Books like Call Me by Your Name: 7 classics to read next
If you loved Call Me by Your Name, these seven classics explore desire, memory, and longing. Start with Death in Venice, where a writer's fascination with a boy's beauty becomes an obsession during a summer in Italy.
Death in Venice
Thomas Mann
An intense summer romance in Italy finds a troubling counterpart in a writer's consuming desire for a youth in Venice.
1 h 50 min readChallenging
Tonio Kröger
Thomas Mann
Through a man's lasting attachment to a handsome schoolmate, this story echoes first love remembered with enduring longing.
1 h 30 min readChallenging
Swann's Way
Marcel Proust
Remembered desire, sensory impressions, and obsessive jealousy offer a companion to first love remembered with enduring longing.
12 h 50 min readChallenging
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Intimate first-person accounts of an impossible attachment echo desire explored through intimate reflective narration, as love consumes a young man's life.
2 h 50 min readMedium
The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall
For readers drawn to desire explored through intimate reflective narration, Stephen's same-sex love confronts expectations of heterosexual life.
11 h 10 min readChallenging
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
A man's consuming fascination with another man's youthful beauty offers a darker companion to desire explored through intimate reflective narration.
5 h 20 min readMedium
The Lily of the Valley
Honoré de Balzac
Like first love remembered with enduring longing, Félix's confession revisits a formative passion for an older woman bound by duty.
7 h readMedium
What are the best classic books like Call Me by Your Name?
Death in Venice is a close match for summer in Italy and consuming desire. Tonio Kröger offers a schoolboy crush and enduring longing, while Swann's Way brings together memory, sensory impressions, and jealous love. The Lily of the Valley offers a confession about a formative passion constrained by duty.
Which classic book is closest to Call Me by Your Name?
Death in Venice is the closest match here for a summer in Italy consumed by desire for a youth. Its central figure is a disciplined, ageing writer whose distant admiration becomes an obsession. For the particular pleasure of remembered youthful longing, Tonio Kröger provides another close connection.
Where should I start if I loved Call Me by Your Name?
Death in Venice is the starting point for its Italian setting and consuming fascination with youthful beauty. Choose Tonio Kröger for a schoolboy crush and the longing to belong, or Swann's Way for childhood memories, sensory impressions, and a jealous love affair.
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