Books like

Books like Brick Lane

12 books with a reading profile close to Brick Lane by Monica Ali. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

by Margaret Atwood

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Margaret Atwood's 2014 collection gathers nine stories about aging, grudges and the lingering consequences of old choices.
2

The Sentence

by Louise Erdrich

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

Tookie, an Ojibwe woman who survived an unusual incarceration, works at a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis.
3

March

by Geraldine Brooks

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

This novel reimagines the American Civil War from the perspective of John March, the absent father from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
4

Hell of a Book

by Jason Mott

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

A Black writer, whose name we never learn, is on a book tour for his novel, and the story follows him as he travels and tries to carry on while his mind seems to drift.
5

Inseparable

by Simone de Beauvoir

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

This autobiographical novel tracks the intense friendship between Sylvie and Andrée, fictionalized versions of Simone de Beauvoir and Elisabeth "Zaza" Lacoin.
6

Arcadia

by Lauren Groff

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Bit Arcadia is born in a commune in upstate New York in the 1970s, the first child born there.
7

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

by Kate Atkinson

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

Ruby Lennox begins her story at the moment of her conception in 1951 in York, and narrates her family's history through her own eyes.
8

The Master Butchers Singing Club

by Louise Erdrich

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

Fidelis Waldvogel returns to Germany from the First World War with a sniper's skill and a plan to become a butcher like his father.
9

Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Dellarobia Turnbow, a restless farm wife in rural Tennessee, discovers a valley filled with millions of monarch butterflies that have deviated from their typical migration path to Mexico.
10

Saturday

by Ian McEwan

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon, navigates a single day in London during the massive 2003 protests against the Iraq War.
11

Beautyland

by Marie-Helene Bertino

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

Adina Gady grew up in Philadelphia believing she was a human girl, but she is actually an extraterrestrial sent to observe the inhabitants of Earth.
12

Mayflies

by Andrew O'Hagan

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

The story begins in 1986, following teenager James Noble and his charismatic friend Tully Dawson in a small Scottish town.

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