Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Transcendence
Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse
A spiritual journey of self-discovery for a young man in search of enlightenment.
The story takes place in the ancient Nepalese kingdom of Kapilavastu . Siddhartha decides to leave his home in the hope of gaining spiritual illumination by becoming an ascetic wandering beggar of ... (Wikipedia)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
A Faustian tale of a man who trades his soul for eternal youth and beauty.
The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian England, where Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait ... (Wikipedia)
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
by Max Porter
A family's journey of dealing with the death of a loved one, discovering hope and comfort along the way.
In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and ... (Goodreads)
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)
Desolation Angels
by Jack Kerouac
Exploration of life through a journey of self-reflection, spurring personal growth.
With the publication of On the Road in 1957, Jack Kerouac became at once the spokesman and hero of the Beat Generation. Along with such visionaries as William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Allen ... (Goodreads)
The Dharma Bums
by Jack Kerouac
A journey of self-discovery, fueled by a passion for Buddhism and nature.
The character Japhy drives Ray Smith's story, whose penchant for simplicity and Zen Buddhism influenced Kerouac on the eve of the sudden and unpredicted success of, On the Road, . The action shifts ... (Wikipedia)
Duino Elegies
by Rainer Maria Rilke
A collection of ten elegies that explore the human condition, mortality, and the search for meaning in a world of beauty and suffering.
We have a marvelous, almost legendary image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rainer Maria Rilke was staying at Duino Castle, on a rocky headland of the Adriatic ... (Goodreads)
Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater
A teenage girl falls in love with a werewolf, but their romance is threatened by the dangers of his transformation.
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In ... (Goodreads)
Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.
The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)
Jesus' Son
by Denis Johnson
A collection of short stories exploring life of addiction and redemption.
Jesus' Son , the first collection of stories by Denis Johnson, presents a unique, hallucinatory vision of contemporary American life unmatched in power and immediacy and marks a new level of ... (Goodreads)
Skellig
by David Almond
A young boy discovers a mysterious creature in a dilapidated shed, forming a unique bond with it.
10-year-old Michael and his family have recently moved into a house. He and his parents are nervous, as his new baby sister was born earlier than expected and may not live because of a heart ... (Wikipedia)
Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives
by Michael Newton
Explores the mystery of life after death, offering case studies of life between lives.
Learn the latest details and most recent groundbreaking discoveries that reveal, for the first time, the mystery of life in the spirit world after death on Earth–proof that our consciousness ... (Goodreads)
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
by A.W. Tozer
A spiritual journey towards a deeper understanding of God and his divine will.
Tozer's bestseller, this book has been called "one of the all-time most inspirational books" by a panel of Christian magazine writers,. Sometimes the voices that speak most clearly in the present are ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Inhuman Condition
by Clive Barker
A collection of horror stories that explore the darkest corners of human nature and the supernatural.
A master storyteller and unrivaled visionary, Clive Barker has mixed the real and unreal with the horrible and wonderful in more than twenty years of fantastic fiction. The Inhuman Condition is a ... (Goodreads)
The Door
by Magda Szabó
A mysterious doorkeeper guards the door between two worlds, changing the lives of two women.
The novel begins with Magda, the narrator, recounting the recurring dream that haunts her in her old age. As Magda explains, after waking up from this dream, she is forced to face the fact that "I ... (Wikipedia)
Be Here Now
by Ram Dass
A spiritual journey exploring the power of mindfulness and how to make the most of life.
Describes one man's transformation upon his acceptance of the principles of Yoga & gives a modern restatement of the importance of the spiritual side of human nature. Illustrated. The book is divided ... (Goodreads)
Tinkers
by Paul Harding
A dying man reflects on his life and family, grappling with his mortality.
The Los Angeles Times, praised "a writer [who] describes something so well—snow, oranges, dirt—that you can smell it or feel it or sense it in the room." ,, The New Yorker, enjoyed Harding's ... (Wikipedia)
The Moon and Sixpence
by W. Somerset Maugham
A man's pursuit of a life of art, challenging societal conventions and expectations.
The novel is written largely from the point of view of the narrator, a young, aspiring writer and playwright in London. Certain chapters entirely comprise accounts of events by other characters, ... (Wikipedia)
The Time Regulation Institute
by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
A story of change, struggle and nostalgia in a rapidly modernizing Istanbul.
The main character is Hayri İrdal, who narrates the novel and presents it like a memoir. , The novel discusses his and other people's formation of the Time Regulation Institute, which changes the ... (Wikipedia)
To a God Unknown
by John Steinbeck
A man moves to California and becomes obsessed with the land, believing it to be a living entity. He sacrifices everything to appease it.
The protagonist of this story is Joseph Wayne, a rancher who was born and lived his early life on his father's ranch. He is the third of his brothers, younger than Burton and Thomas, who are both ... (Wikipedia)
Death: The Time of Your Life
by Neil Gaiman
A collection of stories of mortality, exploring the power of life, death, and beyond.
As the story opens, Foxglove is a very successful singer-songwriter currently on a very important tour. Her relationship with Hazel is slowly unravelling, due mainly to the building pressures of her ... (Wikipedia)
Wintersmith
by Terry Pratchett
A young witch discovers the power of nature as she navigates a mysterious winter world.
Tiffany Aching, now 13 years old, is training with the witch Miss Treason. But when she takes Tiffany to witness the secret "dark morris", the morris dance (performed wearing black clothes and ... (Wikipedia)
Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts
An Australian convict escapes to India and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to a 19-year imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions , and shops. In July 1980, he ... (Wikipedia)
Lincoln in the Bardo
by George Saunders
A spiritual exploration of death, exploring the afterlife through the eyes of President Lincoln.
In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent, and moving work yet. Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by ... (Goodreads)
Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins
A journey through time and space, exploring the mysteries of life, death, and the pursuit of immortality.
A powerful and chiseled 8th-century king named Alobar narrowly escapes regicide at the hands of his own subjects, from a custom of killing the leader at the first sign of aging. After fleeing, no ... (Wikipedia)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead. First Complete Translation
by Padmasambhava
A guidebook for the dying and dead, providing insight into the afterlife and the journey of the soul.
The first complete translation of a classic Buddhist text on the journey through living and dying. Graced with opening words by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, the Penguin Deluxe Edition of The Tibetan ... (Goodreads)
The Weight of Glory
by C.S. Lewis
An exploration of the beauty of Christianity, examining the glory of God and its implications for believers.
The classic Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis, the most important Christian writer of the 20th century, contains nine sermons delivered by Lewis during World War Two. The nine addresses in Weight of ... (Goodreads)
Neonomicon
by Alan Moore
Two FBI agents investigate a Lovecraftian cult and encounter unspeakable horrors. Graphic and disturbing.
FBI agents Lamper and Brears visit Aldo Sax at a psychiatric hospital, where he has been detained since committing two murders. They are investigating a copycat killer, and want to question Sax about ... (Wikipedia)
Death: The High Cost of Living
by Neil Gaiman
A teenage girl's journey of self-actualization, learning the consequences of life and death.
The main character is a teenage girl named Didi, who appears to be an eccentric, orphaned goth , but who also insists that she is Death personified, taking her one-day every hundred-year sabbatical ... (Wikipedia)
The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
A man's quest for revenge in an intergalactic society, using teleportation and telepathy.
At the time when the book is set, "jaunting"—personal teleportation—has so upset the social and economic balance that the Inner Planets are at war with the Outer Satellites. Gully Foyle of the ... (Wikipedia)
Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri
Journey of salvation through the heavenly realms of Paradise, guided by Beatrice.
Dorothy L. Sayers's landmark translation follows Dante's terza rima stanza's and brings his poetry vividly to life. Her work was completed after her death by Barbara Reynolds, who provides a foreword ... (Goodreads)
The Book of Illusions
by Paul Auster
A grieving professor is transported on a journey of the past, unlocking secrets of his deceased wife.
Six months after losing his wife and two young sons, Vermont Professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then one night, he stumbles upon a clip ... (Goodreads)
The Phantom of the Opera
by Gaston Leroux
A tragic love story between a mysterious masked figure and the woman he loves.
In the 1880s, in Paris , the Palais Garnier Opera House is believed to be haunted by an entity known as the Phantom of the Opera, or simply the Opera Ghost. A stagehand named Joseph Buquet is found ... (Wikipedia)
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
by Dalai Lama XIV
Exploring how to find true and lasting happiness in a constantly changing world.
Two great spiritual masters share their own hard-won wisdom about living with joy even in the face of adversity. The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in ... (Goodreads)
The Violent Bear It Away
by Flannery O'Connor
Exploration of religious faith and fanaticism in the American South.
Mason Tarwater, an outspoken evangelist and self-ordained prophet, dies many years after kidnapping his great-nephew Francis, raising him in a backwoods cabin and preparing him to someday take his ... (Wikipedia)
Cathedral
by Raymond Carver
An unexpected encounter changes a man's outlook on life and his relationships.
Raymond Carver’s third collection of stories, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, including the canonical titular story about blindness and learning to enter the very different world of another. These ... (Goodreads)
Embraced by the Light
by Betty J. Eadie
A woman's near-death experience and her journey through the afterlife, encountering spiritual beings and gaining insight into the purpose of life.
At the age of 31, Betty Eadie died after routine surgery. The events that followed can only be described as the most profound and extensive near-death experience ever recorded. During the time she ... (Goodreads)
The Sea, the Sea
by Iris Murdoch
A man's voyage of self-reflection, finding redemption in the depths of the ocean.
The Sea, the Sea is a tale of the strange obsessions that haunt a self-satisfied playwright and director as he begins to write his memoirs . Murdoch's novel exposes the motivations that drive her ... (Wikipedia)
The Summer Tree
by Guy Gavriel Kay
A group of friends on a quest to save their world from an evil force.
The books opens in our own world, at the University of Toronto , where the five main characters are all fellow students. They attend a lecture by a Professor Lorenzo Marcus, who afterwards reveals to ... (Wikipedia)
The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell
by Aldous Huxley
An exploration of altered states of consciousness, examining the effects of psychedelic drugs.
As only he can, Aldous Huxley explores the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. These two astounding essays are among the most profound studies of the effects of ... (Goodreads)
Wind, Sand and Stars
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A reflection on the poetic beauty and harsh realities of life as an aviator.
Recipient of the Grand Prix of the Académie Française, Wind, Sand and Stars captures the grandeur, danger, and isolation of flight. Its exciting account of air adventure, combined with lyrical prose ... (Goodreads)
90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life
by Don Piper
A pastor recounts his near-death experience, his time in Heaven and the healing of his soul.
As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, ... (Goodreads)
Good Morning, Midnight
by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Two loners, one in the Arctic and one in the city, embark on a journey of self-discovery.
Augustine, a brilliant, aging astronomer, is consumed by the stars. For years he has lived in remote outposts, studying the sky for evidence of how the universe began. At his latest posting, in a ... (Goodreads)
The Varieties of Religious Experience
by William James
A philosophical and psychological exploration of religious experience and its role in human life.
"I am neither a theologian, nor a scholar learned in the history of religions, nor an anthropologist. Psychology is the only branch of learning in which I am particularly versed. To the psychologist ... (Goodreads)
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
by Eben Alexander
A neurosurgeon's account of his near-death experience and his spiritual journey towards understanding the afterlife.
Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew ... (Goodreads)
Ecce Homo
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical treatise on the meaning of life and the power of the individual.
In late 1888, only weeks before his final collapse into madness, Nietzsche (1844-1900) set out to compose his autobiography, and Ecce Homo remains one of the most intriguing yet bizarre examples of ... (Goodreads)
Song of Myself
by Walt Whitman
A lyrical exploration of the power of the self and the human experience.
One of Walt Whitman's most loved and greatest poems, "Song of Myself" is an optimistic and inspirational look at the world. Originally published as part of "Leaves of Grass" in 1855, "Song of Myself" ... (Goodreads)
Lyrical Ballads
by William Wordsworth
Poetic exploration of nature, emotion, and its effects on the human spirit.
The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of ... (Goodreads)
Another Roadside Attraction
by Tom Robbins
A quest for the meaning of life, exploring the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
The novel follows the adventures of John Paul Ziller and his wife Amanda—lovable prophetess and promiscuous earth mother, inarguably the central protagonist—who open "Captain Kendrick's Memorial Hot ... (Wikipedia)
Way Station
by Clifford D. Simak
A man living in a remote Wisconsin town discovers a secret gateway to other worlds.
Enoch Wallace, an American Civil War veteran, is chosen by an alien to administer a way station for interplanetary travel. His job is to monitor the machinery of the way station and make sure arrival ... (Wikipedia)
The Way of the Shaman
by Michael Harner
A guide to shamanic practices and techniques for healing, divination, and spiritual growth.
Ten years after it was first published, this is still the leading resource and reference for all those interested in cross-cultural and current forms of shamanism: now with a new introduction and a ... (Goodreads)
The Night of the Iguana
by Tennessee Williams
A defrocked priest, a group of women, and a tour guide collide in a Mexican hotel. A story of love, lust, and redemption.
At a shabby hotel in Mexico, c 1940, various American tourists, including a defrocked minister and a moody spinster, are unsettled, body and soul, by the bawdy broad who's running the joint. Sensual ... (Goodreads)
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