Books like

Books like A Single Man

12 books with a reading profile close to A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 A Separate Peace

    A Separate Peace

    by John Knowles

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set against the backdrop of World War II at the Devon School, the story follows Gene Forrester, an intellectual student, and his charismatic roommate Phineas.

  2. 2 The hours

    The hours

    by Michael Cunningham

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    In 1923 England, Virginia Woolf struggles with debilitating headaches while writing the first sentences of Mrs.

  3. 3 The Catcher in the Rye

    The Catcher in the Rye

    by J.D. Salinger

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy recently expelled from Pencey Prep, wanders through New York City over a cold December weekend.

  4. 4 Franny and Zooey

    Franny and Zooey

    by J.D. Salinger

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set in Manhattan during the 1950s, the narrative centers on two siblings of the brilliant Glass family as they navigate a shared spiritual crisis.

  5. 5 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

    The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

    by Carson McCullers

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set in a 1930s Georgia mill town, the narrative centers on John Singer, a deaf-mute man who becomes the silent confidant for four disparate neighbors.

  6. 6 Hedda Gabler

    Hedda Gabler

    by Henrik Ibsen

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Hedda Gabler returns from a honeymoon to a life of stifling domesticity and debt alongside her academic husband, George Tesman.

  7. 7 The Awakening

    The Awakening

    by Kate Chopin

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Edna Pontellier lives within the rigid social structures of late nineteenth-century Louisiana, moving between the French Quarter in New Orleans and the vacation community of Grand Isle.

  8. 8 The Bell Jar

    The Bell Jar

    by Sylvia Plath

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Esther Greenwood, a college student from Massachusetts, wins a competitive summer internship at a fashion magazine in mid-century New York City.

  9. 9 Of Human Bondage

    Of Human Bondage

    by W. Somerset Maugham

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Philip Carey, an orphaned boy born with a clubfoot, navigates a difficult childhood under the care of his cold, religious uncle.

  10. 10 No Longer Human

    No Longer Human

    by Osamu Dazai

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    The narrative follows Yozo Oba, a young man who feels physically and mentally alienated from the human race.

  11. 11 Death of a Salesman

    Death of a Salesman

    by Arthur Miller

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Willy Loman is an aging traveling salesman in Brooklyn whose mental health is fracturing under the weight of professional failure and debt.

  12. 12 Chess Story

    Chess Story

    by Stefan Zweig, Peter Gay

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set on a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires, the narrative centers on an unlikely encounter between Mirko Czentovic, the arrogant world chess champion, and a mysterious passenger known as Dr.

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