Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like James
The best books like James are Beloved, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Twelve Years a Slave. James by Percival Everett is about race and power, language and freedom, identity and performance. 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.
- Beloved
01
Toni Morrison · Literary fiction
Beloved is set in post-Civil War Ohio, where Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, lives with her daughter Denver in a house shadowed by the ghost of a baby she killed rather than let be taken back into slavery.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
02
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain · Literary fiction
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins where Tom Sawyer left off — Huck Finn, the outcast son of the town drunk, has been taken in and given a respectable life he doesn't want.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Twelve Years a Slave
03
Solomon Northup · Memoir
Twelve Years a Slave, published in 1853, is the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped in 1841, sold into slavery in Louisiana, and held for twelve years before recovering his freedom.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Their Eyes Were Watching God
04
Zora Neale Hurston · Literary fiction
Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel follows Janie Crawford across three marriages and several decades of life in the American South, from her grandmother's home in West Florida through the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, to the Everglades and back.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Between the World and Me
05
Ta-Nehisi Coates · Memoir
Between the World and Me is a letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his teenage son, Samori, about what it means to live in a Black body in the United States.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Conversations with Friends
06
Sally Rooney · Literary fiction
Conversations with Friends is told by Frances, a twenty-one-year-old Dublin student who performs spoken-word poetry with her best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobbi.
Both dig into identity and performance.
Read the summary → - Along Came a Spider
07
James Patterson · Thriller
Along Came a Spider introduces Alex Cross, a Black homicide detective and forensic psychologist working in Washington D.C., in the case that made James Patterson a bestseller.
Both dig into race and power.
Read the summary → - Death on the Nile
08
Agatha Christie · Mystery
A luxury Nile cruise becomes the setting for one of Agatha Christie's most accomplished locked-room puzzles.
Both dig into identity and performance.
Read the summary → - L.A. Confidential
- Murder on the Orient Express
10
Agatha Christie · Mystery
A man is found stabbed in his sleeping compartment on the snowbound Orient Express somewhere in Yugoslavia.
Both dig into identity and performance.
Read the summary → - Red Rising
11
Pierce Brown · Science fiction
Red Rising is set on Mars in a far-future humanity stratified by color-coded caste: Golds rule, Reds mine the deep rock, and everyone in between occupies a precisely ordered place.
Both dig into identity and performance.
Read the summary → - The Cuckoo's Calling
12
Robert Galbraith · Mystery
The Cuckoo's Calling was published in 2013 under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith and received modest but positive reviews before an anonymous tip revealed the author was J.K.
Both dig into identity and performance.
Read the summary →
Books like James: quick answers
What are the best books like James?
The best books like James by Percival Everett are Beloved by Toni Morrison, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with James, such as race and power, language and freedom, identity and performance.
What should I read after James?
A natural next read after James is Beloved by Toni Morrison. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
What books are similar to James by Percival Everett?
James centers on race and power, language and freedom, identity and performance. Books with a similar feel include Beloved by Toni Morrison, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
