Books like

Books like The Sentence

12 books with a reading profile close to The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Brick Lane

by Monica Ali

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

Nazneen is seventeen when she leaves a village in Bangladesh for an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man more than twenty years older, in a London housing estate in Tower Hamlets.
2

Hell of a Book

by Jason Mott

Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, literary

A Black writer, whose name we never learn, is on a book tour for his novel, and the story follows him as he travels and tries to carry on while his mind seems to drift.
3

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

by Margaret Atwood

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Margaret Atwood's 2014 collection gathers nine stories about aging, grudges and the lingering consequences of old choices.
4

Arcadia

by Lauren Groff

Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Bit Arcadia is born in a commune in upstate New York in the 1970s, the first child born there.
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

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.
7

Swing Time

by Zadie Smith

Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, literary

Two brown girls in a London council estate meet at a dance class in the 1980s.
8

March

by Geraldine Brooks

Also thought-provoking · narrative, literary

This novel reimagines the American Civil War from the perspective of John March, the absent father from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
9

BRAWLER

by Lauren Groff

Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, literary

This short story collection tracks people navigating the friction between their internal desires and the physical environments of modern Florida and historical Europe.
10

The little disturbances of man

by Grace Paley

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

Set in the cramped apartments and bustling streets of mid-century New York City, these short stories focus on the domestic lives of Jewish women navigating family friction and romantic disappointment.
11

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.
12

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

by Sherman Alexie

Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, literary

Sherman Alexie's linked stories follow Native American characters on and around the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State.

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