18 books like Ida B. ...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

What to read after Ida B. ...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Terms of Endearment Larry McMurtry · 1975 · ★ 4.4 · 410p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Aurora is the kind of woman who makes the whole world orbit around her, including a string of devoted suitors. Widowed and overprotective of her daughter, Aurora adapts at her own pace until life sends two enormous challenges her way: Emma’s hasty marriage and subsequent battle with cancer. Shares: Cancer, Patients, Family life

Alice in Lace Phyllis Reynolds Naylor · 1996 · ★ 4.1 · 155p · ≈ 5h · Moderate While planning a wedding as part of an assignment for her eighth-grade health class, Alice thinks about her father's and older brother's love lives and learns that you cannot prepare for all of life's decisions. Shares: Family life, School Stories, Family, Families

Relampago Danielle Steel · 1995 · ★ 2.5 · 389p · ≈ 12h · Moderate A woman's idyllic life--child, career, successful husband--ends with breast cancer. The protagonist is Alexandra Parker, a New York lawyer who suddenly finds her husband doesn't want a woman who is sick. Fortunately others do, even if she has gone bald from treatment. Shares: Cancer, Patients

Autobiography of a Face Lucy Grealy · 1994 · ★ 4.0 · 230p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Lucy Grealy's ruthless self-examination, rich fantasy life, and great derring-do inform this powerful memoir about the premium we put on beauty and on a woman's face in particular. It took Lucy twenty years of living with a distorted self-image and more than thirty reconstructive procedures before she could come to terms with her appearance after childhood surgery left her jaw disfigured. As a… Shares: Cancer, Patients

Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom · 1994 · ★ 4.2 · 212p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir by American author Mitch Albom about a series of visits Albom made to his former sociology professor Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz gradually dies of ALS. The book topped the New York Times Non-Fiction Best-Sellers List for 23 combined weeks in 2000, and remained on the New York Times best-selling list for more than four years after. In 2006, Tuesdays with Morrie… Shares: Teacher-student relationships, Patients

Back on Blossom Street Debbie Macomber · 2007 · ★ 4.3 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate There's a new shop on Seattle's Blossom Street--a flower store called Susannah's Garden, right next door to A Good Yarn. Susannah Nelson, the owner, has just hired an assistant named Colette Blake, a young widow who's obviously hiding a secret--or two.When Susannah and Colette both join Lydia Goetz's new knitting class, they discover that Lydia and her sister, Margaret, have worries of their own.… Shares: Cancer, Patients

Halfway to forever Karen Kingsbury · 2002 · 430p · ≈ 14h · Moderate You wept with them as they were Waiting for MorningYou shared their Moment of WeaknessNow they face the greatest struggles of their lives.Matt and Hannah Bronzan have found a new life in the face of devastating loss.  Together with Hannah’s daughter, Jenny, they are finally moving forward—toward the adoption of a little girl. A younger sister for Jenny, a daughter for them to love and raise… Shares: Cancer, Patients

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot · 2009 · ★ 4.1 · 381p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her… Shares: Cancer, Patients

Harriet Spies Again Helen Ericson · 2002 · ★ 3.9 · 230p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Harriet M. Welsch is up to her old spying tricks when her beloved nanny Ole Golly, who had married and moved to Montreal, returns without her husband, Harriet's friend Sport announces he has a crush on a schoolmate, and the people across the street appear to be holding a child hostage. Shares: Family life, Family, Families, Schools

Ramona the Pest Beverly Cleary · 1968 · ★ 4.1 · 145p · ≈ 4h · Moderate Ramona the Pest, by Beverly Cleary, is the second book of the Ramona series and the first to focus on Ramona Quimby as the protagonist. This children's book chronicles the adventures of Ramona's first few months at kindergarten. The book's title is derived from the characterization of Ramona as a "pest" by many, including her older sister Beatrice, known as "Beezus." Ramona the Pest was first… Shares: Family life, Family, Families, Schools

The Brooklyn Follies Paul Auster · 2005 · ★ 3.9 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore - a far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to… Shares: Cancer, Patients

No such thing as a bad day Hamilton Jordan · 2000 · 260p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Former White House chief of staff recounts his bouts with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, melanoma, and prostate cancer. Shares: Cancer, Patients

A Baxter family Christmas Karen Kingsbury · 2016 · ★ 4.2 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Moderate "A Howard Book. Howard Books has a great book for every reader"-- Shares: Patients, Family life, Families

The View from Saturday E. L. Konigsburg · 1996 · ★ 3.8 · 169p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition. Shares: Teacher-student relationships, School Stories, Schools

The silver spoon John Galsworthy · 1921 · ★ 4.1 · 315p · ≈ 10h · Challenging Books for All Kinds of Readers Read HowYouWant offers the widest selection of on-demand, accessible format editions on the market today. Our 7 different sizes of EasyRead are optimized by increasing the font size and spacing between the words and the letters. We partner with leading publishers around the globe. Our goal is to have accessible editions simultaneously released with publishers' new… Shares: Family, Families

The bent twig Dorothy Canfield Fisher · 1915 · 480p · ≈ 16h · Challenging Unlike other young women of her generation, who were "bred up from childhood to sit behind tea-tables and say the right things to tea-drinkers," Sylvia Marshall - the "twig" of this novel - was reared to think for herself and to trust her own instincts and experience. This, coupled with her passionate temperament, makes Sylvia a compelling figure as she resists efforts to mold her with every… Shares: Family, Families

The Condition Jennifer Haigh · 2008 · ★ 3.5 · 390p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Unaware of the long-standing grievances harbored by their divorced parents, three adult siblings embark on a tumultuous summer when the oldest, a successful Manhattan doctor, investigates his sister's chromosomal disorder against his mother's wishes. Shares: Patients, Family, Families

Reluctantly Alice Phyllis Reynolds Naylor · 1991 · ★ 4.0 · 199p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Alice experiences the joys and embarrassments of seventh grade while advising her father and older brother on their love lives. Shares: Family life, School Stories, Family, Schools

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