LitQueuelitqueue

After

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Barbara Demick

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Escape

    Carolyn Jessop2007

    A woman recounts her life in a polygamous fundamentalist sect and her eventual flight with her eight children. It details daily life and abuse.

    bleak → earnest, still escape

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

    Same bleak register, still history

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

    Michel Foucault

    A philosophical history examines the shift from public torture to modern prison surveillance. It analyzes how power controls the body.

    bleak → clinical, still history

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • The Second Sex

    Simone de Beauvoir1949

    A philosophical examination of the history and social status of women. It analyzes how biology and myth define woman as the Other.

    bleak → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

bleak → playful

3 more ↓

  • The 4-Hour Workweek

    Timothy Ferriss2006

    A guide to lifestyle design that explains how to automate a business and outsource life tasks to achieve a four-hour workweek.

    bleak → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Smokin' Seventeen

    Janet Evanovich2011

    A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    bleak → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

    Neil deGrasse Tyson2017

    A summary of the origin of the universe, the laws of physics, and the nature of space and time.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Steal Like an Artist

    Austin Kleon2012

    A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Poke the Box

    Seth Godin2011

    A short manifesto encouraging readers to start projects and take initiative. It argues that the greatest risk is staying in place.

    bleak → earnest

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Confessions

    Augustine of Hippo

    A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • How to Read a Book

    Mortimer J. Adler1940

    This is a guide to active reading techniques for different genres. It outlines levels of reading from basic literacy to syntopical analysis.

    bleak → mysterious

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • The Red Book: Liber Novus

    C.G. Jung2009

    A psychologist records his visions and internal dialogues in an illuminated manuscript created during a period of intense self-exploration.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Adolf Hitler

    John Toland1976

    A detailed chronological account of Hitler's life based on interviews with his associates and previously private documents.

    bleak → clinical, still history

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Nagasaki

    Susan Southard2015

    A historical account follows five survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki across seven decades of their lives.

    bleak → elegiac, still history

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation

    John Ehle

    A historical account of the Cherokee Nation's political struggles and their forced removal from ancestral lands in the 1830s.

    bleak → elegiac, still history

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1