Historical fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Book Thief
The best books like The Book Thief are All Quiet on the Western Front, Angela's Ashes, and Homage to Catalonia. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is about words and power, death and grief, human kindness in extremity. 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.
- All Quiet on the Western Front
01
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque · History
All Quiet on the Western Front follows Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier who enlists with his classmates during the First World War after being swept up in patriotic speeches.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Angela's Ashes
02
Frank McCourt · Memoir
Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's memoir of a catastrophically impoverished Irish Catholic childhood, first in Brooklyn and then in Limerick, during the 1930s and 1940s.
A kindred historical fiction 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 historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Bell Jar
04
Sylvia Plath · Memoir
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel, published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, one month before Plath's death.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Beloved
05
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 historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
06
George Saunders · Philosophy
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is George Saunders's account of the graduate fiction workshop he has taught at Syracuse for over twenty years, organized around seven stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, and Gogol.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - Adventures in the Screen Trade
07
Adventures in the Screen Trade
William Goldman · Memoir
William Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, and The Princess Bride, among many others.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - All Marketers Are Liars
08
Seth Godin · Business
All Marketers Are Liars — later republished as All Marketers Tell Stories — is Seth Godin's argument that successful marketing is not about facts or features but about stories that confirm what consumers already believe about the world.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - As I Lay Dying
09
William Faulkner · Literary fiction
As I Lay Dying is the story of the Bundren family's journey across Mississippi to bury Addie Bundren, wife and mother, in her hometown of Jefferson.
Both dig into death and grief.
Read the summary → - Building a StoryBrand
10
Donald Miller · Business
Building a StoryBrand is Donald Miller's argument that most companies fail at marketing because they communicate from the wrong perspective.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - Finite and Infinite Games
11
James P. Carse · Philosophy
Finite and Infinite Games is James Carse's 1986 philosophical meditation on two fundamentally different ways of engaging with the world.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - Life of Pi
12
Yann Martel · Literary fiction
Life of Pi opens in Pondicherry, India, where Pi Patel grows up as the son of a zookeeper, accumulating an unorthodox religious education — he practices Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam simultaneously, to the bafflement of the adults around him.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary →
Books like The Book Thief: quick answers
What are the best books like The Book Thief?
The best books like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Beloved by Toni Morrison, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Book Thief, such as words and power, death and grief, human kindness in extremity.
What should I read after The Book Thief?
A natural next read after The Book Thief is All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. A kindred historical fiction read. Other strong choices are Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
What books are similar to The Book Thief by Markus Zusak?
The Book Thief centers on words and power, death and grief, human kindness in extremity. Books with a similar feel include All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Beloved by Toni Morrison, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
