Books With Vibes So Intense, They’ll Make You Say “Yes, Chef”

A 2024 B&N Discover pick that we can’t stop thinking about. A stellar combination of the immense stress and mouth-watering dishes from The Beef’s kitchen, Piglet tells the story of one woman unraveling days before her wedding and the lengths she goes to for fulfillment.  

Much like Carmy and Syd, Sneha struggles to find her way in the world as a twenty-something chasing her dreams through failure after failure in All This Could Be Different. Tender and taut, this is the story of an immigrant fighting for her place in society, work and love.  

Whether it’s food, literature or the visual arts, the characters in The Bear and Colored Television are artists chasing a dream. Colored Television follows Jane, a biracial novelist desperately clinging to a career in Hollywood, compromising her morals and integrity along the way.  

Set on the wealthy sands of The Hamptons, a woman drifts and grifts her way through Long Island, doing whatever it takes to avoid the trail of destruction she leaves in her wake. Propulsive and addicting, this one will make you cringe — just like a car crash, you won’t be able to look away. 

Is there anything more intense than living through a zombie apocalypse? Not for Candace, a millennial stuck in the rut of 9-5 life, indifferent to the crumbling world around her. Unsettling and engrossing, you’ll white-knuckle this story and question your own daily routine.  

With the brand-new TV adaptation debuting this year, Queenie is a classic coming-of-age story of a Jamaican British woman finding her footing in two cultures that don’t quite fit, while navigating heartbreak, workplace politics and getting back into the dating scene. With wry humor like that of The Bear, it’s impossible to forget Queenie’s unique voice.  

A queer woman does her best to avoid the modeling agents and scouts that promise she could be the next one, until she has nothing else in life to turn to. Leaning into the existential dread Carmy grapples with throughout The Bear, Body Grammar is a stunning story of grief and self-worth.  

It’s safe to say there are fans of The Bear out there who appreciate its portrayal of the unrivaled chaos of working at a restaurant. Similarly, whether it’s bussing tables, washing dishes or taking orders, Lily King combines restaurant culture with an uninspired novelist’s floundering love life in Writers and Lovers. 

Daphne moves from London to Berlin to escape life’s dramas and general malaise only to be met with a brand-new set of issues with a language barrier, excessive solitude and the dangers of being a woman all alone in a city she can’t make heads or tails of.  

A lot like the miraculous conclusion to season one of The Bear, Processed Cheese tells the story of a man who suddenly comes into a large sum of money. After bringing it all straight home to his wife, the couple takes off on a whirlwind cash-funded romp through the riches they’ve always wanted while the rightful owner of the fortune will stop at nothing to get it back. 

Set amongst the finest dining Manhattan has to offer (much like the ones Carmy studied in before coming back to The Beef), a young hostess learns the intricacies of food and love, heartbreak and self-actualization in this delectable novel.