Recommendations based on Faust, First Partby Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A collection of four works exploring the human psyche, morality, and existentialism through the lens of Russian society.

    The story opens with the narrator wandering the streets of St. Petersburg . He is contemplating the ridiculousness of his own life, and his recent realization that nothing matters to him any more. It ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Complete Stories and Poems

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A collection of dark and mysterious stories and poems, exploring the depths of the human condition.

    This single volume brings together all of Poe's stories and poems, and illuminates the diverse and multifaceted genius of one of the greatest and most influential figures in American literary ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Steppenwolf

    by Hermann Hesse
    The inner struggles of a tortured soul as he searches for redemption.

    The book is presented as a manuscript written by its protagonist , a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, who leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady. The acquaintance adds a ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Raven and Other Poems

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A collection of dark, gothic poems, exploring the depths of the human psyche.

    A chilling, thrilling collection of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry, introduced by best-selling author Philip Pullman The Raven . . . Annabel Lee . . . Ulalume . . . these are some of the spookiest, most ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

    by Aeschylus
    Tragedy of a cursed family and their struggle to find the truth and justice.

    Alternate cover edition can be found, here,, here,, here,, here, In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder ... (Goodreads)

  6. Songs of Innocence and of Experience

    by William Blake
    A poetic collection exploring the duality of human nature, innocence and experience.

    Songs of Innocence and of Experience, is an collection of poems by William Blake., Note:, For a complete Table of Contents of the included poems, see the 'Questions' section below. This book appeared ... (Goodreads)

  7. The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

    by Sophocles
    Ancient tragedy of a family's fall from grace due to a fateful prophecy.

    English versions of Sophocles’ three great tragedies based on the myth of Oedipus, translated for a modern audience by two gifted poets. Index. ... (Barnes & Noble)

  8. Don Quixote

    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
    An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.

    Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)

  9. Leaves of Grass

    by Walt Whitman
    An exploration of the relationship between the individual and the divine, viewed through the lens of nature and its rhythms.

    A collection of quintessentially American poems, the seminal work of one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century. ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Sorrows of Young Werther

    by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    A young man's struggle to reconcile his intense emotions with the realities of society.

    This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. Written in diary form, it tells the tale of an unhappy, passionate young man hopelessly in love with Charlotte, the wife of a friend - a man who he ... (Goodreads)

  11. Tender Is the Night

    by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    A young couple's tumultuous journey through love, wealth and tragedy.

    Dick and Nicole Diver are a glamorous couple who rent a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Also staying at the nearby resort are Rosemary ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Naked Lunch

    by William S. Burroughs
    Surrealist exploration of addiction, delusions, and reality.

    Naked Lunch is a non-linear narrative without a clear plot. The following is a summary of some of the events in the book that could be considered the most relevant. The book begins with the ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Divine Comedy

    by Dante Alighieri
    A poetic journey through the afterlife, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.

    The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Iliad

    by Homer
    Epic tale of the Trojan War, depicting heroism and tragedy.

    Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Brothers Karamazov

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A philosophical exploration of morality, faith, and family dynamics among a group of brothers.

    The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Trial

    by Franz Kafka
    A man is arrested and put on trial for a crime that remains unclear throughout the novel.

    On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., the chief cashier of a bank, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents from an unspecified agency for an unspecified crime. Josef is not ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Chess Story

    by Stefan Zweig
    A chess master's attempt to regain his lost skill, and the psychological battle he faces.

    The narrator opens the story on a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. Driven to mental anguish as the result of total isolation by the Nazis , Dr B, a securities expert hiding ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Les Fleurs du Mal

    by Charles Baudelaire
    Collection of poems exploring the beauty and depravity of human nature.

    Charles Baudelaire's 1857 masterwork was scandalous in its day for its portrayals of sex, same-sex love, death, the corrupting and oppressive power of the modern city and lost innocence, Les Fleurs ... (Goodreads)

  19. Waiting for Godot

    by Samuel Beckett
    Two men wait for a mysterious figure who never arrives, reflecting on their lives and existence.

    Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, have met near a leafless tree. Estragon spent the previous night lying in a ditch and receiving a beating from some unnamed assailants. The two men discuss a variety ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Idiot

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A man's struggle to find his place in society, and the moral dilemmas he faces.

    Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Aeneid

    by Virgil
    Epic tale of Aeneas and the founding of Rome, a fateful journey through the gods.

    The Aeneid – thrilling, terrifying and poignant in equal measure – has inspired centuries of artists, writers and musicians. Virgil’s epic tale tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, who flees his ... (Goodreads)

  22. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

    by Tom Stoppard
    A humorous exploration of fate and free will, seen through the eyes of two minor characters in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

    Hamlet told from the worm's-eye view of two minor characters, bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, reality and illusion mix, and where fate leads heroes to a ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Wall

    by Jean-Paul Sartre
    A soldier's fight for survival in a World War II concentration camp.

    'The Wall', the lead story in this collection, introduces three political prisoners on the night prior to their execution. Through the gaze of an impartial doctor–seemingly there for the men's ... (Goodreads)

  24. 100 Love Sonnets

    by Pablo Neruda
    Collection of love poems exploring the depths of passion, desire and longing.

    Against the backdrop of Isla Negra - the sea and wind, the white sand with its scattering of delicate wild flowers, the hot sun and salty smells of the Pacific - the poet sets the poems in ... (Goodreads)

  25. Antigone

    by Sophocles
    A tragedy about a woman's struggle to uphold justice amidst oppressive laws.

    The curse placed on Oedipus lingers and haunts a younger generation in this new and brilliant translation of Sophocles' classic drama. The daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Antigone is an ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Reader

    by Bernhard Schlink
    A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.

    Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)

  27. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Master and Margarita

    by Mikhail Bulgakov
    A fantastical, satirical examination of Soviet life, intersecting with the supernatural.

    The novel has two settings. The first is Moscow during the 1930s, where Satan appears at Patriarch's Ponds as Professor Woland . He is accompanied by Koroviev, a grotesquely-dressed valet; Behemoth , ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Heart of Darkness

    by Joseph Conrad
    A journey into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the darkness of colonialism.

    Aboard the Nellie , anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend , Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors how he became captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. As a child, Marlow ... (Wikipedia)

  30. The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

    by Nikolai Gogol
    A collection of bizarre, humorous and satirical stories set in 19th century Russia.

    When Pushkin first read some of the stories in this collection, he declared himself "amazed." "Here is real gaiety," he wrote, "honest, unconstrained, without mincing, without primness. And in places ... (Goodreads)