A National Book Award winner A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the...
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
Honeyman, Gail.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick "Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric...
Major Pettigrew's last stand : a novel
Simonson, Helen.
Paper Book
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely...
Eleanor & Park
Rowell, Rainbow.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Best Seller! "Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."-John Green, The New York Times Book Review Bono met his...
Americanah
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A modern classic about star-crossed lovers that explores questions of race and being Black in America--and the search for what it means to call a place home. * From the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists and Half of a Yellow...
Wonder
Palacio, R. J.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Millions of people have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face--who shows us that kindness brings us together no matter how far apart we are. Read the book that inspired the Choose Kind...
The storied life of A.J. Fikry : a novel
Zevin, Gabrielle.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller, a #1 Indie Next Pick, and a #1 LibraryReads Selection "This novel has humor, romance, a touch of suspense, but most of all love--love of books and bookish people and, really, all of humanity in its imperfect glory." --Eowyn Ivey, author of...
The nest
Sweeney, Cynthia D'Aprix
Paper Book
Instant New York Times Bestseller; named a Best Book of 2016 by People, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Refinery29, NPR and LibraryReads. "Hilarious and big-hearted, The Nest is a stellar debut." -- People "Her writing is like really good dark...
The secret life of bees
Kidd, Sue Monk
Paper Book
The multi-million bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings and The Book of Longings Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells...
An American marriage : a novel
Jones, Tayari
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB 2018 SELECTION LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION "One of my favorite parts of summer is deciding what to read when things slow down just a bit, whether it's on a...
The immortalists
Benjamin, Chloe
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post * NPR * Entertainment Weekly * Real Simple * Marie Claire * New York Public Library * <...

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