{"id":121159,"date":"2021-01-18T14:56:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T03:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=121159"},"modified":"2021-01-22T12:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T01:21:51","slug":"6-read-alike-books-for-sally-rooney-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2021\/01\/18\/6-read-alike-books-for-sally-rooney-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"6 read-alike books for Sally Rooney fans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sally<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By now I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve all heard the news that the beloved Irish author Sally Rooney\u2019s third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, will be released later this year. But September is an awfully <\/em>long time to wait, which begs the question: what should I read in the meantime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reader, it\u2019s your lucky day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few years, we\u2019ve become accustomed to seeing the following phrase sitting in the blurb of many new books: \u2018*Insert Author Here* is the new Sally Rooney.\u2019 Or its most common variant, \u2018For fans of Sally Rooney\u2019s Normal People<\/em>.\u2019 Publishing loves nothing more than a trend and I fully understand the impulse to use one author\u2019s name and fame to try and send another skyrocketing up the bestseller charts. Luckily, many of the books that have been compared to this famous Irish author are actually excellent in their own right, and so I\u2019ve gathered together six of them to tide you over until the release of Beautiful World, Where Are You<\/em>. Read on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Sorrow and Bliss<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Meg Mason<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781460757222<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The blurb of this book declares that it\u2019s perfect for \u2018fans of Sally Rooney, Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Fleabag<\/em>.\u2019 Quite the eclectic mix of high-profile comparisons there, though I do think Sorrow and Bliss<\/em> leans more Fleabag <\/em>than Rooney. Nevertheless, it was one of my favourite reads of 2020 and I think it will do nicely with fans of Sally Rooney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Exciting Times<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Naoise Dolan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781474613453<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is actually the closest book I\u2019ve found to Rooney\u2019s particular novelistic blend of politics, sex and wry Irish humour – I loved it. This book is acerbic and biting with its humour, closer in nature to Conversations With Friends<\/em> than Normal People<\/em>, and it was another highlight of 2020 for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Such a Fun Age<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Kiley Reid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pandora Sykes declared that Such a Fun Age<\/em>, the debut novel of American author Kiley Reid, would go on to have the same impact as Sally Rooney. Given that this book was also longlisted for the Booker Prize and has garnered high praise from thousands of readers, including yours truly, I think she may be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Expectation<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Anna Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anna<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This quiet and contemplative novel about three women friends growing into adulthood brings to mind all of the gorgeous introspection of Normal People<\/em>, even if the style of both authors is quite different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Jessie Tu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jessie<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jessie Tu made plenty of waves with her debut novel, which follows the sexual encounters of a former violinist prodigy named Jena. This is quite a confronting book, but the boldness of Tu\u2019s prose is certainly reminiscent of Sally Rooney, and she\u2019s found many an Australian fan (including writers such as Bri Lee).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Cherry Beach<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Laura McPhee-Browne<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rooney<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This novel exploring the intricacies of friendship and desire between two best friends became something of an Australian literary darling last year. I\u2019m yet to read it, but I\u2019ve been reliably informed by several other Booktopians that it more than warrants the love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

—Beautiful World, Where Are You<\/a><\/em> by Sally Rooney (Allen & Unwin Australia) will be released on the 7th of September.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Books by Kiley Reid, Jessie Tu, Naoise Dolan and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":135465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[12358,10149,12344,10993,11270,10148,1974,12359,10611,10994,7163,3623,11269,8595,11104,10841],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/6SallyRooneyReadalikes-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121159"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135647,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121159\/revisions\/135647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}