100 books like Fludd

If I had to use one word to describe The Sellout, it would be “charged”. 

The Sellout tells the story of a young black man who lost his father to a police shooting. As he attempts to cope with this new reality, his hometown is gradually fading into oblivion. To salvage what’s left of it, he decides on the craziest plan: reinstating slavery. An action that will drag our protagonist to the Supreme Court’s doorsteps.

Unconventional and wild, The Sellout is one of the best social commentaries on America’s racial issues you’ll ever read. I guarantee it, I stand behind it.

Carrie Fischer became an icon after playing Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, but there’s a whole subpopulation of women who idolize Carrie and still mourn her death for an entirely different reason. We love her writing, and also who she was – honest, vulnerable, subversive, and hilarious. In my 20s, I read three Carrie Fischer novels in a row. Sometimes you have that youthful moment when you connect with the voice of a writer so strongly, that you become forever devoted to them. For me, this author was Carrie Fischer. The novel is about an actress who goes to rehab, so, like the others mentioned here, there’s an autobiographical thread running through it. I love Carrie’s honest writing, her wicked insights into the human condition, and her heroic sense of humor in the face of being a woman in Hollywood and on the planet. 

This is a masterclass in satirical writing but also just in novel writing. Coe manages to combine a gripping narrative and murder mystery with a scathing indictment of Great Britain in the 80s, when venal wealth was king and the country lost its soul. This was one of those books where I felt like I learned so much, about British culture, politics, corruption, and a 1961 comedy horror movie that shares its name with the book title, but I didn’t notice it because I was having such a good time. There are so many layers to the plot – and inventive dimensions to the way the story is told - and it’s one of my favorite books of all time.  

I was able to be on a couple of panels with Mr. Greer where he discussed this novel and its sequel, Less is Lost. The first book, Less, is a queer novel that won the Pulitzer Prize, a well-deserved accolade for this story about second chances in life—or third or fourth chances, depending upon the situation.

It’s remarkable to see a novel like this win such a major literary prize. Mr. Greer deserves it for his dynamic work.

I am a great fan of the sensational xianxia drama The Untamed, which is why I love this novel from which the drama is adapted.

One thing that I really like about the novel is the character Wen Qing. My heart is captured by her quiet ways of going about her practice of medicine, her deep but understated affection for her brother Wen Ning, and her unwavering loyalty to her good friend Wei Wuxian after facing adversities together with him. She actually saves him twice, the second time with her own life.

What also strikes me as outstanding is the way the novel constantly asks the thought-provoking questions: what is good and what is evil, and why are unorthodox ways deemed as evil?   

When the book was written very few past books were available so this was the first book on the subject that I read and it took me on a path from being a traditional psychotherapist to being trained by Roger.

He pioneered body therapy for clearing traumatic past lives and through his work I was inspired to become a past life regression therapist, author, and eventually a trainer in this area myself. 

Roger had the gift of communication through his talks and books that has touched so many people over the years. This book is still as relevant and inspirational today as it was when I first read it.

I can only speak from my experience and, wow, this book hooked me right at the end of that first chapter, “but it’s happening faster.” Now to go into what that means, I will remain spoiler-free, but my jaw dropped. And the story only ramped up after that.

I love stories where the protagonist finds themselves in genuine peril, and Claire puts Harry August in a particular type of peril that truly had me terrified for his well-being in every chapter. The best type of suspense escalates in every chapter and it escalates here in this book in the best possible ways.

The first science fiction book I ever read was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. This book began my lifelong passion for watching sci-fi movies and reading books. It wasn’t until the end of high school that I would discover The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel, an epic novel that combines romance, spirituality, and science fiction.

The story weaves eternal themes of love, destiny, reincarnation, and human interconnectedness juxtaposed against a futuristic society where time and space travel, telepathy, and access to the mystical Akashic records (every person’s thoughts, emotions, experiences, and actions) are accessible to all.

While the author’s book Like Water for Chocolate received widespread attention and a Hollywood movie adaptation, it was The Law of Love that to this day shapes my romantic ideals and titillates my sci-fi and philosophical curiosities.

I’m going to try really to not spoil this one…This is the story of two people who seem to be locked in life together, and not just locked in life, but repeating life. Sometimes they are friends. Sometimes they are lovers. There’s even a life where they are parent and child. The scenarios repeat – a bit of a Groundhog Day-ness to them. Then you quickly realize this is a cleverly disguised sci-fi, but despite all that, it’s the soul-mate-like connections that make us human. 

This book seems to divide opinions, but for me it was love at first sight. It was the first book I had read where they delve into the battle of the fallen. I was mid writing my own book at the time, which also features my version of events, so it was fascinating to read another author's take on the history of angels.

I found the story quite dark and atmospheric, and I enjoyed unravelling the past along with the main character, Luce. There's also a romance laced through the pages with two love interests where I found myself rooting for the 'bad guy'. Perhaps this is where I gained my enjoyment of a love triangle in books.