Books like 'The Overstory'
Readers who enjoyed The Overstory by Richard Powers also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary action / adventure 20th century outdoors literary-fiction historical-fiction pollution-climate-change magical-realism realistic politics
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Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLiving by their wits in the steamy slums of Bahia, a gang of orphans and runaways, led by fifteen-year-old "Bullet," spend their time stealing from Brazil's rich and privileged until public outcry demands their capture...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins]()
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsJitterbug Perfume is an epic.Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight (Paris time).It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle.The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism spirituality 20th-century -
![Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey]()
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThis classic tale of the famous Mallard ducks of Boston is available for the first time in a full-sized paperback edition. Awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1942, Make Way for Ducklings has been described as "one of the merriest picture books ever" (The New York Times). Ideal for reading aloud, this book deserves a place of honor on every child's bookshelf...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors realistic season-spring -
![Charlotte's Web by E.B. White]()
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsA gorgeous full-colour large format edition of Charlotte's Web, one of the best-loved animal stories of our time.The unforgettable story of a girl called Fern who loves a little pig called Wilbur. It tells how Charlotte A...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors -
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![Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk]()
Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsSet in the mythical Polish village of Primeval, a microcosm of the world populated with eccentric, archetypal characters and guarded by four archangels, this novel from Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk chronicles the lives of the inhabitants over the course of the feral 20th century in prose that is forceful, direct, and the stylistic cousin of the magic realism in Gabriel García Márquez's One... -
![The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper]()
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe story of a train filled with toys and gifts for little boys and girls that breaks down before reaching the children. After asking several passing trains for help over the hill, a little blue train agrees to help the stranded toys. Even though she is small, the blue train tries her best to bring the toys to the children on the other side of the hill...Categorized as:
classics family friendship literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure animals book -
![End of the Game and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar]()
End of the Game and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsEnd of the game is one of the most important collections of stories of the second half of the 20th century. Engaged in transgressing the laws of conventional narrative, in these eighteen stories Julio Cortázar combines intertextuality, an unpublished use of the colloquial and endless game to bring the reader into a particular universe where nothing is what it seems...Categorized as:
classics drama literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies]()
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe complete volume of Robertson Davies's acclaimed trilogy, featuring Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders, with a new foreword by Kelly Link Fifth Business Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave at Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross and destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and... -
![The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder]()
The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsHans Thomas and his father set out on a car trip through Europe, from Norway to Greece—the birthplace of philosophy—in search of Hans Thomas's mother, who left them many years earlier. On the way, Hans Thomas receives a mysterious miniature book—the fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards come to life... -
![Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó]()
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Ettie's husband dies, her daughter Iza insists that her mother give up the family house in the countryside and move to Budapest. Displaced from her community and her home, Ettie tries to find her place in this new life, but can't seem to get it right...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aging -
![Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges]()
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsHere is a handsome edition of one of Borges' "ficciones," in a translation first published in "Labyrinths" in 1962. It's an important story in the Borges' canon, incorporating most of the author's philosophical and esthetic preoccupations in a typically brief compass... -
![The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Carl Burger]()
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Carl Burger
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsInstinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love... -
![Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri]()
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereNavigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic spirituality 20th-century -
![The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley]()
The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this, the second book in the series, the heart-stopping adventures of the Black Stallion continue as Alec discovers that two men are after the Black. One claims to be the Black’s rightful owner and one is trying to kill the beautiful steed. An Arab chieftain proves his ownership of the Black and takes him away, but Alec is determined to find his horse again...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure animals -
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![Suttree by Cormac McCarthy]()
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsArguably the masterpiece of a novelist as highly praised and scarcely read as any living writer, the Vintage Contemporaries reprint of Suttree should help to bring McCarthy the readers to match his many awards and voluminous reviews...Categorized as:
classics drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction social-commentary 20th-century -
![Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry]()
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn Oscar-winning story of a memorable mother and her feisty daughter who find the courage and humor to live through life's hazards and to love each other as never before. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove created two characters who won the hearts of readers and moviegoers everywhere--Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien]()
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsMrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors 20th-century -
![The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño]()
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFirst published in Spanish in 1998, The Savage Detectives was immediately hailed as a critical success, wining the Herralde Prize and the Romulo Gallegos Prize. But with the 2007 English-language translation the book became more than a bestseller -- it began the global sensation of Bolanomania. New Year's Eve 1975, Mexico City... -
![Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan]()
Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsFour gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennialIntroducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story... -
![Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb]()
Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA major classic of 1930s literature, Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight (Utas és Holdvilág) is the fantastically moving and darkly funny story of a bourgeois businessman torn between duty and desire.'On the train, everything seemed fine. The trouble began in Venice ...'Mihály has dreamt of Italy all his life... -
![The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati]()
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsOften likened to Kafka's The Castle, The Tartar Steppe is both a scathing critique of military life and a meditation on the human thirst for glory. It tells of young Giovanni Drogo, who is posted to a distant fort overlooking the vast Tartar steppe... -
![The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa]()
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSet among a community of cadets in a Lima military school, it is notable for its experimental and complex employment of multiple perspectives. The novel was so accurate in its portraiture of the academy that the academy's authorities burned one thousand copies and condemned the book as a plan by Ecuador to denigrate Peru... -
![Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren]()
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAstrid Lindgren's story of feisty, red-haired Pippi has been given a sparkling new translation by award-winning Tiina Nunnally and engaging pictures by acclaimed Lauren Child.Pippi Longstocking was first published in the United States in 1950, and has been translated from the original Swedish into ninety-one languages...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism realistic -
![A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle]()
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAfter a tumultuous year in New York City, the Austins are spending the summer on the small island where their grandfather lives. He’s very sick, and watching his condition deteriorate as the summer passes is almost more than Vicky can bear. To complicate matters, she finds herself as the center of attention for three very different boys... -
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![The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch]()
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsHarry Mulisch's magnum opus, is a rich mosaic of twentieth-century trauma in which many themes—friendship, loyalty, family, art, technology, religion, fate, good, and evil—suffuse a suspenseful and resplendent narrative.The Discovery of Heaven begins with the meeting of Onno and Max, two complicated individuals whom fate has mysteriously and magically brought together... -
![Mount Analogue by René Daumal]()
Mount Analogue by René Daumal
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this novel/allegory the narrator/author sets sail in the yacht Impossible to search for Mount Analogue, the geographically located, albeit hidden, peak that reaches inexorably toward heaven. Daumal's symbolic mountain represents a way to truth that "cannot not exist," and his classic allegory of man's search for himself embraces the certainty that one can know and conquer one's own reality...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond]()
The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe Room on the Roof is a timeless coming-of-age novel that will resonate with a whole new generation of readers. Written by renowned author Ruskin Bond when he was just seventeen, it is the story of Rusty, a teenage Anglo-Indian boy who is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the stifling European quarter of Dehra Dun...Categorized as:
classics drama friendship literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure bildungsroman book -
![LA Trompeta Del Cisne by E.B. White]()
LA Trompeta Del Cisne by E.B. White
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsLouis is a mute swan. His beloved Serena ignores him because of his handicap. To help him, his father steals a trumpet. Louis learns how to play it, not only to give his father the money to pay for the instrument, but also to win Serena's heart...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century -
![A Time to Kill by John Grisham]()
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for the ISBN 9780385338608 can be found here.Before "The Firm" and "The Pelican Brief" made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction politics realistic 20th-century -
![The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey]()
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEd Abbey called The Monkey Wrench Gang, his 1975 novel, a "comic extravaganza." Some readers have remarked that the book is more a comic book than a real novel, and it's true that reading this incendiary call to protect the American wilderness requires more than a little of the old willing suspension of disbelief... -
![Trout Fishing in America / The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster / In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan]()
Trout Fishing in America / The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster / In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsAn omnibus edition of three counterculture classics by Richard Brautigan that embody the spirit of the 1960s...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton]()
First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsDarrell's off to her new school.But what has she packed?1. Tennis racket? Yes2. Pocket-money? Yes3. A lid for her temper? NoOh dear! Malory Towers has a whole trunkload of trouble to come!Darrell and her friends grow together as they share their school days. There are new students to induct, sporting matches to be won, tempers to control and tricks to play on teachers... -
![Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts]()
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsTalk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
![The Darkening Skies by Janet MacLeod Trotter]()
The Darkening Skies by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThough by nature an optimist, when Sara Pallister arrives in the mining town of Whitton Grange, she cannot help but be appalled by the welcome she receives...Categorized as:
historical-fiction epic family contemporary military 20th-century fiction action-adventure -
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![The Risk Pool by Richard Russo]()
The Risk Pool by Richard Russo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Risk Pool is a thirty-year journey through the lives of Sam Hall, a small-town gambling hellraiser, and his watchful, introspective son Ned... -
![Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley]()
Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Alec receives the Black Stallion’s first son as a gift, he believes his dreams have come true, but Satan’s savage arrogance makes him dangerous and unpredictable. Still, Alec is resolved to gain the fiery colt’s trust, even if he must risk his life to do it...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure animals -
![Hotel by Arthur Hailey]()
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDuring five days in the midst of a hot, steamy Louisiana summer, the lives of a colorful cast of characters intertwine in a series of public, private, and personal dramas at the famed St. Gregory luxury hotel...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![The Summer Book by Tove Jansson]()
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and yearnings for independence, and a fierce yet understated love emerges - one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the island itself, with its mossy rocks, windswept firs and unpredictable seas...Categorized as:
classics epic family literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors realistic 20th-century -
![Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson]()
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsJess Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in his grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new girl boldly crosses over to the boys' side and outruns everyone.That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction magical-realism realistic 20th-century -
![The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie]()
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn this darkly comic short story collection, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spoke Indian Reservation... -
![The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa]()
The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWinner of the Yomiuri Literature PrizeWinner of the Honya Taisho (The Booksellers Prize)Winner of the Sugaku Shuppan-Sho (from the Japanese Academy of Mathematics)A Japan Foundation Selection A publishing phenomenon in Japan--and a heartwarming story that will change the way we all see math, baseball, memory, and each other She is a housekeeper by trade, a single mom by choice, shy, brilliant,...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic season-spring -
![Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver]()
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 53 ratings"Animals dream about the things they do in the day time just like people do. If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her hometown, Loyd's advice is painfully out of her reach...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors politics -
![If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino]()
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsItalo Calvino's masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book's central character... -
![Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins]()
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis is a gutsy, fun-loving, and provocative novel in which a bean can philosophises, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction magical-realism politics spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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![House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk]()
House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe English translation of the prize-winning international bestseller Winner of the Gunter Grass PrizeNowa Ruda is a small town in Silesia, an area that has been a part of Poland, Germany, and the former Czechoslovakia in the past. When the narrator moves into the area, she discovers everyone--and everything--has a story... -
![The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš]()
The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn entrancing, otherworldly collection of short stories from one of Europe's most accomplished 20th century writers, new to Penguin Modern ClassicsA counter-prophet attempts the impossible to prove his power; a girl sees the hideous fate of her sisters and father in a mirror bought from a gypsy; the death of a prostitute causes an unanticipated uprising; and the lives of every ordinary person... -
![The Rainmaker by John Grisham]()
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsInThe Rainmaker, John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America -- and exposing a complex, multibillion-dollar insurance scam... -
![Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx]()
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAnnie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece. Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line... -
![The Bone People by Keri Hulme]()
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIntegrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism realistic -
![Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury]()
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsRay Bradbury's moving recollection of a vanished golden era remains one of his most enchanting novels. Dandelion Wine stands out in the Bradbury literary canon as the author's most deeply personal work, a semi-autobiographical recollection of a magical small-town summer in 1928...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism realistic 20th-century
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