Pithy Books

Books like The Color Purple

If you liked The Color Purple by Alice Walker, start here: 12 similar summaries, with why each one matches.

  1. The Count of Monte Cristo

    Alexandre Dumas · 1844

    Because shares tags: classics, historical.

    Edmond Dantes escapes Chateau d'If and returns as the Count to repay friends and ruin betrayers.

  2. The Bell Jar

    Sylvia Plath · 1963

    Because shares tags: classics, feminism.

    Esther Greenwood wins a New York internship that should feel bright, then sinks into depression at home. Plath's 1963 novel follows her…

  3. A Tale of Two Cities

    Charles Dickens · 1859

    Because shares tags: classics, historical.

    Lucie Manette frees her father from the Bastille while Sydney Carton loves her from afar through London and Paris revolt.

  4. The Handmaid's Tale

    Margaret Atwood · 1985 · The Handmaid's Tale #1

    Because shares tags: feminism, classics.

    Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale retold: Offred in Gilead, the Commander, Serena Joy, Mayday, and the van.

  5. Dracula

    Bram Stoker · 1897

    Because shares tags: classics, epistolary.

    Count Dracula sails for England in letters and diaries, and Van Helsing leads the hunt to stop him.

  6. War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy · 1869

    Because shares tag: classics.

    Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei search for meaning amid the Napoleonic wars.

  7. Things Fall Apart

    Chinua Achebe · 1958

    Because shares tag: classics.

    Proud Igbo wrestler Okonkwo rises in 1890s Umuofia, then loses standing through hard exile, a son's conversion, and British missionaries…

  8. Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Zora Neale Hurston · 1937

    Because shares tag: classics.

    Janie Crawford tells Pheoby about Eatonville life with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks called Jody, and Tea Cake.

  9. The Trial

    Franz Kafka · 1925

    Because shares tag: classics.

    Josef K. is arrested one morning on an unknown charge and pulled into an endless court he can never leave.

  10. The Three Musketeers

    Alexandre Dumas · 1844 · The d'Artagnan Romances #1

    Because shares tag: classics.

    Young dArtagnan joins Athos, Porthos and Aramis to recover the queens diamonds and face Milady.

  11. The Testaments

    Margaret Atwood · 2019 · The Handmaid's Tale #2

    Because shares tag: feminism.

    Aunt Lydia, Agnes and Nicole conspire to bring down Gilead fifteen years later.

  12. the sun and her flowers

    Rupi Kaur · 2017

    Because shares tag: feminism.

    Kaur follows love and loss through wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming in short illustrated poems.

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