Books like

Books like The Baron in the Trees

12 books with a reading profile close to The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino. Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The Picture of Dorian Gray Illustrated

by Oscar Wilde

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

In Victorian London, the young Dorian Gray sits for a portrait by artist Basil Hallward, who captures the youth's extraordinary beauty on canvas.
2

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

During a nuclear conflict, a plane crash leaves a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited tropical island without adult supervision.
3

Wise Blood

by Flannery O'Connor

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

Hazel Motes returns from war to a rural Tennessee landscape and establishes the Church Without Christ.
4

The Plague

by Albert Camus

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in the coastal city of Oran, the narrative begins when rats emerge from the shadows to die in the streets, signaling an outbreak of bubonic plague.
5

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

by Thornton Wilder

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

In 1714, a rope bridge in Peru collapses, sending five travelers to their deaths in the chasm below.
6

The Great Divorce

by C.S. Lewis

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

A narrator boards a flying bus in a grey, rainy city and travels to the foothills of Heaven.
7

Zorba the Greek

by Nikos Kazantzakis

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in rural Crete, the narrative follows an unnamed intellectual who attempts to reopen a lignite mine while escaping his bookish existence.
8

East of Eden

by John Steinbeck

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in the Salinas Valley between the Civil War and World War I, the narrative tracks the interconnected fates of the Trask and Hamilton families.
9

Candide

by Voltaire

Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

Candide follows a young man ejected from a German castle after falling in love with the Baron’s daughter, Cunégonde.
10

The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha

by Thomas Shelton, Charles-Antoine Coypel

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

This massive four-volume set reproduces the classic narrative of Alonso Quijano, a country gentleman who loses his mind from reading romances.
11

Narcissus and Goldmund

by Hermann Hesse

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Set in medieval Germany, the novel follows two antithetical men who begin as student and teacher at Mariabronn monastery.
12

The Odyssey

by Homer

Also deep · philosophy, narrative

Following the destruction of Troy, the Greek king Odysseus begins a ten-year voyage to reach his home in Ithaca.

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