Books like

Books like The Beautiful and Damned

12 books with a reading profile close to The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Washington Square

by Henry James

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

In the affluent backdrop of mid-nineteenth-century New York, Catherine Sloper lives under the scrutiny of her father, Austin, a prominent physician who views his daughter as dull and unremarkable.
2

Portnoy’s Complaint

by Philip Roth

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

Alexander Portnoy lies on a psychoanalyst’s couch and delivers a frantic, obscene monologue regarding his sexual frustrations and childhood hangfires.
3

The Moon and Sixpence

by W. Somerset Maugham

Also thought-provoking · literary, classic literature

Charles Strickland is an ordinary London stockbroker with a wife and two children until he abandons them without explanation and moves to Paris to paint.
4

Tartuffe

by Molière

Also thought-provoking · literary, classic literature

In seventeenth-century Paris, a wealthy patriarch named Orgon falls under the spell of Tartuffe, a man posing as a pious ascetic.
5

Schoolgirl

by Osamu Dazai

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

The novella that first propelled Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan, Schoolgirl was essentially the start of his career and gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language.
6

A Handful of Dust

by Evelyn Waugh

Also thought-provoking · literary, classic literature

Tony Last is a gentle English country gentleman who lives at Hetton Abbey, a Gothic mansion he loves, with his wife Brenda and young son John Andrew.
7

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

by Ambrose Bierce

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

Farquhar, a Southern planter, is being hanged for attempting to sabotage an Owl Creek bridge during the Civil War.
8

The Story of an Hour

by Kate Chopin

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

Set in 1894, the narrative follows Louise Mallard as she receives news of her husband Brently’s death in a railroad disaster.
9

The Portable Oscar Wilde

by Richard Aldington, Oscar Wilde

literary, classic literature

This 1946 compilation preserves the breadth of Oscar Wilde’s literary output, moving beyond his reputation as a mere wit.
10

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

by George Orwell

Also thought-provoking · literary, classic literature

Gordon Comstock, a young London poet, has quit a good advertising job because he despises the worship of money.
11

First Love

by Ivan Turgenev

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

Sixteen-year-old Vladimir Petrovich becomes infatuated with Zinaida Alexandrovna, a twenty-one-year-old princess living in a neighboring summer villa.
12

The Complete Fairy Tales

by Oscar Wilde

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

This collection brings together stories including The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant, and The Nightingale and the Rose.

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