Books like The Zahir
12 books with a reading profile close to The Zahir by Paulo Coelho. Inward-looking; an easy read.
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1
The Witch of Portobello
by Paulo Coelho
Also inward-looking · philosophy, narrative
Athena is a woman born in Romania to a Roma mother, adopted as a baby by a Lebanese couple, and raised partly in Beirut and later in London.
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2
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.
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3
Three Daughters of Eve
by Elif Shafak
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.
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4
Daytripper
by Fábio Moon
Also inward-looking · philosophy, narrative
Brás de Oliva Domingos writes obituaries for a Brazilian newspaper while living in the shadow of his famous novelist father.
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5
The Solitaire Mystery
philosophy, narrative
Hans Thomas travels with his father from Norway to Greece to find his long-lost mother.
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6
Women Talking
by Miriam Toews
Also 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.
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7
The Children Act
by Ian McEwan
Also 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.
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8
Sweet Bean Paste
Also inward-looking · 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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9
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Also 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.
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10
Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey
philosophy, narrative
Edward Abbey recounts his seasons as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Monument in the late 1950s.
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11
The Book of Form and Emptiness
by Ruth Ozeki
Also inward-looking · philosophy, narrative
Following the sudden death of his father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear the voices of inanimate objects.
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12
Aleph
by Paulo Coelho
Also inward-looking · philosophy, narrative
Paulo Coelho, in a crisis of faith in his own life, decides to travel across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, meeting readers along the way.
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