The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A pilot stranded in the desert meets a small prince who has traveled from planet to planet, in a gentle illustrated fable.
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Books like The Alchemist
The Alchemist follows Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd who sets out for Egypt after a recurring dream of treasure at the Pyramids. These seven books bring more fables, journeys and gentle wisdom.
Books to read next
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
A young man in the time of the Buddha leaves home in search of enlightenment, in a compact, lyrical novel about wisdom.
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
A teenage boy survives a shipwreck on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, in an adventure that doubles as a story about faith and belief.
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran
A wise man about to sail home answers the questions of a crowd about love, work, sorrow and death, in 26 short poetic essays.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Charlie Mackesy
A boy and three animal companions share small conversations about kindness, fear and belonging as they travel, in a warm illustrated book.
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
An aging Cuban fisherman goes far out into the Gulf Stream after a huge marlin, in a short, spare story of endurance and pride.
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig
A woman who feels she has wasted her life finds a library where every book is a different life she could have lived, in a hopeful novel about choices.
How to choose
The Alchemist is a fable about following your dream, so choose by the kind of wisdom you want. The Little Prince and The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse are short illustrated fables. Siddhartha and The Prophet are more spiritual, and The Prophet is a book of poetic essays rather than a story. Life of Pi and The Old Man and the Sea are adventures at sea that ask big questions, and Life of Pi includes animal death and some graphic survival scenes. The Midnight Library is a modern novel about second chances that deals with depression and suicidal thoughts, so check content notes first if that is hard for you.
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