Fantasy · Similar reads
Books like American Gods
The best books like American Gods are The Power of Myth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Homage to Catalonia. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is about immigration and belonging, belief and its power, old versus new. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Power of Myth
01
Joseph Campbell · Philosophy
The Power of Myth is the transcript of six hours of conversations between Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers, filmed at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in 1985 and 1986 and broadcast on PBS in 1988, shortly after Campbell's death.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - The Hero with a Thousand Faces
02
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell · Philosophy
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, first published in 1949, is Joseph Campbell's account of the monomyth — his term for the single underlying story structure that, he argues, appears across the world's mythologies, folk tales, and religious narratives.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Homage to Catalonia
03
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
04
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
Suzanne Simard · Science
Suzanne Simard is the forest ecologist who discovered that trees communicate and share resources through underground mycorrhizal fungal networks — the research that gave rise to the concept of the "mother tree" and, at several removes, Peter Wohlleben's popular writing on the subject.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
05
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Katherine Boo · History
Behind the Beautiful Forevers is Katherine Boo's account of three years spent in Annawadi, a Mumbai slum built on reclaimed land next to the international airport.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Americanah
06
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Literary fiction
Americanah follows Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who leaves Lagos for America as a university student and spends fifteen years navigating a country that insists on categorizing her in ways Nigeria never did.
Both dig into immigration and belonging.
Read the summary → - Hook, Line, and Sinker
07
Tessa Bailey · Romance
Hannah Bellinger has always been the dependable one — her sister Piper's anchor, the practical twin who keeps things running.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - Lord Jim
08
Joseph Conrad · Literary fiction
Jim is a young British officer on a decrepit steamship carrying hundreds of Muslim pilgrims when, in a moment of crisis he cannot fully explain even to himself, he jumps overboard and abandons them.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - Slaughterhouse-Five
09
Kurt Vonnegut · Literary fiction
Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.
Both dig into american mythology.
Read the summary → - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
10
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson · Contemporary fiction
Allan Karlsson turns one hundred years old in a Swedish nursing home, and rather than sit through his birthday party, he climbs out the window in his slippers and walks away.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Bride Test
11
Helen Hoang · Romance
The Bride Test is the second novel in Helen Hoang's Kiss Quotient series.
Both dig into immigration and belonging.
Read the summary → - The Human Stain
12
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
Coleman Silk is a seventy-one-year-old classics professor and former dean at Athena College in western Massachusetts who has been driven from his position by a racially charged accusation.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary →
Books like American Gods: quick answers
What are the best books like American Gods?
The best books like American Gods by Neil Gaiman are The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with American Gods, such as immigration and belonging, belief and its power, old versus new.
What should I read after American Gods?
A natural next read after American Gods is The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. A kindred fantasy read. Other strong choices are The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard.
What books are similar to American Gods by Neil Gaiman?
American Gods centers on immigration and belonging, belief and its power, old versus new. Books with a similar feel include The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
