Reading List
Authors Like
In 1915, aged six, Simone Weil refused sugar and chocolate because the soldiers on the Western Front had none. At the Lycée Henri-IV her teachers called her the Red Virgin, and in 1934 she took a year’s leave from teaching to work incognito in factories owned by Alsthom and Renault. In 1936 she joined the anarchist Durruti Column in Spain and left after a few weeks with a burn from a cooking fire. She died in Ashford, Kent, on 24 August 1943, aged 34, and never published a book in her lifetime: Gravity and Grace (1947) was arranged from her notebooks by Gustave Thibon, and Albert Camus published The Need for Roots in 1949. The ten writers below share her subjects: attention, suffering, work and a faith tested against the world, along with the critics who argued with her.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 authors · Philosophy and mysticism · Attention and affliction · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
If you love Simone Weil, start with Iris Murdoch, whose The Sovereignty of Good (1970) borrows Weil’s idea of attention for its moral philosophy. Etty Hillesum kept a diary of faith in occupied Amsterdam from 1941 and died at Auschwitz in November 1943, three months after Weil, and Blaise Pascal’s Pensées (1670) are, like Gravity and Grace, fragments arranged and published after their author’s death. Further down is the philosopher who argued with her about Judaism.
10 authors like Simone Weil
Where to start if you loved Simone Weil
If you want her idea of attention developed, read Iris Murdoch.
The Sovereignty of Good (1970) is a short book of philosophy that builds on Weil directly.
If you want a diary from the same war, read Etty Hillesum.
Her diary begins in Amsterdam in March 1941.
If you want the case against her, read Emmanuel Levinas.
His 1952 essay ‘Simone Weil contre la Bible’ is the classic critique of her view of Judaism.
If you want faith in practice, read Dorothy Day.
The Long Loneliness (1952) is her autobiography.
If you want to go back to Weil, start with Waiting for God.
Then read Gravity and Grace (1947) and The Need for Roots (1949).
Frequently asked questions about authors like Simone Weil
Who writes like Simone Weil?
Iris Murdoch, Etty Hillesum and Blaise Pascal are the closest: Murdoch for attention, Hillesum for faith under occupation, Pascal for fragments on God and misery. Emmanuel Levinas is the philosopher who argued with her.
What should I read after Gravity and Grace?
Try Pascal’s Pensées, another book of fragments published after its author’s death, or Iris Murdoch’s The Sovereignty of Good.
Is Simone Weil like Etty Hillesum?
Both were Jewish women who wrote about God and suffering during the Second World War, outside any church, and both died in 1943. Hillesum wrote a personal diary; Weil wrote notebooks, essays and letters.
Does Simone Weil have a new book?
Weil died in 1943, but new editions continue: Harvard University Press has published A Life in Letters, her letters to her parents and brother, with a paperback in June 2026.
Which Simone Weil book should I read first?
Waiting for God (1950), which includes her spiritual autobiography, or Gravity and Grace (1947) if you prefer short fragments.
Was Simone Weil a Catholic?
No. She had religious experiences in Portugal, Assisi and Solesmes between 1935 and 1938 and was drawn to Catholicism, but she refused baptism.
Sources
- Simone Weil — Wikipedia
- Iris Murdoch — Wikipedia
- Edith Stein — Wikipedia
- Decreation — Simone Weil bibliography, University of Calgary
List last reviewed 31 October 2026.
More from the shelf
From the bookshelf
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendationsRead next
