Books like

Books like The Kitchen God's Wife

12 books with a reading profile close to The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

A Spool of Blue Thread

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Redniss Street in Baltimore is where the Whitshank family history anchors itself, centered on a wooden house built by their patriarch.
2

Dream Count

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

The novel centers on Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in America during the pandemic, as she examines the intersections of her past romances and her current desires.
3

Another Brooklyn

by Jacqueline Woodson

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

In the 1970s, August moves from Tennessee to Bushwick, Brooklyn, after the death of her mother.
4

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Pearl Tull is abandoned by her husband Beck and raises three children, Cody, Ezra and Jenny, in Baltimore on her own, with a mix of strictness and bitterness.
5

Inseparable

by Simone de Beauvoir

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

This autobiographical novel tracks the intense friendship between Sylvie and Andrée, fictionalized versions of Simone de Beauvoir and Elisabeth "Zaza" Lacoin.
6

And the Mountains Echoed

by Khaled Hosseini

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

The narrative begins in 1952 in the Afghan village of Shadbagh, centered on the separation of two siblings, Pari and Abdullah.
7

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

by Kate Atkinson

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Ruby Lennox begins her story at the moment of her conception in 1951 in York, and narrates her family's history through her own eyes.
8

We the Animals

by Justin Torres

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Three brothers, the youngest of whom narrates, grow up in upstate New York with a Puerto Rican father and a white mother who love them fiercely and also hurt them.
9

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

by Deesha Philyaw

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Deesha Philyaw’s short story collection centers on the private lives of Black women navigating the tension between traditional Christian morality and their own physical desires.
10

The Master Butchers Singing Club

by Louise Erdrich

Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, literary

Fidelis Waldvogel returns to Germany from the First World War with a sniper's skill and a plan to become a butcher like his father.
11

This Must Be the Place

by Maggie O'Farrell

Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

Daniel Sullivan, an American linguist, lives in a remote farmhouse in Ireland with his second wife, Claudette Wells, a famously reclusive former film star.
12

Animal Dreams

by Barbara Kingsolver

Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

Codi Noline returns to her rural Arizona hometown to care for her father, a doctor descending into Alzheimer’s disease.

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