Books like

Books like I Who Have Never Known Men

12 books with a reading profile close to I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 Einstein’s Dreams

    Einstein’s Dreams

    by Alan Lightman

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, science fiction

    Set in Bern, Switzerland, in 1905, this novel presents a series of thirty fictional dreams experienced by a young Albert Einstein while he works as a patent clerk.

  2. 2 The Invention of Morel

    The Invention of Morel

    by Adolfo Bioy Casares, Jorge Luis Borges

    Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, science fiction

    A fugitive on a remote, deserted island discovers he is not alone, but rather surrounded by a group of people who seem to be caught in a perpetual, unchangeable loop of their past.

  3. 3 Frankissstein

    Frankissstein

    by Jeanette Winterson

    Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, science fiction

    The narrative follows two parallel timelines.

  4. 4 Stories of Your Life and Others

    Stories of Your Life and Others

    by Ted Chiang

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, science fiction

    Ted Chiang’s debut collection contains eight stories rooted in scientific inquiry and rigorous logic.

  5. 5 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    by Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, science fiction

    In a high-tech Tokyo, a data processor known as a Calcutec performs mental data encryption for a clandestine organization called the System.

  6. 6 Watchmen

    Watchmen

    by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

    Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, science fiction

    Set in an alternate 1985 where costumed vigilantes are real and Richard Nixon remains President, the narrative begins with the murder of Edward Blake, known as the Comedian.

  7. 7 Exhalation

    Exhalation

    by Ted Chiang

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, science fiction

    Exhalation is a collection of nine speculative stories that grapple with entropy, memory, and the mechanics of reality.

  8. 8 Ubik

    Ubik

    by Philip K. Dick

    Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, science fiction

    In 1992, Glen Runciter runs a corporate security agency that employs inertials to neutralize the telepathic powers of industrial spies.

  9. 9 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

    The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

    by Ursula K. Le Guin

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary

    Ursula K.

  10. 10 Slaughterhouse-Five The Children's Crusade

    Slaughterhouse-Five The Children's Crusade

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, science fiction

    Billy Pilgrim, an ill-suited American chaplain’s assistant, survives the 1945 firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war held in an underground meat locker.

  11. 11 The Book of Strange New Things

    The Book of Strange New Things

    by Michel Faber

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, science fiction

    Peter Leigh, a dedicated Christian pastor, leaves his wife Beatrice on a crumbling, disaster-stricken Earth to travel to the planet Oasis.

  12. 12 Weather

    Weather

    by Jenny Offill

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary

    Lizzie Benson is a university librarian and former addict who begins answering mail for a climate change podcast hosted by her old mentor.

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