Books like

Books like The Book of Form and Emptiness

12 books with a reading profile close to The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, narrative

Set in a luxury Parisian apartment building, the story follows Renée Michel, a fifty-four-year-old concierge who hides her deep knowledge of Kant, Tolstoy, and art behind a facade of working-class dullness.
2

Women Talking

by Miriam Toews

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, narrative

Based on real events in the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia, this novel centers on eight Mennonite women meeting secretly in a hayloft.
3

The Children Act

by Ian McEwan

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, narrative

High Court judge Fiona Maye presides over the Family Division in London, where she adjudicates cases involving medical ethics and religious freedom.
4

Daytripper

by Fábio Moon

Also inward-looking and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Brás de Oliva Domingos writes obituaries for a Brazilian newspaper while living in the shadow of his famous novelist father.
5

The Dharma Bums

by Jack Kerouac

Also inward-looking · philosophy, narrative

Ray Smith, a fictionalized version of Kerouac, navigates the contrast between urban jazz parties and the solitude of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
6

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

by Annie Dillard

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Annie Dillard uses her home in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley as an observatory to document the biological mechanics of the natural world.
7

Snow

by Orhan Pamuk

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Ka, an exiled poet, returns to Turkey to investigate a series of suicides among young women in the border city of Kars.
8

Three Daughters of Eve

by Elif Shafak

Also thought-provoking · philosophy, narrative

Peri is an Istanbul housewife in her thirties, married with a child, who is at a dinner party when a mugger takes her bag and she chases him.
9

Narcissus and Goldmund

by Hermann Hesse

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, narrative

Set in medieval Germany, the novel follows two antithetical men who begin as student and teacher at Mariabronn monastery.
10

The Solitaire Mystery

by Jostein Gaarder

Also deep · philosophy, narrative

Hans Thomas travels with his father from Norway to Greece to find his long-lost mother.
11

Desert Solitaire

by Edward Abbey

Also deep and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Edward Abbey recounts his seasons as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Monument in the late 1950s.
12

Sweet Bean Paste

by Durian Sukegawa

Also inward-looking and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Sentaro runs a tiny dorayaki shop, selling pancakes filled with sweet bean paste, and he is stuck in a life he did not choose, having served a prison sentence.

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