Books like

Books like Blindness

12 books with a reading profile close to Blindness by José Saramago. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The People in the Trees

by Hanya Yanagihara

Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative

Norton Perina, an ambitious young immunologist, travels to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in 1950 to investigate a lost tribe.
2

The Baron in the Trees

by Italo Calvino

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

In 1767, twelve-year-old Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, a young nobleman in Liguria, climbs a tree after a quarrel at dinner, and vows never to come down.
3

Snow

by Orhan Pamuk

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Ka, an exiled poet, returns to Turkey to investigate a series of suicides among young women in the border city of Kars.
4

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

by Annie Dillard

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Annie Dillard uses her home in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley as an observatory to document the biological mechanics of the natural world.
5

The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Genly Ai arrives on the frozen planet Gethen as an envoy representing the Ekumen, a coalition of human worlds.
6

Orbital

by Samantha Harvey

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set over twenty-four hours aboard the International Space Station, the narrative follows six astronauts—Roman, Pietro, Shaun, Nell, Chie, and Anton—as they complete sixteen orbits around Earth.
7

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in a luxury Parisian apartment building, the story follows Renée Michel, a fifty-four-year-old concierge who hides her deep knowledge of Kant, Tolstoy, and art behind a facade of working-class dullness.
8

Great Circle

by Maggie Shipstead

Also deep · dense, narrative

Marian Graves is a prohibited female aviator who disappears in 1950 while attempting a north-south circumnavigation of the globe.
9

Middlesex

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Also deep and contemplative · dense, narrative

Callie Stephanides grows up in mid-century Detroit as a girl, unaware that she carries a rare genetic mutation inherited from her Greek grandparents.
10

The Children Act

by Ian McEwan

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

High Court judge Fiona Maye presides over the Family Division in London, where she adjudicates cases involving medical ethics and religious freedom.
11

The Solitaire Mystery

by Jostein Gaarder

Also deep · philosophy, narrative

Hans Thomas travels with his father from Norway to Greece to find his long-lost mother.
12

Women Talking

by Miriam Toews

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Based on real events in the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia, this novel centers on eight Mennonite women meeting secretly in a hayloft.

Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.

Get papr

Your library, beautifully understood.