Knowing from first-hand experience, it is rough when it takes an international flight to get to your best friends. How do you bridge that gap between oceans to keep the friendship alive and strong? With social media and modern technology, having the ability to be able to send a text or call on Facetime does help. There’s also the endless stream of TikTok or Instagram reels so that you can share your favorite joke or newsworthy tidbits between besties.
But in this article, we offer up another suggestion to keep the bestie love stronger than ever — sharing your favorite book recommendations to read together at a distance. So which reads have we added to the long-distance besties list? Keep reading to find out!
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
First published in 2001, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the first in a series of five young adult books that unpack the beauty and complexities of friendship. The initial novel revolves around four best friends: Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bridget. Carmen picks up a pair of jeans at a thrift shop, and since she didn’t like them, she gives the jeans to her friends to try. But some twist of fate, the jeans end up fitting perfectly on all of the girls, even Carmen. Due to this connection, they form The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on the night before they all go their separate ways to change their summer adventures.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Set in Alabama, this classic story follows an older woman named Mrs. Threadgoode as she narrates her life story to Evelyn, a middle-aged woman who is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. It is revealed that Mrs. Threadgoode had a captivating life during her younger years when she ran a small restaurant in Whistle Stop, Alabama with her two best friends, Idgie and Ruth. Whistle Stop offered a full menu, serving everything from barbeque to coffee to sporadic murder.
Friends With Issues by Meredith Berlin
After a fruitful career with Seventeen Magazine and Soap Opera Digest, Friends With Issues marks Meredith Berlin’s debut in women’s contemporary fiction. At the center of the narrative are three best friends: Brooke, Elizabeth, and Susan — three women who have lived their best lives in Manhattan and established extremely successful careers. But now in their 40s, they are navigating the anxieties and obstacles of their age.
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Told from the unnamed narrator’s perspective, Swing Time details the friendship between two mixed-race girls who both dream of becoming dancers. Starting their friendship during childhood, complications bring their relationship to an end during their early twenties. Their story keeps unraveling across time and space, spanning London, West Africa, and New York.
Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant
After meeting as freshmen at Columbia University, Carmen, Jewel, and Regina agree right away that they are not going to be friends. Each of the girls comes from a completely different background and has nothing in common. But as time goes by, the challenges that they face bring them closer together.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Initially becoming friends in the summer of 1977, Vix and Caitlin become “summer sisters” during vacations at Martha’s Vineyard. Sadly, their friendship starts to drift apart, until years later when Caitlin rings up Vix to ask her to serve as her maid of honor. While wedding planning and surviving adult life, Vix tries to get to the bottom of why their friendship went cold.
Serving up nostalgia and dramatic storylines, these novels can offer up some juicy gossip between besties over Facetime until the next time they can physically meet up.
If you are still missing your best friend, check out our article: Best Friends Forever: Female Characters We’d Love to Be Friends With.
To add more books on friendship to your bookshelf, hop over to our Friendship is a bond of life: besties whose friendships are iconic shelf.
