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If you loved
Books like The Art of Fielding
An immersive, big-hearted campus novel that captures the agonizing pressure of ambition and the saving grace of found family. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The Art of Fielding.
- autumnal
- intimate
- wistful
- campus-bound
- 01
The Magicians
Lev Grossman · 2009
A dark, cynical deconstruction of childhood portal fantasies that proves magic cannot cure a fundamentally broken heart.
- 02
Moneyball
Michael Lewis
A thrilling, irreverent look at how a band of math-nerd outsiders outsmarted a billion-dollar industry.
- 03
The natural
Bernard Malamud · 1952
A shadowy, mythic fable of American ambition where the baseball diamond becomes a tragic stage for human frailty.
- 04
The leftovers
Tom Perrotta
A haunting, quietly devastating portrait of ordinary people trying to buy groceries and fall in love after the world has inexplicably broken.
- 05
The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes
A quiet, devastating meditation on the lies we tell ourselves to survive our own pasts.
- 06
This Is How You Lose Her
Junot Díaz
A raw, rhythmic autopsy of heartbreak and self-sabotage told by a narrator who can't stop breaking his own heart.
- 07
The Realm of Possibility
David Levithan
A tender, kaleidoscopic exploration of teenage life told through a chorus of poetic voices.
- 08
The Marriage Plot
Jeffrey Eugenides
A smart, bittersweet exploration of what happens when the romantic ideals of literature collide with the messy realities of early adulthood.
- 09
Stoner
John Williams · 1965
A devastatingly beautiful portrait of an unremarkable life that will quietly break your heart and put it back together.
- 10
Straight Man
Richard Russo · 2002
A hilarious, big-hearted romp through the petty grievances of academia and the messy realities of a midlife crisis.
- 11
Evvie Drake Starts Over
Linda Holmes
A warm, witty, and deeply empathetic exploration of two people figuring out how to get unstuck together.
- 12
All adults here
Emma Straub
A warm, wry exploration of the messy reality that no one ever really figures out how to be a grown-up.
