SJPL Picks: Love StoriesLike this list

30 items

• Homeseeking

  Chen, Karissa,

  Add Homeseeking to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction. Haiwen is buying bananas at a supermarket in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cinema Love

  a Novel

  Tang, Jiaming,

  Add Cinema Love to your for later shelf

  Literary fiction. A staggering, tender epic about gay men in rural China and the women who marry them. For over thirty years, Old Second and his wife, Bao Mei, have cobbled together a meager existence in New York City’s Chinatown. But…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The City and Its Uncertain Walls

  Murakami, Haruki, 1949-

  Add The City and Its Uncertain Walls to your for later shelf

  Contemporary fantasy, Translations. The long-awaited new novel from Haruki Murakami, his first in six years, revisits a Town his readers will remember, a place where a Dream Reader reviews dreams and where our shadows become untethered…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Burn Daylight

  a Novel

  Johnston, Bret Anthony, 1971-

  Add We Burn Daylight to your for later shelf

  Literary fiction. In Waco, Texas, 1993, Roy, the 14-year-old son of the local sheriff, and Jaye, whose mother is part of a doomsday cult led by the Lamb, are immediately drawn to each other, but their love may have dire consequences for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All the Colors of the Dark

  a Novel

  Whitaker, Chris,

  Add All the Colors of the Dark to your for later shelf

  Psychological suspense. In 1975 Missouri, 13-year-old orphan Saint Brown and her scruffy, eye patch–wearing classmate, Patch Macauley, are drawing closer by the day when Patch’s disappearance rips them apart—setting in motion this lyrical,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Emperor and the Endless Palace

  Huang, Justinian,

  Add The Emperor and the Endless Palace to your for later shelf

  Fantasy romance. A queer, Asian reimagining of an epic love story blending historical figures with Chinese folklore.

• The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

  Khan, Shubnum,

  Add The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years to your for later shelf

  Gothic fiction. Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Greek Lessons

  a Novel

  Han, Kang, 1970-

  Add Greek Lessons to your for later shelf

  Epistolary novels. Booker winner Kang (The Vegetarian) explores the borders of the senses in this delicate love story. An unnamed Korean woman living in Seoul stops speaking after her mother dies and she loses custody of her eight-year-old…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Shark Heart

  a Love Story

  Habeck, Emily,

  Add Shark Heart to your for later shelf

  Magical Realism. When her husband Lewis, a few weeks after their wedding, receives a rare diagnosis, his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark, Wren, struggling with his fate, finds his developing carnivorous nature…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• In Memoriam

  a Novel

  Winn, Alice (Alice Mary Felicity), 1992-

  Add In Memoriam to your for later shelf

  War stories, Historical fiction. It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Above the Salt

  Vaz, Katherine,

  Add Above the Salt to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction. A sweeping love story follows two Portuguese refugees who flee religious violence and reignite their budding romance in Civil-War America.

• And Then He Sang a Lullaby

  Somtochukwu, Ani Kayode,

  Add And Then He Sang a Lullaby to your for later shelf

  Literary fiction. August is a God-fearing track star who leaves Enugu City to attend university and escape his overbearing sisters. He carries the weight of their lofty expectations, the shame of facing himself, and the haunting memory of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Boulder

  Baltasar, Eva,

  Add Boulder to your for later shelf

  Translations. Working as a cook on a merchant ship, a woman comes to know and love Samsa, a woman who gives her the nickname "Boulder." When Samsa gets a job in Reykjavik and the couple decides to move there together, Samsa decides that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Boys Come First

  Foley, Aaron,

  Add Boys Come First to your for later shelf

  Suddenly jobless and single after a devastating layoff and a breakup with his cheating ex, advertising copywriter Dominick Gibson flees his life in Hell's Kitchen to try and get back on track in his hometown of Detroit. He’s got one…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Briefly, a Delicious Life

  a Novel

  Stevens, Nell, 1985-

  Add Briefly, a Delicious Life to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction. In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there:…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Fractured Infinity

  Tavares, Nathan,

  Add A Fractured Infinity to your for later shelf

  Alternate histories, Science fiction. Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Groundskeeping

  a Novel

  Cole, Lee, 1990-

  Add Groundskeeping to your for later shelf

  Political fiction. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Like a House on Fire

  a Novel

  McBrayer, Lauren,

  Add Like a House on Fire to your for later shelf

  Literary fiction. Returning to her career at the firm of Jager + Brandt, Merit forms a true friendship with Jane, a brilliant and beautiful Danish architect who sees Merit for exactly who she is, and wonders if Jane is the love of her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Love of My Life

  Walsh, Rosie,

  Add The Love of My Life to your for later shelf

  Mysteries. Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she'd do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie. And she might just have got away with it, if it weren't for her husband's job.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Yerba Buena

  LaCour, Nina,

  Add Yerba Buena to your for later shelf

  Literary fiction. When Sara Foster runs away from home at sixteen, she leaves behind not only the losses that have shattered her world but the girl she once was, capable of trust and intimacy. Years later, in Los Angeles, she is a…Read moreRead more of this annotation