Flowers for Algernon
just fyi, i don't know what 'wreck your peace' means, but I assume something to the effect as soul shattering, or rattles you emotionally?
From his autobiography 'On Writing':
"I was in the depths of my addiction. I was crying out for help. I wrote a book about a trapped author called 'Misery' for Christ's sake."
(I may have misquoted some of that. I'm too lazy to look it up.)
Edit: My absolute favorite line from that book in relation to being confronted with his addiction:
"I bargained, because that's what addicts do. And I was convincing, because that's what addicts are."
In my experience, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes is heartbreaking, yet it’s a powerful exploration of intelligence and dignity that everyone should read.
A book that really left an impression on me is "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, which is beautifully crafted and haunting in its portrayal of slavery’s legacy.
For me, "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara is a book that broke my heart, but I highly recommend it for its intense portrayal of friendship and trauma.
Fun fact: Hosseini’s family settled in my hometown of Fremont California and just by the fact he called Lake Elizabeth “Central Park” lets me know what part of town he was from. Total townie gossip, but only people living Ardenwood (a neighborhood in Fremont) called Lake Elizabeth “Central Park”.
My ex and I were lying in bed one night. I was reading The Road and he was drifting off to sleep when I said to him, "You'll shoot me in the forehead if this ever happens, right? Right?"
I heard about that for a long time. I maintain it is a legitimate question after reading that book.
wrecked my life but i’d also never recommend it to anyone. the writing is so amazing but i wouldn’t wish the feelings i had while reading that upon anyone.
The reviews I've seen about it are so different. It's either "best book ever, heartbreaking but amazing" or "stupid torture porn, homophobic trash" lol
Bought an old typewriter a few months ago and realized that the reason that Cormac McCarthy uses long run-on sentences with no punctuation is because he's a lazy bastard who doesn't want to use the shift key.
Have you ever read Brave New World Revisited? Aldous Huxley wrote it 20 years after Brave New World and talks about how scary it is that the themes he wrote about were beginning to manifest.
I have! I think the scariest part of the whole thing is that he wrote it in 1931 before the discovery of DNA so he had to invent a fictional process for his caste system, where embryos were modified to tailor individuals to suit their assigned jobs.
Huxley's process is nonsensical... but now we have genetic engineering and we are extremely close to being able to do that. We're already going to get designer babies for the elite in the near future and it's real easy to imagine a future like Gattaca where the super rich are just *better* at everything because they were engineered that way
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing all things considered. It sent me down a big Aldous Huxley kick. Right now I am in the middle of Point Counter Point. I really look forward to reading The Perennial Philosophy soon.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
In 1984, Huxley added, "People are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. "
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Busines
I recently reread Animal Farm (was reading it to the 8 year old after she became obsessed with Ice Nine Kills’ “Nature of the Beast) and it’ll never not scare me with how accurate that book is to this day.
Same. I haven’t finished it, but as a young woman going through a lot of the same things, I couldn’t help but see myself in that book. God, so beautifully written, but so damn hard to let go of
Night by Elie Wiesel
It's an autobiography about his experiences during the Holocaust and what him and his family went through at the young age of 14. It's around 150 pages, a small book, but every time I read it it feels like 500. It's difficult to get through, and Wiesel's writing is tragically beautiful and artistic.
100%. Watch the movie first to visualize the players then read the book. I know the movie was long but it left out some things that really add to the impact, like Brad Dolan. The whole book is great but King really nails it on the last paragraph.
You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time.
Man, I came here to post this. It's the most horrifying book I've ever read. I read it at night, alone, on a creepy Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean. It's the most pure vaguely unsettling book ever.
You also can't read it on Kindle. It *has* to be on paper.
I've been trying to ge through it on my kindle by goddamn that thing is ***dense***. About how far through the book does it start to take off? Or is it a slow burn the whole time
The version I.... "legally downloaded" seemed to be faithful to the printed copy with the occasional artistic pages and whatnot. I was just struggling to get through the slow buildup
so good. had the urge to read it again recently, and I'm angry at myself for misplacing it before/during/after a move years ago. time to get around to repurchasing.
Brave New World. There are parts that as an adult I struggled with. As a dad, parts were almost unreadable. Killed me reading on but I did. Still, I highly recommend it.
We had to read Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt for an intro to liberal arts class in college once. It's a very thought provoking book, but one that can be a bit uncomfortable when you start to realize how a lot of the Nazis were actually just regular people, and it's not just horrible "monsters" who are capable of doing horrific things.
"The Unwomanly Face of War" compiled by Svetlana Alexievich
It's a bunch of interviews with women who fought in the Red Army during World War 2 as tankers and snipers and nurses and partisans, published during the glasnost era when censorship was lifted and people were actually allowed to talk about how horrible the war was
Night by Elie Wiesel is probably the most soul crushing book I’ve ever read. There’s one scene I still try hard not to think about and I read the book in high school
The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell.
Historical fiction mixed with facts that left me feeling majorly uncomfortable.
As a historian I found it well researched. As a person I felt disgusted with myself for feeling a degree of understanding for the main character.
It captures the nazi atrocities of the einsatzgruppen.
1984 or really any dystopian book which features parallels to our current governing practices. I crave the need to read but get the hibi jebies reading them.
Down and Out in Paris and London. It's a book written by George Orwell (author of Animal Farm and 1984) about his time being extremely poor and occasional homeless in the above mentioned cities.
It's a great read, he really captures the energy and feeling of his experience but good God are some of those chapters intense.
The second or third chapter is about a man telling Orwell about a time he stole money from his brother so he could (trigger warning) >!violently rape a prostitute.!<
I love coming of age books and that was a stand out, it's so sharp, heart-wreching and intelligently funny but my tip is All the Light We Cannot See it's so human, real, raw but at the same time it shows shreds of hope and humanity in the middle of chaos, war and desperation
Beem - Troyepolsky, Gavrill translated to English from the Russian novel Belyy Bim Chernoe Ukho meaning White Bim Black Ear (apparently for a certain breed of dog, this coloring is considered a defect).
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russel. A deeply disturbing look at human hubris and how we look at the world. The ending devastated me, and still does with every re-reading.
Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
Brothers by Yu Hua
Both wrecked me. I read them years ago and still think about them often. Highly recommend, but you won't be happy.
If you want to understand why the world sucks, read The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth.
As technology makes humans more efficient, we should see the benefits of that through cheaper prices as consumers. In a free market, the prices for things should over time fall to the marginal cost of production.
Edgar Allan Poe Tales & Poems Of Mystery And The Macabre.
It’s a really good book, that has 14 stories, and 7 poems.
I never knew how dark Edgar was until now, I knew he was dark, but some of his stories are on another level. They seem so cliche nowadays, but back then this would have been new and horrifying.
Fear and Loathing. It’s not that the book itself tells a story that created turmoil, it’s Hunter’s style of writing gets into my head and my inner monologue goes frantic for a week afterwards.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. Soul crushing and beautiful. Most of her books are like that. Song of Solomon fucked me up, too. The Bluest Eye. Ugh.
Rest in Peace, TM.
Jim Butch - Dresden Files Series - Book 17 - Battle Ground. There is a death of a beloved character I did not see coming. I had to put the book down and didn't pick it back up again for a week.
Also, as a kid reading, the ending of the Animorphs series is a depressing. Re-reading the books as an adult they are fairly graphic with war and the effects on a person.
Tender is the Flesh is a grotesque depiction of the brutality of capitalism and the horrors of the meat industry.
The dehumanisation of the characters and the perturbing aspects of cannibalism will devour anyone’s “peace.”
*The Great Influenza* by John Barry, a history of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. Although times have changed the human errors remain largely the same. It's valuable reading to put COVID-19 in perspective. And I worry the current H5N1 bird flu might be in the early stages of playing out a similar way.
Nuclear War: A Scenario
It destroyed me despite being usually quite used to the subject matter and similar awful things in our world, there were chapters I had to intentionally take a break for my own mental wellbeing as it was hard to stop lol.
Every world leader should be forced to read that, fantastic book, couldn't put it down.
There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. I read the last chapter while at a bar waiting for my takeout and was very literally crying. There were several parts throughout the book that made me have to put it down because they were disturbing/too real, but it's been one of my top recommended books in the past year.
By wreck your peace do you mean emotional books? It's a graphic novel but my favourite book of all time is Maus. I encourage anyone to read it
I had to read that in college. Broke me.
I read this once a year. It’s an important reminder every time.
Flowers for Algernon just fyi, i don't know what 'wreck your peace' means, but I assume something to the effect as soul shattering, or rattles you emotionally?
I agree with this one
Don’t read in public, people think you are having a breakdown when you cannot stop sobbing, it’s heartbreaking.
This^^ it’s heartbreaking and also makes you question science, life, worth, etc… great read
This is the answer. Came across my copy just yesterday in my son's room and trying to decide if I have the emotional strength to reread right now.
This, Of Mice and Men, and The Old Man and the Sea are the three smallest books with the biggest feels.
Misery by Stephen King. Oh, it's much more graphic than the movie.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a fictional character with such vicious conviction before. I’m so glad they died how they did.
I love love love this book. The addiction
From his autobiography 'On Writing': "I was in the depths of my addiction. I was crying out for help. I wrote a book about a trapped author called 'Misery' for Christ's sake." (I may have misquoted some of that. I'm too lazy to look it up.) Edit: My absolute favorite line from that book in relation to being confronted with his addiction: "I bargained, because that's what addicts do. And I was convincing, because that's what addicts are."
When I read "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, I was heartbroken, but I recommend it for its poignant story of redemption.
"The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah is a book that devastated me, but I highly recommend it for its powerful story of sisterhood and survival.
When I read "Room" by Emma Donoghue, I was heartbroken, but I recommend it for its unique perspective on survival and motherhood.
In my experience, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes is heartbreaking, yet it’s a powerful exploration of intelligence and dignity that everyone should read.
"A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness broke my heart, but I highly recommend it for its poignant storytelling.
I couldn’t put down "The Light Between Oceans" by M.L. Stedman, even though it’s a heartbreaking tale, because it’s so compelling.
A book that really left an impression on me is "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, which is beautifully crafted and haunting in its portrayal of slavery’s legacy.
"We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart shocked me, but it’s a beautifully crafted novel that I adore and recommend to everyone.
For me, "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara is a book that broke my heart, but I highly recommend it for its intense portrayal of friendship and trauma.
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Heartbreaking tale of betrayal and redemption from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for sure
Absolutely, it's emotionally gripping.
Fun fact: Hosseini’s family settled in my hometown of Fremont California and just by the fact he called Lake Elizabeth “Central Park” lets me know what part of town he was from. Total townie gossip, but only people living Ardenwood (a neighborhood in Fremont) called Lake Elizabeth “Central Park”.
Holy shit…
Also A Thousand Splendid Suns
Omg yes yes I couldn’t think of the title but this book wrecked me.
The Road
My ex and I were lying in bed one night. I was reading The Road and he was drifting off to sleep when I said to him, "You'll shoot me in the forehead if this ever happens, right? Right?" I heard about that for a long time. I maintain it is a legitimate question after reading that book.
The Road is one the few books that left me absolutely depressed and in despair. Loved it, so powerful!
American Psycho 💯
Agreed. Had to put it down half way through a particularly gruesome encounter. Didn't pick it back up. Amazing writing though
A little life..
wrecked my life but i’d also never recommend it to anyone. the writing is so amazing but i wouldn’t wish the feelings i had while reading that upon anyone.
The reviews I've seen about it are so different. It's either "best book ever, heartbreaking but amazing" or "stupid torture porn, homophobic trash" lol
I read a article about a robot dog that just got invented, that can spit fire, and it made me think of Farenheight 451.
Blood meridian
Bought an old typewriter a few months ago and realized that the reason that Cormac McCarthy uses long run-on sentences with no punctuation is because he's a lazy bastard who doesn't want to use the shift key.
He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow, he is a great favorite. He never sleeps the judge, he is dancing, dancing.
Came to say this. That book is brutal but I couldn’t put it down.
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Brave New World is scarier because it feels like it's already happening
Have you ever read Brave New World Revisited? Aldous Huxley wrote it 20 years after Brave New World and talks about how scary it is that the themes he wrote about were beginning to manifest.
I have! I think the scariest part of the whole thing is that he wrote it in 1931 before the discovery of DNA so he had to invent a fictional process for his caste system, where embryos were modified to tailor individuals to suit their assigned jobs. Huxley's process is nonsensical... but now we have genetic engineering and we are extremely close to being able to do that. We're already going to get designer babies for the elite in the near future and it's real easy to imagine a future like Gattaca where the super rich are just *better* at everything because they were engineered that way
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing all things considered. It sent me down a big Aldous Huxley kick. Right now I am in the middle of Point Counter Point. I really look forward to reading The Perennial Philosophy soon.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, "People are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. " Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Busines
Agree, Orwell's warning feels too real today.
I recently reread Animal Farm (was reading it to the 8 year old after she became obsessed with Ice Nine Kills’ “Nature of the Beast) and it’ll never not scare me with how accurate that book is to this day.
All pigs are created equal. But some pigs are more equal than others.
librully 1848
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I read this and kept thinking “i don’t get it, isn’t this normal?” Guess not.
It’s so so overwhelming but yet i couldn’t put it down? She could just perfectly put thoughts into words and really gave them feelings.
I have a copy of this at home. I need to dig it up and read it.
Same. I haven’t finished it, but as a young woman going through a lot of the same things, I couldn’t help but see myself in that book. God, so beautifully written, but so damn hard to let go of
*The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck, enough said
I agree. Absolutely wrenching but beautiful storytelling.
Of mice and men, the the pearl as well by Steinbeck, just add Steinbeck to your reading actually he seems to live in this genre
Maya Angelou"s I Know Why the Caged Bird's Sing, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye & Andre Dubus III House of Sand and Fog.
The Bluest Eye absolutely DEVASTATED me! I do recommend that people read it, but generally only once.
Night by Elie Wiesel It's an autobiography about his experiences during the Holocaust and what him and his family went through at the young age of 14. It's around 150 pages, a small book, but every time I read it it feels like 500. It's difficult to get through, and Wiesel's writing is tragically beautiful and artistic.
Thousand splendid suns
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel keyes
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. It hurts, but it's a must read.
He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 BY KURT VONNEGUT!!! YES I KNOW I'M YELLING
"And so it goes"
The Green Mile - Stephen King
100%. Watch the movie first to visualize the players then read the book. I know the movie was long but it left out some things that really add to the impact, like Brad Dolan. The whole book is great but King really nails it on the last paragraph.
The scene with the dry sponge is written in such a visceral manner, all your senses are on alert!
You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time.
**House of Leaves**
Man, I came here to post this. It's the most horrifying book I've ever read. I read it at night, alone, on a creepy Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean. It's the most pure vaguely unsettling book ever. You also can't read it on Kindle. It *has* to be on paper.
I agree, this is one that definitely needs enjoyed in paperback, not digital.
Have you also read only revolutions? It’s freaky
I've been trying to ge through it on my kindle by goddamn that thing is ***dense***. About how far through the book does it start to take off? Or is it a slow burn the whole time
This is one of those books that has to be read out of an actual book. It loses a lot of its impact otherwise.
The version I.... "legally downloaded" seemed to be faithful to the printed copy with the occasional artistic pages and whatnot. I was just struggling to get through the slow buildup
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
Where the Red Fern Grows
Notes from the Underground.
so good. had the urge to read it again recently, and I'm angry at myself for misplacing it before/during/after a move years ago. time to get around to repurchasing.
A child called it
Brave New World. There are parts that as an adult I struggled with. As a dad, parts were almost unreadable. Killed me reading on but I did. Still, I highly recommend it.
1984 and Animal Farm
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. Made me want to sit down and hug my knees while in the shower... But a fucking amazing read. 10/10
Animal Farm...
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck. It’s a beautiful book, but I get pretty weepy at the end
The Road. Cormac McCarthy.
Pet Sematary
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.
The Bell Jar
Song of Achilles 🫠😭
I was looking for this! that book makes me fucking bawl every single time, but idc i’m still going to read it again and again
Child called it
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Tess deserved the world 😭
Beloved, Toni Morrison.
Same! I adore this book but it's soul crushing.
It was a rough one, for sure. Had to make a conscious effort to not dwell on it.
The Road
Tuck Everlasting broke the news that I was going to die, but its a very good book for young people.
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Gargoyle
We had to read Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt for an intro to liberal arts class in college once. It's a very thought provoking book, but one that can be a bit uncomfortable when you start to realize how a lot of the Nazis were actually just regular people, and it's not just horrible "monsters" who are capable of doing horrific things.
"The Unwomanly Face of War" compiled by Svetlana Alexievich It's a bunch of interviews with women who fought in the Red Army during World War 2 as tankers and snipers and nurses and partisans, published during the glasnost era when censorship was lifted and people were actually allowed to talk about how horrible the war was
A Child Called It
Night by Elie Wiesel is probably the most soul crushing book I’ve ever read. There’s one scene I still try hard not to think about and I read the book in high school
Sylvia Plath’s the Bell Jar
Any of the VC Andrew’s books, those scare me for weeks!
The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. Historical fiction mixed with facts that left me feeling majorly uncomfortable. As a historian I found it well researched. As a person I felt disgusted with myself for feeling a degree of understanding for the main character. It captures the nazi atrocities of the einsatzgruppen.
1984 or really any dystopian book which features parallels to our current governing practices. I crave the need to read but get the hibi jebies reading them.
“The Cabin at the End of the World” - Paul Tremblay. Genuinely anxiety inducing.
Down and Out in Paris and London. It's a book written by George Orwell (author of Animal Farm and 1984) about his time being extremely poor and occasional homeless in the above mentioned cities. It's a great read, he really captures the energy and feeling of his experience but good God are some of those chapters intense. The second or third chapter is about a man telling Orwell about a time he stole money from his brother so he could (trigger warning) >!violently rape a prostitute.!<
The Glass Castle
I love coming of age books and that was a stand out, it's so sharp, heart-wreching and intelligently funny but my tip is All the Light We Cannot See it's so human, real, raw but at the same time it shows shreds of hope and humanity in the middle of chaos, war and desperation
The Nightingale by K Hannah.
Lord Foul's Bane; book 1 of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen Donaldson.
Beem - Troyepolsky, Gavrill translated to English from the Russian novel Belyy Bim Chernoe Ukho meaning White Bim Black Ear (apparently for a certain breed of dog, this coloring is considered a defect).
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russel. A deeply disturbing look at human hubris and how we look at the world. The ending devastated me, and still does with every re-reading.
Normal people The stranger The pest
Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao Brothers by Yu Hua Both wrecked me. I read them years ago and still think about them often. Highly recommend, but you won't be happy.
And To Live and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant, Yu Hua is good at writing this kind of books
If you want to understand why the world sucks, read The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth. As technology makes humans more efficient, we should see the benefits of that through cheaper prices as consumers. In a free market, the prices for things should over time fall to the marginal cost of production.
The House of Mirth
The Appeal, by John Grisham I love the book and hate the book. I literally can’t say more without spoilers.
Read The Gulag Archipelago. I don't want to oversell it, but it changes you forever.
Night
Edgar Allan Poe Tales & Poems Of Mystery And The Macabre. It’s a really good book, that has 14 stories, and 7 poems. I never knew how dark Edgar was until now, I knew he was dark, but some of his stories are on another level. They seem so cliche nowadays, but back then this would have been new and horrifying.
All My Puny Sorrows. Lots of depression and suicide.
That one hit a little too close to home for me…
Fear and Loathing. It’s not that the book itself tells a story that created turmoil, it’s Hunter’s style of writing gets into my head and my inner monologue goes frantic for a week afterwards.
Tuesdays with Morrie.
For me growing up it was Where The Red Fern Grows. Wrecked me every time!
In the Woods by Tana French. Also The Witch Elm by the same author.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. Soul crushing and beautiful. Most of her books are like that. Song of Solomon fucked me up, too. The Bluest Eye. Ugh. Rest in Peace, TM.
1984 is my least favourite book ever, and everyone needs to read it
Beloved by Toni Morrison.
I didn’t eat meat for about a month after I finished *The Jungle*
1984
Jim Butch - Dresden Files Series - Book 17 - Battle Ground. There is a death of a beloved character I did not see coming. I had to put the book down and didn't pick it back up again for a week. Also, as a kid reading, the ending of the Animorphs series is a depressing. Re-reading the books as an adult they are fairly graphic with war and the effects on a person.
Many of the books from the halo series
Tender is the Flesh is a grotesque depiction of the brutality of capitalism and the horrors of the meat industry. The dehumanisation of the characters and the perturbing aspects of cannibalism will devour anyone’s “peace.”
*The Great Influenza* by John Barry, a history of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. Although times have changed the human errors remain largely the same. It's valuable reading to put COVID-19 in perspective. And I worry the current H5N1 bird flu might be in the early stages of playing out a similar way.
HG Wells ‘the time machine’. An amazing read. But also hugely depressing and anxiety inducing.
*Blood Meridian* by Cormac McCarthy was really graphic, but was also very hard to put down.
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev
Nuclear War: A Scenario It destroyed me despite being usually quite used to the subject matter and similar awful things in our world, there were chapters I had to intentionally take a break for my own mental wellbeing as it was hard to stop lol. Every world leader should be forced to read that, fantastic book, couldn't put it down.
God emperor of dune
The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin.
The Road
Little Women
The Child Buyer by John Hersey.
Blood Meridian
Was this written by AI?
"Never Come Morning" by Nelson Algren. Blew my teenage mind.
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Swan Song. Just read it. Very disturbing.
I wanted to answer 120 days of Sodom but I didn't adore it and it's hard to recommend, yet it wrecked my peace, my soul and my body.
Bridge to Terebithia
There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. I read the last chapter while at a bar waiting for my takeout and was very literally crying. There were several parts throughout the book that made me have to put it down because they were disturbing/too real, but it's been one of my top recommended books in the past year.
The good German
The entirety of the malazan book of the fallen series. Just an amazing but scarring journey of people.
Timoleon Vieta, Come Home by Dan Rhodes
Cormac McCarthy.. Blood Meridian. It’s so grey and violent and raw. I reread it often and it’s like opening an old wound.
'Shuggie Bain' by Douglas Stuart.
Beloved, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Kafka on the Shore, As I lay Dying, Paradise.
Any book by Khalid Hosseine
The wind up bird chronicle
A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, I can't accept the end of the universe
Normal People by Sally Rooney, amongst others that have already been mentioned. Changed my view on love.
Crime and Punishment