Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists: Friendship

Based on twelve years of research, thought leader Dr. Brené Brown argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. (Description from catalog)

Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. (Description from NoveList)

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran-turned-merchant mariner recounts how in 1967 he accepted a neighborhood challenge to sneak into Vietnam, track down local friends on the front line and share beer over messages of love from home. (Description from NoveList)

Publishing history teems with books by and about Presidents, First Ladies, First Pets, and even First Chefs. Now former Clinton aide Gary Ginsberg breaks new literary ground on Pennsylvania Avenue and provides fresh insights into the lives of the men who held the most powerful political office in the world by looking at the friends on whom they relied. First Friends is an engaging, serendipitous look into the lives of Commanders-in-Chief and how their presidencies were shaped by those they held most dear. (Description from NoveList)

Raised by a group of eccentric enigmatologists, 20-something Clayton Summer, when the esteemed crossword compiler and main maternal presence in his life passes away, bestowing her final puzzle on him, embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets surrounding his birth, which will change him, and the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, forever.--Description by NoveList

While on a birthday-weekend getaway with her best friend, Sloane Parker, after a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers takes a horrifying turn, changing both their lives, must come to terms with some eternal consequences as she discovers it's never too late to find satisfaction.
(Description from NoveList)

While playing baseball in the summer of 1953, Owen Meany hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother, and he becomes convinced that he is an instrument of God. (Description from catalog)

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen's husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager.
(Description from catalog)

One beautiful September day, three 66-year-old men convene on Martha’s Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college, and must puzzle out a lingering mystery from the summer of 1971. (Description from NoveList)

It's March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next few months new bonds of friendship and love will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge among this unlikely cast of characters, each richly drawn and achingly human.
(Description from catalog)

"When a friend she has not spoken to since the fight that ended their friendship six years earlier asks her to be her maid of honor, Daphne Berg confronts the dynamics of friendship and forgiveness during the increasingly disastrous wedding.

"Shirin, Nina, and Silvia have just gotten their first jobs in publishing, at a University Press, a traditional publisher, and a trust-fund kid's "indie" publisher, respectively. And it's... great? They know they're paying their dues and the challenges they meet (Shirin's boss just assumes she knows Cantonese, Nina cannot get promoted by sheer force of will, and Silvia has to deal with daily microaggressions) are just part of "a career in books." When they meet their elderly neighbor, Veronica Vo, and discover she's a Booker Prize winner dubbed the "Tampax Tolstoy" by the press, each woman finds a thread of inspiration from Veronica's life to carry on her own path. And the result is full of twists and revelations that surprise not only the reader but the women themselves"-- Provided by publisher.

"A novelist, single, forty-four years old. A painter, divorced, forty-six years old. A musician, single, forty-two years old. On the outer limits of relevancy in an arts culture that celebrates youth, these three men make up the artist group Arcade. Caught in circular arguments about what makes real art and concerned about the vapid interests of their younger contemporaries, none of them are reaping the benefits of success. But there's always another chance to make it. When it comes time, out of the three, who will emerge as an acclaimed artist? More important, when one artist's star rises, will he leave the rest behind? Following Yeong-shin Ma's hit manhwa, Moms, this plunge into artistic friendships is as hilarious and infuriating as it is real."-- Provided by publisher.

"Spring Break, 2009: Five days, three friends, and one big city. Over the course of a much-anticipated trip to New York, an unexpected fling blossoms between casual acquaintances and throws a long-term friendship off-balance. Emotional tensions vibrate wildly against the resplendently illustrated backdrop of the city, capturing a spontaneous queer romance in all of its fledgling glory." (description from publisher)

A new, genre-defying volume that explores family, marriage, motherhood, place, and coming of age with singular wit and emotional clarity.
(Description from NoveList)