Actresses Irene Maiorino and Alba Caterina Rohrwacher on the television series “My Brilliant … More Friend,” based on a novel by Elena Ferrante that is one of the best books about friendship.
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Life is about relationships, and so many people enjoy reading friendship books that offer them insights and guidance they can use in their own lives. Whether you choose books about friendship that teach you something or ones that simply entertain, you have many options to choose from. Novels, memoirs and nonfiction advising what to do following the loss of a friendship can help you understand developments in your own life. Your choice may depend on what you are looking for. All the best friend books on this list deliver the poignant, intelligent and interesting takes on relationships that you need to become an even better friend.
Top Books About Friendships
Friendship helps you feel supported, seen and valued in your daily life. It gives you a sounding board and a place to be yourself. This list includes four novels, but is mostly nonfiction, including memoirs and self-help. Friendship literature is a subgenre of self-help focused on relationship-building.
These rankings are based on the quality of the insights delivered in the books and how well they hold up over time as well as the books’ critical reception, commercial success and any pop culture recognition.
10. Scythe by Neal Shusterman (2016)
This speculative Printz Honor book is set in a world free of hunger, disease and war, so now the government must kill people for population control. Two friends train to become the Scythes that deliver death—and the teens learn the toll that takes on them and their friendship.
This book is best for fans of fantasy or young adult (YA) novels. Neal Shusterman’s Scythe is available from publisher Simon & Schuster.
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9. Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship by Gail Caldwell (2011)
Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp were friends before Knapp was diagnosed with cancer, and Caldwell memorializes their relationship. They became best friends by bonding over their dogs as well as their alcohol dependencies. Caldwell writes beautifully about non-romantic devotion while exploring how their relationship rooted and grew.
This book is best for those looking for books about grief when a friend has died. Gail Caldwell’s Let’s Take the Long Way Home is available from Penguin Random House.
8. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015)
This much-lauded novel, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and National Book Award, follows four college friends as they drift through life, with a man who suffered deep childhood trauma serving as their anchor. Hanya Yanagihara examines found family and how we choose (or don’t choose) our friends.
This book is best for anyone seeking a novel that meditates on what we owe our friends. Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life is available from publisher Penguin Random House.
7. For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color by Prisca Dorcas Mojica RodrÃguez (2021)
Latina Rebels founder Prisca Dorcas Mojica RodrÃguez examines the unique issues facing women of color, including discrimination and colorism, while encouraging community. She provides encouragement and urges pride in identity, creating a space where women of color can feel safe, valued and, indeed, friended.
This book is best for women of color who feel overlooked when trying to make friends. Prisca Dorcas Mojica RodrÃguez’s For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts is available from publisher Seal Press.
6. Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections by Anna Goldfarb (2024)
The internet may connect us to a great way to share knowledge, but it has also led many people to feel disconnected from others. Anna Goldfarb makes a case for the value of friendship and explains how to achieve it in a world where more and more people feel isolated.
This book is best for anyone feeling closed off from others. Anna Goldfarb’s Modern Friendship is available from publisher Sounds True.
5. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (2014)
What starts as an exclusive group of teens at a camp becomes a clique that rules their world far longer than seems healthy. Jules is shocked when she’s welcomed into their exclusive group, and as decades pass, their friendships shift in unexpected ways as they confront real life and abandon their ambitions.
This book is best for anyone who loves dense tales of found family. Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings is available from Penguin Random House.
Chelsea Clinton, left, and Meg Wolitzer attend 92nd Street Y presents: Chelsea Clinton discusses her … More new book. Wolitzer wrote the great friendship novel “The Interestings.”
4. Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu (2023)
Named to The New York Times’ Best Books of the 21st Century list, Stay True dissects a seminal friendship New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu developed with a fellow Asian American who was very different from him. His close friend’s violent, unexpected death throws Hsu’s world into disarray.
This book is best for those who want to read about a life-defining friendship. Hua Hsu’s Stay True is available from publisher Penguin Random House.
3. Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends Marisa G. Franco (2022)
No one can dispute that the world is more fragmented than it used to be. So, how can you find your tribe? Science, argues Marisa G. Franco, who delves into behavior and attachment style to explain why making close friends is difficult and how to make it easier. She offers research-based ways to connect.
This book is best for science nerds. Marisa G. Franco’s Platonic is available from Penguin Random House.
2. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett (2004)
Before Ann Patchett became an acclaimed novelist, she befriended fellow writer Lucy Grealy, whose bout with childhood cancer stole part of her jaw. The book follows their intertwined lives for two decades as they pursue literary success and confront some terrible truths about life, including how to navigate losing a friend.
This book is best for those looking for powerful books about real-life friendships. Ann Patchett’s Truth & Beauty is available from publisher HarperCollins.
1. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011)
New York Times and international bestseller My Brilliant Friend, which HBO turned into a series, follows the friendship between seeming opposites Lila and Elena. The first book chronicles their first meeting and their schoolgirl years, making it a great coming-of-age tale as well. Elena Ferrante famously writes under a pseudonym.
This book is best for anyone ready to sink into an exceptional four-book series. Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend is available from publisher Europa Editions.
Bottom Line
Books about friendship can lift your spirits and help you form deeper connections. Enjoy a novel, memoir or self-help book to help you move forward in your platonic relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Good friends-to-lovers book show the arc of a relationship as the main characters realize their comfortable friendship is actually based on attraction. Two terrific romances are:
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (2021), in which two longtime best friends and total opposites whose friendship fizzled come back together.
Friends and Lovers by Eric Jerome Dickey (2000), in which four young Black friends are searching for love.
Good poems about love and friendship explore interpersonal dynamics while also making a greater point. Two great poems for people of any age are:
“Us Two” by A.A. Milne (1927), creator of Winnie the Pooh, which shows the mutual devotion of Christopher Robin and Pooh as they adventure and talk.
“Hug O’ War” by Shel Silverstein (1993), which illustrates the virtues of choosing love and companionship over conflict.
Good books about making friends outline strategies for creating lasting relationships. Two great options are:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (1936), one of the classic self-help books, which explains how to use communication to connect.
Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life by Radha Agrawal (2018), which offers a blueprint for finding your people.
Good books about female friendships capture the humanity and kindness that drive these relationships. A couple fantastic choices are:
Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendshipby Kayleen Schaefer (2018), which plays on that classic direction women give each other after a night out.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson (2017), which follows childhood relationships as they grow and crack into adulthood.
Good books about friendship breakups can help you navigate these painful realities. Titles that may help during this period include:
When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk (2020), one of the standout YA books about a friendship implosion.
The Friend Who Got Away: Twenty Women’s True Life Tales of Friendships that Blew Up, Burned Out or Faded Away by Jenny Offill and Elissa Schappell (2007), which chronicles the breakups of real-life friendships and the reasons behind them.
Good books about friendship for adults capture ways to be a better friend and guidance to strengthening relationships. Two to consider are:
We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships by Kat Vellos (2020), which is a self-published book with more than 300 conversation starters
The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen (2024), which profiles people who have chosen friendship over romance.
Good kids books about friendship include advice in story form that will make kids think. One for young children and one for tweens include:
Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival (2021), which details a young girl’s trouble making friends.
The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert (2020), which shows two girls with seemingly nothing in common finding central ground.
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