Books like

Books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

12 books with a reading profile close to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; an easy read.

1

The Enchanted April

by Elizabeth von Arnim

Also contemplative and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Living in the persistent grey of 1920s London, Lotty Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot answer a classified advertisement for a month-long rental at an Italian castle.
2

Rubyfruit Jungle

by Rita Mae Brown

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Molly Bolt grows up in impoverished rural Florida and York, Pennsylvania, refusing to conform to the expectations of her adoptive mother or the social dictates of the mid-twentieth century.
3

Crossing to Safety

by Wallace Stegner

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Wallace Stegner’s final novel tracks the lifelong bond between two couples, Larry and Sally McKelvey and Charity and Sid Lang, beginning in 1937 Madison, Wisconsin.
4

Ham on Rye

by Charles Bukowski

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Henry Chinaski grows up in Los Angeles in the 1930s with a father who beats him and a mother who looks away.
5

The Red Pony

by John Steinbeck

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Jody Tiflin is a young boy growing up on his father’s California ranch, where he learns the rigid realities of life and death through his relationship with a red pony named Gabilan.
6

The Accidental Tourist

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates traveling.
7

A Lesson Before Dying

by Ernest J. Gaines

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

In 1940s Louisiana, Jefferson, a young Black man, is wrongly convicted of murder after being present during a store robbery, and his lawyer compares him to a hog to save him.
8

Silver Sparrow

by Tayari Jones

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Dana Yarboro knows her father, James Witherspoon, has another family.
9

The Bonesetter's Daughter

by Amy Tan

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Ruth Young, a ghostwriter in San Francisco, struggles to communicate with her mother, LuLing, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic due to dementia.
10

Galatea

by Madeline Miller

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

In this short story, a statue carved from ivory is granted life by a goddess, becoming the wife of her creator, Pygmalion.
11

Ethan Frome

by Edith Wharton

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Set in the frozen landscape of Starkfield, Massachusetts, the story follows Ethan Frome, a farmer trapped in a hollow marriage to his sickly, suspicious wife, Zeena.
12

Stone Butch Blues

by Leslie Feinberg

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Jess Goldberg grows up in the 1940s and 1950s in Buffalo, New York, a working-class child who does not fit gender expectations.

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