Books like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

What to read after “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Melinda begins high school as an outcast after calling the police at a summer party, and barely speaks. Through art class and small moments she slowly confronts what happened to her that night and finds the words to name it.
2
Looking for Alaska
John Green · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Miles Halter leaves his quiet Florida home for a boarding school in Alabama, drawn by the last words of famous people. There he joins a tight circle of friends, falls for the reckless Alaska Young, and is forced to reckon with loss and guilt.
3
Thirteen Reasons Why
Jay Asher · 2007
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Clay Jensen receives a box of tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, a classmate who has taken her own life. As he follows her voice around town, she explains the thirteen reasons behind her decision, and Clay learns his own place in her story.
4
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Benjamin Alire Sáenz · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
In 1987 El Paso, two Mexican American boys meet at a swimming pool and slowly become friends. Over long summers they share books, secrets and fears, and each begins to understand the love and longing he has been afraid to name.
5
The Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan · 2018
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
After her mother's death, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet grandparents she has never known, convinced her mother has returned as a red bird. Grief, a family silence and a friendship she left behind come together as she learns what she can and cannot hold on to.
6
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Hazel Grace, a teenager with terminal cancer, meets Augustus Waters at a support group. Their cautious romance grows through shared wit and a planned trip to Amsterdam, while both confront what they can and cannot control.
7
They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
On the day they both receive a call saying they will die within twenty-four hours, Mateo and Rufus meet through an app for people facing their last day. The two teenagers spend it together, trying to live a lifetime in the time they have left.
8
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Narrated by Death, the story follows Liesel Meminger, a girl sent to live with a foster family in Nazi Germany. She steals books, shares them with a Jewish man hiding in the basement, and grows up amid bombs, loss and small acts of kindness.
9
Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell · 2012
Similar plot moves: “Friends to Lovers” and “Coming of Age”
- Friends to Lovers
- Coming of Age
Eleanor is the new girl on the bus, with mismatched clothes and a chaotic home life; Park is the quiet boy who lets her sit beside him. Their friendship grows through shared comics and mix tapes into a cautious first love, threatened by her abusive stepfather.
10
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover · 2016
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Friends to Lovers
Lily moves to Boston, opens a flower shop and falls for Ryle, a confident neurosurgeon. Their relationship seems perfect until she notices patterns she recognises from the house she grew up in, and the return of her first love, Atlas, makes her question what she is willing to accept.
11
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini · 2007
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Found Family
Mariam and Laila, born a generation apart in Afghanistan, are forced together by marriage to the same violent man. Through decades of war and loss, the two women become each other's only home and take great risks for the chance of a different life.
12
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Leslye Walton · 2014
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Born with wings she cannot fly, Ava grows up in a Seattle house where the women carry a long history of love that ends badly. As she longs to be an ordinary girl, her family's sorrows keep shaping everyone around her.