Books like

Books like The Castle

12 books with a reading profile close to The Castle by Franz Kafka. Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.

1

Faust

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

Heinrich Faust is a scholar who has mastered philosophy, law, medicine, and theology, yet remains dissatisfied with the limits of human knowledge.
2

Demons

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

In nineteenth-century Russia, a small provincial town becomes the staging ground for a revolutionary cell led by the manipulative Pyotr Verkhovensky.
3

The Magic Mountain

by Thomas Mann

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

Hans Castorp, a young engineer, visits his cousin at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, intending to stay for three weeks.
4

Collected Fictions

by Jorge Luis Borges

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, dense

This volume brings together Borges's short fiction in English, including A Universal History of Infamy, Ficciones, The Aleph, Doctor Brodie's Report and The Book of Sand.
5

Moby-Dick

by Herman Melville

Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, dense

Ishmael, a schoolmaster seeking relief from a melancholy spirit, joins the crew of the Pequod, a whaling vessel departing from Nantucket.
6

Works [37 plays, 6 poems, sonnets]

by William Shakespeare

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

This 1730 collection organizes the complete dramatic and poetic output of William Shakespeare, encompassing comedies, histories, and tragedies alongside his lyrical sequences.
7

King Lear

by William Shakespeare

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

In 1608, William Shakespeare’s tragedy follows an aging British monarch who abdicates his throne and divides his territory based on his daughters’ public professions of love.
8

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

by Emily Dickinson

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

This collection gathers the lyrical output of a recluse who examined the intersections of nature, mortality, and the inner self.
9

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

Charles Marlow, a seasoned sailor, narrates his passage aboard a steamship into the Congo Free State to retrieve Mr.
10

The Complete Stories

by Franz Kafka

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

This volume gathers the short stories Franz Kafka wrote and published during his lifetime, plus other pieces released after his death.
11

Faust, First Part

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

Heinrich Faust, a disenchanted scholar, abandons traditional medicine, theology, and philosophy after realizing that intellectual mastery has failed to reveal the secrets of the universe.
12

Nausea

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, dense

Antoine Roquentin, a secluded historian living in the port town of Bouvile, becomes obsessed with a visceral physical sensation he calls the Nausea.

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