Books like

Books like Nana

12 books with a reading profile close to Nana by Émile Zola, Gerhard Krüger. Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

by Victor Hugo, Walter J. Cobb

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

In fifteenth-century Paris, the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo lives within the stone walls of Notre-Dame Cathedral under the guardianship of Archdeacon Claude Frollo.
2

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

by Ben Fountain

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Billy Lynn is a nineteen-year-old American soldier who has become a hero after a firefight in Iraq, which was caught on camera.
3

All My Sons

by Arthur Miller

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, this drama centers on Joe Keller, a successful manufacturer who escaped conviction for shipping defective airplane cylinder heads that caused the deaths of twenty-one pilo…
4

Susan Lenox

by David Graham Phillips

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise follows an illegitimate girl born into a rigid Midwestern environment.
5

Bel-Ami

by Guy de Maupassant

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Georges Duroy arrives in Paris as a penniless veteran with nothing but his appearance and a lack of scruples.
6

Amsterdam

by Ian McEwan

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

After the funeral of Molly Lane, her two former lovers—Clive Linley, a celebrated composer, and Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor—forge a mutual euthanasia pact to avoid a similar cognitive decline.
7

Dombey and Son

by Charles Dickens

narrative, literary

Paul Dombey runs his shipping house with a singular focus on patriarchal succession and commercial dominance.
8

Burial Rites

by Hannah Kent

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Based on the true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, this novel follows the final months of the last woman executed in Iceland.
9

A Thousand Ships

by Natalie Haynes

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Natalie Haynes reimagines the Trojan War through a choral narrative that centers the women, goddesses, and victims usually relegated to the margins of epic poetry.
10

David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens

Also deep · narrative, literary

The narrative follows David Copperfield from his early years in Suffolk through his development into a successful novelist in Victorian London.
11

Native Son

by Richard Wright, Richard Wright - undifferentiated

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Set in the segregated South Side of Chicago during the 1930s, the narrative follows Bigger Thomas, a young Black man trapped by systemic poverty and racial prejudice.
12

Let the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Set in New York City during August 1974, the narrative centers on Philippe Petit’s unauthorized tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.

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