Books like

Books like Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

12 books with a reading profile close to Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller. Inward-looking and contemplative; a moderate read.

1

Not My Father's Son

by Alan Cumming

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Alan Cumming recounts a pivotal summer in 2010 when he filmed a genealogy program while preparing for a play.
2

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

by Sy Montgomery

Also inward-looking and contemplative · philosophy, narrative

Sy Montgomery recounts her regular visits to the New England Aquarium, where she develops individual relationships with resident giant Pacific octopuses like Athena and Octavia.
3

Left to Tell

by Immaculée Ilibagiza, Steve Erwin

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Immaculée Ilibagiza details her survival during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where Hutu extremists murdered nearly her entire family.
4

The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Jeannette Walls chronicles her upbringing within a nomadic family led by a brilliant but alcoholic father, Rex, and an artistic, detached mother, Rose Mary.
5

Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo

by Christiane V. Felscherinow

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Christiane Felscherinow narrates her descent into heroin addiction in 1970s West Berlin, beginning with her experimentation with hashish and pills at age twelve.
6

Solito

by Javier Zamora

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Nine-year-old Javier Zamora departs his small town in El Salvador to reunite with his parents in the United States, traveling three thousand miles without his family.
7

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

by David Sedaris

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

David Sedaris chronicles the mundane indignities and peculiar fixations of his middle age through a collection of observational essays.
8

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

by Anthony Ray Hinton

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two capital murders in Alabama based on flawed ballistics evidence and systemic racial bias.
9

Brown Girl Dreaming

by Jacqueline Woodson

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir, written in verse, chronicles her childhood across the 1960s and 1970s.
10

The Egg

by Andy Weir

Also contemplative · philosophy, narrative

The story begins with a forty-eight-year-old man who dies in a car accident and encounters God in a void.
11

The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments

by Hadley Vlahos

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Hadley Vlahos details her experiences as a hospice nurse, documenting the specific physical and psychological phenomena that occur as patients approach death.
12

In Pieces

by Sally Field

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In this memoir, Sally Field narrates her internal life from her childhood in a fractured Hollywood household through her decades-long career.

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