Dysfunctional favorites: fiction and nonfiction
Explore a captivating list of dysfunctional favorites in both fiction and nonfiction. Discover must-read books that delve into complex characters, flawed families, and gripping real-life stories.
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Truth & Beauty
by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, began a friendship that would …
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Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
In the hopeful 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler appear to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home …
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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers
A quiet, sensitive girl searches for beauty in a small, but damned Southern town.
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The Confessions of Max Tivoli
by Andrew Sean Greer
Born as an old man, Max Tivoli lives his life aging backwards, falling in love and living an odd, sometimes terrifying life in San Francisco …
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Daughter of the Queen of Sheba
by Jacki Lyden
As an adult, National Public Radio foreign correspondent Jacki Lyden has spent her life on the front lines of some of the world's most dangerous …
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The Gravedigger's Daughter
by Joyce Carol Oates
Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1936, the Schwarts immigrate to a small town in upstate New York. Here the father—a former high school teacher—is demeaned by …
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The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle
Based on the author's short story titled "The Foaling Season," the tale of rancher's daughter Alice Winston finds her helping to support the family business …
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The Tender Bar
by J.R. Moehringer
The bestselling memoir that captured the hearts of readers and critics nationwide is now available in paperback In the tradition of This Boy's Life and …
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The Winter of Our Discontent
by John Steinbeck
The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers—a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis A Penguin Classic In awarding John Steinbeck the …
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Runaway
by Alice Munro
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE® IN LITERATURE 2013 This acclaimed, bestselling collection also contains the celebrated stories that inspired the Pedro Almodóvar film Julieta. Runaway …
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The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of …
