Books like

Books like 2666

12 books with a reading profile close to 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Deep, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.

1

Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel is structured as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire," written by the fictional American poet John Shade, followed by a lengthy line-by-line commentary.
2

The Waste Land

by T.S. Eliot

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

The Waste Land presents a fragmented vision of Europe following the First World War, utilizing a collage of classical mythology, religious texts, and urban vignettes.
3

Hopscotch

by Julio Cortázar

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Horacio Oliveira, an Argentine intellectual living in Paris, wanders with a group of artist friends, the Serpent Club, and his lover La Maga, discussing jazz, art and metaphysics.
4

Ulysses

by James Joyce

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Set in Dublin on June 16, 1904, the narrative follows Leopold Bloom, an ordinary Jewish advertisement canvasser, as he moves through the city’s streets, pubs, and cemeteries.
5

Absalom, Absalom!

by William Faulkner

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Thomas Sutpen arrives in Mississippi in 1833 with a group of enslaved people and a plan to create a vast plantation called Sutpen’s Hundred.
6

Journey to the End of the Night

by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Ferdinand Bardamu, a cynical and nihilistic protagonist, begins his odyssey in the trenches of World War I, where he observes the senseless brutality of mechanized slaughter.
7

The Waste Land and Other Poems

by T.S. Eliot

Also deep and open-ended · dense, classic literature

Published in the wake of the First World War, this collection centers on the psychological and cultural fragmentation of Western society.
8

The Sound and the Fury

by William Faulkner

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Set in early twentieth-century Mississippi, this novel documents the decline of the Compson family, a former aristocratic household now facing financial and moral ruin.
9

The Satanic Verses

by Salman Rushdie

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Two Indian expatriates, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, survive a mid-air plane explosion over the English Channel and undergo startling physical transformations.
10

Pedro Páramo

by Juan Rulfo

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Juan Preciado travels to Comala to fulfill a deathbed promise to his mother: find his father, the ruthless cacique Pedro Páramo.
11

Midnight’s Children

by Salman Rushdie

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

Saleem Sinai is born at the exact stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, linking his life to the birth of independent India.
12

The Street of Crocodiles

by Bruno Schulz

Also deep and contemplative · dense, classic literature

In a fictionalized version of the Polish city Drogobych, a narrator recounts his childhood centered on his father’s eccentric decline.

Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.

Get papr

Your library, beautifully understood.