Series

Books like Ishmael: 9 series to read next

Ishmael is literary & general, about faith and religion, set in our world and contemporary, challenging in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Ishmael is 2 books, 1992–1997.

The Ishmael page →Narrow this list →

VALIS
The Jesus Sequence
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Herland
The Infinities
Before I Fall
Ninety-Nine Stories
Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin

VALISSeries

seriesPhilip K. Dick4 books1981

Science fiction, about identity.

“The title is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, Dick's gnostic vision of God.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with VALIS →

The Jesus SequenceSeries

seriesJ. M. Coetzee3 books2013

About identity, set in otherworld.

Start with The Childhood of Jesus →

A Visit from the Goon SquadSeries

seriesJennifer Egan2 books2010

“The Candy House returns to several of the same characters and their descendants a decade later, in a world reshaped by a technology that lets people access and share their memories.”
from the catalogue description

Start with A Visit from the Goon Squad →

HerlandSeries

seriesCharlotte Perkins Gilman2 books1915

About gender and society, set in early 20th century.

Start with Herland →

The InfinitiesSeries

seriesJohn Banville1 book2009

About gods and family secrets.

Start with The Infinities →

Before I FallSeries

seriesLauren Oliver2 books2010

Emotional in tone, about time loop, set in north america.

“Attempting to understand why, Samantha tries different choices and actions each time through, some starkly out of character, as she reckons with her life and relationships.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Before I Fall →

Ninety-Nine StoriesSeries

seriesJoy Williams2 books2016

Bittersweet in tone, about angels and grief and loss.

Start with Ninety-Nine Stories of God →

Through the Valley of the Nest of SpidersSeries

seriesSamuel R. Delany1 book2012

About identity, set in north america.

Start with Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders →

The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le GuinSeries

seriesUrsula K. Le Guin2 books2012

About gender and society.

Start with Where on Earth →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Ishmael?: VALIS — the closest match to Ishmael on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Ishmael?: Ishmael. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Ishmael.
How big is Ishmael?: Ishmael is 2 books, 1992–1997.
Is Ishmael finished?: Yes — 2 books, 1992–1997.

Books like Ishmael: 9 series to read next

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Why these

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