Beyond Harper Lee: 5 Books To Read If You Loved "How to Kill a Mockingbird"

The plot of this classic novel Fahrenheit 451 is depressing and serves like a cautionary tale about the future where knowledge becomes a rare treasure to have, where books are burned because they make people defiant of the existing order in a society and cause unrest. This scary sounding plot summary would intrigue you and would make you want to read this especially if you have liked the story of How To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Ray Bradbury in this book has managed to offer the most interesting and worrying tale about how dissent is met with in a state where absolute control over subjects becomes the basis of a stable society. 

This book is an obvious choice to pick if you liked reading How To Kill A Mockingbird, as it is written by the very same author and may not be as popular, but is almost like a sequel to it as you would find some of the iconic characters of the previous book in this one with newer struggles to face, adding more depth, context and richness to the classic novel which stands to be one of the most popular classic books of all time. Harper Lee’s brilliance in this book is undeniably raw and rich, giving readers food for thought and a peek into the changing of American society back in the day. 

This is another classic novel that is rich and profound in its approach to bring readers closer to the reality of human nature. The plot follows a group of 8 boys stranded on an island all alone trying to form a civilized society but ending in utter chaos that is barbaric and violent in nature. This book is a classic example of how one can find the conflict between order and chaos, and how humans inherently have a need for both to exist. This would be a worthy classic novel read to pick after you are done with titles like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell. 

This coming of age novel sits right in sync with readers who have liked Harper Lee’s How To Kill A Mockingbird. It is the story of the character Holden Caulfield who finds himself resentful and angsty against the lives of the adults which he considers as phony. The story shows his mental breakdown in New York City within the span of three days after he was expelled from his school and left to find meaning and purpose all alone in a big city. The Catcher In The Rye is an essential novel to read and if you like this book then do give a watch to the film The 400 Blows by François Truffaut. 

This book is pioneering work in the true crime genre writing and comes from Truman Capote who with his words has captured the terrifying tale of murder and mayhem in 1959 of the Clutter family. The book begins with setting the space and where the tragedy is about to occur, followed by how it happened, the catching of the killers and the execution that followed. This is a non fiction book different from all the other titles mentioned above but has a literary side to it when it comes to the writing style. This too can be considered as a classic book to read based on true events of multiple murders. 

Explore such recommendations in our Reading Corner section.