Books like

Books like Nine Stories

12 books with a reading profile close to Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Kokoro

by Natsume Sōseki, Edwin McClellan

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

The narrative centers on a university student in Tokyo who befriends an older, cynical intellectual he calls Sensei.
2

Confessions of a Mask

by Yukio Mishima, Meredith Weatherby

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

The novel chronicles the internal struggles of its narrator, Kochan, as he navigates his adolescence and young adulthood in post-war Japan.
3

Zeno's Conscience

by Italo Svevo

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Zeno Cosini, a rich businessman from Trieste, is told by his psychoanalyst to write his memoirs, and he produces an account of his habits, in particular his failed attempts to give up smoking.
4

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

by Tennessee Williams

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Set on a Mississippi Delta cotton estate, the narrative centers on the Pollitt family during Big Daddy’s sixty-fifth birthday.
5

The Woman Destroyed

by Simone de Beauvoir

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

This collection consists of three long-form stories centered on the psychological and social erosion of aging women in 1960s France.
6

The Double

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

The story follows Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, a socially insecure titular councillor in Saint Petersburg whose fragile mental state shatters when he encounters a man identical to himself.
7

Oblomov

by Ivan Goncharov

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a young Russian nobleman who lives in a state of terminal inertia within his dusty St.
8

The Setting Sun

by Osamu Dazai

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Set in Japan immediately following World War II, this novel follows the decline of an aristocratic family as the traditional social order collapses.
9

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

by Edward Albee

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Middle-aged history professor George and his wife Martha return home after a campus party and invite a younger couple, Nick and Honey, for late-night drinks.
10

Long Day’s Journey into Night

by Eugene O'Neill

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

One August day in 1912, the Tyrone family gathers at their summer home in Connecticut.
11

Passing

by Nella Larsen, Matthew Hodgson

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Set in 1920s Harlem and Chicago, the narrative follows the unexpected reunion of two childhood friends, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry.
12

The Seagull

by Anton Chekhov, Laurence Senelick

Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, classic literature

Konstantin Treplev, an aspiring playwright, stages an experimental outdoor performance to impress Nina Zarechnaya, a young actress whom he loves.

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