10 Top historical fiction books like The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

Cover of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

The Books of Jacob

By: Olga Tokarczuk

4.02

Format: 965 pages, Hardcover

The Nobel Prize-winner's richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise…

"A thing that is not talked about ceases to exist."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Literatura to szczególny rodzaj wiedzy, to... (...) ... doskonałość form nieprecyzyjnych."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Gdy przepisujemy i cytujemy, budujemy gmach wiedzy i rozmnażamy ją jak moje warzywa czy jabłonki. Przepisywanie jest jak szczepienie drzewa; cytowanie – jak wysiewanie nasion."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"If human beings had only known how to truly preserve their knowledge of the world, if they had just engraved it into rock, into crystals, into diamond and in so doing, passed it on to their descendants, then perhaps the world would now look altogether otherwise. For what are we to do with such a brittle stuff as paper? What can come of writing books?"

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

If you liked the historical fiction plot in The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk , here is a list of 10 books like this:

Cover of Austerlitz by Anthea Bell, W.G. Sebald

1. Austerlitz

By: Anthea Bell , W.G. Sebald

4.67

Format: 48 pages, Paperback

In 1939, five-year-old Jacques Austerlitz is sent to England on a Kindertransport and placed with f… read more

Similar categories in Anthea Bell's Austerlitz book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literature
  • novels
  • fiction
  • historical fiction

2. Solenoid

By: Mircea Cărtărescu

3.59

Format: 83 pages, Paperback

,,Vreau sa scriu o dare de seama despre anomaliile mele. In viata mea obscura, in afara oricarei is… read more

Similar categories in Mircea Cărtărescu's Solenoid book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

Cover of The Passenger (The Passenger #1) by Cormac McCarthy

3. The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

By: Cormac McCarthy

3.58

Format: 385 pages, Kindle Edition

1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of… read more

Similar categories in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger (The Passenger #1) book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"All of history [is] a rehearsal for its own extinction."

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"...do you think if you died drunk you’d sober up before you met Jesus?"

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"The evil has no alternate plan. It is simply incapable of assuming failure"

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"She asked the girl what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said dead."

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

Cover of Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch

4. Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch

4.10

Format: 259 pages, Kindle Edition

A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internat… read more

Similar categories in Paul Lynch's Prophet Song book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
"people are entitled to some small moment of peace."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"the child absorbing the mother’s trauma and storing it in his body for later use,"

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"... time is at once addition and subtraction, time adds one day to the next and always takes away from what's left..."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"...knowing how it is so that all boys grow up and pull away from home to unmake the world in the guise of making it, nature decrees it so."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

Cover of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild by Mathias Énard

5. The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild

By: Mathias Énard

3.59

Format: 496 pages, Paperback

To research his thesis on contemporary agrarian life, anthropology student David Mazon moves from P… read more

Similar categories in Mathias Énard's The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
Cover of Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

6. Kairos

By: Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Format: 379 pages, Hardcover

Die neunzehnjährige Katharina und Hans, ein verheirateter Mann Mitte fünfzig, begegnen sich Ende de… read more

Similar categories in Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"She would like a shallow life, swift and shallow, till some day she can start again. Get through her time fast until then. And when will that be? Then."

-Jenny Erpenbeck, Kairos

Cover of Septology by Jon Fosse

7. Septology

By: Jon Fosse

4.52

Format: 825 pages, Paperback

The celebrated Norwegian novelist’s magnum opus, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, pu… read more

Similar categories in Jon Fosse's Septology book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • nobel prize
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • novels
"and what the picture is in reality is this spirit, that’s what a picture really is, neither matter nor soul but both parts at the same time and together they make up what I think of as spirit, and ma…"

-Jon Fosse, Septology

Cover of The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut

8. The Maniac

By: Benjamín Labatut

4.34

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

From one of contemporary literature’s most exciting new voices, a haunting story centered on the Hu… read more

Similar categories in Benjamín Labatut's The Maniac book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"[...] si nuestra especie iba a sobrevivir el siglo XX, necesitábamos llenar el enorme vacío dejado por la huida de los dioses, y la única candidata viable para realizar esa extraña y esotérica transf…"

-Benjamín Labatut, The Maniac

Cover of Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov

9. Time Shelter

By: Georgi Gospodinov

3.75

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

Award-winning Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov has enthralled readers around the world with his l… read more

Similar categories in Georgi Gospodinov's Time Shelter book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
"Има ли миналото срок на годност?"

-Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter

"Time feeds on us. We are food for time."

-Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter

"Ако не сме в нечия памет, има ли ни изобщо?"

-Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter

"There is no time machine except the human being."

-Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter

Cover of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

10. The Books of Jacob

By: Olga Tokarczuk

4.02

Format: 965 pages, Hardcover

The Nobel Prize-winner's richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise… read more

Similar categories in Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • nobel prize
  • literary fiction
  • jewish
  • literature
  • historical
  • poland
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • polish literature
  • novels
"A thing that is not talked about ceases to exist."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Literatura to szczególny rodzaj wiedzy, to... (...) ... doskonałość form nieprecyzyjnych."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Gdy przepisujemy i cytujemy, budujemy gmach wiedzy i rozmnażamy ją jak moje warzywa czy jabłonki. Przepisywanie jest jak szczepienie drzewa; cytowanie – jak wysiewanie nasion."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"If human beings had only known how to truly preserve their knowledge of the world, if they had just engraved it into rock, into crystals, into diamond and in so doing, passed it on to their descendan…"

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

Cover of The Fraud by Zadie Smith

11. The Fraud

By: Zadie Smith

3.30

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

The extraordinary first historical novel from bestselling author of White Teeth Zadie Smith It i… read more

Similar categories in Zadie Smith's The Fraud book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"Eliza had long understood her cousin to be beyond the reach of editorial intervention."

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"What possesses people? Unhappiness, always. Happiness is otherwise occupied. It has an object on which to focus. It has daisies, it has snowdrifts. Unhappiness opens up the void, which then requires …"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"I know this country well. Well enough to understand that justice takes time, and that the freedoms of a minority are rarely self-evident to the majority. What is perfectly selfevident to God is – unf…"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"God preserve me from novel-writing, thought Mrs Touchet. God preserve me from that tragic indulgence, that useless vanity, that blindness! In a cold dormitory, two hundred miles away, three heartbrok…"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

Cover of I Is Another: Septology III-V by Jon Fosse

12. I Is Another: Septology III-V

By: Jon Fosse

4.44

Format: 271 pages, Paperback

Asle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. His only fr… read more

Similar categories in Jon Fosse's I Is Another: Septology III-V book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • nobel prize
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • novels
"...I just keep the mistakes and let them be wrong, because it’s often the mistakes that eventually lead to something right..."

-Jon Fosse, I Is Another: Septology III-V

"...one of the most important things when it comes to painting is being able to stop at the right time, to know when a picture is saying what it can say, if you keep going too long then more often tha…"

-Jon Fosse, I Is Another: Septology III-V

"...a person comes from God and goes back to God, I think, for the body is conceived and born, it grows and declines, it dies and vanishes, but the spirit is a unity of body and soul, the way form and…"

-Jon Fosse, I Is Another: Septology III-V

"...everyone has a deep longing inside them, we always always long for something and we believe that what we long for is this or that, this person or that person, this thing or that thing, but actuall…"

-Jon Fosse, I Is Another: Septology III-V

Cover of Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

13. Enlightenment

By: Sarah Perry

3.70

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

A dazzling new work of literary fiction from the author of The Essex Serpent, a story of love and a… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Perry's Enlightenment book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Thomas [Hart] lived where he'd been born, and where (so he often thought without rancor) he'd very likely die; and if he lived alone he was not lonely, that being a condition not of solitude but of l…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"So I told her this: that it's true I've only rarely been happy, and perhaps more often been sad. But I have been content. I have lived. I have felt everything available to me: I've been faithless, de…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"I wish I could say, James, that we forgave each other in the end. I wish I could say: she put her head on my shoulder and I welcomed it and we laughed and said all was well. But in fact we were quiet…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"...in the ordinary way we love because we're loved, and give more or less what we're given. But to love without return is more strange and more wonderful, and not the humiliating thing I'd once taken…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

Cover of This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud

14. This Strange Eventful History

By: Claire Messud

3.63

Format: 448 pages, Hardcover

An immersive, masterful story of a family born on the wrong side of history, from one of our finest… read more

Similar categories in Claire Messud's This Strange Eventful History book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Family life, like playing chess, involved always thinking several steps ahead."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"Literature... Now, that's a religion I can believe in. That is perhaps my God."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"... she'd been a fool, enamored of a figment, had created the soul of a man who never existed -"

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"All-U-Can Hi-way 4-Sale Thru. This American English thrilled him - its energy, its freedom, its carelessness."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

Cover of A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

15. A Dictator Calls

By: Ismail Kadare

3.14

Format: 256 pages, Paperback

Using a sophisticated and literary version of the ever-popular game of telephone to examine the rel… read more

Similar categories in Ismail Kadare's A Dictator Calls book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"And a cursory glance at Karl Marx shows that a man who had dedicated his life to the violent overthrow of the world order never devoted half a page in any of his dozens of books to the trauma and rem…"

-Ismail Kadare, A Dictator Calls

Cover of The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse

16. The Other Name: Septology I-II

By: Jon Fosse

4.06

Format: 351 pages, Paperback

The Other Name follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway.… read more

Similar categories in Jon Fosse's The Other Name: Septology I-II book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • nobel prize
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • novels
"...there inside the person is what will pass away and become one with what is invisible in everything..."

-Jon Fosse, The Other Name: Septology I-II

"...what's beautiful in life turns out bad in a painting because it's like there's too much beauty, a good picture needs something bad in it in order to shine the way it should, it needs darkness in i…"

-Jon Fosse, The Other Name: Septology I-II

Cover of A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse

17. A New Name: Septology VI-VII

By: Jon Fosse

4.49

Format: 228 pages, Paperback

Asle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. His only fr… read more

Similar categories in Jon Fosse's A New Name: Septology VI-VII book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • nobel prize
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • novels
"God is so far away that no one can say anything about him and that’s why all ideas about God are wrong, and at the same time he is so close that we almost can’t notice him, because he is the foundati…"

-Jon Fosse, A New Name: Septology VI-VII

Cover of Pavojingi žodžiai by Undinė Radzevičiūtė

18. Pavojingi žodžiai

By: Undinė Radzevičiūtė

3.76

Format: 180 pages, Hardcover

Kaip sakoma Biblijoje, pradžioje buvo Žodis. Ir jis buvo ne tas. Kiekviena šalis, kiekviena vals… read more

Similar categories in Undinė Radzevičiūtė's Pavojingi žodžiai book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

Cover of Held by Anne   Michaels

19. Held

By: Anne Michaels

3.66

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

A breathtaking and mysterious new novel from the beloved Anne Michaels, internationally bestselling… read more

Similar categories in Anne Michaels's Held book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Who can say what happens when we are remembered?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"Do we really need our own misery to teach us to be kind?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"Would he know the moment of his death or would it be like night falling."

-Anne Michaels, Held

Cover of Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel by Yōko Tawada

20. Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel

By: Yōko Tawada

3.76

Format: 144 pages, Paperback

A moving story about friendship, illness, and the poetry of Paul Celan, described as “bewitching” (… read more

Similar categories in Yōko Tawada's Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • fiction
Cover of Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

21. Creation Lake

By: Rachel Kushner

3.67

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

From Rachel Kushner, a Booker Prize finalist, two-time National Book Award finalist, and “one of th… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Kushner's Creation Lake book and Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
"Charisma does not originate inside the person called "charismatic." It comes from the need of others to believe that special people exist."

-Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

"Plus, Lucien said, a lot of them had come from other social milieus and had tattoos from earlier lives, since people who change affinities are the same kinds of people who are attracted to the perman…"

-Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

"My biker and these tramps, as people who organize their life around some subculture or other: People can sometimes pretend so thoroughly that they forget they are pretending. At which point, it could…"

-Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

"I could sense him gathering a false hindsight that afternoon in the Place des Vosges, shaping a retrospective narrative, the thing a person tells himself about fate, about how everything had seemed f…"

-Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

19 must-read fiction books like The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

Transform Your Habits

Austerlitz

Anthea Bell , W.G. Sebald

4.67

Transform Your Habits

The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

Cormac McCarthy

3.58

Transform Your Habits

Prophet Song

Paul Lynch

4.10

Transform Your Habits

The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild

Mathias Énard

3.59

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20 Best fiction books like A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

Transform Your Habits

Torto Arado

Itamar Vieira Junior

4.49

Transform Your Habits

Niente di vero

Veronica Raimo

3.59

Transform Your Habits

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Transform Your Habits

Wild Houses

Colin Barrett

3.78

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