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If you loved
Books like Lincoln in the Bardo
A dizzying, darkly hilarious, and profoundly moving chorus of voices exploring the unbearable weight of grief and the beauty of letting go. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Lincoln in the Bardo.
- ethereal
- chaotic
- sorrowful
- haunting
- 01
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
George Saunders · 1996
A hilarious, heartbreaking tour through the theme parks of a degraded American future.
- 02
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
Seth Grahame-Smith
A straight-faced, blood-soaked reimagining of American history where the greatest political battles are fought with an axe in the dark.
- 03
A stranger in Olondria
Sofia Samatar
A lush, dreamlike love letter to language that haunts the reader long after the final page is turned.
- 04
Lincoln's Grave Robbers
Steve Sheinkin
A tense, stranger-than-fiction historical heist that reads like a thriller.
- 05
Grief is the thing with feathers
Max Porter
A surreal, poetic, and darkly funny exploration of the chaotic shape that mourning takes in a shattered home.
- 06
The Immortalists
Chloe Benjamin
A sweeping, bittersweet family saga that asks whether knowing the date of your death frees you to live or dooms you to fear.
- 07
American War
Omar El Akkad
A harrowing, dread-soaked descent into the anatomy of radicalization, set against the backdrop of a fractured, climate-ravaged America.
- 08
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
A lush, devastating portrait of a marriage and the unimaginable grief that birthed a masterpiece.
- 09
Half-resurrection blues
Daniel José Older
A shadowy, supernatural mystery that explores the eerie, liminal space between the living and the dead.
- 10
Slade House
David Stephen Mitchell
A deliciously sinister puzzle-box of creeping dread where every door you open only locks you further inside.
- 11
Beatrice and Virgil
Yann Martel
A deceptively whimsical fable that slowly tightens its grip, pulling the reader into a devastating meditation on historical trauma.
- 12
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr
A sweeping, time-bending love letter to the enduring power of stories and the fragile beauty of the world.
