Books like 'Meditations'
Readers who enjoyed Meditations by Marcus Aurelius also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical psychological classics personal-growth spirituality politics roman-empire ancient-civilization philosophical religion
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Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDeath and the Dervish is an acclaimed novel by Bosnian writer Mesa Selimovic. It recounts the story of Sheikh Nuruddin, a dervish residing in an Islamic monastery in Sarajevo in the eighteenth century during the Ottoman Turk hegemony over the Balkans. When his brother is arrested, he must descend into the Kafkaesque world of the Ottoman authorities in his search to discover what happened to him... -
![When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom]()
When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn 19th-century Vienna, a drama of love, fate, and will is played out amid the intellectual ferment that defined the era.Josef Breuer, one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, is at the height of his career. Friedrich Nietzsche, Europe's greatest philosopher, is on the brink of suicidal despair, unable to find a cure for the headaches and other ailments that plague him... -
![Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 83 ratingsNew footnotes have been added, based on discoveries by the leading Soviet Dostoevsky scholar, Sergei Belov. Backgrounds and Sources, highly praised in the Second Edition, remains unaltered. Included are a detailed map of nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, selections from Dostoevsky's notebooks and letters, and a crucial passage from an early draft of his novel... -
![Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsSet in mid 19th-century Russia, Demons examines the effect of a charismatic but unscrupulous self-styled revolutionary leader on a group of credulous followers... -
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![Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ben Marcus]()
Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ben Marcus
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsA collection of powerful stories by one of the masters of Russian literature, illustrating the author's thoughts on political philosophy, religion and above all, humanity: Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead (150th Anniversary Edition)The compelling works presented in this volume were written at distinct periods in... -
![The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsReturning to Russia from a sanitarium in Switzerland, the Christ-like epileptic Prince Myshkin finds himself enmeshed in a tangle of love, torn between two women—the notorious kept woman Nastasya and the pure Aglaia—both involved, in turn, with the corrupt, money-hungry Ganya. In the end, Myshkin’s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him... -
![The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom]()
The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe. Rosenberg is stunned to discover that Goethe, his idol, was a great admirer of the Jewish seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza... -
![The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso, Tim Parks]()
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso, Tim Parks
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPresenting the stories of Zeus and Europa, Theseus and Ariadne, the birth of Athens and the fall of Troy, in all their variants, Calasso also uncovers the distant origins of secrets and tragedy, virginity, and rape. "A perfect work like no other. (Calasso) has re-created . . . the morning of our world."--Gore Vidal. 15 engravings... -
![The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis]()
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHailed as a masterpiece by critics worldwide, The Last Temptation of Christ is a monumental reinterpretation of the Gospels that brilliantly fleshes out Christ’s Passion. This literary rendering of the life of Jesus Christ has courted controversy since its publication by depicting a Christ far more human than the one seen in the Bible...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction myths philosophical religion spirituality -
![Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy]()
Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsServing on a jury at the trial of a prostitute arrested for murder, Prince Nekhlyudov is horrified to discover that the accused is a woman he had once loved, seduced and then abandoned when she was a young servant girl. Racked with guilt at realizing he was the cause of her ruin, he determines to appeal for her release or give up his own way of life and follow her...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction legal literary-fiction philosophical politics religion spirituality -
![The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy]()
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsHailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his dying so much as a passing thought. But one day, death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face to face with his own mortality... -
![The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis collection, unique to the Modern Library, gathers seven of Dostoevsky's key works and shows him to be equally adept at the short story as with the novel...Categorized as:
classics existentialism literary-fiction philosophical anthologies fiction historical literary -
![Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA single, tormented, character dominates both of these short novels written at different stages of Dostoyevsky's career..Title: .Notes from Underground the Double..Author: .Dostoyevsky, Fyodor..Publisher: .Penguin Group USA..Publication Date: .1972/06/01..Number of Pages: .287..Binding Type: .PAPERBACK..Library of Congress:... -
![The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy, Hugh McLean]()
The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy, Hugh McLean
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWith an Introduction and Notes by Dr T.C.B.Cook Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is best known for War and Peace and Anna Karenina, commonly regarded as amongst the greatest novels ever written. He also, however, wrote many masterly short stories, and this volume contains four of the longest and best in distinguished translations that have stood the test of time...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction philosophical religion spirituality university adult -
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![The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis]()
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe internationally renowned novel about the life and death of Jesus Christ.Hailed as a masterpiece by critics worldwide, The Last Temptation of Christ is a monumental reinterpretation of the Gospels that brilliantly fleshes out Christ’s Passion...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction myths religion spirituality 20th-century -
![Tales and Sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne]()
Tales and Sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis Library of America volume offers what no reader has ever been able to find—an authoritative edition of all the tales and sketches of Nathaniel Hawthorne in a single comprehensive volume...Categorized as:
classics dark-academia historical-fiction literary-fiction myths religion spirituality university -
![Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse]()
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsSiddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse is a deceptively simple, intense, and lyrical allegorical tale of a man in ancient India striving for enlightenment at the time of Buddha. Siddhartha is a man whose life journey runs in parallel and who may or may not be another version of Buddha himself... -
![The Town by William Faulkner]()
The Town by William Faulkner
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsContinues Faulkner's tale of the Snopes family, set in rural, post-bellum Mississippi...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century adult book -
![Hunger by Knut Hamsun]()
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsOne of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century, Knut Hamsun made literary history with the publication in 1890 of this powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression... -
![Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis]()
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe classic novel, international sensation, and inspiration for the film starring Anthony Quinn explores the struggle between the aesthetic and the rational, the inner life and the life of the mind.The classic novel Zorba the Greek is the story of two men, their incredible friendship, and the importance of living life to the fullest... -
![Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsDostoevsky’s most revolutionary novel, Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, and between the visions of self each century embodied. One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence... -
![Caligula by Albert Camus]()
Caligula by Albert Camus
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsa new adaptation of Camus' 1944 play by Scottish playwright David... -
![The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky]()
The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAccused of political subversion as a young man, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was sentenced to four years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp — a horrifying experience from which he developed this astounding semi-autobiographical memoir of a man condemned to ten years of servitude for murdering his wife... -
![The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre]()
The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSet in France during the days immediately before World War II, this is the story of Mathieu, a French professor of philosophy obsessed with the idea of freedom. Translated from the French by Eric Sutton... -
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![Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo]()
Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPhilip Caputo’s tragic and epically ambitious new novel is set in Sudan, where war is a permanent condition. Into this desolate theater come aid workers, missionaries, and mercenaries of conscience whose courage and idealism sometimes coexist with treacherous moral blindness...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics religion spirituality adult book fiction -
![The Age of Fable, Stories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch]()
The Age of Fable, Stories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe religions of ancient Greece and Rome are extinct. The so-called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men. They belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste... -
![Amongst Women by John McGahern]()
Amongst Women by John McGahern
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMoran is an old Republican whose life was forever transformed by his days of glory as a guerilla leader in the War of Independence. Now, in old age, living out in the country, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction politics religion spirituality university 20th-century -
![The Atheist by Achdiat K. Mihardja]()
The Atheist by Achdiat K. Mihardja
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAtheis (The Atheist), first published in 1949, portrays the spiritual and intellectual crisis of Hasan, a young Muslim who was raised to be devout but comes to doubt his faith after becoming involved with a group of modern young people. Upon publication, the novel was praised by literary figures and the general public...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction politics religion spirituality adult book -
![Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho]()
Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe brilliant new novel from the #1 internationally best-selling author of The Alchemist. In Paulo Coelho's signature style, this short volume offers inspiration, solace, encouragement and wisdom that will enrich anyone's life. Deceptively simple yet incredibly powerful, this is the perfect gift for anyone who has ever asked 'why?'... -
![The Wasted Vigil - A Format by Nadeem Aslam]()
The Wasted Vigil - A Format by Nadeem Aslam
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe author of Maps for Lost Lovers gives us a new novel—at once lyrical and blistering—about war in our time, told through the lives of five people who come together in post-9/11 Afghanistan.Marcus, an English doctor whose progressive, outspoken Afghani wife was murdered by the Taliban, opens his home—itself an eerily beautiful monument to his losses—to the others: Lara, from St...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality university adult book fiction -
![Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho]()
Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho
Rated: 3.77 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe latest novel from the #1 internationally best-selling author of The Alchemist.There is nothing wrong with anxiety.Although we cannot control God's time, it is part of the human condition to want to receive the thing we are waiting for as quickly as possible.Or to drive away whatever is causing our fear....Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind... -
![Thérèse by François Mauriac]()
Thérèse by François Mauriac
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsFrom the moment she walks from court having been charged with attempting to poison her husband, to her banishment, escape to Paris, and final years of solitude and waiting, the life of Thérèse Desqueyroux is passionate and tortured. The victim of a hostile fate, Thérèse, as Mauriac said of her ‘belongs to that class of human beings … for whom night can end only when life itself ends...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality university 20th-century adult -
![The Love-Artist by Jane Alison]()
The Love-Artist by Jane Alison
Rated: 3.35 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsWhy was Ovid, the most popular poet of his day, banished from Rome? Why do only two lines survive of his play Medea, reputedly his most passionate, most accomplished work? Between the known details of Ovid’s life and these enigmas, Jane Alison has created a haunting drama of psychological manipulation, and an ingenious meditation on love, art and immortality...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization historical-fiction literary-fiction myths roman-empire adult book fiction
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