Books like Howards End
12 books with a reading profile close to Howards End by E.M. Forster. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
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1
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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2
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
This comprehensive collection gathers the full breadth of Hemingway’s short fiction, including the iconic Nick Adams adventures, vignettes from In Our Time, and posthumously published fragments.
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3
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
by Evelyn Waugh
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
During the mobilization of World War II, Captain Charles Ryder finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, the ancestral seat of the Marchmain family.
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4
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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5
A Sportsman's Sketches Vol. I
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
In this 2025 edition from Double 9 Books, an aristocratic narrator travels through the Russian countryside on hunting expeditions, documenting his encounters with various social strata.
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6
A Fine Balance
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Set in mid-1970s India during the government-mandated Emergency, the narrative centers on four strangers cohabitating in a cramped apartment to survive economic hardship.
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7
The English Patient
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Set in a ruined Tuscan villa during the final stages of the Second World War, the narrative centers on four fractured lives brought together by circumstance.
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8
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy, Margaret R. Higonnet
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman living in the rural English countryside, discovers her family descends from the aristocratic d’Urberville line.
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9
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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10
Villette, a novel
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
Lucy Snowe, a young woman without family or financial security, travels to the fictional Belgian city of Villette to become a teacher at a girls’ boarding school.
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11
Leaf Storm and Other Stories
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
This collection centers on the titular novella set in the fictional town of Macondo, narrated through the perspectives of a colonel, his daughter, and his grandson.
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12
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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