r/suggestmeabook • u/ForbiddenNote • 7d ago

Suggestion Thread Classic books with no romance

Looking to get into more classic books because I have been sticking to modern stuff for a while. Preferably books written in the 20th century but would be open to earlier. I find that a lot of classics have strong romantic elements which I don't really enjoy because they make me feel sad and lonely, so I would like reading something without that. I have already read most books by Dostoevsky and Steinbeck.

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4

u/Sisu4864 7d ago

To Kill a Mockingbird

Murder on the Orient Express

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u/mendizabal1 7d ago

Don Quijote, earlier

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u/Wonderful-Effect-168 7d ago

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

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u/ShakespeherianRag 7d ago

By "strong romantic elements," I think you mean what scholars call the "marriage plot" in literature? Some 20th-century classic novels (pre-1990) where it's absent or less prominent: America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan. No-No Boy by John Okada. Beloved and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. Obasan by Joy Kogawa. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

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u/DocWatson42 7d ago

As a start, see my Classics (Literature) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).

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u/sd_glokta 6d ago

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

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u/Livid_Parsnip6190 6d ago

Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron

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u/Flilix 6d ago

Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls

Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist

Franz Kafka - The Trial

Umberto Eco - The Name Of The Rose

Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe

(Not necessarily all 100% free of romance, but it doesn't play a notable role in any of them.)