Books like

Books like On Beauty

12 books with a reading profile close to On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder

by Evelyn Waugh

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

During the mobilization of World War II, Captain Charles Ryder finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, the ancestral seat of the Marchmain family.
2

Howards End

by E.M. Forster

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

Set in Edwardian England, the narrative follows three families representing distinct social strata: the intellectual Schlegel sisters, the wealthy business-minded Wilcoxes, and the struggling clerk Leonard Bast.
3

A Sportsman's Sketches Vol. I

by Ivan Turgenev

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

In this 2025 edition from Double 9 Books, an aristocratic narrator travels through the Russian countryside on hunting expeditions, documenting his encounters with various social strata.
4

An American Tragedy

by Theodore Dreiser

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

Clyde Griffiths grows up in a poor, religious household but develops a fixation on the lifestyles of the American upper class.
5

A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

Set in mid-1970s India during the government-mandated Emergency, the narrative centers on four strangers cohabitating in a cramped apartment to survive economic hardship.
6

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy, Margaret R. Higonnet

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman living in the rural English countryside, discovers her family descends from the aristocratic d’Urberville line.
7

Let the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Set in New York City during August 1974, the narrative centers on Philippe Petit’s unauthorized tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.
8

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

by Ernest Hemingway

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

This comprehensive collection gathers the full breadth of Hemingway’s short fiction, including the iconic Nick Adams adventures, vignettes from In Our Time, and posthumously published fragments.
9

Leaf Storm and Other Stories

by Gabriel García Márquez

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

This collection centers on the titular novella set in the fictional town of Macondo, narrated through the perspectives of a colonel, his daughter, and his grandson.
10

The Mill on the Floss

by George Eliot, Rosalyn Landor

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

Maggie Tulliver grows up at Dorlcote Mill, torn between her intellectual curiosity and the rigid expectations of her provincial Victorian community.
11

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

During the summer of 1922 in Long Island, Nick Carraway observes the extravagant life of Jay Gatsby, a man who hosts massive parties to lure back his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
12

A Prayer for Owen Meany

by John Irving

Also deep and contemplative · narrative, classic literature

John Wheelwright narrates the life of his best friend, Owen Meany, a boy with a high-pitched voice who accidentally kills John’s mother with a foul ball during a Little League game in 1953.

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