LitQueuelitqueue

After

Ghettoside

Jill Leovy2015

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more
  • Tightrope

    Nicholas D. Kristof2020

    Journalists document the decline of working-class American towns through the lives of people in the author's childhood hometown.

    Same earnest register, still journalism

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Antifragile

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb2012

    A philosophical exploration of systems that thrive under stress and disorder. It argues against fragility in economics and personal life.

    earnest → reflective

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    earnest → mysterious

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

3 more
  • Two for the dough

    Janet Evanovich1996

    An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Better Off Dead

    Lee Child2021

    Jack Reacher investigates a staged car crash in Arizona and infiltrates a dangerous local crew to find a missing woman.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Death by Darjeeling

    Laura Childs2001

    Theodosia Browning hosts a tea party where a guest is poisoned. She must find the killer among the local socialites of Charleston.

    earnest → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more
  • Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

    Bill O'Reilly

    A minute-by-minute narrative of John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent manhunt for the conspirators.

    earnest → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • American Kingpin

    Nick Bilton2017

    This account follows Ross Ulbricht as he builds the Silk Road dark web market and the federal agents who spend years tracking him down.

    earnest → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Sun and Her Flowers

    Rupi Kaur2017

    A collection of short, illustrated poems organized into five stages of growth. It covers themes of loss, trauma, and self-healing.

    Same earnest register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·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.

    earnest → mysterious

    pace-2·prose+1·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.

    earnest → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more
  • Another Day in the Death of America

    Gary Younge2016

    A journalist profiles ten children and teenagers shot dead in the United States on a single random day in 2013.

    earnest → elegiac, still true crime

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • One of Us

    Åsne Seierstad2015

    A journalistic account of the 2011 Norway attacks. It follows the lives of the victims and the radicalization of the perpetrator.

    earnest → clinical, still true crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Lost Girls

    John Glatt2015

    This account details the decade-long kidnapping and abuse of three women in a Cleveland home. It includes interviews with the captor's family.

    earnest → clinical, still true crime

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1