Books like

Books like Red at the Bone

12 books with a reading profile close to Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Detransition, Baby

by Torrey Peters

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

The story centers on Reese, a trans woman in New York whose life is stalled by self-destruction and a lack of traditional domestic paths.
2

Prep

by Curtis Sittenfeld

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Lee Fiora, a girl from a modest family in Indiana, wins a scholarship to the Ault School, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts.
3

The Magician's Assistant

by Ann Patchett

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Sabine, a magician's assistant, has spent twenty years working with Parsifal, a gay magician, and living with him in Los Angeles.
4

Commonwealth

by Ann Patchett

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

The story begins at a 1960s christening party in Southern California, where a chance kiss between Bert Cousins and Beverly Keating leads to the dissolution of two marriages.
5

Migrations

by Charlotte McConaghy

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Franny Stone travels to Greenland to track the final migration of Arctic terns, a species nearing extinction in a world depleted of wildlife.
6

The Berry Pickers

by Amanda Peters

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

In 1962, a four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl named Ruthie vanishes from a blueberry field in Maine while her family works the harvest.
7

Either/Or

by Elif Batuman

Also inward-looking · narrative, accessible

Set in 1996, the story follows Selin Karadağ during her sophomore year at Harvard as she attempts to construct a life based on aesthetic and literary principles.
8

Behold the Dreamers

by Imbolo Mbue

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, secures a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, an executive at Lehman Brothers.
9

The Joy Luck Club

by Amy Tan

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Set in San Francisco, the narrative follows four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters who gather as the Joy Luck Club.
10

Black Cake

by Charmaine Wilkerson

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

After the death of Eleanor Bennett, her estranged children, Byron and Benny, reunite in California to hear her final recorded message.
11

American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Gene Luen Yang weaves together three distinct narrative threads to examine the internal conflicts of cultural assimilation.
12

Long Way Down

by Jason Reynolds

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible

Fifteen-year-old Will Holloman sits in an elevator with a gun tucked into his waistband, intending to kill the man who shot his brother, Shawn.

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