Books like Orbital
12 books with a reading profile close to Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Deep, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
-
1
Flights
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative
Olga Tokarczuk’s work is a constellation of short stories, historical anecdotes, and anatomical observations centered on the physical reality of the human body in motion.
-
2
The Memory Police
by Yōko Ogawa
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, narrative
On an unnamed island, objects disappear from public life and collective memory.
-
3
The Wall
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative
A woman is staying at a hunting lodge in the Austrian Alps with relatives when she wakes to find that an invisible, impassable wall has cut off the valley, and everything beyond it appears dead.
-
4
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, narrative
Toru Okada is an unemployed man in suburban Tokyo whose mundane life fractures after his cat vanishes and his wife, Kumiko, leaves him without explanation.
-
5
The Overstory
Also deep and contemplative · narrative, literary
The novel follows nine strangers across multiple decades, beginning with distinct short stories that eventually intertwine in the Pacific Northwest.
-
6
The Guest Cat
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative
A married couple in a Tokyo suburb, both freelance writers with no children, live in a small rented cottage.
-
7
North Woods
by Daniel Mason
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
A single yellow house in the Massachusetts forest anchors this narrative, which spans four centuries through a series of interlocking stories.
-
8
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
The narrative centers on Bennie Salazar, a middle-aged record executive, and his assistant Sasha, tracing their lives across several decades.
-
9
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
Also deep and open-ended · narrative, literary
In a single evening at a Lahore cafe, Changez narrates his life story to an unidentified American visitor.
-
10
There There
by Tommy Orange
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
Tommy Orange follows twelve characters from Native communities as they converge at the Big Oakland Powwow in California.
-
11
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative
Annie Dillard uses her home in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley as an observatory to document the biological mechanics of the natural world.
-
12
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative
Ka, an exiled poet, returns to Turkey to investigate a series of suicides among young women in the border city of Kars.
Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.
Get papr
