When thinking about what topic to choose for today’s TOP TEN MUST READ post, I struggled. But given recent events, feeling our world crack because of hate and violence, I thought a collection of books which focused on love might be perfect.
Too often when we think of love, we imagine the soulmate, all of the SHIPS from our favorite fictional worlds, and we forget how many different kinds of love there can be. I think in the wake of the atrocities from this past weekend, love is just the thing to focus on. So here they are (in no particular order) my list of MUST READ books which focus on non-romantic love!
Being an outsider is tough, especially in high school. Charlie begins his freshman year with no one, but through the power of friend love, he grows as a person and as a friend. Sam and Patrick are two of the most unique best friends anyone could ask for, and the love they have for each other is beautiful. Their love makes them stronger. Their friendship gets them through. Set in the 90’s, this is a book rich with detail and emotion. The epistolary narrative connects the reader to Charlie, and invites them into this world.
Yes, there are two Will Grayson’s in this book, and no, they are not long-lost twins or something supernatural. They’re just two kids. But really the love I find most amazing in this novel is that between the first Will Grayson and Tiny Cooper. They are complete opposities, but best friends. Through the tribulations of other more romantic loves in this novel, their friendship proves the power of falling in love with friend love. I enjoyed their friendship more than anything else within this fantastic book which offers narratives from BOTH David Levithan and John Green!
The final istallment in The Riverman Trilogy is thrilling to say the least. Throughout the course of the books we get a fantastic friendship between Alistair and Fiona. But this book focuses on the kind of friendships that are born into us; siblings. Keri Cleary knows there’s something…off…about her brother, because of course all older sisters seem to know these things. And it is through the way she observes their world that readers see that even rocky times can’t really break these bonds of friendship. To get this amazing story in its entirety, begin with The Riverman and work your way through these friendships!
PPV (Peter Pan Virus) has struck society, and its children are dying. The protagonist, Noah, lives at one of the best treatment schools within this world where kids are dying, never making it to adulthood. Here were see Noah struggle with his identity, love life, and just living. Yet, his friendship with Marty is brighter than many of the people and events happening within this novel. Marty is a writer, and he writes a play about a modern Peter Pan and Wendy being stuck in a hospital, and they, too, are dying. Marty gives Noah the words he needs to make sense of their world. Marty carries Noah up hills and gives him a drinking buddy when he needs one. Marty slips into the places Noah leaves behind when he is too much in his own head, and together, they are friends. This novel was eerie, heart breaking, and filled with more love than I ever expected. Though this novel made its debut a few months ago, I’m still obsessing over the world Emil Ostrvoski created.
For two years, the world did not spoil me on this, so don’t worry, I won’t ruin anything here for those who’ve yet to read this thrilling novel. This is perfect for summer because it takes place in the many summers of Cadence’s life. Together with the other members of the Sinclair family: her grandfather, the reigning patriarch of the Sinclair fortune, the Aunts, the Littles, and the Liars, a mystery is introduced and unraveled in a way that will haunt long after the story is done. It is, however, the love between Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat–family who became friends–which is the strongest. Readers know they love one another, and it is the kind of love that is truth, even amongst so many other lies.
Circus Mirandus is one of those books written for children that will speak volumes to everyone! Micah’s best-most-favorite person in the whole world is his Grandpa Ephraim. But his grandfather is sick, and Micah knows he needs a miracle from the Man Who Bends Light, a man his grandfather once met at Circus Mirandus when he was a young boy. He was promised a miracle, and Micah is determinded to bring him one! This book, similar to The Night Circus (but frankly, the writing and story here work much better) is filled with magic, friendship, and love. Micah loves his grandfather with everything he has and this is what gives life to this novel. And then Micah and classmate, Jenny Mendoza, become friends and she helps him to journey to Circus Mirandus for that miracle!
This novel sets up everything I wished for in a high school: witty-almost-meta friends, a school dedicated to creativity and imagination and art, and a story to tell. Normandy is talented, though often she is hidden in the shadow of her sister, who’s already published her own graphic novel series, which is oh-so-popular and documents too many things in Normandy’s life and that of their family. This isn’t a lovely sister read, but the friendship between Normandy and her friends–the truth commission, is fantastic. Her friends get her through the hard times, help her figure out family secrets, and they are fantastically funny along the way!
It’s like this book was made for the boredom of summer. When Carson moves to a small town for the summer, it is only Aisha who saves him from the torture he expects. With a dying father, family drama, and a roadtrip that takes them to new and exciting places, Carson and Aisha’s friendship is gold. Even though it doesn’t quite start that way, Aisha is the best friend Carson needs to naviagte a world of death and grief and truth. This novel combines wit and serious life events to create a friendship readers will be sure to fall in love with!
Opening up a Rainbow Rowell novel almost always feels like fate. She has the ability to write REAL characters, and as such, she knows the power of falling in friend love. When Cath goes to college with her twin sister Wren, she feels alone for the first time since the womb. She is not dorming with Wren. Wren wants her own life, and Cath wants the safety of her Simon Snow fanfiction. But Cath ends up with Reagan, a boisterous roommate with a boyfriend who is always around. Reagan is just what Cath needs to pull her from the safety of childhood nostalgia and live in the real world with real people who are just as magical as the characters from Simon Snow. Their friendship and the others that seem to populate this world are true and just-so-perfect!
I’m sorry, but it couldn’t be a list of MUST READ books without Harry Potter. While every book in the Potter series could qualify for friend love, book seven is the culminaton of a friendship that is powerful enough to defeat evil. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger–they prove that friendship is still love and that loving your friends is important. You will fall in love with the way this trio loves one another. I suppose that is all I can say without revealing the end of how this series ends. But I can say, this trio has other friends as well who would die for the idea that they have each other.
So that’s it for the TOP TEN BOOKS WITH NON-ROMANTIC LOVE. I hope you will fall in love with some of these friendships, too!
Do you know of any other books with friend love? Let us know in the comments below!
