Here are 100 books that The Pyramid fans have personally recommended if you like The Pyramid. Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Animal Farm

L. S. O'Dea Author Of Escape

From my list on create new worlds and unique fictional characters.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was sick as a child and bedridden for several months. This was before 24/7 TV and computers. I began to read A LOT. I read everything and anything that I could find, but my favorite topics were animals and nature. I also read science fiction and fantasy. It’s not a surprise that those topics merged into my writing and life. I currently live on five acres that I’ve left mostly for the wildlife. My nephew calls me his aunt who lives in the forest with reindeer. That is way cooler than my real life, so I’m good with that. All my books have nature and friendship as main themes.

L. S.'s book list on create new worlds and unique fictional characters

L. S. O'Dea Why L. S. loves this book

I found this a fun and brilliant story. I actually read it to my three nieces when they were 5, 7, and 11. It was great hearing their opinions on the story.  It’s one of those books that can be understood on different levels. 

In the simplest form, it is exactly what is written on the pages—a story about some farm animals who take over the farm. However, there are many layers to this simple tale. 

I love being able to re-read a book and understand it on a different level each time. To me, that is excellent writing, especially when combined with a fun and entertaining tale.

By George Orwell ,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked Animal Farm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The perfect edition for any Orwell enthusiasts' collection, discover Orwell's classic dystopian masterpiece beautifully reimagined by renowned street artist Shepard Fairey

'All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.'

Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes,…


If you love The Pyramid...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Book cover of Goodbye to Berlin

Peter Chapman Author Of Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World

From my list on telling stories from real life.

Why am I passionate about this?

Fact is often more fascinating than fiction, and on occasions, a lot weirder too. As someone, London-based though lucky to have travelled extensively in Europe since childhood (my mother was keen to visit places where my father had been stationed in the Second World War) and more recently as a journalist (for The Financial Times, BBC, The Guardian, and others) in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, I have always been attracted to stories that strongly convey senses of time, place and the people you just happen to meet.

Peter's book list on telling stories from real life

Peter Chapman Why Peter loves this book

The book, set in the early 1930s, is from a fleeting period when the liberal pleasures of the German capital made it the European place to be. An English teacher of reserved social origins, Isherwood writes of the Berlin characters who enlivened his life, against the forbidding backdrop of Hitler's rise to power. Cabaret, the film adapted from the book, led Isherwood to insist his version of events was far nearer to how things were.

By Christopher Isherwood ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Goodbye to Berlin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in 1934, Goodbye to Berlin has been popularized on stage and screen by Julie Harris in I Am a Camera and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. Isherwood magnificently captures 1931 Berlin: charming, with its avenues and cafes; marvelously grotesque, with its nightlife and dreamers; dangerous, with its vice and intrigue; powerful and seedy, with its mobs and millionaires - this was the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power. Goodbye to Berlin is inhabited by a wealth of characters: the unforgettable and "divinely decadent"Sally Bowles; plump Fraulein Schroeder, who considers reducing her Buste relieve her heart palpitations;…


Book cover of Of Human Bondage

Lucie André Author Of Never Ready

From my list on laughter-through-tears-coming-of-age stories celebrating art and family.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love stories so much I majored in English at UVa. Though I showed up in New York with only reading and waitressing skills, I’ve somehow enjoyed the privilege of working in the arts at some of the greatest institutions (Paul Taylor, Cooper Union, ABT). I respond to art, people and especially art-people. Encountering their deep love (and glorious dysfunction) in books enables me to extend the special communion that grows around audiences and artists. This is central to me. It reminds me that beauty is important. It helps me hold on.

Lucie's book list on laughter-through-tears-coming-of-age stories celebrating art and family

Lucie André Why Lucie loves this book

This is a great book without a great title. It refers to Spinoza’s Ethics and speaks to the strength of emotions.

Philip Carey has it rough from the outset: he’s disabled, he’s an orphan, and the story traces his travails—bullying, neglect, career misfires, and romantic and other calamities—along with his triumphs. These include some of my very favorite topics (beauty and belonging) along with the questions of adolescence that never leave us.

You could never get away with a book like this now—a 600-page chronological coming-of-age with one POV and narrator, swelling with social commentary and philosophical musings? But it’s a classic for a reason, and it saved my life during the pandemic (I listened, whereas I usually read).

It’s an inspiration and a great ride if you can slow down and savor.

By W. Somerset Maugham ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Of Human Bondage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

"It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham," wrote Gore Vidal. "He was always so entirely there."

Originally published in 1915, Of Human Bondage is a potent expression of the power of sexual obsession and of modern man's yearning for freedom. This classic bildungsroman tells the story of Philip Carey, a sensitive boy born with a clubfoot who is orphaned and raised by a religious aunt and uncle. Philip yearns…


If you love Ismail Kadare...

Book cover of Katie’s Gamble

Katie’s Gamble by Kara O'Neal,

Katie's Gamble is an unexpected, unique story about a young woman who's trying to support her younger siblings by keeping her family's confectionery shop open.

In order to do that, she has to take on her older brother, who's a notorious gambler in Louisiana. Additionally, she has to outsmart Rowdy…

Book cover of The Heart of a Dog

Simon Edge Author Of The End of the World Is Flat

From my list on where you need to read between the lines.

Why am I passionate about this?

The End of the World is Flat is my fifth novel. All my previous work has used comedy to help tell a story, often viewing historical lives and themes through a light-hearted modern prism. This one reverses the process, using historical material – various accounts of Columbus’ first voyage to the Caribbean – to explore a bizarre modern movement. Because I’m critiquing gender ideology – a taboo undertaking in most of the publishing world – I’ve deliberately borrowed the allegorical methods of Bulgakov, Kadare, and, especially, Orwell. I hope the ‘samizdat’ way in which my novel has become a word-of-mouth bestseller makes that homage all the more fitting.

Simon's book list on where you need to read between the lines

Simon Edge Why Simon loves this book

Bulgakov, a Russian born in Kyiv, wrote The Heart of a Dog in 1925 when the Soviet Union was in its infancy. It’s the breezy tale of a surgeon who transplants a human gland into a stray dog, turning an amiable mutt into a vile man.

There’s a punning reference to Stalin in the name of the least flattering character, and the author was clearly inviting his readers to read between the lines: this was an early satire on the Bolshevik social experiment.

It was rejected for publication and circulated instead in samizdat form. Remarkably though, Stalin took the writer under his wing and, while Bulgakov died young, he did so in his own bed. A political satirist can get away with a lot if they do it with charm.

By Mikhail Bulgakov , Mirra Ginsburg (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Heart of a Dog as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I first read Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita on a balcony of the Hotel Metropole in Saigon on three summer evenings in 1971. The tropical air was heavy and full of the smells of cordite and motorcycle exhaust and rotting fish and wood-fire stoves, and the horizon flared ambiguously, perhaps from heat lightning, perhaps from bombs. Later each night, as was my custom, I would wander out into the steamy back alleys of the city, where no one ever seemed to sleep, and crouch in doorways with the people and listen to the stories of their culture and their…


Book cover of The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids

Harry Whitewolf Author Of The Road to Purification: Hustlers, Hassles & Hash

From my list on rethinking ancient Egypt.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been interested in ancient Egypt ever since I read Asterix and Cleopatra when I was a boy. The hilarious moment of Obelix accidentally knocking off the Sphinx’s nose has always stayed with me in particular. By my early twenties, I was reading authors like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, and Colin Wilson, who showed me that what we think we know about ancient Egypt is not wholly correct. For instance, there’s little evidence that the Great Pyramid’s purpose was to be a tomb and the Sphinx seems to be much older than Egyptologists believe. In 2010, at thirty-four years old, I finally got to visit the wonders of Egypt myself.

Harry's book list on rethinking ancient Egypt

Harry Whitewolf Why Harry loves this book

It’s now pretty well known that the position of the three Giza pyramids exactly corresponds to the three stars of Orion’s Belt. The Nile even mirrors the Milky Way. As above, so below, don’t you know. But the incredible discovery was only published in the 1990s, by the one and only Robert Bauval. His discovery, and other new insights from him and Adrian Gilbert, are documented in The Orion Mystery. If there’s one man who will make you question everything you thought you knew about the land of the pharaohs, it’s Robert Bauval. You need to start reading his books. All of them.

By Robert Bauval , Adrian Gilbert ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Orion Mystery as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A revolutionary book that explains the most enigmatic and fascinating wonder of the ancient world: the Pyramids of Egypt.

In 1993, German robotics engineer Rudolf Gatenbrink discovered a sealed door within the Great Pyramid of Giza--a door left unopened for 4,500 years. With this discovery, Robert Bauval--who spent the decade prior to the discovery researching the pyramids--and Adrian Gilbert used astronomical data to reveal that more than just tombs, the pyramids were created to serve as a gateway to the stars; in the process, they uncovered what they believe to be the key to the plan that governed the construction…


Book cover of Giza and the Pyramids

Michael Denis Higgins Author Of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

From my list on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father was a curator and archaeologist at the British Museum, so I had to have my own collection in our attic. It was somewhat more modest but included both cultural and natural artifacts and guided me to both a career in geology and an interest in the links between culture and science. I wrote a book with my father on the geology of Greece for archeologists, which eventually led to my latest book on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I write from the perspective that ancient cultures were constrained and shaped by natural resources and events, as they are still today. By understanding that link, we can perhaps better comprehend our world.

Michael's book list on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Michael Denis Higgins Why Michael loves this book

The Great Pyramid is the only Ancient Wonder that is still standing, but this comes with a price: more has been written on the pyramids than all the other wonders combined.

The oeuvre ranges from scientific and literary approaches to some of the silliest ideas ever published.

This is my favorite book because it was written by archaeologists who have excavated at Giza. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the clear text and the beautiful colour illustrations.

This is a book that you should own in the print edition, but it is my heaviest book and definitely a health hazard if you like to read in bed.

By Zahi Hawass , Mark Lehner ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Giza and the Pyramids as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For more than 4,000 years the pyramids of Giza have stood like giant question marks that have intrigued and endlessly fascinated people. Who exactly built them? When? Why? And how did they create these colossal structures? But the pyramids are not a complete mystery - the stones, the hieroglyphs, the landscape and even the layers of sand and debris hold stories for us to read. Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, with over four decades of involvement with Giza, provide their unique and personal insight into the site, bringing together all the information and evidence to create a record unparalleled in…


If you love The Pyramid...

Book cover of The Delphi Agenda

The Delphi Agenda by Rob Swigart,

Papyrologist Lisa Emmer's world flips when the Sûreté detains her at her Metro station with news of the savage murder of the esteemed Paris historian Dr. Raimond Foix, her friend and mentor in the study of ancient documents.

Horrified, Lisa finds clues at the crime scene left behind for her…

Book cover of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Michael Denis Higgins Author Of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

From my list on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father was a curator and archaeologist at the British Museum, so I had to have my own collection in our attic. It was somewhat more modest but included both cultural and natural artifacts and guided me to both a career in geology and an interest in the links between culture and science. I wrote a book with my father on the geology of Greece for archeologists, which eventually led to my latest book on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I write from the perspective that ancient cultures were constrained and shaped by natural resources and events, as they are still today. By understanding that link, we can perhaps better comprehend our world.

Michael's book list on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Michael Denis Higgins Why Michael loves this book

Many viewers of British TV will have seen Bettany Hughes’s documentaries on ancient history. Her lively personal style infuses this book with the same approach, but with much more detail.

The book is clearly a historian’s project, showing her passion for the ancient world. She is interested in what people said about the Wonders and how such monuments fitted into ancient societies.

By Bettany Hughes ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING author Bettany Hughes

'A wondrous wonderful achievement' Stephen Fry 'Fascinating' Observer 'Thrilling' Guardian

Their names still echo down the ages: The Great Pyramid at Giza. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Temple of Artemis. The statue of Zeus at Olympia. The mausoleum of Halikarnassos. The Colossus at Rhodes. The Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Seven Wonders of the World were staggeringly audacious impositions on our planet. They were also brilliant adventures of the mind, test cases for the reaches of human imagination. Now only the great pyramid remains fully standing, yet the scale and majesty of these…


Book cover of Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt

Ann R. Williams Author Of Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: 100 Discoveries That Changed the World

From my list on ancient Egypt’s pharaohs.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an archaeologist by training and a journalist by profession. During my long career as a staff writer at National Geographic magazine, and now as a freelance Nat Geo book editor and author, I have often written about the ancient world and cultural heritage preservation. I was very lucky to be sent to Egypt on a number of occasions to write stories about sites and discoveries, and I have now come to specialize in Egyptology. I recently took an online course that taught me how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. I’m still in glyph kindergarten, but every new sign I learn is allowing me to better understand—and interpret—the culture of the pharaohs.

Ann's book list on ancient Egypt’s pharaohs

Ann R. Williams Why Ann loves this book

The dates that Egyptologists use for most rulers are guesstimates, and there’s not one fixed dating scheme.

Just for instance, one reference volume gives 1334-1325 B.C. as the dates for King Tut’s reign. Another says 1332-1322 B.C. And yet a third another has 1336-1327 B.C.

How do you know which one to believe?

During the three decades I worked as a staff writer at National Geographic magazine, we relied on the king list that Baines and Malek published in this book.

I still consider it as the last word on dates for my own research. It’s also full of very helpful maps, diagrams, and descriptions of archaeological sites all over Egypt.

By John Baines , Jaromir Malek ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Filled with fascinating facts and stunning images, this single-volume reference to ancient Egypt introduces readers to this unique, sometimes startling culture.


Book cover of The Cat in Ancient Egypt

David Grimm Author Of Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs

From my list on for serious thinkers about cats and dogs.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am, first and foremost, a lover of cats and dogs. I have been fascinated by these animals ever since I was a child. Where did they come from? Why are we so strongly bonded to them? What is the future of our relationship? These are questions I have asked myself for decades, and which I finally answer in Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. I bring to this book not only my lifelong love of these animals, but a deep-thinker’s exploration of history, law, and science. 

David's book list on for serious thinkers about cats and dogs

David Grimm Why David loves this book

This is a great coffee table book. Tons of lovely pictures and illustrations. A must for any cat lover who wants to get a better sense of the role—and place—of cats in Ancient Egypt. I still look at it from time to time because I enjoy the pictures so much. 

By Jaromir Malek ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Cat in Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A definitive and richly illustrated account of cats in Egyptian life, religion, and art
True aristocrat of domestic animals, the cat has a distinguished ancestry. Most modern cats are thought to be descended from the cats of ancient Egypt, so these beautiful and engaging creatures represent a living link between ancient Egyptian civilization and our own times.
Wild cats were probably domesticated at least as early as 2000 BC, but they were regularly represented in Egyptian tomb paintings only some 500 years later, in the New Kingdom. The cat became one of the most important and highly esteemed animals in…


If you love Ismail Kadare...

Book cover of The Tao of Poison

The Tao of Poison by Isham Cook,

A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.

The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…

Book cover of The Egyptian

Roy Lester Pond Author Of The Egyptian Mythology Murders

From my list on Egypt mysteries that satisfy ancient ache.

Why am I passionate about this?

My ache for the ancient is a disease. It’s probably safe to say that I am the creator of the world’s greatest range of Egypt-based fiction by a single author. My depth of knowledge comes from a lifetime spent studying ancient Egypt and Egyptian archaeology and making numerous research trips to Egypt. I am fascinated by the mystery of ancient Egypt and its potency and relevance to today’s world. I have written numerous series and stand-alone adventures. 

Roy's book list on Egypt mysteries that satisfy ancient ache

Roy Lester Pond Why Roy loves this book

A thrilling read that first sparked my lifelong passion for ancient Egypt with its vivid recreation of a distant past.

Sinuhe’s career as a young Egyptian physician takes him to the center of royal power and secrets and into the lives of unforgettable characters. Like the heartless courtesan Nefernefernefer, a beauty whose name ensured that no man would ever hear it spoken without saying it aloud and remembering it. Just as I remember it today. 

By Mika Waltari , Naomi Walford (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Egyptian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in the 1940s and widely condemned as obscene, The Egyptian outsold every other American novel published that same year, and remains a classic; readers worldwide have testified to its life-changing power. It is a full-bodied re-creation of a largely forgotten era in the world’s history: an Egypt when pharaohs contended with the near-collapse of history’s greatest empire. This epic tale encompasses the whole of the then-known world, from Babylon to Crete, from Thebes to Jerusalem, while centering around one unforgettable figure: Sinuhe, a man of mysterious origins who rises from the depths of degradation to get close to…


Book cover of Animal Farm
Book cover of Goodbye to Berlin
Book cover of Of Human Bondage

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