Here are 100 books that Number One Fan fans have personally recommended if you like
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I grew up in a small town full of ghosts. They broke plates in a doctorās office-turned-restaurant, feuded in a house built by twins, emerged from cornfields to stand in our headlights, and turned headstones blue in a cemetery where tombstones protruded from the ground like jagged teeth. The stories that surrounded me while I was a teen still bleed into my writing. And as reader, I gravitate toward books that are atmospheric, rich in moments of magic or the unreal, and riddled with stories of the past and long-forgotten.
As one of four sisters, I appreciate a good sister story because thereās always something going on under the surface. House of Hollow is no different. Thereās the complicated dynamic of the three sistersāthe model and fashion designer, the grunge musician, and the loner high school studentārevealed when the eldest goes missing and the two younger sisters search for her. And then thereās the twist of something otherworldlyāthe fact that the girls disappeared for a month as children, reappearing with black eyes, white hair, mysterious scars, and the ability to entrance others with their scent and touch. I couldnāt stop turning the pages.
'A gorgeous, grisly modern fairy tale.' - THE GUARDIAN
'Dark and delicious. House of Hollow hums with malice and mystery. I devoured it whole.' - KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2022 **
The Hollow sisters - Vivi, Grey and Iris - are as seductively glamorous as they are mysterious. They have black eyes and hair as white as milk. The Hollow sisters don't have friends - they don't need them. They move through the corridors like sharks, the other little fish parting around them, whispering behind their backs.
I love books that keep me up at night. I'm constantly trying to get into a good, healthy bedtime routineābut I am also constantly sabotaging that effort by finding books that I simply canāt put down. The feeling of being drawn so deep into a story that the hours slip away is easily one of my favorite feelings in the world. I also love books that make me wake up in the middle of the night, books that slide into my brain and plant new ideas there. As an author, I am always striving to write those books. I can think of no higher compliment than āI stayed up all night reading it.ā
This book delivers truly striking insight into the nature of fear, the cost of survival, and cycles of violence. Dawsonās writing shines here, grounded and visceral, and deeply honest. Between the propulsive and tense plot, the exquisitely rendered characters, and the unflinching examination of the world we live in, this one kept me up late and woke me up early.
How far would you go to be free? Three generations of women forge a new path through an America torn by a mysterious wave of violence in this āchilling [and] dizzyingly effectiveā (The New York Times Book Review) novel of revenge, liberation, and triumph.
āA compulsively readable fusion of domestic thriller and modern horror.āāKameron Hurley, author of The Light Brigade
āA novel that defines this era.āāStephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians
They call it The Violence: a strange epidemic that causes the infected to experience sudden bursts of animalistic rage, with no provocationā¦
I love books that keep me up at night. I'm constantly trying to get into a good, healthy bedtime routineābut I am also constantly sabotaging that effort by finding books that I simply canāt put down. The feeling of being drawn so deep into a story that the hours slip away is easily one of my favorite feelings in the world. I also love books that make me wake up in the middle of the night, books that slide into my brain and plant new ideas there. As an author, I am always striving to write those books. I can think of no higher compliment than āI stayed up all night reading it.ā
Hide feels like a book tailor-made to pull me in and refuse to let go. The pitchāa high-stakes game of hide-and-seek in an abandoned amusement parkāis solid gold, and the book delivers so much more than it promises. With relentless, cutting-class commentary and a truly ferocious sense of clarity, Hide excoriates systems of exploitation with incredible efficiency. I found myself sneaking chapters wherever I could.
A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White, perfect for fans of Stephen King and SQUID GAME.
The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don't get caught.
The prize: enough money to change everything.
Even though everyone is desperate to win - to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts - Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.
It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.ā¦
I love books that keep me up at night. I'm constantly trying to get into a good, healthy bedtime routineābut I am also constantly sabotaging that effort by finding books that I simply canāt put down. The feeling of being drawn so deep into a story that the hours slip away is easily one of my favorite feelings in the world. I also love books that make me wake up in the middle of the night, books that slide into my brain and plant new ideas there. As an author, I am always striving to write those books. I can think of no higher compliment than āI stayed up all night reading it.ā
When I was a kid I was very excited about wolves. Not in the sense that I knew a lot about wolvesāI didnāt study them and learn about themāso much as I felt certain, in my heart of hearts, that if I met a wolf, we would understand each other in a way no two creatures ever have. Feed Them Silence is a book that returned me to that sense of certainty, but with a more fundamentally realistic understanding of the nature of animals as existing outside of human understanding. I couldnāt put it down, and the hours slipped right past me.
Lee Mandelo dives into the minds of wolves in Feed Them Silence, a novella of the near future.
What does it mean to "be-in-kind" with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddonās case, to be in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves? Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subjectās perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness. To see the world through animal eyes; smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages; even taste the blood and visceraā¦
Like the character of Wala Kitu in Dr No, I consider myself an expert on nothing. Heroes have to be flawed, right? And you donāt always have to like and admire them. They donāt have to be perfect. With perfect hair and teeth. Because Iām not. And I need someone to identify with. Someone to walk the roads I might or might not walk. A list of Nick Hornby, Michael K, Miles Jupp, Billy Liar, and Wala Kitu shouldnāt belong together. But they do. Right here. Itās absurd, right? The connection of different roads? Different stories? Different hurdles to jump? Different act of heroism I say.
This is a book that has sparked a thousand imitations. If a writer isnāt honest, heās not doing his job, and Nick Hornby is painfully honest here about his self-destructive, blokey obsessions with football and music. Itās a trailblazer of a book and a theme that resonates with a lot of men, me included.
Why would anyone seriously want to attend a family wedding when your team is playing in a cup final? How inconsiderate can a couple be to get married on the final day of the cup? To hold those thoughtsāwithout a hint of ironyāis viewed as an affliction and an absurdity by many. But of course, they donāt understand!
This book, chronicled from the perspective of a fanatical ten-year-old soccer fan, through disillusioned adolescence, to an adult "who should know better", examines the absurdities, idiosyncrasies and traumas of everyday life and football. While Chelsea were undoubtedly the football team at the heart of fashionable London in the late 1960s, it proved to be the quiet backstreets around Highbury and Finsbury Park which led a sombre schoolboy from Maidenhead into a 20-year obsession with football, and Arsenal FC in particular. Nick Hornby became hooked after seeing Arsenal beat Stoke City (1-0 from a penalty rebound) in 1968. 24 years laterā¦
Iām a Hollywood native, writer/actor/mixed-media artist/creative compulsive. When I was a kid, I was really close to my older brother who was an addict. Unfortunately he never stopped using and died too young. I dealt with it by allowing the experience to inspire me. In my recent young adult novel, Just a Girl in the Whirl, the father character is inspired by him. I express myself through all art forms in order to make my way in the world and I love reading about other female characters who do the same! Iām a lifelong optimist and I love feeling inspired and inspiring others to love themselves, find the humor in everything, and create!
Itās about a girl, Eliza, who created a super successful webcomic. IRL, Eliza is shy and withdrawn so when she meets a boy who loves her comics she doesnāt tell him that sheās the creator. This book is so now and reminds me of the importance of showing your true self and embracing your gifts.
"A love letter to fandom, friendship, and the stories that shape us, Eliza and Her Monsters is absolutely magical."-Marieke Nijkamp, New York Times-bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends
Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she's worked for begins to crumble.
Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl meets Noelle Stevenson's Nimona in this acclaimed novel about art, fandom, and finding the courage to be yourself. "A must-have."-School Library Journal
In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, andā¦
I love reading. Iāve been an avid reader since I was a child. Having been raised in a conservative, Persian family, it was a tool I used to escape and imagine another way of life. Iām always traveling now and searching for ways to better myself, and for topics or places to write about. Iām so inspired when a book just grabs me and pulls me in and makes me think. Whether thatās a romance, or a book about self-actualization, I think of everything I read as a teacher. We can never stop learning, stop growing, or dreaming.
She is the queen of historical romance for a reason. I will never forget reading this book as a teen, and I donāt know how many times Iāve read this as an adult. It has everything you can want - adventure, a crazy kind of love, an alpha male who is hot as hell, and of course, an innocent virgin. Itās a book that made me want to be a romance novelist. I bow to Judith McNaught for life.
The #1 New York Times bestselling author continues her evocative Westmoreland Dynasty Saga with this romance following two defiant hearts clashing over a furious battle of wills in the glorious age of chivalry.
Abducted from her convent school, headstrong Scottish beauty Jennifer Merrick does not easily surrender to Royce Westmoreland, Duke of Claymore. Known as "The Wolf," his very name strikes terror in the hearts of his enemies. But proud Jennifer will have nothing to do with the fierce English warrior who holds her captive, this handsome rogue who taunts her with his blazing arrogance.
I have been a fan of the horror genre since I was a kid. Even though sometimes I was so scared, I had to sleep with the light on or not sleep at all. Something about the darkness and the unknown has always seemed so alluring. I can't even count the number of horror movies I've watched or books I've read. That feel of the hair standing up on your arms or the back of your neck is a thrill like no other.
This collection of short stories are designed to be reminiscent of the old Twilight Zone TV series. As a huge fan of the show, I was interested to see how the interpretation to short story would work. It works very well. If you enjoyed the show (and/or the movie) you'll enjoy this book. Rod Serling would be proud.
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. This is a dimension of imagination. In the case of these stories, it is where author Tom Sawyerās imagination takes flight. Mr. Sawyer, as a popular Michigan horror fiction author of many delights ( From Paradise to Hell, Dark Harbors), pays an ultimate tribute to Rod Serlingās own imagination, which influenced viewers around the world since its inception decades ago with The Twilight Zone TV series. Here, Sawyer continues the tradition seamlessly on these pages. So sit back, relax, and cross over into the sight and sound andā¦
Iām only a writer because I was a musician first. I worshiped musicāas a performer, listener, and later a criticāfor its ability to enshrine me in a purely emotional world. My favorite lyrics were poetry in motion; my favorite melodies escaped description. And through sharing my feverish acclamations of particular albums and songs, I found community with others who also pledged themselves to art thatād definitively split their lives into ābeforeā and āafter.ā My writing career was born from cathartic devotion and remains devoted to recounting the rapture of self-formation, of being reflected in the mirror of something that saw you before you even knew to see yourself.
Based on the title alone, I knew Yiās debut novel would hit me like a crossbow to the heart. āY/Nā Is a prevalent shorthand for a particular kind of self-insert fan fiction, and having grown up in online fandom spaces, I have a lot of nostalgia for (and now plenty of necessary distance from) the passion that often explodes within and beyond those communities.
And still, I wasnāt prepared for the journey that Yi took me on. Nominally about one woman's spiraling obsession with a Korean pop idol, Y/N charts the inexplicable journey between a āregular personā and a āfan" before morphing into something sinisterly, beautifully, and singularly unhinged.
"Wondrous and weird." -New York Times "Gorgeous." -New Yorker "High Brow x Brilliant." -NY Mag (Approval Matrix) "So good it's hard to believe." -New York Times Book Review Podcast "Rare." -n+1 "A true novel of the era." -Elle "Piercing, feverish, and frequently astonishing." -Entertainment Weekly "Utterly brilliant, shining, and mesmerizing." -Cosmopolitan "Freakish and hallucinatory." -Vulture "Absurdly funny." -Ms. Magazine "Savage." -Vanity Fair "Playful, immersive yet unreal." -Esquire "Riveting and innovative." -TIME "Curious, cerebral . . . with moments of tender poetry." -Times Literary Supplement "It."-SSENSE "Sophisticated." -Chicago Review of Books "Strange, haunting, and undeniably beautiful." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "Oneā¦
Iām an author and elementary librarian living in Northern California. My mind is a busy neighborhood: there are all sorts of thoughts and feelings running around up there like hordes of naughty unsupervised children. I need books to ground me, to encourage me to slow down, to help me feel and release those emotions. As an elementary librarian, Iām a voracious reader, but I only choose to return to the most necessary, beautiful books. These authors comfort me through their words, pulling forth laughter, tears, and the knowledge that Iām not so crazy after all. Or, if I am, Iām not the only one.
When my depression was intense, I was continually worried that something would happen to me or my family. It was a visceral fear, one that ranked up there with a childās belief that something was hiding under the bed.
To read this story of the authorās experiences with her sonās epilepsy diagnosis was surprisingly comforting for me. She too was terrified, and yet she made her way through, as moms so often manage to do.
I loved this bookās tender, funny, well-crafted words about how little we really can control in our lives. It reminded me that worry wonāt make the future brighter, but it will make the present darker.
A New York Times Editors' Choice One of NPR's Best Books of the Year
"A beautifully wrought ode to life...a precious gift to the world." -The Washington Post
From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a poignant and powerful new memoir that tackles the big questions of life, death, and existential fear with humor and hope.
As a daughter, mother, and friend, Mary Laura Philpott considered herself an "anxious optimist"-a natural worrier with a stubborn sense of good cheer. And while she didn't really think she had any sort of magical protective powers, she believedā¦
