Novels About Friendship

Summer reading season is here, and my shelves are piled high with books that I’m hoping to enjoy this season. If you are looking to expand your summer reading list, we’ve complied a list of novels related to our theme of friendship. We have specifically chosen titles that are not fresh-off-the-presses, so that you’ll have an easy time finding them available at your local library or on your reading apps. Feel free to add any of your favorites in the Comments section below!

One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.

–Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

1. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: I read this book about a child with a serious illness and her AI companion when it was first released in 2021, and it felt a little far-fetched. AI has come so far in the time since that this novel now seems very relevant, and it is being made into a feature film scheduled for release in October.
2. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: If you haven’t read this first novel in the author’s four-part Neopolitan series, I highly recommend it. I loved it so much that I blew through all four books in no time, and when I told my mother about them, she read them even faster than I did. This first novel sets the stage for this intense drama about a complex, long-term friendship between two women that starts in childhood.
3. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: This book is also a first in a series of two that starts with a caseworker being sent to a remote island to investigate a peculiar orphanage that houses magical and potentially dangerous children. My daughter recommended this sweet fantastical novel, and it’s unique cast of characters completely won me over.
4. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt: If you haven’t read this book yet, Julia and I both highly recommended doing so before seeing the Netflix series starring Sally Field that was adapted and released in May. I won’t say too much about it, except to prepare to be amazed by at least one of the main characters.
5. The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore: When a grumpy older library patron fails to show up one day, the concerned librarian goes searching for him. What she finds ends up knitting together a cast of lonely characters around books, which makes for delightful reading.