Books like Grendel
12 books with a reading profile close to Grendel by John Gardner. Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
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1
Till We Have Faces
by C.S. Lewis
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
In this reimagining of the Cupid and Psyche myth, Orual, the queen of Glome, writes a legalistic grievance against the gods.
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2
Antigone
by Jean Anouilh
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Jean Anouilh's play, first staged in occupied Paris in 1944, retells Sophocles.
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3
Earthsea
philosophy, classic literature
In the archipelago of Earthsea, magic functions through the knowledge of True Names, which grant a sorcerer command over objects and living things.
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4
Il visconte dimezzato
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
During a war against the Turks in Bohemia, a young nobleman, Viscount Medardo of Terralba, is split down the middle by a cannonball.
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5
The Wall
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Sartre's collection takes its name from the title story, set during the Spanish Civil War.
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6
No Exit
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Set in a single room furnished with Second Empire sofas, the play follows three deceased individuals—Garcin, Inès, and Estelle—as they realize they are their own torturers.
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7
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
by Victor Hugo
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Focused on the final six weeks of a prisoner awaiting execution in nineteenth-century France, Victor Hugo’s novel follows an unnamed protagonist from his trial at the Bicêtre Hospital to the guillotine at Place de Grève.
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8
The Farthest Shore
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary
In Earthsea, magic is failing as equilibrium gives way to a sterile void.
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9
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10
The power and the Glory
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Set in 1930s Mexico during the Cristero War, the narrative follows a nameless whiskey priest fleeing a paramilitary police force.
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11
Resurrection
by Leo Tolstoy
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov serves as a juror in a murder trial, only to recognize the defendant as Maslova, a woman he seduced and abandoned years earlier.
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12
Island
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, classic literature
The story follows Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who shipwrecks on the forbidden Pacific island of Pala.
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