Books like Lincoln in the Bardo
12 books with a reading profile close to Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
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1
Time Shelter
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
Gospodinov's novel imagines a Swiss-run clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by recreating the decade of their youth, with floors that look like the 1960s, 1970s and so on.
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2
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3
Outline
by Rachel Cusk
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary
Faye, a British novelist, travels to Athens during a summer heatwave to teach a week-long creative writing course.
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4
Invisible Cities
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary
In a garden within the Mongol dynasty, the aging ruler Kublai Khan listens to Marco Polo describe the far-flung outposts of an expanding empire.
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5
100 Selected Poems
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
This collection showcases Edward Estlin Cummings’s rejection of standard grammar and punctuation in favor of visual typography.
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6
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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7
Immortality
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
A woman in her sixties waves goodbye to a lifeguard at a pool, and the gesture is enough to give Kundera's narrator the idea for Agnès, a character he follows through the whole book.
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8
The Book of Disquiet
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
Published long after the author’s death, this fragmented prose collection serves as the autobiography of Bernardo Soares, one of Fernando Pessoa’s many heteronyms.
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9
Bluets
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
Maggie Nelson constructs this book as a series of 240 numbered prose poems centered on her obsession with the color blue.
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10
Flights
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary
Olga Tokarczuk’s work is a constellation of short stories, historical anecdotes, and anatomical observations centered on the physical reality of the human body in motion.
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11
Água Viva
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
Água Viva functions as a sustained internal monologue delivered by an anonymous female painter who abandons representational art to pursue the instantaneous "now." The text rejects traditional narrative progression, ins…
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12
The Argonauts
Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary
The Argonauts documents the evolving relationship between Maggie Nelson and the artist Harry Dodge, focusing on their domestic life during Dodge’s gender transition and Nelson’s pregnancy.
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