100 Best Mindfuck Books of All Time

We've ranked the best mindfuck books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

1984 book cover1

1984

George Orwell

5.0
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this hardcover edition.

“Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania
Richard Branson portraitSteve Jobs portraitEmma Watson portrait Recommended by Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Emma Watson, and 16 others.
Richard Branson portrait
Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Steve Jobs portrait
Steve Jobs

Founder/Apple

called this book "one of his favorite" and recommended it to the hires. The book also inspired one the greatest TV ad (made by Jobs) [source]

Andra Zaharia portrait
Andra Zaharia

These books and their core ideas have stuck with me the most and continue to guide me when I hit crossroads along the way. [source]

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable book cover2

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

4.8
Preview Summary
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was.

The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from t
Bill Gates portraitJeff Bezos portraitPeter Thiel portrait Recommended by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and 18 others.
Jeff Bezos portrait
Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

From the book "The Everything Store: and the Age of Amazon" “The scholar argues that people are wired to see patterns in chaos while remaining blind to unpredictable events, with massive consequences. Experimentation and empiricism trumps the easy and obvious narrative,” Stone writes. [source]

James Altucher portrait
James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

And throw in “The Black Swan” and “Fooled by Randomness”. “Fragile” means if you hit something might break. “Resilient” means if you hit something, it will stay the same. On my podcast Nassim discusses “Antifragility” – building a system, even on that works for you on a personal level, where you if you harm your self in some way it becomes stronger. That podcast changed my life He discusses Antifragility throughout history, up to our current economic situation, and even in our personal situations. [source]

Gone Girl book cover3

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn

4.7
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. As the police begin to investigate, the town golden boy parades a series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter - but is he re
Kelly Vaughn portrait Recommended by Kelly Vaughn.
Black Lies book cover4

Black Lies

Alessandra Torr

4.7
Brant:
Became a tech billionaire by his twentieth birthday. Has been in a relationship with me for 3 years. Has proposed 4 times. Been rejected 4 times.

Lee:
Cuts grass when he's not banging housewives. Good with his hands, his mouth, and his body. Has been pursued relentlessly by me for almost 2 years, whether he knows it or not.

Go ahead. Judge me. You have no idea what my love entails.

If you think
Fight Club book cover5

Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk

4.7
"THE FIRST RULE ABOUT FIGHT CLUB IS YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT CLUB."

Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anyt
Ryan Holiday portraitVan Badham portrait Recommended by Ryan Holiday and Van Badham.
Ryan Holiday portrait
Ryan Holiday

Author

I’m amazed how many young people haven’t read this book. Truly life-changing. This is the classic of my generation; it is the book that defines our age and ultimately, how to find meaning in it. It’s a cautionary tale too—about being too caught up in revolutionary ideas. [source]

Van Badham portrait
Van Badham

SUPER EXCITED to receive my copy of “Solved! How Other Countries Have Cracked the World’s Biggest Problems and We Can, Too” by Andrew Wear. SO GREAT to read a political book that’s about both pragmatic action *and* hope. Squee! #auspol https://t.co/jIYgr36kZO [source]

Verity book cover6

Verity

Colleen Hoover

4.6
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find en
Seduced in the Dark (The Dark Duet, #2) book cover7

Seduced in the Dark (The Dark Duet, #2)

CJ Robert

4.6
BOOK TWO OF THE DARK DUET
The exciting, titillating, and action-filled conclusion to Captive in the Dark.

What is the price of redemption?

Rescued from sexual slavery by a mysterious Pakistani officer, Caleb carries the weight of a debt that must be paid in blood.

The road has been long and fraught with uncertainty, but for Caleb and Livvie, it’s all coming to an end.

Can he surrender the woman he love
8

Truth (Consequences, #2)

Aleatha Romig

4.6
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes the thrilling sequel in the Consequences series: Truth, a game of deception, intrigue, and conspiracy where losing can be deadly.

Claire survived the consequences.

Through strength and compartmentalization, Claire Nichols captivated her captor. Though Anthony Rawlings thought he taught Claire to behave, his domination became d
Captive in the Dark (The Dark Duet, #1) book cover9

Captive in the Dark (The Dark Duet, #1)

CJ Robert

4.5
Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Cal
Brave New World book cover10

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

4.5
Now reissued in a gorgeous hardcover edition: "one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century" (Wall Street Journal) must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit in the face of our "brave new world." Huxley's masterpiece has become a bestseller once again after the American election.

Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature,
Sam Altman portraitYuval Noah Harari portraitAndra Zaharia portrait Recommended by Sam Altman, Yuval Noah Harari, Andra Zaharia, and 9 others.
Yuval Noah Harari portrait
Yuval Noah Harari

Historian

The most prophetic book of the 20th century. Today many people would easily mistake it for a utopia. [source]

Andra Zaharia portrait
Andra Zaharia

These books and their core ideas have stuck with me the most and continue to guide me when I hit crossroads along the way. [source]

Catherine Mayer portrait
Catherine Mayer

It shows the ways in which technology, our need for certain creature comforts and consumer culture can be used to manipulate us. [source]

The Handmaid's Tale book cover11

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood

4.5
Before The Testaments, there was The Handmaid’s Tale: an instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (New York Times).

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the
Daniel Pink portraitEmma Watson portraitCatherine Mayer portrait Recommended by Daniel Pink, Emma Watson, Catherine Mayer, and 3 others.
Catherine Mayer portrait
Catherine Mayer

Atwood takes all the hard information about gender inequality that she sees around her and then turns it up a few notches. [source]

Cliff Bleszinski portrait
Cliff Bleszinski

@HandmaidsOnHulu Done. Love the show, book is a classic, can't wait for season 2. [source]

Grady Booch portrait
Grady Booch

I read this several years ago but — much like Orwell’s 1984 — it seems particularly relevant given our current political morass. [source]

Convicted (Consequences, #3) book cover12

Convicted (Consequences, #3)

Aleatha Romi

4.5
Book #3 of the bestselling Consequences series:

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes the shocking third book of the Consequences series and the long-awaited, action-packed conclusion of Claire and Tony’s tumultuous relationship.

Stick to your convictions.

Against all odds, Claire and Tony have found their way back to one another, but it doesn’t mean a happy ever af
House of Leaves book cover13

House of Leaves

Mark Z. Danielewski

4.4
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmental
Amelia Boone portrait Recommended by Amelia Boone.
Consequences (Consequences, #1) book cover14

Consequences (Consequences, #1)

Aleatha Romig

4.4
Every action has consequences.

Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, Anthony Rawlings. Claire has no understanding of why she's there, but it's been made abundantly clear--she is now his acquisition and every action has consequences.

Learn the rules to survive.

Facing incomp
Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade book cover15

Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade

Tanya Thompso

4.4
When it was over, there were a lot of questions.

The detectives were embarrassed but they still wanted answered, "How did a 15-year-old runaway successfully pose as a world traveled countess?"

The newspapers turned it back on them, practically sneering, "How did she do it while under investigation by the FBI, DEA, and Interpol?"

The Mafia had been demanding the same thing for six months, "What is
The Girl on the Train book cover16

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins

4.4
An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And t
Barack Obama portrait Recommended by Barack Obama.
Tight book cover17

Tight

Alessandra Torre

4.4
I was happy in my small town. In my life as a single, thirty-two year old woman. I had a good job, wonderful friends, my independence. I also hadn't got laid in three years. Hadn't been on a date in two. Had stopped counting calories and wearing makeup... a while ago. Then Brett Jacobs waltzed in. Caressed my thigh, dug rough fingers into my hair, lowered his soft mouth to my skin, took sexual con
All the Lies (Mindf*ck, #4) book cover18

All the Lies (Mindf*ck, #4)

S.T. Abb

4.4
To understand the monsters in the world, you have to get inside their heads. It's a dangerous place to be, especially when you start to empathize and lose your own sense of morality.

But that's never happened to me...

I've never felt conflicted on any case. Right is right and wrong is wrong. It's simple. Black and white. There's no such thing as a gray area.

But fuck this case. I don't even know what
Slaughterhouse-Five book cover19

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut and Kevin Power

4.4
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.
Bernard Tan portraitCarlos Eire portraitDan Christensen portrait Recommended by Bernard Tan, Carlos Eire, and Dan Christensen.
Bernard Tan portrait
Bernard Tan

I’m also a Murakami and Vonnegut fan, Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. Now that I look at the books listed, they seem to carry an existential theme. I guess I like to understand humanity and human behaviour ultimately to better understand myself. I find reading a means to connect with people who may have lived before my time, or in a distant country, that I may never have had the chance to connect with in real life. As three-dimensional humans, we are all made up of so many faces and emotional layers that we find it hard to dissect them all, and when we find writers who can explain these thought processes in a way that’s tangible and digestible, there’s this incredibly comforting eureka moment of feeling understood. [source]

Carlos Eire portrait
Carlos Eire

Even though he is no philosopher Vonnegut is still able to ask the questions that all of us think about – how time affects our lives. [source]

Dan Christensen portrait
Dan Christensen

@MetaHumean Love that book. [source]

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth book cover20

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Rachel Maddow

4.3
Preview Summary
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Big Oil and Gas Versus Democracy—Winner Take All

Rachel Maddow’s Blowout offers a dark, serpentine, riveting tour of the unimaginably lucrative and corrupt oil-and-gas industry. With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe—from Oklahoma City to Siberia to
Josh Long ( ) portraitJoy Reid portraitSu Mohan Winblue Demswork4usa portrait Recommended by Josh Long ( ), Joy Reid, Su Mohan Winblue Demswork4usa, and 1 others.
Josh Long ( ) portrait
Josh Long ( )

😂 @maddow you’re so amazing. I’m listening to the Audible version of your fantastic book “Blowout” and just got to a part where you detail a sad, lonely existence and then - as an aside - declare “aw! Sad.” in a completely different voice 😂 [source]

Joy Reid portrait
Joy Reid

This week I had the chance to interview my pal Rachel @Maddow about her amazing new book, Blowout!! Tune in to #amjoy at 10am ET Sunday to check it out (and find out what Equatorial Guinea, Michael Jackson's glove, black oil and Texas tea have in common...! https://t.co/mTQZKIZT2T [source]

Su Mohan Winblue Demswork4usa portrait
Su Mohan Winblue Demswork4usa

.@Maddow deserves Emmy and Pulitzer.. and more.. for her work in the interview of Lev Parnas, and her book "Blowout" - she is the best reporter. True journalist. Watched 1/14 (documents) and 1/15 (Lev Parnas Interview Part-1) shows twice. I can not wait for part-2 - on 1/16/20. [source]

Paint It All Red (Mindf*ck, #5) book cover21

Paint It All Red (Mindf*ck, #5)

S.T. Abb

4.3
Hush, little baby, don't say a word...

Will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?

It's time to fuck with their minds.
It's time to finish it all.
It's time to paint it all red...

Monsters don't usually wish for happily-ever-afters.
The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1) book cover22

The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1)

S.T. Abb

4.3
They took too much.
Left too little.
I had nothing to lose...until him.



~Lana~

I didn't expect him.
I didn't want to fall in love.
But I can't let him go.

Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He's brilliant.
He's a hero.
He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.

Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.
Th
You (You #1) book cover23

You (You #1)

Caroline Kepnes

4.3
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Ban
Richard Osman portrait Recommended by Richard Osman.
Sharp Objects book cover24

Sharp Objects

Gillian Flynn

4.3
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her fa
Jessica Northeyshaw portrait Recommended by Jessica Northeyshaw.
25

Apocalypse Never: How the Left's New Lies About Climate Change Hurt People and Nature

Michael Shellenberger

4.3
Preview Summary
An environmental expert unleashes a scientific, fact-based broadside against eco-alarmism and the excesses of the left, arguing that climate change and other environmental problems are real but not apocalyptic and require practical, not radical, solutions.

Many environmentalists claim the world as we know it will soon come to an end unless we radically change how we live our lives. They demand we s
Tears of Tess (Monsters in the Dark, #1) book cover26

Tears of Tess (Monsters in the Dark, #1)

Pepper Winters

4.3
“My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.
Then it all changed.
I was sold.”

Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.

For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-conn
Sidetracked (Mindf*ck, #2) book cover27

Sidetracked (Mindf*ck, #2)

S.T. Abb

4.3
They always want to break me, but I'm too strong now. Untouchable.
Or at least I was...until her.

****
LOGAN

I've had tunnel vision for one main goal for so long, that I forgot there was a whole other world just outside. Until Lana.

She's everything I never expected, and I love the fact I can never guess her every move or reaction. It's part of the reason I keep falling. But I also know she shuts me ou
Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck, #3) book cover28

Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck, #3)

S.T. Abb

4.3
To kill a monster, you have to be twice as monstrous. To love a monster, you have to share your soul...

Logan Bennett makes me want to have a future not tainted by the constant hunger for revenge. Doesn't mean I can stop. Doesn't mean I want to stop. It just means I want more... one day.

But how do you make a good man love the monster inside you without stripping his soul away as well? He is all the
Mud Vein book cover29

Mud Vein

Tarryn Fishe

4.3
When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat... and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her su
30

Dangerous Girls

Abigail Haas

4.3
It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off on a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations.

As Anna sets out to find her friend's killer, she disc
Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark, #2) book cover31

Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark, #2)

Pepper Winters

4.3
“All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… screwed up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs do make a right."

Tess is Q’s completely. Q is Tess’s irrevocably. But now, they must learn the boundaries of their unconventional relations
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1) book cover32

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)

Douglas Adams

4.3
One Thursday lunchtime Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this is already more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun. And the Galaxy is a very, very large and startling place indeed.
Elon Musk portraitRichard Branson portraitMichael Arrington portrait Recommended by Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Michael Arrington, and 6 others.
Elon Musk portrait
Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

I guess when I was around 12 or 15... I had an existential crisis, and I was reading various books on trying to figure out the meaning of life and what does it all mean? It all seemed quite meaningless and then we happened to have some books by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer in the house, which you should not read at age 14 (laughter). It is bad, it’s really negative. So then I read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which is quite positive I think and it highlighted an important point which is that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer. And if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part. So, to the degree that we can better understand the universe, then we can better know what questions to ask. Then whatever the question is that most approximates: what’s the meaning of life? That’s the question we can ultimately get closer to understanding. And so I thought to the degree that we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness and knowledge, then that would be a good thing. [source]

Richard Branson portrait
Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Michael Arrington portrait
Michael Arrington

Founder/TechCrunch

Not sure what you’ll learn from HHGTTG, but it’s one of the funniest series of books of all time and if you haven’t read it you pretty much have to. It’s actually a five book series that’s called a trilogy, and if Adams hadn’t died of a heart attack at age 49 in 2001 there would have likely been more books written. HHGTTG and the WWII epic Catch-22 are among my favorite books when contemplating the meaninglessness and hilarity of life (HHGTTG begins with the Earth being destroyed to to make way for a hyperspatial express route). Like Dune, skip the movie, it doesn’t do the books justice. [source]

We Were Liars book cover33

We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

4.3
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree
Corrupt (Devil's Night, #1) book cover34

Corrupt (Devil's Night, #1)

Penelope Douglas

4.3
Erika

I was told that dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession.

His name is Michael Crist.

My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me.

But I noti
35

Pretty Stolen Dolls (Pretty Little Dolls, #1)

Ker Dukey and K. Webste

4.3
From bestselling authors Ker Dukey & K Webster comes the heart-stopping, internationally bestselling crime thriller Pretty Stolen Dolls.

Have you ever had to make a decision that haunts you every single day for the rest of your life—the life you stole back?
I have.

When Jade and her little sister Macy meet a dollmaker named Benny at a local flea market, they have no idea their lives are about to cha
Nine Minutes (Nine Minutes, #1) book cover36

Nine Minutes (Nine Minutes, #1)

Beth Flynn

4.3
On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida.

From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world m
The Shining book cover37

The Shining

Stephen King

4.3
Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible force
Daisy Johnson portraitR J Ellory portrait Recommended by Daisy Johnson and R J Ellory.
Daisy Johnson portrait
Daisy Johnson

If you think you know the story because you’ve seen the film then you’d be wrong. This book is an absolute classic and a great way into the vast King oeuvre. [source]

R J Ellory portrait
R J Ellory

I have always rated Stephen King. I think he is so much more than just a commercially successful horror writer. [source]

Dark Matter book cover38

Dark Matter

Blake Crouch

4.3
Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying fr
Jacqui Pretty portrait Recommended by Jacqui Pretty.
Unravel (Fairfax, #1) book cover39

Unravel (Fairfax, #1)

Calia Read

4.3
Six months ago, I was happy. I was simply Naomi Carradine.

One month ago, I was admitted into a psych ward.

Yesterday, Lachlan visited me. Kissed me. And told me that I’m starting to lose my mind.

Hours later, Max haunted my thoughts, reminding me I’m not crazy and that he needs my help.

A few minutes ago, I drifted further from reality, trying to unravel the past.

And now...everyone thinks I’m in
Shutter Island book cover40

Shutter Island

Dennis Lehane

4.2
The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this remote and barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane relentlessl
Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström portrait Recommended by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström.
41

Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America

Christopher Wylie

4.2
For the first time, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells the inside story of the data mining and psychological manipulation behind the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum, connecting Facebook, WikiLeaks, Russian intelligence, and international hackers.

Mindf*ck goes deep inside Cambridge Analytica's "American operations," which were driven by Steve Bannon's vision to remake Am
Bang (Black Lotus, #1) book cover42

Bang (Black Lotus, #1)

E.K. Blair, Adept Edits

4.2
They say when you take revenge against another you lose a part of your innocence.
But I’m not innocent.
I haven’t been for a very long time.
My innocence was stolen from me. Taken was the life I was supposed to have. The soul I was born with. The ruby heart embedded in a life full of hopes and dreams.

Gone.
Vanished.

I never even had a choice.
I mourn that life. Mourn the what-ifs.
Until now.
I’m rea
43

Dirty Red (Love Me with Lies, #2)

Tarryn Fisher

4.2
Dear Opportunist,

You thought you could take him from me, but you lost. Now, that he's mine I'll do anything to keep him. Do you doubt me? I have everything that was supposed to be yours. In case you were wondering; he doesn't ever think about you anymore. I won't let him go....ever.

Dirty Red

Leah Smith finally has everything she has ever wanted. Except she doesn't. Her marriage feels more like a
44

Thief (Love Me with Lies, #3)

Tarryn Fisher and Lori Sabin

4.2
Note to Self

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love doesn't boast or brag.
There's no arrogance in love;
it's never rude, crude, or indecent-it's not self absorbed.
Love isn't easily upset.
Love doesn't tally wrongs.
Love trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.
Love will never become obsolete.
I'll fight for her.

Thief

Caleb Drake never got over his first love. Not when he got married. Not when she got marri
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid book cover45

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

4.2
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers at
Steve Jurvetson portraitSeth Godin portraitCory Zue portrait Recommended by Steve Jurvetson, Seth Godin, Cory Zue, and 2 others.
Steve Jurvetson portrait
Steve Jurvetson

Steve Jurvetson recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show". [source]

Seth Godin portrait
Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

In the last week, I discovered that at least two of my smart friends hadn't read Godel, Escher, Bach. They have now. You should too. [source]

Cory Zue portrait
Cory Zue

More recently books like Godel, Escher, Bach and Sapiens have influenced my thinking a lot. [source]

It Ends with Us book cover46

It Ends with Us

Colleen Hoover

4.2
Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up
— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in L
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1) book cover47

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1)

Michelle Hodkin

4.2
Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.
48

The Opportunist (Love Me with Lies, #1)

Tarryn Fisher and EricaEdits

4.2
Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Caleb Drake, has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back. Wrestling to keep her true identity and their sordid past under wraps, Olivia’s greatest obstacle is Caleb’s wicked, new girlfriend; Leah Smith. It is a race to the finish a
Kafka on the Shore book cover49

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

4.2
Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most b
Bernard Tan portraitBrian Koppelman portraitJohn Craig portrait Recommended by Bernard Tan, Brian Koppelman, and John Craig.
Bernard Tan portrait
Bernard Tan

I’m also a Murakami and Vonnegut fan, Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. Now that I look at the books listed, they seem to carry an existential theme. I guess I like to understand humanity and human behaviour ultimately to better understand myself. I find reading a means to connect with people who may have lived before my time, or in a distant country, that I may never have had the chance to connect with in real life. As three-dimensional humans, we are all made up of so many faces and emotional layers that we find it hard to dissect them all, and when we find writers who can explain these thought processes in a way that’s tangible and digestible, there’s this incredibly comforting eureka moment of feeling understood. [source]

Brian Koppelman portrait
Brian Koppelman

If you have always wanted to read this author, I think this Covid-19 period of time is perfect for it. He could have conceived of this whole thing. [source]

John Craig portrait
John Craig

The only book, or should I say author, that takes priority is Haruki Murakami. He is a Japanese novelist that takes me into the next world. His style is surreal. Check it out. Start with Kafka on the Shore. [source]

The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2) book cover50

The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)

Thomas Harris

4.2
Hannibal Lecter. The ultimate villain of modern fiction. Read the five-million-copy bestseller that scared the world silent. The Silence of the Lambs. A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a psychopath's mind--in the deadly search for a serial killer. - back cover
James Twining portraitPeter James portrait Recommended by James Twining and Peter James.
James Twining portrait
James Twining

Harris breaks a story in that he popularised or exposed the workings of the FBI’s criminal profiling unit. He put them on the map. [source]

Peter James portrait
Peter James

If you want to be a crime writer it is one of the books that you absolutely have to read. It has been one of the most successful, if not the most successful, crime novel of the 20th century. [source]

The Mindf*ck Series book cover51

The Mindf*ck Series

S.T. Abby

4.2
Raw (RAW Family, #1) book cover52

Raw (RAW Family, #1)

Belle Aurora, CoverIt Designs, et al

4.2
*Author Note: This is not a love story. This is a story of love gone wrong.*

Growing up the way I did, you’d think I’d be more screwed up than what I actually am.

Soon as I turned sixteen, I left that bump in the road I called home and took my chances on the street.

Best decision I ever made.

Now, at the age of twenty six, I’m educated, employed and damn good at my job.

My friends have become my family
Dirty Ugly Toy book cover53

Dirty Ugly Toy

K Webster and Vanessa Bridge

4.2
Her time is over.
Things are looking up.

She’s dirty and ugly.
He’s wicked but handsome.

Six months to toy with her.
Six months of vacation and a ton of money.

I’ll hurt her beyond repair.
I’ve been through much worse.

She's difficult to control and doesn't obey.
I'm done submitting to anyone or anything in this life.

I should hate her.
I should hate him.

The game has changed.
I will win.

Dirty Ugly To
Whispers and the Roars book cover54

Whispers and the Roars

K Webster and Vanessa Bridge

4.2
*THIS STANDALONE IS BEST ENJOYED WHEN YOU DON'T READ ANY REVIEWS OR SPOILERS BEFORE READING. GOING IN BLIND IS BEST. TRUST ME.*

When my eyes are closed, the monster can’t ever see me.
When I sing a song in my head, the monster can’t ever hear me.
When I pretend my bedroom is a playground where I play hide and seek, the monster can’t ever find me.

The darkness should frighten me.
I should worry I’ll fin
The Mistress (The Original Sinners, #4) book cover55

The Mistress (The Original Sinners, #4)

Tiffany Reisz

4.2
The final book in The Original Sinners Series - The Red Years.

There's punishment-and then there's vengeance.

Nora Sutherlin is being held, bound and naked. Under different circumstances, she would enjoy the situation immensely, but her captor isn't interested in play. Or pity.

As the reality of her impending peril unfolds, Nora becomes Scheherazade, buying each hour of her life with stories-sensual
More Than This book cover56

More Than This

Patrick Ness

4.2
A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

From multi-award-winning Patrick Ness comes one of the most pr
Estelle Francis portraitThe CEO Library Community (through anonymous form) portrait Recommended by Estelle Francis and The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form).
Estelle Francis portrait
Estelle Francis

This book tackles the themes of guilt and facing the skeletons in your closet. [source]

The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form) portrait
The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form)

One of the best 3 books I've read in 2019 [source]

Sick Fux book cover57

Sick Fux

Tillie Cole

4.2
When Ellis Earnshaw and Heathan James met as children, they couldn’t have been more different. Ellis was loud and beautiful – all blond hair, bright laughs and smiles. Heathan was dark and brooding, and obsessed with watching things die.
The pair forged an unlikely friendship, unique and strange. Until they were ripped apart by the sick cruelty of others, separated for years, both locked in a perpe
The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense book cover58

The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense

John Bevere

4.2
The twentieth-anniversary edition of one of our most popular books
The Bait of Satan exposes one of the most deceptive snares Satan uses to get believers out of the will of God—offense. This trap restrains countless Christians, severs relationships, and widens the gulfs between us.
With testimonials from people whose lives have been changed by his message, the book will inspire readers to stay free
Randy Murray portrait Recommended by Randy Murray.
The Angel (The Original Sinners, #2) book cover59

The Angel (The Original Sinners, #2)

Tiffany Reisz

4.2
No safe word can protect the heart
Infamous erotica author and accomplished dominatrix Nora Sutherlin is doing something utterly out of character: hiding. While her longtime lover, Søren—whose fetishes, if exposed, would be his ruin—is under scrutiny pending a major promotion, Nora's lying low and away from temptation in the lap of luxury.

Her host, the wealthy and uninhibited Griffin Fiske, is thri
Undeniable (Undeniable, #1) book cover60

Undeniable (Undeniable, #1)

Douglas Ax

4.2
Librarian Note: Alternate Cover Edition for 9781301741724.

*Warning* (This book contains several aspects of the uglier side of life; it is not for everyone.)

The story of Deuce and Eva...

An undeniable connection that stands the test of time.

Unforgettable moments.

Love and pain and everything in between.

I was five years old when I met Deuce, he was twenty-three, and it was visiting day at Riker's Isla
Debt: The First 5,000 Years (Updated and Expanded) book cover61

Debt: The First 5,000 Years (Updated and Expanded)

David Graeber

4.2
Before there was money, there was debt

Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it.

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He
Seth Godin portraitDavid Heinemeier Hansson portraitWill Davies portrait Recommended by Seth Godin, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Will Davies.
Seth Godin portrait
Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

I recommend it in audio because David is sometimes repetitive and a little elliptical, but in audio it's all okay because you can just listen to it again. [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson portrait
David Heinemeier Hansson

After a few false starts, I finally got going with this, and what a treat. It shoots down the common myth that prior to money, everyone just bartered shit. I give you a pig, you give me five pies and a hat. Evidence shows that just wasn’t at all how things went. Most societies were structured either rather communistic (take what you need, give what you can) or with a loose debt-ledger system (or a combination of both). But where things get really interesting is how the emergence of market economies (and money) changed the relationship with human life and dignity. Especially as a consequence of slavery, which put a very explicit price on that which previously was priceless. All sorts of fascinating historical links to women wearing veils (to distinguish them from women who could be bought), how debt peonage really took off once slavery came profitable (so debtors could be sold, or their children sold, if they failed to repay), and how other morality got intertwined with debt. It’s truly eye-opening, and the lines trace disturbingly well from millennia. [source]

Will Davies portrait
Will Davies

What’s stunning about the book is how it brings an anthropological perspective to bear on such an expansive history and geography, bringing the story right up to the present day, at the precise moment when debt has become a hugely political, mobilizing and destabilizing issue. Its central argument is simple and easy to grasp, and has been seized by activists and critics of the financial sector. [source]

The Prince (The Original Sinners, #3) book cover62

The Prince (The Original Sinners, #3)

Tiffany Reisz

4.2
Two worlds of wealth and passion call to Nora Sutherlin and, whichever one she chooses, it will be the hardest decision she will ever have to make. Unless someone makes it for her…

Wes Railey is the object of Nora's tamest yet most maddening fantasies, and the one man she can't forget. He's young. He's wonderful. He's also thoroughbred royalty and, reuniting with him in Kentucky, she's in his world
Recursion book cover63

Recursion

Blake Crouch

4.1
Memory makes reality.

That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome-a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our mos
Matt Galligan portrait Recommended by Matt Galligan.
His Turn (Turning, #3) book cover64

His Turn (Turning, #3)

J A Huss

4.1
I look her body up and down as I circle her.
Mine?
I smile a devious, deviant, I’m gonna make you sorry you ever started playing this game with me smile.
And then I take her hand.
I lead her to the elevator.
We go up to my apartment.
I tie her wrists together with rope.
Raise her arms above her head.
And chain her to the ceiling.
It’s my turn.
Shadowfever (Fever, #5) book cover65

Shadowfever (Fever, #5)

Karen Marie Moning

4.1
“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.” — MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever. — Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gift
The Siren (The Original Sinners, #1) book cover66

The Siren (The Original Sinners, #1)

Tiffany Reisz

4.1
Notorious Nora Sutherlin is famous for her delicious works of erotica, each one more popular with readers than the last. But her latest manuscript is different—more serious, more personal—and she's sure it'll be her breakout book... if it ever sees the light of day.

Zachary Easton holds Nora's fate in his well-manicured hands. The demanding British editor agrees to handle the book on one condition:
Unwind (Unwind, #1) book cover67

Unwind (Unwind, #1)

Neal Shusterman

4.1
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas book cover68

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S. Thompson

4.1
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.
Bill Earner portraitMatthew O’Brien portrait Recommended by Bill Earner and Matthew O’Brien.
Bill Earner portrait
Bill Earner

My favorites novels are 100 Years of Solitude, All the King's Men, The Last Samurai, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. [source]

Matthew O’Brien portrait
Matthew O’Brien

It’s one of my favourite books and probably my favourite Las Vegas-related book. Hunter S Thompson came out here in the early 70s to cover the Mint 400 off-road race for Sports Illustrated. He ended up writing a 10,000-word riff on his visit. In 1971, Jann Wenner ultimately published two long sections of it in Rolling Stone. Those two stories were the foundation for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. [source]

Forbidden book cover69

Forbidden

Tabitha Suzuma

4.1
She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younge
Facade (Deception, #1) book cover70

Facade (Deception, #1)

Ker Dukey, D H Sidebottom

4.1
WARNING! This book is Dark erotica. This book contains situations that some may find offensive. If you are sensitive to graphic violence read with caution. This book also leads into a second book. You will get answers but the story will continue into a final instalment. You have been warned. Enjoy.

You meet someone. You date. You fall in love. You marry.
The four simple rules of love….
Wrong! I’m
The Dangerous Book for Boys book cover71

The Dangerous Book for Boys

Conn Iggulden

4.1
The bestselling book—more than 1.5 million copies sold—for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is—now a Prime Original Series created by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Greg Mottola (Superbad).

In this digital age, there is s
72

Monster in His Eyes (Monster in His Eyes, #1)

J.M. Darhower

4.1
Ignazio Vitale is not a good man.

I suspect it, the first time I see him, sense the air of danger that surrounds the man. He has a way of commanding attention, of taking control, of knowing what I'm thinking before I even do.

It's alarming and alluring. It's dark and deadly. It's everything I've ever wanted but the last thing I truly need. Obsession.

It doesn't take him long to draw me into his web,
The Silent Patient book cover73

The Silent Patient

Alex Michaelides

4.1
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give a
Hopeless (Hopeless, #1) book cover74

Hopeless (Hopeless, #1)

Colleen Hoove

4.1
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel spark
I Can Be a Better You book cover75

I Can Be a Better You

Tarryn Fisher

4.1
When Fig Coxbury buys a house on West Barrett Street, it's not because she likes the neighborhood, or even because she likes the house. It's because everything she desires is next door: The husband, the child, and the life that belongs to someone else.
76

I See You

Terence Lester and Dave Gibbons

4.1
I watch you, I see you in ways no one else can, and through my lens I create a life of you for someone to dissect. I capture you in your vulnerability; that smile, your laugh, those tears. I document you and sell your secrets.

When I watch you through my lens you’re mine until I pass you to the buyer. I, like most people, have a fetish for pretty things and in my job I get to be around a lot of pre
77

Echo (Black Lotus, #2)

E.K. Blair, Adept Edits

4.1
It's been said the longest echo ever measured lasted 75 seconds, but I can assure you, this will last much longer. The bang deafened the world around me, muting everything into nullity, allowing the reflection of its destruction to live far beyond its intended life.

It will follow me forever, destroying me—destroying you.

You want answers?

So do I.
The Trial book cover78

The Trial

Franz Kafka, Breon Mitchell

4.1
Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka's death, The Trial is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century: the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the exc
David Heinemeier Hansson portraitMichael Peel portrait Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson and Michael Peel.
David Heinemeier Hansson portrait
David Heinemeier Hansson

It’s a fascinating writing style with a 3rd party observer that’s treated as an extension of the protagonists own sentiments and mind. It’s also just exquisitely written. And the concept of being on trial for charges unknown by a vast, impersonal, yet petty, bureaucracy pulls from a timeless well of societal anxieties. So far, so very good. About half way through. [source]

Michael Peel portrait
Michael Peel

I read this before going to Nigeria but moving there made me think about it a lot. The idea that the system always wins. [source]

79

Degradation (The Kane Trilogy, #1)

Stylo Fantom

4.1
Eighteen-year-old Tatum O'Shea is a naive, shy, little rich girl. Twenty-three-year-old Jameson Kane is smart, seductive, and richer. They come together for one night, one explosion, one mistake, and Tate is hurled into space—no family, no money, and no Jameson.

Seven years later, life is going pretty good for Tate, when she runs into Jameson again. This time, she thinks she's ready for him. She do
Marrow: Love, Loss and What Matters Most book cover80

Marrow: Love, Loss and What Matters Most

Elizabeth Lesser

4.1
The author of the New York Times bestseller Broken Open returns with a visceral and profound memoir of two sisters who, in the face of a bone marrow transplant—one the donor and one the recipient—begin a quest for acceptance, authenticity, and most of all, love.

A mesmerizing and courageous memoir: the story of two sisters uncovering the depth of their love through the life-and-death experience of
Daniel Goleman portrait Recommended by Daniel Goleman.
Before I Go to Sleep book cover81

Before I Go to Sleep

S. J. Watson

4.0
Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle-aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.

Every day, Christine must begin again the
Tess Gerritsen portrait Recommended by Tess Gerritsen.
82

The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)

Holly Black

4.0
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie wo
A Clockwork Orange book cover83

A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess

4.0
In Anthony Burgess’s influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in a fantastically inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends’ intense reaction against their society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning
Unbeautifully (Undeniable, #2) book cover84

Unbeautifully (Undeniable, #2)

Madeline Sheeha

4.0
Warning: This is not a story about fate or destiny. This is a story about pain, sorrow, and suffering. This is an impulsive whirlwind romance between two lovers that are not meant to be together. Theirs is not a world with sunshine and roses. Instead, their love blossoms in a secret world full of crime, violence, and death. Their story is about what can be born from nightmares.

Danielle “Danny” We
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest book cover85

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey, John C. Reilly, et al

4.0
Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inm
Insidious (Tales from the Dark Side, #1) book cover86

Insidious (Tales from the Dark Side, #1)

Aleatha Romig, Lisa Aurello, Melissa Ringuette

4.0
Dark desires…Deadly secrets…Devious deceptions…Nothing is exactly as it seems in INSIDIOUS, the new erotic thriller from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig.

When a powerful man is willing to risk everything for his own satisfaction, only one woman can beat him at his own game: his wife. Or so she thinks…

“Let’s start with you calling me Stewart. Formalities seem unnecessar
The Stranger book cover87

The Stranger

Albert Camus, Jonathan Davis, et al

4.0
Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." First published in English in 1946; now in a new translation by Matthew Ward.
David Heinemeier Hansson portraitKyle Maynard portrait Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson and Kyle Maynard.
David Heinemeier Hansson portrait
David Heinemeier Hansson

Seminal novel on existentialism and the absurd by Albert Camus from 1946. Explores that feeling of disconnectedness from society, its norms, and the absurdity of every day life. Striking first-person account in a powerful, direct language. [source]

Kyle Maynard portrait
Kyle Maynard

Kyle Maynard said this is one of his most-recommended books. [source]

88

Forever with You (Fixed, #3)

Laurelin Paig

4.0
Alayna Withers relationship with Hudson Pierce has tested both her and his ability to trust. They decide that the only way they can move forward together is with open doors and transparency. It won’t be easy for the scarred lovers, but they’re committed to each other more now than ever. Alayna, in particular, has grown through their trials, and has emerged more confident and faithful to the man sh
Suit (The Twin Duo, #1) book cover89

Suit (The Twin Duo, #1)

Jettie Woodruff

4.0
When my sister Isabelle showed up, just ahead of a tropical storm, nostalgia and a need to reconnect took us on a ride…directly into the eye of a different kind of disaster. I woke from a coma unaware that I even had a twin and married to a man with two little girls. Although I fell madly in love with the children that I didn’t remember, I didn’t feel like I belonged with Paxton Pierce. I couldn’t
90

Second Debt (Indebted, #3)

Pepper Winters

4.0
“I tried to play a game. I tried to wield deceit as perfectly as the Hawks. But when I thought I was winning, I wasn’t. Jethro isn’t what he seems—he’s the master of duplicity. However, I refuse to let him annihilate me further.”

Nila Weaver has grown from naïve seamstress to full-blown fighter. Every humdrum object is her arsenal, and sex…sex is her greatest weapon of all.

She’s paid the First Deb
Take Me with You book cover91

Take Me with You

Catherine Ryan Hyde

4.0
August Shroeder, a burned-out teacher, has been sober since his 19-year-old son died. Every year he's spent the summer on the road, but making it to Yellowstone this year means everything. The plan had been to travel there with his son, but now August is making the trip with Philip's ashes instead. An unexpected twist of fate lands August with two extra passengers for his journey, two half-orphans
Infinite Jest book cover92

Infinite Jest

David Foster Wallace

4.0
Infinite Jest is the name of a movie said to be so entertaining that anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything but watch. People die happily, viewing it in endless repetition. The novel Infinite Jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many budding a
Chad Harbach portraitRebecca Goldstein portrait Recommended by Chad Harbach and Rebecca Goldstein.
Chad Harbach portrait
Chad Harbach

I think Infinite Jest is the major American novel of the past 25 years…It’s the book on which his reputation will rest, and I think people are going to read it for a long time. [source]

Rebecca Goldstein portrait
Rebecca Goldstein

It’s an extraordinary book…One of the things that he is examining in the novel is the various games that we play, many of them recursive. [source]

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) book cover93

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)

E L James

4.0
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants h
Aubrey Marcus portrait Recommended by Aubrey Marcus.
94

Arsen: A Broken Love Story

Mia Asher and Jennifer Roberts-Hall

4.0
One glance was all it took…

I'm a cheater.
I'm a liar.
My whole life is a mess.

I love a man.
No, I love two men…
I think.

One makes love to me. The other sets me on fire.
One is my rock. The other is my kryptonite.

I'm broken, lost, and disgusted with myself.

But I can't stop. This is my story.
My broken love story.
95

Pretty New Doll (Pretty Little Dolls, #3)

Ker Dukey and K. Webster

4.0
Benny, broken, hurting, and alone
Lost his dolly, his love, his home.
Injured and searching, reborn anew,
He finds himself befriended by one who’s true.
Learning about the world, urges, and lust.
Finding a new future, a new dolly, is a must.
Then out of old pain, fresh prospects come to life,
Benny’s sick mind summons him, so his hand takes the knife.

Have you ever been so lost that you became a shadow? L
Twisted Together (Monsters in the Dark, #3) book cover96

Twisted Together (Monsters in the Dark, #3)

Pepper Winters

4.0
“After battling through hell, I brought my esclave back from the brink of ruin. I sacrificed everything—my heart, my mind, my very desires to bring her back to life. And for a while, I thought it broke me, that I’d never be the same. But slowly the beast is growing bolder, and it’s finally time to show Tess how beautiful the dark can be.”

Q gave everything to bring Tess back. In return, he expects
Cloud Atlas book cover97

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell

4.0
A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful.
Robert Eaglestone portraitThe Centre for the Study of Existential Risk portrait Recommended by Robert Eaglestone and The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
Robert Eaglestone portrait
Robert Eaglestone

In this novel, you find stories that interlock like Russian dolls…an obvious example of a writer learning clever postmodern tricks, but domesticating them. [source]

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk portrait
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

This is the perfect book if you want to read about human extinction but you still need to be ‘seduced’ into it. [source]

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) book cover98

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)

Holly Blac

4.0
This is a previously published cover edition of ISBN 9780316310277. An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breat
Invisible Monsters book cover99

Invisible Monsters

Chuck Palahniuk

4.0
She's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists.

Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from being a real woman, who will teac
The Dark Light of Day (The Dark Light of Day, #1) book cover100

The Dark Light of Day (The Dark Light of Day, #1)

T.M. Frazie

4.0
Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B01A4MDTII

Homeless, sleeping in a junkyard, and on the run from a system that has failed her over and over again, Abby meets Jake, a tattooed blue-eyed biker with secrets that rival her own. Two broken souls that can't be healed, they can't be saved. Abby and Jake have to decide if they can accept the darkness not only within one another, but within themselves.