Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman.


The first thing that popped into my head was The Guncle. I can't wait to see what everyone else suggests!!


Listopia list is Here: A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman

Absolutely phenomenal book:
Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Any of Richard Osman's Murder Club books would work here.

I found a few that I've read and liked:

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Hanging Mary
The Storyteller

Jennifer W wrote: "I found a few that I've read and liked:

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Hanging Mary
The Storyteller"

The Housekeeper and the Professor is one of my favorite books. I just love this author,

LeahS wrote: "Any of Richard Osman's Murder Club books would work here."

The Thursday Murder Club is on my TBR! Thank you!

Any of the Harry Potter books, with Harry and Hermione’s friendship

One that comes to mind is Bury Your Gays. Main character is a married gay man who has a good female friend who plays a major role.

In Skyward and Starsight by Brandon Sanderson, Spensa and Rig are best friends since childhood. YA science fiction.

I've been meaning to read The Shape of Water. While the central relationship doesn't qualify, the one between the female protagonist and her older gay friend does, and is important to the plot.

I am old and these are old books - both are also, in the form of a long-distance correspondence over time so fit the book in Letters prompt.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - a reader and a bookseller

By This Wing by Celia Thaxter - the island in Maine gardener to a Boston ornithologist.

Ruth wrote: "One that comes to mind is Bury Your Gays. Main character is a married gay man who has a good female friend who plays a major role."

LOVED that book!

If you like fantasy, I really enjoyed The Last Vigilant!

I'd love to find one where they're both straight. It bugs me that m/f friendships are almost always portrayed as "they were secretly lusting for each other all along."

In the Ivy Rose series by Gemma Jackson, Ivy has several male friends, including a Garda officer and a monk.

I have a recommendation for a really good book that meets this criteria: Grief Is for People. It IS a case where it's a straight woman and a gay man, but it's a really interesting look at their friendship. He was her boss/mentor in publishing, it's non-fiction.

I agree with Laura Ruth and would also like to find a book where it's 2 straight characters. I really hate the whole "straight men and women are never just friends and can go years without actually realizing they're in love somehow" trope.

Laura Ruth wrote: "I'd love to find one where they're both straight. It bugs me that m/f friendships are almost always portrayed as "they were secretly lusting for each other all along.""

Or one of them is the token queer character. Both of which are super annoying. Men and women can be friends.

The Lioness has one m/f friendship that I remember, bonus points it's interracial in a time when that was taboo.
Falling has multiple.
Witch King the core relationship has no romantic undertones at all.
The Personal Librarian

Romance novels seem to be the genre that has the least in my experience. They are annoyingly delineated, like a regency dinner party.

Laura Ruth wrote: "I'd love to find one where they're both straight. It bugs me that m/f friendships are almost always portrayed as "they were secretly lusting for each other all along.""

All 4 I listed are straight. In Housekeeper and Storyteller there are large age differences. Opal and Nev are the same age, but never develop attraction for each other. Hanging Mary has several women who are friends with John Wilkes Booth without pining for him.

Tania wrote: "Absolutely phenomenal book:
Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde"

Sounds wonderful! Plus Gabriel is non-binary so could also be used for that prompt.

I read Sweet Bean Paste for the "unlikely friendship" prompt this year, and it would work for this. There are probably more on the Listopia for that prompt that would work, too.

Lilith wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "I found a few that I've read and liked:

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Hanging Mary
[book:The S..."

Thank you both, looks like this is on my TBR so going on the list! Also fits the under 260 pages category.

Another fantasy option is The Serpent Called Mercy by Roanne Lau which I've read for this year's snake in title or cover prompt.

I just finished I'll Scream Later, a memoir by Marlee Matlin. Her years-long relationship with her interpreter, Jack, would definitely fit this prompt.

Just realized The Woman in White would work. The friendship between Walter and Marian (sister of his beloved) is essential to the story.

I have had Izzy and Eve: An Erotic Thriller on my living room book shelves for years, and I haven't read it. My library holds come in, and due dates take priority. So maybe 2026 is the year I sit down and read this.
Oh, Izzy and Eve are not "erotic" with each other. They are long-time friends, and have their own erotic lives lol.

I'm also thinking aboutThe Betel Nut Tree Mystery as the MC is good friends with the Chief Inspector. I really enjoyed The Frangipani Tree Mystery, and I have high hopes for the rest of the series.