Books like

Books like Sesame and lilies

12 books with a reading profile close to Sesame and lilies by John Ruskin. Deep and contemplative; a moderate read.

1

Resurrection

by Leo Tolstoy

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov serves as a juror in a murder trial, only to recognize the defendant as Maslova, a woman he seduced and abandoned years earlier.
2

Oscar Wilde's Plays, Prose Writings, and Poems

by Oscar Wilde, H Pearson

philosophy, literary

This volume assembles the primary literary output of the Victorian era’s most notable wit, including the full text of "The Importance of Being Earnest" alongside "Lady Windermere’s Fan." The collection balances Wilde’s…
3

Island

by Aldous Huxley

Also deep · philosophy, literary

The story follows Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who shipwrecks on the forbidden Pacific island of Pala.
4

Metamorphoses

by Ovid

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Ovid’s hexameter narrative tracks the history of the world from its chaotic origins to the assassination of Julius Caesar.
5

Fathers and Sons

by Ivan Turgenev

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary

Arkady Kirsanov returns from university to his father's estate in 1859, bringing his friend Yevgeny Bazarov, a medical student and self-declared nihilist who rejects authority, art, and tradition.
6

Eugene Onegin

by Alexander Pushkin

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary

Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse follows Eugene Onegin, a cynical aristocrat weary of Saint Petersburg’s high society.
7

Antigone

by Jean Anouilh

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Jean Anouilh's play, first staged in occupied Paris in 1944, retells Sophocles.
8

1984 and Animal Farm

by Rafael Arrais, George Orwell

Also deep · philosophy, literary

This volume combines George Orwell’s two most famous political allegories, featuring his original text alongside introductory commentary by Rafael Arrais.
9

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Duke Vincentio departs Vienna under a pretext of travel, leaving the puritanical Angelo to enforce long-ignored moral laws.
10

Alcestis

by Euripides

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, literary

In this tragedy, King Admetus is granted a reprieve from his impending death on the condition that someone else dies in his place.
11

The Wall

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Also deep · philosophy, literary

Sartre's collection takes its name from the title story, set during the Spanish Civil War.
12

Il visconte dimezzato

by Italo Calvino

Also deep · philosophy, literary

During a war against the Turks in Bohemia, a young nobleman, Viscount Medardo of Terralba, is split down the middle by a cannonball.

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