Books like

Books like Mahabharata

12 books with a reading profile close to Mahabharata by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa. Deep and thought-provoking; a demanding read.

1

Poetics

by Aristotle

Also deep · philosophy, dense

Aristotle defines poetry through the concept of mimesis, or the imitation of human action.
2

The Odyssey

by Homer

Also deep · philosophy, narrative

Following the destruction of Troy, the Greek king Odysseus begins a ten-year voyage to reach his home in Ithaca.
3

The Epic of Gilgamesh

by Anonymous

Also deep · philosophy, dense

Gilgamesh, the ruler of Uruk, dominates his subjects until the gods create Enkidu, a feral man, to challenge him.
4

The Republic

by Plato

Also deep · philosophy, dense

The Republic is a Socratic dialogue centered on the definition of justice and the organizational structure of a city-state.
5

Bleak House

by Charles Dickens

Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative

In nineteenth-century London, the protracted legal battle of Jarndyce and Jarndyce drags through the Court of Chancery, eroding the inheritance and sanity of those caught in its wake.
6

Man and Superman

by George Bernard Shaw

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, dense

In this four-act drama, George Bernard Shaw uses the character of John Tanner, an intellectual revolutionary, to argue that women are the primary pursuers in human courtship.
7

Vanity Fair

by William Makepeace Thackeray

Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative

Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the narrative follows Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley as they navigate British high society.
8

Childhood’s End

by Arthur C. Clarke

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

The narrative begins with the sudden arrival of massive alien starships over Earth’s major cities.
9

The Social Contract

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Also deep · philosophy, dense

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues that political legitimacy stems from the collective agreement of individuals rather than divine right or force.
10

Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, dense

Alonso Quijano, an elderly man from La Mancha, loses his grip on reality after consuming a constant diet of chivalric tales.
11

The Aeneid

by Virgil

Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative

Virgil’s epic poem follows Aeneas, a Trojan prince who escapes the ruins of Troy to establish a new lineage in Italy.
12

Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited

by Aldous Huxley

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, dense

Aldous Huxley depicts a future World State where biological engineering and psychological conditioning replace natural birth and individual thought.

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