Books like Vanity Fair
12 books with a reading profile close to Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
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1
The Bonfire of the Vanities
by Tom Wolfe
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Bond Market trader Sherman McCoy sees his life as a self-proclaimed Master of the Universe collapse after a wrong turn into the Bronx.
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2
Bleak House
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
In nineteenth-century London, the protracted legal battle of Jarndyce and Jarndyce drags through the Court of Chancery, eroding the inheritance and sanity of those caught in its wake.
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3
The Odyssey of Homer
by Homer
Also deep · dense, narrative
Following the conclusion of the Trojan War, Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, begins a decade-long struggle to reach his home.
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4
Doctor Zhivago
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent Civil War, the narrative follows Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet who struggles to maintain his medical ethics and artistic integrity amidst social…
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5
The Aeneid
by Virgil
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Virgil’s epic poem follows Aeneas, a Trojan prince who escapes the ruins of Troy to establish a new lineage in Italy.
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6
American Pastoral
by Philip Roth
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Seymour "Swede" Levov represents the fulfillment of the mid-century American dream as a successful Newark businessman, star athlete, and family man.
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7
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews
Also deep and thought-provoking · narrative, literary
The narrative follows Joseph Andrews, a virtuous footman who is dismissed from service after resisting the aggressive sexual advances of his mistress, Lady Booby.
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8
Song of Solomon
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Macon "Milkman" Dead III grows up in a wealthy but emotionally stifled Black household in Michigan, isolated from the struggles of his community and the history of his ancestors.
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9
The God of Small Things
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Set in Ayemenem, Kerala, during the late 1960s, the story follows fraternal twins Rahel and Estha as they navigate a rigid social hierarchy.
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10
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
Also deep and thought-provoking · dense, narrative
Set in a fictional Midlands town during the 1830s, the narrative tracks the interconnected lives of Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate.
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11
Twelfth Night
Also deep · dense, literary
After a shipwrecks near the coast of Illyria, Viola believes her twin brother Sebastian is dead.
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12
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
narrative, literary
Joe Kavalier, a magician and escape artist, flees Nazi-occupied Prague and arrives in New York City to live with his cousin, Sammy Clay.
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