Books like Assommoir
12 books with a reading profile close to Assommoir by Émile Zola. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
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1
The works of Charles Dickens
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
This 1877 collection compiles the narrative output of Victorian England’s most prominent novelist, spanning from early sketches to final unfinished manuscripts.
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2
An American Tragedy
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Clyde Griffiths grows up in a poor, religious household but develops a fixation on the lifestyles of the American upper class.
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3
Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Set in New York City during August 1974, the narrative centers on Philippe Petit’s unauthorized tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.
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4
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Set along the Mississippi River in the mid-19th century, these interconnected novels follow the lives of two boys navigating the constraints of antebellum society.
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5
Adam Bede
by George Eliot, Robert Lewis Weed
Also contemplative and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Set in the rural community of Hayslope at the end of the eighteenth century, the narrative follows the upright carpenter Adam Bede and his unrequited love for the beautiful but shallow Hetty Sorrel.
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6
The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot, Rosalyn Landor
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Maggie Tulliver grows up at Dorlcote Mill, torn between her intellectual curiosity and the rigid expectations of her provincial Victorian community.
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7
Half of a Yellow Sun
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Set in the 1960s, the narrative centers on the Biafran War through the intersecting lives of five characters.
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8
Great Gatsby
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Jay Gatsby spends his life accumulating wealth through criminal channels to reclaim a past romance with Daisy Buchanan.
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9
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
In post-war North London, two former soldiers, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, navigate a cityscape shaped by the aftermath of the British Empire.
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10
El coronel no tiene quien le escriba
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
A retired colonel in a small Colombian town has waited fifteen years for the pension he was promised after serving in a civil war.
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11
On Beauty
by Zadie Smith
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
The narrative center of the novel is the Belsey family, led by Howard, a white British art historian living in a fictional Massachusetts college town.
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12
Shirley
Also contemplative and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Set in Yorkshire during the Napoleonic Wars, the narrative centers on the industrial unrest caused by the Orders in Council and the introduction of textile machinery.
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