100 books like The Epic of Gilgamesh

By N. K. Sandars (translator), Penguin Classics,

Here are 100 books that The Epic of Gilgamesh fans have personally recommended if you like The Epic of Gilgamesh. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of Charlotte's Web

Betty G. Birney Author Of Happiness According to Humphrey

From my list on childrens books featuring helpful, lovable problem-solving animal friends.

Why am I passionate about this?

I fell deeply in love with books as a child, wrote oodles of stories growing up, majored in English literature, and built a writing career in advertising and TV. But my deep love of children’s books never faded. Somewhere in my 30s, I had an epiphany sitting on the couch one day: I clearly saw that writing children’s books was what I wanted to build my life around. It took a lot of time and effort to accomplish that, but with the aid of a helpful hamster named Humphrey – and his friend Og - I found my happy place, and I hope I never, ever “grow up.”

Betty's book list on childrens books featuring helpful, lovable problem-solving animal friends

Betty G. Birney Why did Betty love this book?

Charlotte’s Web has it all: animal characters, a strong story with life and death at stake, yet as gentle as a breeze. Starring a naïve pig named Wilbur who faces a daunting future… and a unique friend in a spider named Charlotte. Again, a tale of true friendship when brave Charlotte soars beyond the limitations of a spider to save Wilbur. 

Charlotte’s depth of character and creativity, paired with Wilbur’s innocence, makes this a classic book for all ages. Yes, she spins the words “Terrific” and “Some Pig,” but in the end, Charlotte herself is one terrific and memorable spider.

By E.B. White,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked Charlotte's Web as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child.

On foggy mornings, Charlotte's web was truly a thing of beauty . Even Lurvy, who wasn't particularly interested in beauty, noticed the web when he came with the pig's breakfast. And then he took another look and he saw something that made him set his pail down. There, in the centre of the web, neatly woven in block letters, was a message. It said: SOME PIG!

This is the story of a little girl named Fern, who loves a little pig named Wilbur - and of Wilbur's dear friend,…


Book cover of My Brilliant Friend

Aldo Cernuto Author Of The Curse of Knowing

From my list on women a notch above the rest.

Why am I passionate about this?

Only in my recent life as a reader did I realize that my favorite novels often follow a precise pattern: either the author or the main character is a woman. Or both. So, why this sort of bias from a male reader? I found a plausible answer in my belief that female protagonists, more than male ones, serve as the ideal lever for compelling plot twists—the deae ex machina of contemporary storytelling. No wonder the protagonist of the first novel I wrote is a woman. No wonder she’s gifted (or, rather, cursed) with supernatural powers. As for my choice of topic, could it possibly have turned out differently?

Aldo's book list on women a notch above the rest

Aldo Cernuto Why did Aldo love this book?

Although I have read a number of novels focused on friendship, this one stands out with particular vigor. It started the way I expected: two friends since childhood. The more I advanced into the reading, though, the more I perceived the two main characters—Elena and Lila—as the same person:  a sort of super-protagonist that incorporates not only the psychological traits of the two but their lives as well.

If it’s true that life is often a fight between who we are and who we would like to be, then this novel portrays that conflict masterfully. What I saw in this story, more than the recount of a friendship, is the power that lies hidden within each of us. Whether we annihilate it or let it bloom depends on the choices we make in our lives. 

By Elena Ferrante, Ann Goldstein (translator),

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked My Brilliant Friend as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN ENGLISH WORLDWIDE

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN THE UK

OVER 14 MILLION COPIES OF THE NEAPOLITAN QUARTET SOLD WORLDWIDE

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

GUARDIAN 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY

58 WEEKS ON THE BOOKSELLER'S TOP 20 ORIGINAL FICTION BESTSELLERS LIST

SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015

43 INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS DEALS

Now in B-format Paperback

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, comes this ravishing and generous-hearted novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but…


Book cover of Truth & Beauty: A Friendship

Patti Miller Author Of True Friends

From my list on the wonders and challenges of friendship.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a full-time writer of creative non-fiction, I am passionately interested in what makes us human. Like most people. I have always been fascinated by friendship and have had many friends throughout my life. I decided to write about friendship when a good friend 'pruned' me, that is, ended our friendship. I was bewildered and hurt and wanted to understand what had happened, which led me to write True Friends. When I discussed the topic with others, it turned out that most people had also experienced a friend break-up, but it was not much written about—until now!

Patti's book list on the wonders and challenges of friendship

Patti Miller Why did Patti love this book?

Ann Patchett is a successful American novelist, and Truth and Beauty is her memoir about her friendship with the poet, Lucy Grealy. She writes beautifully about Grealy, her talent and her warm, engaging personality, but also about her struggles and eventual death. Patchett conveys the depth of a passionate friendship by letting the reader see all her thoughts and feelings, courageously looking at how we can love someone, but how they can also try us to our limits. It is a book for those who love literature and are fascinated by the depth and intricacy of a creative connection between humans.

By Ann Patchett,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Truth & Beauty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

From the bestselling author of The Dutch House, Commonwealth and Bel Canto, Winner of The Women's Prize for Fiction and the Pen/Faulkner Award.

When Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college they began a friendship that would define their lives. Lucy Grealy lost part of her jaw to childhood cancer, and a large part of her life to chemotherapy and endless reconstructive surgeries. Stoic but vulnerable, damaged by bullying but fascinated by fame, Lucy had an incandescent personality that illuminated those around her.

In this tender, brutal book, Ann Patchett describes Lucy's life and her own platonic love for…


Book cover of Embers

Patti Miller Author Of True Friends

From my list on the wonders and challenges of friendship.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a full-time writer of creative non-fiction, I am passionately interested in what makes us human. Like most people. I have always been fascinated by friendship and have had many friends throughout my life. I decided to write about friendship when a good friend 'pruned' me, that is, ended our friendship. I was bewildered and hurt and wanted to understand what had happened, which led me to write True Friends. When I discussed the topic with others, it turned out that most people had also experienced a friend break-up, but it was not much written about—until now!

Patti's book list on the wonders and challenges of friendship

Patti Miller Why did Patti love this book?

This extraordinary novel by the Hungarian writer, Marai, was written in 1942. It reveals a friendship between two men who met when they were schoolboys. One, Henri, is from a privileged noble family, the other, Conrad, from a disadvantaged background, but they attend the same military academy together. One day Conrad disappears and Henri is left to wonder what happened to him. The book starts as Henri learns Conrad is about to return after 40 years of absence. The narrative is utterly compelling and the characters and their relationship are fascinating. It is one of those books that you can’t stop keep reading because you are so absorbed in the world the writer has created, but at the same time, you don’t want to finish so you put the book down to savour each moment

By Sándor Márai, Carol Brown Janeway (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Embers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Wonderful. Immensely moving' Daily Telegraph

As darkness settles on a forgotten castle at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, two men sit down to a final meal together. They have not seen one another in forty-one years. At their last meeting, in the company of a beautiful woman, an unspoken act of betrayal left all three lives shattered - and each of them alone. Tonight, as wine stirs the blood, it is time to talk of old passions and that last, fateful meeting.

'Extraordinary. Elegiac, sombre, musical and gripping. An immensely wise book' Observer

'A masterpiece. Works beautifully as a…


Book cover of The Epic of Gilgamesh

Jeffrey Peter Clarke Author Of The Man Who Sought Eternity

From my list on the time of Gilgamesh.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Jeff Clarke, author and graphic designer. I have always been interested in origins and beginnings, whether it be the universe, life on Earth, military aviation and ancient societies. I possess a valuable private library of my own and generally prefer to use this rather than on-line sources as the authors’ qualifications are more easily ascertainable. I design the covers for all my novels.

Jeffrey's book list on the time of Gilgamesh

Jeffrey Peter Clarke Why did Jeffrey love this book?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the great masterpieces of world literature, and the oldest, with its origins lost in the mists of time.

It contains a dramatic account of the Great Flood, upon which the much later Noah’s Ark tale was based. The Epic was current for some 3,000 years and entered the literature of many ancient cultures including those of Sumer, where it originated, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Hittite.

The Epic has been reconstructed from many thousands of clay tablets unearthed from Middle Eastern archaeological sites. The cultures through which it passed moulded their own flesh upon its venerable bones and this I have also done. 

By Penguin Classics, Andrew George (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Epic of Gilgamesh as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The definitive translation of the world's oldest known epic, now updated with newly discovered material

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as far as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, predates Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the secret of immortality. Alongside its themes of family, friendship and the duties of kings, the Epic of Gilgamesh is, above all, about mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death.…


Book cover of tsunami vs. the fukushima 50: poems

Caroliena Cabada Author Of True Stories

From my list on poetry during catastrophe.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a teacher, I often talk with my students about current events and highlight how disasters can spiral. Wildfire seasons are worsening, storms are getting stronger, wars are starting and never-ending, and sometimes, my students express some despair in the face of such cycles. Though it’s not a cure-all for this anxiety, I encourage my students to try and create something from this existential worry. Rather than scrolling through all the bad things that cross our screens, creativity can help us imagine a better world to work towards. Poetry about disasters can help us see them through. 

Caroliena's book list on poetry during catastrophe

Caroliena Cabada Why did Caroliena love this book?

If there are two things I love, it’s persona poems and a sustained concept throughout a collection. Like Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith above, this book has both things.

A book of persona poems imagining the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan as a series of monsters battling against the 50 employees who remained on-site after the tsunami, the collection weaves seamlessly between languages and comic book-like sound effects that create a heroic narrative in a sparse style.

This collection is one I return to when I think of trying to combat apocalyptic despair; if 50 people can face down a fatal situation, then I can live through another, less catastrophic day. 

By Lee Ann Roripaugh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a "Best Book of 2019" by the New York Public Library
Finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry
Society of Midland Authors Honoree in Poetry

In March 2011, a tsunami caused by an earthquake collided with nearby power plant Fukushima Daiichi, causing the only nuclear disaster in history to rival Chernobyl in scope. Those who stayed at the plant to stabilize the reactors, willing to sacrifice their lives, became known internationally as the Fukushima 50.

In tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh takes a piercing, witty, and ferocious look into the heart of the…


Book cover of The Whitsun Weddings

Kevin Hart Author Of Dark-Land: Memoir of a Secret Childhood

From my list on finding yourself.

Why am I passionate about this?

Hello, I write poems, lots of them, and also lots of books about Christianity. I grew up in London and lived for my first thirteen years deep within myself, in a kind of fog that prevented anyone from knowing me, including myself. Then, one day, when I was thirteen, in the middle of a math class, everything changed for me. I entered a wholly new world. I went from being at the bottom of the class to the top of the class; I started publishing poems. I started a quest to find myself anew, cutting through the fog, and that quest ended with me teaching Divinity at Duke University. 

Kevin's book list on finding yourself

Kevin Hart Why did Kevin love this book?

"Dockery and Son" is one of the most moving poems of the last century. Returning to Oxford reminds Larkin of his undergraduate years, and he meditates on how his life differs from that of someone he vaguely knew there.

It turns out that Dockery had a child as an undergraduate while Larkin himself never married. This prompts a poignant meditation on the divergent paths people take in life and how each of us enriches or dilutes his or her “I.” 

By Philip Larkin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Whitsun Weddings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Philip Larkin (1922-1985) remains England's best-loved poet - a writer matchlessly capable of evoking his native land and of touching all readers from the most sophisticated intellectual to the proverbial common reader. The late John Betjeman observed that 'this tenderly observant poet writes clearly, rhythmically, and thoughtfully about what all of us can understand'. Behind this modest description lies a poet who made greatness look, in Milton's prescription, 'simple, sensuous and passionate'.


Book cover of Speaking of Siva

Julie Rappaport Author Of 365 Yoga: Daily Meditations

From my list on inspiring your yoga practice.

Why am I passionate about this?

A writer, yoga teacher, and somatic psychologist, I’ve been passionate about yoga and the sacred arts ever since I encountered, on my parent’s bookshelf, the awe-inspiring art catalogue, The Manifestations of Shiva, an exhibit curated by the late, great art historian Stella Kramrisch. An adjunct faculty member in the Somatics MA program at the California Institute of Integral Arts, I have lived and traveled extensively throughout India, studying yoga there, and teaching in the U.S. In Berkeley, I write fiction and maintain a private psychology practice, incorporating yoga as a tool for nervous system regulation and embodied wellbeing. I also lead local and international yoga retreats. 

Julie's book list on inspiring your yoga practice

Julie Rappaport Why did Julie love this book?

This book of ancient vacanas- lyric verse of four saint-poets of South India- will seer into your heart. These mystical poems, translated by one of India’s most revered writers, bring the reader into direct experience with the divine, or God, or Shiva, cutting through caste, class, race, religion, and culture. Born of the bhakti (devotional) protest movement, these poems will remind you of Rumi. I’m always surprised that these soulful poems are not better known to Western readers. Read a verse. Sit in meditation. Notice what happens inside your body. 

By Anonymous, A.K. Ramanujan (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Speaking of Siva as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Speaking of Siva is a selection of vacanas or free-verse sayings from the Virasaiva religious movement, dedicated to Siva as the supreme god. Written by four major saints, the greatest exponents of this poetic form, between the tenth and twelfth centuries, they are passionate lyrical expressions of the search for an unpredictable and spontaneous spiritual vision of 'now'. Here, yogic and tantric symbols, riddles and enigmas subvert the language of ordinary experience, as references to night and day, sex and family relationships take on new mystical meanings. These intense poems of personal devotion to a single deity also question traditional…


Book cover of Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems

Sean Prentiss Author Of Crosscut: Poems

From my list on trail building and traildogs.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1997, I was hired by the Northwest Youth Corps as a trail crew leader. That season, and across five more seasons, I built trails across the Pacific Northwest and Desert Southwest, including in many national parks. Since then, I have been in love with backpacking trails (including hiking the Long Trail and Colorado Trail), building trails, and writing about trails (Crosscut: Poems). I now live in Vermont with my wife and daughter. We have a trail we built that weaves through our woods.

Sean's book list on trail building and traildogs

Sean Prentiss Why did Sean love this book?

There are so few books available about trail building. Riprap might be the oldest and one of the most beautiful. Riprap poetically describes Snyder’s summer trail-building job in 1955 in Yosemite National Park. These poems not only sing about the beauty and physicality of trail building but also echo back on the ancient Chinese poets who Snyder was studying during that time. In the end, Riprap shows us trail building but also illuminates how wildness can infuse the human spirit.

By Gary Snyder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

By any measure, Gary Snyder is one of the greatest poets in America in the last century. From his first book of poems to his latest collection of essays, his work and his example, standing between Tu Fu and Thoreau, have been influential all over the world. Riprap, his first book of poems, was published in Japan in 1959 by Origin Press, and it is the fiftieth anniversary of that groundbreaking book we celebrate with this edition. A small press reprint of that book included Snyder's translations of Han Shan's Cold Mountain Poems, perhaps the finest translations of that remarkable…


Book cover of Don't Let Me Be Lonely

Joseph Fasano Author Of The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone

From my list on greatest book-length poems of the past 50 years.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a poet and a novelist, I'm fascinated by the places where these two genres meet, undo each other, and create something new again. That sounds a lot like what love can do, and whenever I read a long poem that achieves a unique aesthetic unity, I feel the writer has found a new way to love the world, to love the reader. And, as usual, both the world and the reader are challenged by that love—to grow.

Joseph's book list on greatest book-length poems of the past 50 years

Joseph Fasano Why did Joseph love this book?

Ultimately, this is a work about trauma, both personal and cultural; it is a deeply human testimony to trauma’s power to erase, shape, and reshape the narratives of our lives.

The self, this book implies, is one such narrative, and the forces of contemporary society act in powerful and often surreptitious ways to shape that story.

Rankine is a complete original in her methods of tackling these mysteries, and a reader leaves this book with a sense of having woken, if only a bit more, to the forces that are living our lives for us.

By Claudia Rankine,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Don't Let Me Be Lonely as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A brilliant and unsparing examination of America in the early twenty-first century, Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely invents a new genre to confront the particular loneliness and rapacious assault on selfhood that our media have inflicted upon our lives. Fusing the lyric, the essay, and the visual, Rankine negotiates the enduring anxieties of medicated depression, race riots, divisive elections, terrorist attacks, and ongoing wars—doom scrolling through the daily news feeds that keep us glued to our screens and that have come to define our age.

First published in 2004, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely is a hauntingly prescient…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in African Americans, poets, and women?

African Americans 804 books
Poets 73 books
Women 648 books