Pithy Books

Books like The Plague

If you liked The Plague by Albert Camus, start here: 12 similar summaries, with why each one matches.

  1. The Stranger

    Albert Camus · 1942

    Because also by Albert Camus; shares tags: classics, philosophy, absurd.

    Meursault buries his mother, kills a man on an Algiers beach, and faces trial for seeming to feel nothing.

  2. The Trial

    Franz Kafka · 1925

    Because shares tags: classics, absurd, philosophy.

    Josef K. is arrested one morning on an unknown charge and pulled into an endless court he can never leave.

  3. The War of the Worlds

    H.G. Wells · 1898

    Because shares tags: classics, survival.

    A Surrey writer watches Martians land in cylinders, march on London in tripods, and fall to Earth's smallest life.

  4. Stranger in a Strange Land

    Robert A. Heinlein · 1961

    Because shares tags: classics, philosophy.

    A Mars-raised man lands on Earth, learns religion and love, and founds a church that shocks everyone.

  5. Robinson Crusoe

    Daniel Defoe · 1719

    Because shares tags: classics, survival.

    Shipwrecked near South America, Crusoe spends 28 years farming, building, praying, and facing who he becomes alone.

  6. Little House on the Prairie

    Laura Ingalls Wilder · 1935 · Little House #3

    Because shares tags: classics, survival.

    The Ingalls family leaves Wisconsin for Kansas, builds a log house, and faces wolves, fire, and fever.

  7. Candide

    Voltaire · 1759

    Because shares tags: philosophy, french literature.

    Voltaire's Candide follows a sheltered boy across earthquakes, wars, and Eldorado as his tutor's sunny optimism falls apart. Short, savage,…

  8. War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy · 1869

    Because shares tags: classics, philosophy.

    Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei search for meaning amid the Napoleonic wars.

  9. The Prince

    Niccolo Machiavelli · 1532

    Because shares tags: classics, philosophy.

    Machiavelli advises Lorenzo on rule through fear and love, fortune, cruelty and mercy.

  10. The Name of the Rose

    Umberto Eco · 1980

    Because shares tags: classics, philosophy.

    Friar William and Adso investigate 1327 abbey deaths amid library labyrinth.

  11. The Karamazov Brothers

    Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1880

    Because shares tags: classics, philosophy.

    Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha Karamazov face their father, murder, faith, and doubt in Dostoevsky's final novel.

  12. Island of the Blue Dolphins

    Scott O'Dell · 1960

    Because shares tags: classics, survival.

    Left alone on San Nicolas Island for eighteen years, Karana builds shelter, faces wild dogs, and finds company with Rontu.

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