Hi everyone, I'm looking for suggestions for my next read. I tend to enjoy books that deal with isolation, psychological depth, and the human condition. Here is what I have read and liked recently:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Metamorphosis and Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky 1984 by George Orwell No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
I am looking for books with a similar melancholic or introspective vibe. I strictly prefer literary fiction over genre fiction (fantasy, thriller, etc.), though I don't mind if it has speculative elements like 1984.
Request: Please tell me just enough about the book to hook me, but please avoid spoilers!
Thanks in advance!
by misa_xD
4 Comments
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica.
Oops! We can’t eat meat anymore because of a mysterious virus infecting animals. Solution? Raising humans for consumption. Equal parts horror and psychological analysis about what makes someone human.
Check out Tolstoy. War and Peace and Anna Karenina are both massive (over 800 pages or 60 listening hours) but live up to their hype. Anna Karenina is my favorite novel of all time.
The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt. An American woman living in poverty in London with her young son, who is a genius. One of the best books about loneliness and isolation I’ve ever read.
I can highly recommend just more Dazai, Dostoevsky and writers in a similar vein/their inspirations!
Russian literature and Japanese literature from 19th/20th century has a lot of what you’re looking for.