Books like Mysteries
12 books with a reading profile close to Mysteries by Knut Hamsun. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
-
1
The Street of Crocodiles
by Bruno Schulz
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
In a fictionalized version of the Polish city Drogobych, a narrator recounts his childhood centered on his father’s eccentric decline.
-
2
Journey to the End of the Night
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
Ferdinand Bardamu, a cynical and nihilistic protagonist, begins his odyssey in the trenches of World War I, where he observes the senseless brutality of mechanized slaughter.
-
3
The Golden Notebook
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
Anna Wulf, an author living in 1950s London, attempts to counter her creative block and mental fragmentation by recording different facets of her life in four colored notebooks.
-
4
The Waves
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
The Waves follows six friends—Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny, and Louis—from childhood through late adulthood.
-
5
As I Lay Dying
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
The Bundren family travels across rural Mississippi to transport the corpse of their matriarch, Addie, to her ancestral burial ground in Jefferson.
-
6
To the Lighthouse
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
The novel centers on the Ramsay family and their guests during two summer visits to the Isle of Skye.
-
7
Pedro Páramo
by Juan Rulfo
Also deep and contemplative · dense, literary
Juan Preciado travels to Comala to fulfill a deathbed promise to his mother: find his father, the ruthless cacique Pedro Páramo.
-
8
The Sound and the Fury
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
Set in early twentieth-century Mississippi, this novel documents the decline of the Compson family, a former aristocratic household now facing financial and moral ruin.
-
9
Pale Fire
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel is structured as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire," written by the fictional American poet John Shade, followed by a lengthy line-by-line commentary.
-
10
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot
Also deep and inward-looking · dense, literary
The Waste Land presents a fragmented vision of Europe following the First World War, utilizing a collage of classical mythology, religious texts, and urban vignettes.
-
11
2666
Also deep and contemplative · dense, literary
The narrative follows five interconnected parts, beginning with four European academics tracking the reclusive German novelist Benno von Archimboldi.
-
12
Hopscotch
Also deep and contemplative · dense, literary
Horacio Oliveira, an Argentine intellectual living in Paris, wanders with a group of artist friends, the Serpent Club, and his lover La Maga, discussing jazz, art and metaphysics.
Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.
Get papr
