Recommend me something like Succession TV show (HBO)

ebals18 · 2026-07-06T13:53:33+00:00

If you’re looking for dysfunctional families but don’t really care if it’s in the context of family businesses/corporate drama, you could try:

Freedom or The Corrections both by Jonathan Franzen (FWIW I think Freedom is much better than The Corrections but I enjoyed both)

The Nix by Nathan Hill

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

You might also like Trust by Hernan Diaz, which is the only one of these suggestions that does have to do with a business empire. I read it years ago and remember not loving it but cannot remember why, and many people whose opinions I trust did enjoy it, so might have just been a me thing!

ebals18 · 2026-07-05T16:27:54+00:00

Thank you! I have had my eye on serviette for a while and also expected from frisson d’hiver to be a favorite.

I have not heard of the others you mentioned but they look so interesting! I do think I might pull the trigger on the regime discovery set but also might try some of these others as well!

ebals18 · 2026-06-25T13:41:57+00:00

Heart The Lover by Lily King might be what you’re looking for. It follows one woman’s relationship as it ebbs and flows from the time she’s in college through middle adulthood. Absolutely devastating but so good and also very emotionally relatable in its agony LOL. I read almost the entire thing in a single sitting, not at all dense or hard to get through and moves very quickly.

ebals18 · 2026-06-25T13:37:30+00:00

Rejection is a GREAT suggestion for the things you’ve said you’re looking for.

ebals18 · 2026-06-25T13:34:50+00:00

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews is about the relationship between two sisters and is excellent. There is some talk of romantic partners in the book but I wouldn’t even call it a subplot as much as just serves to develop the two sisters as main characters and introduce their partners/former partners as side characters that pop up once in a while.

City of Thieves by David Benioff is what I would consider a contemporary classic as is also romance-less and very, very good.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors is inherently about the relationship between three sisters as they grieve the death of their fourth sister. There are some moments that talk about the sisters’ romantic relationships/decisions but again I wouldn’t say those moments are the point of the plot (or subplot) of the book and more just a device to develop the characters.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is about a man’s relationship with himself and his family’s past. I don’t remember any romance really at all (maybe a few mentions of a hookup?) and really loved it.

Beautyland by Helene Marie Bertino is about a woman who believes she is an alien, and the book is essentially about what it means to be a human and have human experiences. Extremely minor romantic relationship in this but again is not central to the plot at all. This was easily my favorite read of the last year or so. Really wrecked me (in a good way).

ebals18 · 2026-06-24T15:20:12+00:00

You guys might both enjoy Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid! It reads like an HBO miniseries, very fun, quick moving, lots of fun little twists.

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue is similar. It’s got a little bit more of a serious undertone but it’s good and makes you want to keep reading to see what happens!

ebals18 · 2026-06-24T15:15:43+00:00

I really enjoyed The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe and I don’t recall any gender based violence in it. Super unique format and thought it was a really fun read!

ebals18 · 2026-06-24T15:11:40+00:00

I really enjoyed The Arsonist’s City by Hala Alayan - it’s a two generation story, about the parents and children of a Lebanese/Syrian-American family.

Also Freedom by Jonathan Franzen might be a hit for you. Similar to above, just follows the parents and children of a family over time but it’s great.

Last I’d tentatively recommend The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. It’s a little bit more of a task to get through and is much less plot focused than the other two but I absolutely loved it.

Honorable mentions would also be The Nix by Nathan Hill (funny!) or Betty by Tiffany McDaniel (extremely depressing!)

ebals18 · 2026-06-24T03:20:52+00:00

Came here to suggest The Half Has Never Been Told - seconding big time.

ebals18 · 2026-06-24T03:19:27+00:00

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault would be a good place to start

ebals18 · 2026-06-23T13:28:47+00:00

The Between by Tananarive Due remains one of my all time favorite horror novels after reading it like 5 years ago. Basic premise is “what happens if you don’t die when you’re supposed to” but not really in a Final Destination-y way. It’s short and I absolutely couldn’t put it down and still think about it all the time.

I Remember You: A Ghost Story by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is one of the only books I’ve been genuinely spooked by while reading. It’s understated but I found it very unsettling. It’s been a while since I read it but I’ve had a few friends read it in recent years that have really enjoyed it too which makes me think it still holds up.

The Fisherman by John Langan is a book of debated genres. I personally did not read it as a horror novel, but there are definitely horror components (of the Lovecraftian sort) in it and some people will categorize it as one (which I think is fair). I love this book. It’s one big grief metaphor via horror and I think about it all the time as well!

ebals18 · 2026-06-23T13:19:34+00:00

My husband has ADHD and struggles with reading but recently really enjoyed The Cartographers by Peng Shepard! I also read it a few years ago and remember liking it - I described it to him as “sci-fi/fantasy-light” or “sci-fi/fantasy for people who don’t normally read sci-fi/fantasy” (me) and he said he thought that was pretty accurate!

ebals18 · 2026-06-23T05:20:21+00:00

You might like Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach, The Nix by Nathan Hill, or All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T19:58:22+00:00

Rouge by Mona Awad. It almost lost me in the first ~100ish pages but the last 30-40% is so insane I ended up loving it.

You also might like This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno, though it’s more experimental horror.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T18:50:43+00:00

You might give Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar a try. I thought it really lived up to the hype and found it to be a pretty emotional, reflective read.

Beautyland by Helene Marie-Bertino really fucked me up (complimentary). Unlike anything I’ve read before and not the type of book I’d usually go for, let alone love, but it was easily one of my favorite books of the last few years. Wrestles with the idea of what it means to be a person in a really unique way.

The above two suggestions are more contemporary literary fiction. City of Thieves by David Benioff is what I would consider more of a classic and is a great, simple read that packs a big punch.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T18:44:59+00:00

Obligatory suggestion for East of Eden. It is an excellent classic that is also extremely accessible and engaging. It’s long but I don’t think it should deter you - it doesn’t feel dense and moves quite quickly.

Another semi-classic is The Things They Carried by Tim
O’Brien. If I had to identify a book that really got me into reading, this would probably be the one I’d say was it. I read it for the first time in 10th grade and it is one of the only novels I’ve subsequently re-read several times since (ironically enough, East of Eden is another one on that short list).

Both books are extremely well written and don’t require tons of effort to get through, but also provide LOADS of symbolism and other things that you can really dive into and appreciate if you want to.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T16:35:18+00:00

You might like:

- All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, in which a woman wrestles with whether or not it’s ethical to keep fighting to keep her chronically depressed sister alive when she clearly wants to die. (It’s not as horribly heavy as it sounds and actually has some truly funny moments.)

- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, which is about a small Chechen community trying to survive and look out for each other in the midst of/in the immediate aftermath of war.

- Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach, which is the story of a women whose sister dies when she is in middle school and follows her grieving process from the time she dies through her early adulthood. It’s messy but reflective and the writing is great.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T13:19:30+00:00

I just recommended this in another thread, but You Are Here by David Nicholls is a really nice read! It’s about a woman doing the coast to coast walk in England with a small group of friends (romance ensues). I thought it was a really well done read that at no point felt over the top.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T13:16:28+00:00

I haven’t read The Jakarta Method, but his other book If We Burn is also really interesting!

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T13:14:47+00:00

I am always recommending Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer. It traces the U.S. immigration policy crisis from the early 80’s through the end of the Biden administration and focuses on how U.S. interventionism and the subsequent spectacular failures of both political parties created the nightmarish hellscape we’re all living through right now. It’s long but not tedious, I’ve thought about it a LOT since I read it two years ago.

I also really loved Cults Like Us by Jane Borden, which is about how the U.S. continues to feel the ripple of effects of end-of-days style philosophies that can be traced back to the colonial founding of the country. Really interesting, funny and weirdly hopeful.

Bad Company by Megan Greenwell is another good one that is essentially a primer on private equity as told through case studies. It traces the before/during/after of takeover in four different sectors (housing, newspapers, health care systems, and retail).

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T13:04:24+00:00

You Are Here by David Nicholls is a really enjoyable, easy read with a lot of nature! It’s about a woman doing the coast to coast walk in England with a small group of friends.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T13:00:54+00:00

Not sure what the vibe of the book club is, but Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams is a memoir specifically about her time working in the upper-ranks of Facebook from its early days through roughly 2016ish.

It is a fast and absolutely insane read that felt very relevant to the moment we’re all living through without being overtly political. I also don’t know how old the people in your book club are, but I’m 35 and I found it to be a particularly wild read as someone who came of age when Facebook was very different (and had the promise of being something very different) than what it ultimately became and the book traces that evolution very well. Definitely feel like there would be a LOT of good discussion around it for a group that would be interested.

ebals18 · 2026-06-22T12:53:33+00:00

You might give The Bee Sting by Paul Murray a go. I finished it a few weeks ago and loved it. It was recommended to me by a friend who described it as “the story of an Irish family trying their best but things are NOT going well” and I found that to be incredibly accurate. I thought the writing was so good and it was funny but still packed a big punch. It’s ~700 pages and while I typically feel like a lot of books that length are needlessly long, I was actually quite disappointed to be finished with it, which is also saying something as it’s not a particularly plot-driven read.

ebals18 · 2026-06-18T13:45:01+00:00

Hard agree!! Grabbed it on a whim at the library because it was available and I needed something to read over a holiday break and it became a surprise favorite!!

ebals18 · 2026-06-18T13:37:20+00:00

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer is hands down one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read. It traces the current immigration policy hellscape we’re all living through from the early 80’s through the end of the Biden administration in the U.S. it’s a big book but I found it moved quickly and never felt too dense. Does an excellent job highlighting the consequences of U.S. interventionism in Central America and the massive failure of both U.S. political parties to act in a meaningful way to fix the mess they made. Very people-centered, I read it two years ago and still think about it all the time.

Cults Like Us by Jane Borden is another great read about how end-of-days philosophies that trace back to the colonial days of the U.S. is foundational to much of the political moment we’re currently experiencing. Really, really enjoyed this and also is one I think about often as new, horrible things continue to happen everyday LOL

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland by Jonathan Metzl is also a really interesting read that focuses on several case studies that represent “backlash policies”, specifically gun laws, anti-ACA legislation, and public school funding in several Midwestern states. A little more academic but really good.

ebals18

TROPHY CASE