Books like

Books like Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

12 books with a reading profile close to Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Deep and contemplative; a moderate read.

1

Desert Solitaire

by Edward Abbey

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Edward Abbey recounts his seasons as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Monument in the late 1950s.
2

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.
3

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Also contemplative · personal growth, philosophy

Robin Wall Kimmerer uses the reproductive cycle of the serviceberry shrub to contrast the mechanics of a gift economy against the logic of global capitalism.
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 Dharma Bums

by Jack Kerouac

philosophy, narrative

Ray Smith, a fictionalized version of Kerouac, navigates the contrast between urban jazz parties and the solitude of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
6

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.
7

The Great Divorce

by C.S. Lewis

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

A narrator boards a flying bus in a grey, rainy city and travels to the foothills of Heaven.
8

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

by Thornton Wilder

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

In 1714, a rope bridge in Peru collapses, sending five travelers to their deaths in the chasm below.
9

Zorba the Greek

by Nikos Kazantzakis

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in rural Crete, the narrative follows an unnamed intellectual who attempts to reopen a lignite mine while escaping his bookish existence.
10

Three Daughters of Eve

by Elif Shafak

philosophy, narrative

Peri is an Istanbul housewife in her thirties, married with a child, who is at a dinner party when a mugger takes her bag and she chases him.
11

The Book of Form and Emptiness

by Ruth Ozeki

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Following the sudden death of his father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear the voices of inanimate objects.
12

The Children Act

by Ian McEwan

Also deep · philosophy, narrative

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

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