Book picks similar to
The Doctor's Son by John O'Hara


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The Golden Apples


Eudora Welty - 1949
    She portrays the MacLains, the Starks, the Moodys, and other families of the fictitious town of Morgana. “I doubt that a better book about ‘the South’-one that more completely gets the feel of the particular texture of Southern life and its special tone and pattern-has ever been written” (New Yorker).

This Terrible Beauty


Katrin Schumann - 2020
    World War II has ended, and her country is torn apart. Longing for a family, she marries Werner, an older bureaucrat who adores her. But after joining the fledgling secret police, he is drawn deep into its dark mission and becomes a dangerous man.When Bettina falls in love with an idealistic young renegade, Werner discovers her infidelity and forces her to make a terrible choice: spend her life in prison or leave her home forever. Either way she loses both her lover and child.Ten years later, Bettina has reinvented herself as a celebrated photographer in Chicago, but she’s never stopped yearning for the baby she left behind. Surprised by an unexpected visitor from her past, she resolves to return to her ravaged homeland to reclaim her daughter and uncover her beloved’s fate, whatever the cost.

The Gold Bug [+ The Sphinx + William Wilson]


Edgar Allan Poe - 1843
    Yet when Legrand's conviction fails to waiver, they set off on a bizarre journey, accompanied by Jupiter, Legrand's loyal and equally skeptical servant. What follows is a strange tale of coded messages, hidden treasure, and uncanny prophecy that will both enthrall and baffle even the most perceptive readers.Part horror story, part detective fiction, The Gold Bug is an ingenious tale bearing all the hallmarks of Poe's extraordinary narrative skill. It is presented here with The Sphinx, a similarly themed and equally disturbing short story. Wonderfully versatile as an author and best known for his tales of terror and the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) holds a venerable place in the history of American literature.This edition contains the following short stories:- The Gold Bug- The Sphinx- William Wilson.

Attempted Hippie


David Noonan - 2013
    Just lots of pot and cheap beer and a half-baked desire to become a hippie. Welcome to the end of the 60’s era. In 1972, David Noonan dropped out of college for no good reason, worked nights in a gas station and days in a cemetery, then quit both jobs to hitchhike west and meet up with his brother John, a natural-born rambler and a certified member of the counterculture. Attempted Hippie is Noonan’s vivid account of his odyssey from New Jersey to California and back again. It’s a funny, un-romanticized tale of a young man with the wrong glasses and the wrong hair searching for himself …and his next ride.

Rules of Civility


Amor Towles - 2011
    On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society—where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. With its sparkling depiction of New York’s social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike.

Lady Josephina's Secret (Almack's Assembly Rooms Book 2)


Agnes Forest - 2018
     Lady Josephina Crawford, daughter of Viscount Whitemore, harbours a devastating secret that keeps her from finding a suitable husband in high society and risks bringing scandal to her family name should it ever be revealed. Custom, duty, and propriety stand in the way of her happiness, and within the confines of Regency England’s high society, those barricades are enough to keep her encaged forever. Gerard Sheridan, Marquess of Richmond, heir to the Duke of Bedfordshire, suffers from a secret of his own – he struggles to deal with the enormous pressure to fulfil a role that he never expected would be his. Oil paint, color, light, and composition fill his imagination every waking moment, but all of that must be cast aside when Lord Richmond as he takes on the role of heir, after his brother’s tragic death. He needs to find a wife, and fast. A chance encounter opens up new hope. But from behind the masks that they wear, Josephina and Gerard must face the truth that they see in each other’s eyes; they’re lost in a battle between convention and love, and within the glittering walls of Almack’s Assembly Rooms, they’re without question set up to fail. Can Gerard overcome his doubts, and believe that love is possible? Can Josephina risk trusting that her secret could be safe with Gerard? Or will the conventions of society tear them apart forever?