Books like

Books like Rubyfruit Jungle

12 books with a reading profile close to Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; an easy read.

1

Ham on Rye

by Charles Bukowski

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Henry Chinaski grows up in Los Angeles in the 1930s with a father who beats him and a mother who looks away.
2

The Accidental Tourist

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates traveling.
3

The Bonesetter's Daughter

by Amy Tan

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Ruth Young, a ghostwriter in San Francisco, struggles to communicate with her mother, LuLing, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic due to dementia.
4

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Francie Nolan grows up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
5

Galatea

by Madeline Miller

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

In this short story, a statue carved from ivory is granted life by a goddess, becoming the wife of her creator, Pygmalion.
6

A Lesson Before Dying

by Ernest J. Gaines

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

In 1940s Louisiana, Jefferson, a young Black man, is wrongly convicted of murder after being present during a store robbery, and his lawyer compares him to a hog to save him.
7

Silver Sparrow

by Tayari Jones

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Dana Yarboro knows her father, James Witherspoon, has another family.
8

Stone Butch Blues

by Leslie Feinberg

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Jess Goldberg grows up in the 1940s and 1950s in Buffalo, New York, a working-class child who does not fit gender expectations.
9

Kitchen

by Banana Yoshimoto

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Mikage Sakurai is a young woman struggling with the isolating vacuum of grief after her last living relative dies.
10

The Red Pony

by John Steinbeck

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Jody Tiflin is a young boy growing up on his father’s California ranch, where he learns the rigid realities of life and death through his relationship with a red pony named Gabilan.
11

The Interestings

by Meg Wolitzer

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

The story begins in 1974 at a summer arts camp where six teenagers—Jules, Ash, Goodman, Ethan, Jonah, and Cathy—form a tight-knit circle based on their shared creative ambitions.
12

Crossing to Safety

by Wallace Stegner

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, classic literature

Wallace Stegner’s final novel tracks the lifelong bond between two couples, Larry and Sally McKelvey and Charity and Sid Lang, beginning in 1937 Madison, Wisconsin.

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