A Bookseller Recommends - Ellie - Sally Rooney Read-Alikes

In this installment of A Bookseller Recommends, Ellie answers the question of what to read while you're waiting for the NEXT Sally Rooney novel.

Exciting Times: A Novel By Naoise Dolan Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062968753
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ecco - March 16th, 2021

Following a young Irish woman living in Hong Kong, Exciting Times pinpoints the fear and self-loathing entangled in matters of desire, sex and love. Its power lies in the startlingly intimate confessions that slice through the wry dialogue. The most Rooneyish book you’ll find!


A Lover's Discourse By Xiaolu Guo Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780802149534
Availability: Usually Available in 1-5 Days, supply chain issues may affect these times
Published: Grove Press - October 19th, 2021

An intellectual novel with Rooney-esque dialogue and philosophical musings, told in conversations between a Chinese PhD student and an Australian architect as they fall in love in Brexit Britain. I loved it.


No One Is Talking About This: A Novel By Patricia Lockwood Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593189597
Availability: Usually Available in 1-5 Days, supply chain issues may affect these times
Published: Riverhead Books - February 15th, 2022

One of the particular pleasures of Beautiful World, Where Are You? is how contemporary its exploration of the anxieties of this political/climactic/internet moment feels. No One is Talking About This does that and so much more…it’s a wonderful and weird novel about being extremely online, and Sally Rooney “really admires and loves” it.


My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel By Ottessa Moshfegh Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525522133
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - June 25th, 2019

Another book about a depressed, complicated and witty woman, written by an absolute genius. If you love Sally Rooney but want something a little bit wackier, this is it!


Motherhood: A Novel By Sheila Heti Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9781250214782
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Picador - May 7th, 2019

Sheila Heti broke new ground with this funny, complex and heartbreaking examination of the desire (or lack thereof) to have a child, the way we carry our mothers' sadnesses, and the shifting worlds that women occupy. Confronts many of the same philosophical questions as Beautiful World, Where Are You…and Sally Rooney is a fan!


Three Rooms By Jo Hamya Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780358695318
Availability: Usually Available in 1-5 Days, supply chain issues may affect these times
Published: Mariner Books - May 3rd, 2022

Three Rooms follows a young woman over the course of a year as she attempts to carve out a room of her own in a world where permanent work and housing have become increasingly precarious. Echoing many of the themes of Beautiful World, Where Are You?, this novel (published by Jo Hamya at the age of TWENTY-THREE!?!?) is an incredible debut.