Books like

Books like In the Dream House

12 books with a reading profile close to In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and open-ended; a moderate read.

1

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama

by Alison Bechdel

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, psychology

Alison Bechdel follows her previous memoir about her father with this investigation into her relationship with her mother, Helen.
2

Freshwater

by Akwaeke Emezi

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

Adaeke Emezi’s debut novel focuses on Ada, a young Nigerian woman born with fractured consciousness.
3

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

by Max Porter

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

In a London flat, a structural linguist and his two young sons struggle to function following the sudden death of the boys’ mother.
4

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

by Olivia Laing

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, psychology

After moving to New York City and experiencing a period of intense isolation, Olivia Laing investigates the social and psychological mechanics of loneliness through the lens of twentieth-century American art.
5

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

by Maxine Hong Kingston

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, literary

Maxine Hong Kingston weaves together her upbringing in mid-century California with the ancestral folklore of her immigrant parents.
6

The Vegetarian

by Han Kang

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

Yeong-hye, a South Korean housewife, suddenly stops eating meat after a series of visceral, bloody dreams.
7

Night Sky with Exit Wounds

by Ocean Vuong

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, literary

Ocean Vuong’s debut poetry collection centers on the inheritance of the Vietnam War and its displacement of family lineages.
8

Surfacing

by Margaret Atwood

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

An unnamed female protagonist returns to her childhood home on a desolate island in northern Quebec to investigate her father's unexplained disappearance.
9

Dept. of Speculation

by Jenny Offill

Also inward-looking and open-ended · psychology, literary

The narrative follows a woman in Brooklyn, referred to as "the wife," as she navigates the transition from an ambitious intellectual to a mother and spouse.
10

Normal People By Sally Rooney & Milkman By Anna Burns 2 Books Collection Set

by Sally Rooney, Anna Burns

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

This collection brings together two distinct portraits of Irish life and social pressure.
11

Heart Berries

by Terese Marie Mailhot

Also inward-looking · memoir, psychology

Terese Marie Mailhot writes a series of essays documenting her time in a mental health facility following a post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II diagnosis.
12

Martyr!

by Kaveh Akbar

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

Cyrus Shams is a young Iranian immigrant living in the Midwest who struggles with sobriety and a fixation on historical martyrdom.

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