Here are 2 books that Story Writing fans have personally recommended if you like Story Writing. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of East of Eden

Andrea B. Rugh Author Of In Search of Worldviews

From my list on deep dive into hot button topics you need to know more about.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, when my grandmother needed quiet, she sat me down with a stack of National Geographics. The pictures stimulated my interest in foreign cultures. Similarly, spending time in a scientific community awakened a curiosity in the natural world. Completing a PhD in anthropology gave me the tools to realize these goals—immersion in foreign cultures being a main one. When immersion was not possible, books provided a happy substitute.  The anthropologist Clifford Geertz once said, “Anthropologists hope to find in the little what eludes them in the large, to stumble upon general truths while sorting through special cases” (1968:4). This has largely been my approach.

Andrea's book list on deep dive into hot button topics you need to know more about

Andrea B. Rugh Why Andrea loves this book

It seems odd to add a novel, written in 1952, to non-fiction books delving into hot-button topics...

Better than any current book I know, East of Eden is a classic of human relationships, bringing us back to the greatest mystery of all—why human behavior is so unpredictable. Purported to be a retelling of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, it is much more than that, in its exploration of good and evil, genetic inheritance, contextual influences, ethnic traits, human needs, and innate capacities, all elements touched on in the other four books.

In the end, Steinbeck implies that deep questions can never be predictable because they depend on the Hebrew concept “timshel," ("thou mayest"), the essential question of the day, the power of choice.

By John Steinbeck ,

Why should I read it?

21 authors picked East of Eden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

California's fertile Salinas Valley is home to two families whose destinies are fruitfully, and fatally, intertwined. Over the generations, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the First World War, the Trasks and the Hamiltons will helplessly replay the fall of Adam and Eve and the murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

East of Eden was considered by Steinbeck to be his magnum opus, and its epic scope and memorable characters, exploring universal themes of love and identity, ensure it remains one of America's most enduring novels. This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned…


If you love Story Writing...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of Earth Abides

Jonathan Mugan Author Of The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion

From Jonathan's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jonathan's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jonathan Mugan Why Jonathan loves this book

It’s about the apocalypse, but also about getting old and watching your world be replaced by one built by the younger generation.

By George R. Stewart ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Earth Abides as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this profound ecological fable, a mysterious plague has destroyed the vast majority of the human race. Isherwood Williams, one of the few survivors, returns from a wilderness field trip to discover that civilization has vanished during his absence.

Eventually he returns to San Francisco and encounters a female survivor who becomes his wife. Around them and their children a small community develops, living like their pioneer ancestors, but rebuilding civilization is beyond their resources, and gradually they return to a simpler way of life.

A poignant novel about finding a new normal after the upheaval of a global crisis.


Book cover of East of Eden
Book cover of Earth Abides

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