Books like

Books like Measure for Measure

12 books with a reading profile close to Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare. Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Island

by Aldous Huxley

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary

The story follows Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who shipwrecks on the forbidden Pacific island of Pala.
2

Eugene Onegin

by Alexander Pushkin

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary

Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse follows Eugene Onegin, a cynical aristocrat weary of Saint Petersburg’s high society.
3

Metamorphoses

by Ovid

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Ovid’s hexameter narrative tracks the history of the world from its chaotic origins to the assassination of Julius Caesar.
4

Alcestis

by Euripides

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

In this tragedy, King Admetus is granted a reprieve from his impending death on the condition that someone else dies in his place.
5

The Wall

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

Sartre's collection takes its name from the title story, set during the Spanish Civil War.
6

In the Penal Colony

by Franz Kafka

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

In Franz Kafka's "In the Penal Colony," an explorer witnesses a brutal execution machine in a remote penal colony.
7

Waiting for the Barbarians

by J.M. Coetzee

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

A magistrate runs a small frontier town in an unnamed empire.
8

No Exit

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

Set in a single room furnished with Second Empire sofas, the play follows three deceased individuals—Garcin, Inès, and Estelle—as they realize they are their own torturers.
9

Medea

by Euripides

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

Euripides depicts the psychological collapse and subsequent vengeance of Medea, a Colchian princess abandoned by her husband, Jason.
10

Fathers and Sons

by Ivan Turgenev

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary

Arkady Kirsanov returns from university to his father's estate in 1859, bringing his friend Yevgeny Bazarov, a medical student and self-declared nihilist who rejects authority, art, and tradition.
11

Antigone

by Jean Anouilh

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary

Jean Anouilh's play, first staged in occupied Paris in 1944, retells Sophocles.
12

Macbeth

by William Shakespeare

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary

After receiving a prophecy from three witches that he will become King of Scotland, a general named Macbeth murders King Duncan to seize the throne.

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