100 books like The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

A steppenwolf is a loner among the animals and Hesse projects his personal isolation and mental turmoil into this masterpiece of autofiction.

It’s timeless because anybody can relate to loneliness. And the book asks the question of how to live a fulfilling life. I personally relate to it so much, because I am familiar with both the involved emotions, as well as the aspect of drawing inspiration for my stories from my actual life experience.

It also gives me hope as a writer, because it tells me that an author does not need to please the broad masses, but can freely write what they carry inside. In the end, this make the more original pieces of art, in my opinion.

This novel is also about love, but draws its intense emotions including suicidal ideation from a different matter: being bound to a wheelchair after an accident.

It is a lot deeper than a normal romance novel. It dives into the topic of physical disablement and by that creates awareness about something the average person is not shedding any thought to. I personally appreciate this aspect, because creating awareness is also one of my goals in writing.

Also, the novel is thought-provoking, because it poses the dilemma of selfishly wanting someone to stay alive vs. selflessly respecting their wish to die. The book has left a lasting impression on me because I’ve been confronted with this dilemma several times in my life and had countless discussions on the topic.

Goethe’s Werther is a classic from the 18th century with the quality of being timeless.

It tells the story of a love-sick young man getting infatuated with a person he could never have, and we can all relate to this situation. At least, I have been there before: being so love-sick that the world seemed to become meaningless without that person.

On top, the novel is crafted with mastery. There are three counter-stories within the novel, revealing different possible outcomes for a similar situation. I like this book from an author’s perspective because I can learn about how to create a literary masterpiece.

I recommend it to anybody who is into intense emotions, so strong they overwhelm our rationality, throw us into turmoil and influence our decision-making. 

This book by my author friend Marlene puts together the shards of colourful glass to reveal the beautiful mosaic of Tess, a self-made but shattered woman feeling closer to a stranger than to herself, recounting stories about Native Americans, Africans, and the farm life of the poor early settlers in Canada.

I like this book because it addresses multiple personality disorders. I think while it is easy for most to relate to physical illness, it can be tough to relate to mental illness. Speaking from experience, someone said uncomprehendingly after a suicide, “But she was intelligent,” as if mental disablement and mental illness were the same thing. We can also catch a cold without being physically disabled.

When Elizabeth I died, she was succeeded by her Scottish cousin James VI, who became James I of England.

However, the events before and after Elizabeth’s death make it clear that it was not as smooth a transition of power as many believe. It was a period of tension, thick with succession plots and intrigues.

This book is a reminder that we should never look back on history through the prism of hindsight. James I inherited Elizabeth’s throne, but it almost didn’t happen; Leanda de Lisle masterfully recreates the atmosphere of intrigue, fear, and courtly factionalism.

I loved Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir because it focuses solely on a much-forgotten woman of Tudor History. Weir gets across that Jane Gray was simply used as a political pawn. She was such a young girl, at only 17, and her parents gave no thought as to her happiness. She was scared and felt utterly alone and was handed the crown. If only for nine days, this young girl was Queen of England before her execution. She truly was an innocent traitor.

The System is the third book in the Baroque Cycle which begins with Quicksilver and continues with The Confusion. The whole Cycle is a rip-roaring, wildly inventive, and massively ambitious saga, ranging from the mid-seventeenth to the early eighteenth century, spanning the globe and casting an amazing set of characters from Leibnitz and Newton, to King George, Thomas Newcomen and William Teach the pirate. It's astonishing and has some of the best subterranean London episodes I've ever read, including an escape from Newgate Prison which takes in the Bank of England, a Roman Temple, and a medieval privy. Read all three books and hang on to your hats, it's a thrilling ride.

Odalisque blew me away. I did not expect this author to produce such a raw and dark series. Set in a time where brutality was the norm, I loved exploring Ana’s journey as she fought to regain not only her freedom from slavery, but the epic lengths she went to—to gain power in a world ruled by strength and deception. Fiona draws out the reader’s emotions and will cast you into a scene right out of history. Revenge and honour, sex and murder all take place in the desert, so keep your eye out for this book.

In the first chapter as Yarvi stands before his father as the king and suffers verbal abuse, I wanted to rush into the throne room and support him. With only one arm, this young disabled prince had to go out into a bloodthirsty world to prove that he was not only worthy of the throne (which he didn’t want), but that he could survive the cruelties of his enemies while lacking the ability to hold a shield or swing an axe. I was pulling for Yarvi from the very beginning and through the entire series. I also love the titles of the Shattered Seas. Half a King, Half a War, and Half the World. So good!

Queen Emma, wife to both Æthelred the ‘Unready’ (d. 1016) and then to Cnut (d. 1035), and Queen Edith, wife to Edward the Confessor (d. 1066), lived through some of the most turbulent and interesting politics of the early medieval period.

We are permitted unusual access to their lives through eleventh-century texts either directly about them (the Encomium Emmae) or commissioned by them (the Vita Edwardi). Stafford wonderfully brings to the fore their pivotal roles in English politics across the eleventh century, and, in doing so, shines the spotlight on the position of women in medieval society more generally.