Do you want to get hold of some interesting and inspiring reads that are bound to keep you amused yet motivated? I am sure you must have enjoyed reading Lessons in Chemistry. If you’re looking for similar captivating and motivational narratives, these six books could help you pick and begin your reading journey instead of aimlessly surfing what to read.
These books are in diverse genres, including contemporary romance, thrill, suspense, and historical fiction. Select a book according to your mood and enjoy reading. All of these have been picked to keep you engaged and enthralled.
6 Best Books like Lessons in Chemistry:
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- Pineapple Street
- The Women
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
- The Love Hypothesis
- Romantic Comedy
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride:
Summary:
The story belongs to the thriller and mystery genre, which begins with discovering a skeleton in the well of a small town where people from diverse ethnic nationalities live, including White and Black families and immigrants. The town has some secrets and mysteries; the narration is done 50 years ago to explore and solve them. After the skeleton is discovered, an older man, Malachi, who is a Jew, is interrogated about it.
Moshe owns a musical theatre, and he and Malachi became acquaintances long ago when he went to Moshe’s musical show. Moshe’s financial conditions started to get worse. He married Chona, whose father owned a grocery store, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” which was taken up by Moshe and Chona. Chona had polio since childhood, so she suffered seizures. Nate and his wife work at this grocery store. Nate’s wife’s nephew, Dodo, is a young boy who is deaf by birth. Dodo’s mother passed away, and the state wants him to be admitted to a mental asylum, considering him disabled.
There is a doctor in the town who attempts to rape Chona, and that’s when Dodo intervenes to save her. Dodo gets injuries while keeping her, and the Doctor takes him into his custody with the intent to give him a mental asylum. When the Doctor attempted to rape Chona, she got a seizure, and she died. The people of the community make a plan to get Dodo out of the mental asylum and take the help of a man who delivers eggs at the mental asylum.
| Publisher | Riverhead Books |
| Publishing Date | First published August 8, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 380 Pages |
| Title | The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store |
| Settings | Pennsylvania (United States, 1972) |
| Literary awards | National Jewish Book Award for Book Club Award (2023), NAACP Image Award Nominee for Fiction (2024), Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Award (2023), RUSA CODES Listen List for Outstanding Audiobook Narration (2024) |
| ISBN-10 | 0593422945 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593422946 |
Now, whose skeleton was that? The Doctor’s skeleton fell in the maintenance hole, which was uncovered during sanitary work in the town for the water supply in the community. How did we know it was the Doctor’s skeleton? He was found wearing a necklace, which was Chona’s that he stole during the sexual assault. After many struggles, Nate finally gets Dodo out of the asylum, and they live on a far-off farm. To honour her disabled wife, Moshe makes a center for disabled children. The story ends with Dodo growing up, getting married and having children. Later, Dodo passes away as he grows old and becomes a grandfather.
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson:
Summary:
The “Pineapple Street” narrates the story of three women who belong to the Stockton family and reside in the upper-class Brooklyn community. In the novel’s beginning, Sasha tries hard to adjust to her husband’s family. They were living in his husband’s childhood home. Georgiana and Darley do not like Sasha and think she is a gold-digger. Both of them make fun of Sasha because she is incapable of dressing even and adequately avoids interacting with her during social gatherings.
Georgiana is the youngest woman in the Stockton family and is an NGO member. She is attracted to her colleague Brady. Gradually, they become friends, and Georgians secretly fall for her. Darley is married to Malcolm, stays at home, and takes care of her family. Unfortunately, Malcom gets terminated from his job, and Darley is worried about managing the finances. Darley went to a park with Sasha and told her confidentially about her husband’s unemployment.
Brady dies in a plane crash, and Georgiana is heartbroken. She shared it with Sasha and asked her to keep it a secret and not to share it with others. One day, Sasha overhears that her sister-in-law calls her gold digger and decides not to be friends with them anymore. The Stockton family learns that Sasha knows about Georgian’s affair, and they get angry at her.
Sasha felt lonely when she found out her father was unwell, so she went to see her family, who lived in Rhode Island. Darley feels sorry for calling Sasha a gold digger and sends her a bouquet to apologize.
| Publisher | Pamela Dorman Books |
| Publishing Date | First published March 7, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 304 Pages |
| Literary awards | Goodreads Choice Award, Nominee for Best Fiction (2023), Nominee for Best Debut Novel (2023) |
| Settings | New York City, New York (United States), Brooklyn, New York City, New York (United States) |
| ISBN-10 | 059349069X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593490693 |
As the story draws towards the end, Darley and Malcolm come to live in the Pineapple Street home; Cord vows to Sasha that he will support her around her family. Georgina gets into a relationship with Curtis, and they both support a not-for-profit fund that facilitates reproductive healthcare services to women in Pakistan.
The Women by Kristin Hannah:
Summary:
The novel features a compelling historical tale of a young Girl, Frankie McGrath, who hails from a wealthy family. She is a nurse by profession and has registered in Vietnam for surgical training. During her training, she gets attached to Jamie. Unfortunately, after some time, Jamie is not alive anymore as he gets killed in the War. After him, Frankie falls for another man, Ry, a navy pilot navy. And guess what? He is killed, too.
Frankie returns to her home and tries hard to absorb all that has happened in her life. Frankie’s service is terminated as she was a former non-combat, which is less attributed to ladies. Frankie goes into depression but has supportive family and friends around her. With their help, she is able to get back to normal, and she resumes her profession as a surgical nurse. After forgetting things that had happened in the past, Frankie meets a new man who appears to be nice to her.
After the War, Frankie finds out something when the prisoners return home. Any idea? She finds that Rye wasn’t killed. He is alive and is married to someone else. Frankie is distraught knowing this. The situation gets difficult for her with time, and as she is not performing well at work, she is terminated as a nurse. Frankie starts taking tranquillizers and secretly starts meeting Rye again. Rye assures Frankie that he will leave his wife soon, but her hopes are shattered when she learns that Rye has another child.
| Publisher | St. Martin’s Press |
| Publishing Date | First published February 6, 2024 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 336 Pages |
| Title | The women |
| Setting | Vietnam, Southeast Asia |
| ISBN-10 | 1250178630 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1250178633 |
Frankie couldn’t stand this deception and took an overdose of sleeping pills. She is admitted to a mental treatment center, and the Doctor diagnoses her with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). She gets her treatment for a few months, and her condition gets better. She then leaves there and decides to start life all over again in a farmhouse in Missoula. She has a fellow nurse, Donna, from Vietnam, who is also suffering from PTSD. She took Donna with,h her and named the farmhouses “Last Best Pl, “A refuge center for women who had served in Vietnam. The book ends with Frankie getting another surprise. She went to an event. Guess who she saw there? She saw Jamie, who didn’t die in the War and was alive.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin:
Summary:
This is a captivating love story between two friends who are not lovers but friends. Sam and Sadie met in a hospital when they were 11 and 12, respectively. Sadie comes to the hospital to see her sister, who is ill, and Sam is admitted to the hospital to get his surgeries done for his broken foot during an accident. They play video games together to pass the time and gradually become excellent friends.
Sadie’s mom asks her to utilize and count these hours as community service work needed for Bat Mitzvah. She agrees and completes her 600 hours. But this makes Sam unhappy, and he questions their friendship. Due to this, both of them stopped talking to each other for years. They meet each other after many years, and Sadie gives Sam a video game disc she made herself. The disc has her contact number, and Sam is asked to give his feedback on the video game.
Sadie has a relationship with his professor, Dov, who is married and has a wife living in Israel. After some time, he returns to his wife, which makes Sadie sad and depressed. She has nowhere to live, so she starts living with a friend. Sam emails Sadie about her video game, but she has not replied. Sam has her address, so he goes to meet her. He sees her every day for two weeks, and Sadie finally agrees to leave the house.
They become friends again and decide to create a video game together. While making a game, Sadie needs some help and reaches out to Dov, who has returned. Dov agrees to help, but he has some other hidden intentions. Sam slips on the ice and breaks his ankle again. The game is marketed, and the company that chooses to release it changes the nonbinary character to a male character. The game gets a hit, and they make a sequel as well.
| Publisher | Knopf |
| Publishing Date | First published July 5, 2022 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 401 Pages |
| Literary awards | British Book Award Nominee for Pageturner (2024), ALA Alex Award Nominee (2023), Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction (2022), Book of the Month Book of the Year Award (2022), Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Award Nominee (2022) |
| Settings | Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States), Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States), Massachusetts (United States), Los Angeles, California (United States), Venice Beach, California (United States), Koreatown, Los Angeles, California (United States), California (United States), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (United States) |
| Characters | Sam Masur, Sadie Green, Marx Watanabe, Dov Mizrah, Antony Ruiz, Simon Freeman, Zoe Cadogan |
Dov handcuffs Sadie, and she is in an abusive relationship, so she tries to get rid of him, and finally, she is thriving. Sam had a foot amputation and became distant from Sadie. Meanwhile, Sadie and Sam’s friend Marx get into a relationship. Sam finds out and gets jealous. Marx is shot dead, which makes Sadie depressed. She makes a new video game related to Macbeth, and that’s where the book’s title came from: “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.” Sam and Sadie decide to make another game together. What do you think? Will they be reconciled this time? Or will something or someone else come in between in their friendship again?
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood:
Summary:
It is a gripping contemporary romance fiction novel which won the title of Best Summer read as well. The story beautifully unfolds the love between two scientists. Olive Smith is a PhD student in biology who is researching to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages. She meets Dr. Adam Carlson, a faculty member in the Biology department. The university’s management fears Dr. Adam will soon leave, so they confiscate his funds. So, he pretends that he is in a relationship with Olive so that the university perceives that Dr. Adam will stay here longer and that they will release his funds, which were frozen previously.
Dr. Adam and Olive start fake dating, and they learn more about each other when they meet. Olive tells a secret to Adam that her mother has pancreatic cancer, which is why she is researching this disease. Olive starts catching feelings for Adam but is too shy to confess them before him.
One day, Adam overhears about this, but she pretends she is talking about someone else, not him. Olive’s research was selected for a presentation, and Adam was a speaker at the conference. Adam’s friend Tom tries to assault Olive sexually. With time, Olive and Adam’s friendship gets more profound, but Adam and Tom are working on a joint research project, so Olive has to end ties with Adam.
Tom is at ease that no one will know about whatever he tried to do with Olive, but everything gets recorded by chance, and Tom threatens Olive. Olive shows that video to Adam, and he gets furious. Adam tells the faculty about this incident, and the faculty terminates Tom from the institute. Alice confesses her feelings for Adam and says that she lied when she said she had a crush on someone, not him. Adam also admits that he loved her from the first day he saw her while changing her contact lenses in the dressing room. And this is a happy ending to Olive and Adam’s love story.
| Publisher | Berkley Books |
| Publishing Date | September 14, 2021 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 383 Pages |
| Series | The Love Hypothesis #1 |
| Literary awards | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance (2021), Book of the Month Book of the Year Award Nominee (2022), Swoon Award for Contemporary Romance (2021), She Reads Best of Award Nominee for Romance (2021) |
| Settings | Stanford University, Stanford, California (United States), Boston, Massachusetts (United States), California (United States) |
| Characters | Olive Smith, Ph.D, Dr. Adam Carlsen |
| ISBN-10 | 0593336828 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593336828 |
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld:
Summary:
Romantic comedy is a fiction romance that explores the romantic and personal life of Sally Minz. Some of the story is narrated by Sally herself, while some are emails between Sally and her love, Noah. Sally is a writer in the comedy show “The Night Owl” (TNO), which airs every Saturday. Sally discovers that her colleague Danny is dating a celebrity, Annabel. She gets jealous and is amazed at how a beautiful celebrity like Annabel can be in a relationship with an average-looking man like Danny.
After a few months, a popstar musician came to The Night Owl show. Whenever the show had to air a live telecast, they worked late at night. Sally creates a sketch, “The Danny Horst Rule,” depicting the idea that famous females are attracted to less attracted men. She made this sketch because of Danny and Annabel. Noah is writing a sketch and asks Sally to help him. Sally finds Noah’s work impressive.
While practicing, when Noah sings songs, Sally thinks he is dedicating them to her, but then she feels it is impossible. The COVID-19 pandemic happened, and during this time, Noad and Sally talked to each other via email and gave minor updates about what was happening in their lives. Noah tells Sally that one of his bandmates had an accident, and he passed away. Sally tells Noah that his ex-husband doubted her skills as a writer.
| Publisher | Random House |
| Published Date | First published April 4, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 309 |
| Title | Romantic Comedy |
| Awards | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Romance (2023) |
| ISBN-10 | 0399590943 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0399590948 |
Sally plans to meet Noah and goes to California. She meets him, and they spend many days together. Sally receives a text from her aunty that her older father is sick due to having COVID-19. Sally tells Noah she has to go to Missouri, and he says he’ll accompany her. They went to see Sally’s father, who was in worse condition. Noah helps Sally care for his father, and he slowly gets better. She is convinced that Noah is pure at heart and accepts to be his girlfriend. They return to California, and Sally’s father moves in with them. Noah and Sally get married and start living together.
Conclusion:
Where these stories are based primarily on fiction, they have potent messages from everyday lives that can inspire many readers like me. “The Heaven and Earth Grocery store” shows how the people living in a community have different backgrounds but are still interconnected during dark times.
“The Women,” tells the struggling yet inspiring story of Frankie, a young woman from a rich family who decides to go into the Vietnam War as a nurse. She leaves the comfort of her house to offer her services in a worn-torn where the conditions are life-threatening. After returning, she finds that her country does not appreciate the contributions of women in War.
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” is a fascinating read that explores the meaning of life and how old friendships like that of Sam and Sadie can help cure anxiety and depression.
In “The Love Hypothesis,” Adam has been accommodating towards Olive professionally and personally. He unveils the evil side of his colleague Tom and gets him fired so that he does not sexually assault other women like Olive. “Romantic Comedy” shows that helpful and supporting people like Noah are a blessing in times of need. Sally was upset due to her father’s deteriorating health, but Noah helped her to take care of his father just like his own father.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these novels, and I am sure we’ll be in the same boat when you’re done reading them. Until next time!!