“Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.”
Normal People is a poignant coming-of-age book by Sally Rooney. The story follows Marianne and Connell, two students at polar opposite ends of the popularity spectrum. During the day, they pretend not to know each other. But, after an encounter after picking up his mother from her house, Connell and Marianne an unexplainable connection leaves them caught in each other’s orbit. A year later, whilst studying at Trinity College in Dublin, Marianne has found a healthy social standing, whilst Connell struggles to hang on the sidelines. As they are once again magnetically pulled together again, the pair must grapple with how far they are prepared to go to save one another. If you loved Sally Rooney’s psychological acuity and explorations of the complexities class, family, friends and first loves can bring, join us at What We Reading for the best books like Normal People!
Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney
First up on our list books like Normal People is another one of Sally Rooney’s best works, Conversations with Friends. Another sharp and intelligent coming-of-age tale, the story centres around Frances and Bobbi. Lovers at school, the pair perform spoken-word poetry together and are one day spotted by a journalist called Melissa. Pulled into Melissa’s world of affluence and sophistication, Frances soon finds herself drawn especially to Melissa’s husband, Nick, a bored actor who never reached his potential.
Frances and Nick’s casual flirting appears harmless enough at first, but it soon gives way to a strange intimacy that neither of them are able to resist. As Frances struggles to keep a lid on her life, she slowly begins to learn how to live more vulnerably from moment to moment.
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One Day – David Nicholls
On the 15th of July 1988, Emma and Dexter met each other for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they are set to go their separate ways. Yet, after their one and only day together, they cannot stop thinking about each other.
Spanning the next two decades, David Nicholls’ One Day offers a snapshot of Em and Dexter’s relationship through the lens of the same day – July 15th – of each year. Similar to Connell and Marianne in Normal People, Em and Dexter face bickers and fights, miscommunications and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one fateful day is revealed, both of them must come to terms with the nature of love and life itself.
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The Idiot – Elif Batuman
The year is 1995 and Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, arrives for her freshman year at Harvard. Signing for classes she has never heard of, she becomes friends with her eccentric Serbian classmate, Svetlana, and strikes up a correspondence with Ivan, an older maths student from Hungary. Through the emails they send to one another, the act of writing seems to find new and increasingly strange meanings.
At the end of the school year, Ivan jets off to Budapest for the summer. Selin travels to the Hungarian countryside to teach English, spending two weeks in Paris with Svetlana. But, her travels through Europe prove to be very different from the gap years and adventures she has heard most American college students experience. Instead, Elif Batuman’s The Idiot is a coming-of-age story similar to Normal People where Selin learns first-hand the experiences of first love and finding purpose.
Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name #1) – André Aciman
One of the most heartfelt LGBT coming-of-age tales similar to Normal People comes from André Aciman in Call Me By Your Name. The narrative centres around Elio and Oliver, an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riveria. Unaware of the consequences of their shared attraction, the two initially feign indifference to one another. Yet, during the restless weeks that follow is a blend of obsessions, fears, fascinations and desires that will define the rest of their lives.
What grows from the depths of their spirits is an intense romance that barely spans six weeks, but that marks them for a lifetime. From what the pair discover on the Riveria to their fateful evening in Rome, Aciman’s heartrending is psychologically acute and clear-eyed in its delivery, perfect for any fans of Sally Rooney.
The Lesser Bohemians – Eimear McBride
Upon her arrival in London, an eighteen-year-old Irish girl starts over as a drama student. Like everyone else beginning anew, she is fuelled by her dreams of reaching the heights of an accomplished actor. Young, plain and naive, she initially struggles to find her footing in her new surroundings, but soon starts to forge friendships and find a place for herself in the big city.
The girl then meets an attractive older man, twenty years her senior. He’s an established actor, whose passionate and tumultuous relationship with the girl is set to change her forever. Redemptive, captivating and told in a fragmented, semi-consciousness style, Eimear McBride’s The Lesser Bohemians is the perfect raw and intimate exploration of love and connection that is sure to resonate with any fans of Normal People.
Fleishman Is In Trouble – Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Nominated for Best Debut Novel and Best Fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards, Taffy Brodesser-Akner introduces readers to Toby Fleishman, a forty-one-year-old man who has found himself recently separated and surrounded by women in Fleishman Is In Trouble. With just a swipe on an app, he finds himself happy being used by women for casual, non-committal nights together. After all, it beats the thirteen years of emotional neglect that came with being a married man.
But his pleasant new life is suddenly interrupted when his ex-wife goes missing. Unsure why she won’t return his texts or calls, Toby finds himself desperately searching for her all whilst attempting to juggle his job and two unruly children. Along the way, he is forced to ponder on where his marriage went wrong, and whether the story he has been telling himself since is as accurate as he believes.
Exciting Times – Naoise Dolan
Ava relocated to Hong Kong in search of fulfilment but, so far, things haven’t worked out. Since leaving Dublin, she’s been spending her days teaching English to entitled children and her nights dodging her roommates in her cramped apartment. When she meets Julian, a smart-tongued British banker, Ava is offered a quick route into a lavish lifestyle and a passionate relationship. When Julian is called back to London, she stays put, unsure what the status between the two of them is.
Edith is a Hong Kong-born ambitious lawyer. Ava wants to be her – and wants her. But, when Julian announces that he’s returning home, Ava is forced to decide between whether she wants the easy compatibility of a life with him or a leap into the unknown with Edith. Dryly comic and heartbreakingly raw, Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times is the perfect follow-up to Normal People for any readers looking for another sharp exploration of relationships and power dynamics.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
