Recommendations based on The Eighth Lifeby Nino Haratischwili

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

  1. A Little Life

    by Hanya Yanagihara
    A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.

    The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Discovery of Heaven

    by Harry Mulisch
    An epic tale of three men's search for a divine stone, testing the boundaries of faith and science.

    An angel -like being is ordered to return to Heaven the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments . The divine being, however, cannot himself travel to Earth, and on several occasions in the book ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Secret History

    by Donna Tartt
    A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.

    Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Discomfort of Evening

    by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
    A Dutch family's grief and trauma after the death of their son. Told through the eyes of a young girl who grapples with her own fears and desires.

    WINNER OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE,A stark and gripping tale of childhood grief from one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature,Ten-year-old Jas lives with her strictly ... (Barnes & Noble)

  5. Butcher's Crossing

    by John Williams
    An adventure tale of a young man in the American West, searching for a place to belong.

    William Andrews, a Harvard student in the early 1870s, , is not happy with the mundanities of everyday life. After becoming inspired by the poetry and philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson, , he decides ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Stoner

    by John Williams
    An academic's life of quiet desperation, finding solace in literature.

    William Stoner is born on a small farm in 1891. After high school, the county agent advises he go to agriculture school. Stoner enrolls in the University of Missouri , where all agriculture students ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Blindness

    by José Saramago
    A society is plunged into chaos when everyone suddenly loses their sight.

    Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortune of a ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Story of the Lost Child

    by Elena Ferrante
    An exploration of the complexities of motherhood and female friendship, spanning four decades.

    "Nothing quite like this has ever been published before," proclaimed The Guardian about the Neapolitan novels in 2014. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Hypnotist

    by Lars Kepler
    A police detective investigates a mysterious and violent death, uncovering a dark and sinister past.

    A man is discovered murdered in the bathroom of a locker room. Upon going to the man's residence, a policeman finds the man's wife and young daughter brutally murdered as well as his son, Josef Ek, ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Norwegian Wood

    by Haruki Murakami
    A young man's journey of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1960s.

    Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of ... (Goodreads)

  11. The History of Bees

    by Maja Lunde
    Three narratives spanning centuries, exploring the interplay of humankind and bees.

    In the spirit of Station Eleven and Never Let Me Go, this dazzling and ambitious literary debut follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present, and future, weaving a spellbinding ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Sandman

    by Lars Kepler
    A gripping story of suspense, as a detective has to unravel the secrets of a mysterious serial killer.

    The #1 internationally best-selling thriller from the author of, The Hypnotist, tells the chilling story of a manipulative serial killer and the two brilliant police agents who must try to beat him ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Assault

    by Harry Mulisch
    A young boy's struggle to come to terms with his father's past during WWII.

    The novel consists of a brief prologue and five "episodes" dated 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, and 1981. Twelve-year-old Anton Steenwijk is living with his parents and older brother on the outskirts of ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Letter to a Child Never Born

    by Oriana Fallaci
    A woman reflects on her life and contemplates the implications of motherhood.

    Published by Rizzoli in 1975, Letter to a Child Never Born was quickly translated and sold in twenty-seven countries worldwide, becoming an extraordinary success. It is the tragic monologue of a ... (Goodreads)

  15. S.

    by J.J. Abrams
    A mysterious novel within a novel, filled with clues and secrets, as two readers try to uncover the truth behind the enigmatic author and his work.

    One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire. A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story ... (Goodreads)

  16. 1Q84

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal journey of two people entangled in a mysterious dual-world conspiracy.

    The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized year of 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and ... (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. The Nix

    by Nathan Hill
    A middle-aged man's quest to discover the truth about his mother and his own identity.

    The Nix is an American epic novel in 10 parts that follows community college professor of English, Samuel Andresen-Anderson who is struggling to find meaning in his life in the years following his ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Conversations with Friends

    by Sally Rooney
    Two college students explore the complexity of relationships and their place in the world.

    A sharply intelligent novel about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple. Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A ... (Goodreads)

  20. Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family

    by Thomas Mann
    A story of a family's decline, tracing four generations of a wealthy German family.

    In 1835, the wealthy and respected Buddenbrooks, a family of grain merchants, invite their friends and relatives to dinner in their new home in Lübeck , Germany . The family consists of patriarch ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

    by Jonathan Safran Foer
    A young boy's quest to find the lock that matches a mysterious key his father left behind.

    Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Tartar Steppe

    by Dino Buzzati
    A young Italian soldier stationed at a remote fort in a desolate landscape, waiting for a mythical enemy.

    The plot of the novel is Drogo's lifelong wait for a great war in which his life and the existence of the fort can prove its usefulness. The human need for giving life meaning and the soldier's ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The House I Loved

    by Tatiana de Rosnay
    A woman refuses to leave her home in 1860s Paris as the city undergoes modernization. She writes letters to her deceased husband about her memories and struggles.

    From the, New York Times, bestselling author of, Sarah's Key, and, A Secret Kept, comes an absorbing new novel about one woman's resistance during an époque that shook Paris to its very core. Paris, ... (Goodreads)

  24. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

    by Elena Ferrante
    Two friends navigate the changing relationships of their youth and adulthood, and the consequences of their choices.

    In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her abusive ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Bone Clocks

    by David Mitchell
    A time-spanning saga of a war between two powerful supernatural forces.

    Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Institute

    by Stephen King
    Children with psychic abilities are kidnapped and taken to a sinister institution where they are subjected to cruel experiments.

    Tim Jamieson leaves his job in Florida and prepares to head to New York City . By coincidence, en route, he gives up a seat on a plane and finds himself in the fictional small town of Dupray, South ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Half of a Yellow Sun

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Story of two sisters navigating a civil war in Nigeria, and the effects of colonialism.

    The novel takes place in Nigeria prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The effect of the war is shown through the relationships of five people's lives including the twin daughters of ... (Wikipedia)

  28. My Brilliant Friend

    by Elena Ferrante
    A story of two friends' lives, exploring the intricacies of female friendship and life in a Neapolitan neighbourhood.

    A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante's inimitable style lends ... (Goodreads)

  29. 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)

  30. The Magic Mountain

    by Thomas Mann
    A young man's journey of self-exploration and personal growth during a long stay at a Swiss sanatorium.

    The narrative opens in the decade before World War I . It introduces the protagonist, Hans Castorp, the only child of a Hamburg merchant family. Following the early death of his parents, Castorp has ... (Wikipedia)