Books like Lonesome Dove, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with Lonesome Dove, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky

A father is murdered, three sons are suspects, and the real defendant is whether God exists.

4 shared threads · praised

#2

Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy

A teenage runaway joins a scalp-hunting gang across the borderlands, shadowed by a hairless giant who never loses an argument.

9 shared threads · praised

#3

Shōgun

James Clavell

An English pilot washes ashore in feudal Japan and has to out-scheme daimyo, Jesuits, and his own crew just to stay alive.

4 shared threads · praised

#4

The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov

The devil throws a ball in 1930s Moscow, a man is committed to an asylum for writing a novel about Pontius Pilate, and a talking cat shoots at a chandelier.

4 shared threads · praised

#5

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

An aging butler drives across England to see an old colleague, insisting the whole way that he has no regrets about the life, or love, he didn't choose.

4 shared threads · praised

#6

Catch-22

Joseph Heller

A bomber pilot tries to get grounded for insanity, only to learn that wanting out proves he's sane enough to keep flying.

3 shared threads · praised

#7

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennet spends five sisters, one entailed estate, and one insufferably proud man learning she judged him wrong.

3 shared threads · praised

#8

The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

A framed sailor rots in an island prison for fourteen years, escapes with a fortune, and spends the rest of the book collecting on every debt of vengeance.

4 shared threads · praised

#9

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

The Buendía family founds a town, breeds seven generations, and repeats the same mistakes until Macondo forgets itself.

3 shared threads · praised

#10

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell

A soul migrates across six centuries, from an 1850s ship to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii, before doubling back through every life it touched.

5 shared threads · praised

#11

Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson

An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.

6 shared threads · mixed

#12

The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.

6 shared threads · mixed

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy — 9 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 Shōgun by James Clavell — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell — 5 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson — 6 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — 6 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF