Books like

Books like Pachinko

12 books with a reading profile close to Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

Also contemplative and thought-provoking · history, narrative

The narrative follows a single drop of water across centuries, linking three distinct lives shaped by the Tigris and Thames rivers.
2

The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

Also contemplative and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Set in Jim Crow Florida, the story follows Elwood Curtis, a studious teenager who adheres to Dr.
3

Americanah

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Ifemelu and Obinze are young lovers in military-ruled Nigeria who depart the country for different hemispheres.
4

Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi

Also deep and contemplative · history, narrative

Beginning in eighteenth-century Ghana, the narrative follows the diverging lineages of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi.
5

Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

The story follows twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone, born from a clandestine union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in an Addis Ababa mission hospital.
6

In the Time of the Butterflies

by Julia Alvarez

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

In 1960, three of the four Mirabal sisters were beaten to death on a road in the Dominican Republic because they had opposed the dictator Rafael Trujillo.
7

All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr

Also contemplative and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind girl living in Paris, flees to Saint-Malo with her father to escape the Nazi occupation, carrying a precious and potentially cursed diamond from the Museum of Natural History.
8

The Storm We Made

by Vanessa Chan

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

In 1930s British Malaya, Cecily Alcantara works as a low-level clerk while feeling the sting of colonial hierarchy.
9

Hiroshima

by John Hersey

Also deep · history, narrative

John Hersey details the immediate and long-term consequences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima through the experiences of six survivors: a clerk, two doctors, a tailor’s widow, a German priest, and a Methodist pastor.
10

The Covenant of Water

by Abraham Verghese

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Spanning seven decades in Kerala, South India, the narrative follows three generations of a family afflicted by a peculiar medical condition known as the Condition.
11

The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Set in the besieged city of Sarajevo, the narrative follows three civilians navigating a landscape of sniper fire and shellings.
12

The Buddha in the Attic

by Julie Otsuka

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Julie Otsuka tells the collective history of "picture brides" who traveled from Japan to San Francisco in the early 1900s.

Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.

Get papr

Your library, beautifully understood.