Recommendations based on Heaven Has No Favoritesby Erich Maria Remarque

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  1. Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country

    by Erich Maria Remarque
    A refugee's struggle for survival in a world of turmoil and violence in 1930s Europe.

    Set in 1939, and, despite having no permission to perform surgery, Ravic, a very accomplished German surgeon and a stateless refugee living in Paris, has been ghost-operating on patients for two ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Three Comrades

    by Erich Maria Remarque
    Three German friends struggle to survive in the aftermath of World War I, facing poverty, illness, and political turmoil.

    The city, which never is referred to by name (however, it is likely Berlin), is crowded by a growing number of jobless and marked by increasing violence between left and right. The novel starts in ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Black Obelisk

    by Erich Maria Remarque
    A soldier's story of survival in the chaos and destruction of WWI.

    From the author of the masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk, is a classic novel of the troubling aftermath of World War I in Germany. A hardened young veteran from the First ... (Goodreads)

  4. War and Peace

    by Leo Tolstoy
    Epic tale of war, peace, and love, focusing on the lives of five aristocratic families.

    The novel begins in July 1805 in Saint Petersburg , at a soirée given by Anna Pavlovna Scherer—the maid of honour and confidante to the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna . Many of the main characters ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Dandelion Wine

    by Ray Bradbury
    A small town summer filled with magical moments, unfolding the secrets of life.

    Chapter 1 — Spending the night in the cupola of his grandfather's house that gives him a panoramic view of the town, Douglas wakes up early on the first day of summer and performs an elaborate series ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Airport

    by Arthur Hailey
    An airport becomes a microcosm of human drama, revealing the stories of those who pass through its gates.

    The story takes place at Lincoln International, a fictional Chicago airport based very loosely on O'Hare International Airport . The action mainly centers on Mel Bakersfeld, the Airport General ... (Wikipedia)

  7. A Farewell to Arms

    by Ernest Hemingway
    A story of unrequited love in the midst of war.

    The novel is divided into five sections or 'books'. Frederic Henry is first person narrator of the story. Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American paramedic , is serving in the Italian Army . The novel ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Robinson Crusoe

    by Daniel Defoe
    A shipwrecked sailor's struggle to survive on an isolated island, and his eventual redemption.

    Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name "Kreutznaer") set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a ... (Wikipedia)

  9. 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)

  10. The Man Who Laughs

    by Victor Hugo
    A man with a disfiguring facial deformity, who is sold into a life of suffering and exploitation.

    The novel is divided into two parts: La mer et la nuit ( The sea and the night ) and Par ordre du roi ( On the king's command ). In late 17th-century England, a homeless boy named Gwynplaine rescues ... (Wikipedia)

  11. 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)

  12. Love in the Time of Cholera

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    An epic love story spanning decades, exploring the power of true love.

    The main characters of the novel are Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. A secret relationship blossoms between the two with the help of Fermina's ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Jonathan Livingston Seagull

    by Richard Bach
    An exploration of self-expression and personal growth as a seagull learns to defy the boundaries of his flock.

    The book tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with daily squabbles over food. Seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself and learns everything he can about ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Insulted and Humiliated

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A story of revenge, focusing on morality and redemption.

    Natasha leaves her parents' home and runs away with Alyosha (prince Alexey) – the son of Prince Valkovsky. As a result of his pain, her father, Nikolai, curses her. The only friend that remains by ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Decameron

    by Giovanni Boccaccio
    A collection of tales of love, adventure, and comedy set in medieval Florence.

    The Decameron (c.1351) is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble ... (Goodreads)

  16. Resurrection

    by Leo Tolstoy
    A wealthy aristocrat seeks redemption after falling in love with a prostitute and being wrongly accused of her murder.

    Resurrection (1899) is the last of Tolstoy's major novels. It tells the story of a nobleman's attempt to redeem the suffering his youthful philandering inflicted on a peasant girl who ends up a ... (Goodreads)

  17. 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)

  18. The Good Soldier Švejk

    by Jaroslav Hašek
    A Czech soldier's satirical adventures during WWI, highlighting the absurdity of war.

    The story begins in Prague with news of the assassination in Sarajevo that precipitates World War I . Švejk displays such enthusiasm about faithfully serving the Austrian Emperor in battle that no ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Twelve Chairs

    by Ilya Ilf
    A comedic tale of two men's quest for hidden jewels in a chair with a secret compartment.

    In the Soviet Union in 1927, a former Marshal of Nobility , Ippolit Matveyevich "Kisa" Vorobyaninov, works as the registrar of marriages and deaths in a sleepy provincial town. His mother-in-law ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Oblomov

    by Ivan Goncharov
    A story of a man's struggle to break free from his life of stagnation and inactivity.

    The novel focuses on the life of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Oblomov is a member of the upper middle class and the son of a member of Russia's nineteenth-century landed gentry. Oblomov's ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Eugene Onegin

    by Alexander Pushkin
    A poetic novel of unrequited love and tragic consequences, set in early 19th century Russia.

    In the 1820s, Eugene Onegin is a bored St. Petersburg dandy , whose life consists of balls, concerts, parties, and nothing more. Upon the death of a wealthy uncle, he inherits a substantial fortune ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Celestine Prophecy

    by James Redfield
    A spiritual journey of discovery, unlocking the ancient mysteries of the universe.

    Are three decades of interest in modern physics, ecology, mystical religion and interpersonal psychology finally synthesizing into a new spiritual "common sense"? Are we now beginning to live this ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Red and the Black

    by Stendhal
    A young man's ambitious rise in 19th century French society, as he navigates through its politics and passions.

    In two volumes,, The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century, tells the story of Julien Sorel's life in France's rigid social structure restored after the disruptions of the French ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Prince and the Pauper

    by Mark Twain
    A story of two boys who switch places, revealing the harsh realities of life in a monarchy.

    Tom Canty , youngest son of a poor family living in Offal Court located in London, has always aspired to have a better life, encouraged by the local priest, who has taught him to read and write. ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Prince of Tides

    by Pat Conroy
    A man's search for solace and understanding in his troubled family's past.

    Tom Wingo is a middle-aged man with a wife and three young daughters who has recently lost his job as a high school English teacher and football coach. He learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Snowman

    by Jo Nesbø
    Detective Harry Hole investigates a series of grisly murders, with the help of a mysterious snowman.

    In 1980, a married woman has illicit sex with a lover while her adolescent son waits in a car outside; their lovemaking is disturbed when they think somebody is looking at them from outside the ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Happy Prince

    by Oscar Wilde
    Fairy tale about a statue of a prince, whose golden heart brings joy to all around him.

    More than a hundred years ago, Oscar Wilde created this moving story for his children. Now shimmering illustrations, as bejeweled and golden as the Prince himself, give glowing life to the many ... (Goodreads)

  28. 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)

  29. We

    by Yevgeny Zamyatin
    A dystopian tale of a totalitarian state and its citizens' struggle for freedom.

    A few hundred years after the One State's conquest of the entire world, the spaceship Integral is being built in order to invade and conquer extraterrestrial planets. Meanwhile, the project's chief ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

    by Tennessee Williams
    A family struggling to confront hidden resentments and repressions that lurk beneath the surface.

    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the story of a Southern family in crisis, especially the husband Brick and wife Margaret (usually called Maggie or "Maggie the Cat"), and their interaction with Brick's ... (Wikipedia)