Fans pick 100 books like The Lathe of Heaven

This is a book you wouldn't want to lend to a friend, but you might want to buy it for a friend! It’s a genre-defying memoir of a grieving daughter that I found inspirational and validating in the wake of my own parents' deaths. Helen MacDonald loses her father and embarks on a journey to find, adopt, and train a goshawk, one of the fiercest and most feral predators on Earth...a remarkable metaphor for her own wild grief.

As her relationship evolves with the goshawk, Mabel, they learn together the beauty and terror of being alive. I found great inspiration here because it taught me that you can talk about hard things in a lyrical, uplifting way, leaving your readers to soar on the last page, not jumping out of windows. 

As shocking as I felt Kubrick’s film was, I think the book is possibly more startling. Some scenes Kubrick played for laughs are described as violent and sadistic in the novel. If, like me, you are a fan of the film, it’ll fill in some blanks for you. Ever wonder why Alex and his friends drink milk?

The book is written in futuristic teen-speak that did take me a while to get my head around, but this ultimately adds to the strangeness of the insular world these ‘droogs’ inhabit. Though it was first published in 1962, I think this is still a very relevant and unflinching look at the place of violence in society.

I loved Margaret Atwood’s book, a cautionary story that shows how the extreme distortion of religious ideologies can lead to devastating outcomes. Offred endures unimaginable hardship under the guise of religious piety, but the reality is much more twisted.

Her determination to survive in such harrowing circumstances is inspiring and challenges us to reflect on our views and norms. 

Legends are made of powerful stuff, and nothing has greater power than a total flip in perspective. I still recall the gut-punch end to this book, though it’s been decades since I read it. 

Robert Neville is a vampire hunter by day and a tormented man by night. As seemingly the only living human in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Robert faces depression, isolation, alcoholism, and his undead neighbor, Ben Cortman, who appears outside Robert’s front door each night chanting, "Come out, Neville."

But when Robert is finally captured, and the truth of his situation is revealed, he gets a good look at the world through the eyes of the undead and is forced to ask himself, who am I? What have I become? 

It’s a fascinating book. The story takes place in 2024, and some themes seem prophetic: water shortages, soaring food prices, the resulting social chaos, and Mars exploration. There is also a president who promises to “make America great again” (the book was written in 1993). 

I liked the story, though it left a rather heavy impression on me. I couldn't put it down despite how grim it was. I was especially fascinated by its invented religion, though I’m more inclined to view it as a philosophy. It was refreshing, stimulating, and thought-provoking.

Through her dystopian vision, Octavia Butler explores the issues of inequality, poverty, slavery, politics, capitalism, religion, and human psychology. Her book is a great analysis of what human beings are capable of in crisis.

I can’t find a more deeply philosophical book, among all adult literature, to compare with the works of Madeleine L’Engle.

The protagonists of these stories may be children, but they live in a world of scientific supernature that blurs the lines between measurable, observable reality and mystic philosophy. Even before researching Madeleine L’Engle’s life, I could tell that she was a serious thinker.

Few books have had such a profound impact on the way I approach living in the “real” world of adults. Einstein would have loved this book.

I love Vonnegut’s style of blending an intensely serious topic (doomsday, brought on by human invention) with his trademark wit. He is my favorite author because he takes an outlandish premise and imbues it with humanity–people caring for one another, banding together, unleashing something outside of their control, etc. 

I loved the cyberpunk setting, the tension of not knowing who was going to win, the fact that a lot of characters were activists and belonged to the counterculture, the futuristic technology, and the complexity of the protagonists. I also loved how even though a pair of antagonists represented the side my values go against, I couldn't perceive them as villains. I experienced such intimate and vulnerable moments with them that I ended up accepting them for who they were.

The book explores issues of freedom and slavery, human relationships and the relationship between humans and bots, gender, love, the dangers of patented science, and more. It was very intense, brimming with ideas, feelings, technology (some of which went over my head), science, and action.

E. Lockhart's book is a really stunning blend of tragedy and mystery, set against the backdrop of a seemingly perfect, affluent family.

The story revolves around Cadence Sinclair, a young woman who spends her summers on her family's private island. After suffering a traumatic head injury, she struggles with amnesia and is desperate to piece together what happened during the summer of her accident.

The narrative is both haunting and beautifully poetic. It makes the shocking truths that slowly unravel feel even more impactful. What I love most about this book is its deep dive into themes of family, privilege, and the lies we tell ourselves and each other to uphold appearances. The Sinclairs are a family that seems to have it all, but beneath the surface lies greed, selfishness, and manipulation.

The story is told in a series of choppy, fragmented recollections that mirror Cadence's own disjointed memories, creating… show more.

Overstuffed and labyrinthine, Eco’s novel dives into a highly academic rabbit hole of conspiracy theories that toss me head over heels like a strong wave in the ocean. It reads a bit like The DaVinci Code written by Thomas Pynchon (who we’ll get to in a minute), the paranoias stemming from historical entities like the Knights Templar and the Rosicrucians.

I’d be hard-pressed to provide an accurate summary of events, but it all makes for a pleasantly bewildering reading experience.