Here are 100 books that The Wall fans have personally recommended if you like
The Wall.
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I’ve always been curious about how stories shape how we see the world. As a child, I noticed there were countless conflicting stories explaining how things worked. But which stories were the real ones? Which were true? At university, I studied the stories we tell ourselves about how the world will end. And as we live in times that can feel quite apocalyptic, I’m particularly fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what the future holds. If society dissolved around us, what stories would we tell ourselves to keep going? Are we telling those stories now?
I read this book twice: once for the story and once to explore the post-apocalyptic landscape. The story is beautifully written, engaging, and tender.
But when I read it for the second time, I found many interesting ideas lurking in the background. I remember some of the scenes from this book so vividly that the locations feel like places I’ve been.
I love (!) discussing the ending and pondering the motives of all the characters on the periphery of the narrative.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle).
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if…
I am an academic and a passionate reader of women’s fiction. My job title, Reader in Contemporary Women’s Writing, is also, fortunately, my hobby. I love to think about how women’s writing explores women’s lives today. I chose the theme of dystopian fiction because The Handmaid’s Tale has been so central to my work. Still, other potential topics that came to mind were motherhood, home and domestic labour, reproductive politics, and feminist protest. It strikes me now that each of the books on my list also cover these topics. This is the element of my work I love – drawing out the connections and political convictions that make today’s women’s writing so powerful.
This is the first book I ever read by Butler and it remains my favourite. Butler’s vision of near-future America is one of climate crisis, economic collapse, and social anarchy. The scenes of violence and degradation are terrifying.
What I love about this novel is how Butler creates a true hero – visionary, determined, and inspirational – in Lauren, a teenage girl. Written as a journal, the protagonist’s youth can be heard in her language ("I hate being a kid," she complains), but Butler has every faith in her as an extraordinary leader. In many ways, it’s a classic quest novel, as Lauren’s followers head north in search of safety; it’s also an attempt to articulate a new way of thinking about the earth and our relationship to it.
Butler uses elements familiar to dystopian writing, and the novel reminds me of many others, but it somehow manages to be…
The extraordinary, prescient NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling novel.
'If there is one thing scarier than a dystopian novel about the future, it's one written in the past that has already begun to come true. This is what makes Parable of the Sower even more impressive than it was when first published' GLORIA STEINEM
'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI
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We are coming apart. We're a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.
America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to…
I’ve always been curious about how stories shape how we see the world. As a child, I noticed there were countless conflicting stories explaining how things worked. But which stories were the real ones? Which were true? At university, I studied the stories we tell ourselves about how the world will end. And as we live in times that can feel quite apocalyptic, I’m particularly fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what the future holds. If society dissolved around us, what stories would we tell ourselves to keep going? Are we telling those stories now?
I love pondering how stories shape our understanding of the world around us. This book has so much to say about stories and storytelling and is written so cleverly and heartbreakingly that I couldn’t put it down. I love how the child protagonist tells us her story while there’s another story in the background. I love how it made me feel about my role as an author.
I found this story surprisingly dark to be a children’s book. But it’s dark in a way that reminds me of being scared of the monster under the bed as a child, knowing that, as long as you lie absolutely still, the monster might not exist–or it might already be on its way.
An unforgettable journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us human. The incredible Newbery Medal-winning novel from Donna Barba Higuera.
"Gripping in its twists and turns, and moving in its themes - truly a beautiful cuento." - NEW YORK TIMES
Habia una vez . . .
There lived a girl named Petra Pena, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.
But Petra's world is ending. Earth will soon be destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have…
I’ve always been curious about how stories shape how we see the world. As a child, I noticed there were countless conflicting stories explaining how things worked. But which stories were the real ones? Which were true? At university, I studied the stories we tell ourselves about how the world will end. And as we live in times that can feel quite apocalyptic, I’m particularly fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what the future holds. If society dissolved around us, what stories would we tell ourselves to keep going? Are we telling those stories now?
This play, which I’ve read as a script but not seen performed, is a genuine treat. It hits the sweet spot for me: it is a delicious cross-section of ‘post-apocalyptic’ and ‘stories about stories.'
I also loved it for just how weird it was. It’s such a bizarre–yet realistic–depiction of how stories change over time, and it’s the only thing I’ve ever read that has made me want to write a play. It’s probably the oddest text I ever recommend to people.
"One of the most spectacularly original plays in recent memory."Entertainment Weekly
"Fascinating and hilarious . . . With each of its three acts, Mr. Burns grows grander."Village Voice
"When was the last time you met a new play that was so smart it made your head spin? . . . Mr. Burns has arrived to leave you dizzy with the scope and dazzle of its ideas . . . with depths of feeling to match its breadth of imagination."The New York Times
An ode to live theater and the resilience of The Simpsons, Anne Washburn's apocalyptic comedy Mr. Burns"even better…
I’m an Australian author and artist who is quite cautious and introverted by nature, but very curious and playful at heart. I make books that help people untangle what’s on their mind today and shift their thinking in creative ways, often using visual metaphors. My latest book, Guidebook to the Unknown, was created during the long lockdowns we had in Melbourne (and all over the world of course) during the pandemic. It was my way of exploring how to calm an anxious mind and find meaning in my daily life, right here and now, without knowing what tomorrow will bring.
This story has stayed with me for years. A woman takes a holiday in the Austrian mountains and wakes up to an inexplicable new reality—she’s totally alone in the world, so it seems, and has to learn to fend for herself. We journey into the unknown with her as she reports on the mental and physical challenges of her new daily life… and it stirs up so many interesting questions about who we are without connection and community, and where meaning can be found in the most stripped-back life.
“I can allow myself to write the truth; all the people for whom I have lied throughout my life are dead…” writes the heroine of Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall, a quite ordinary, unnamed middle-aged woman who awakens to find she is the last living human being. Surmising her solitude is the result of a too successful military experiment, she begins the terrifying work of not only survival, but self-renewal. The Wall is at once a simple and moving talk — of potatoes and beans, of hoping for a calf, of counting matches, of forgetting the taste of sugar and the…
Do you see the pattern in the five books I’ve recommended? In each of them, a woman writer explores the darker side of human nature and lures the law-abiding reader to explore it, too. I do not expect to ever commit a murder or to have to cover one up for the sake of a loved one. But could I? Could the person next to me in the grocery store line? Hmmm, I wonder. Traditional mystery stories and police procedurals reassure the reader that in the end, justice will be served and order restored. The women writers of noir/psychological suspense make us contemplate the world very differently.
The Blank Wallis a departure from my first three recommendations. It focuses on a woman who leads a frazzled but ordinary life during World War II. She must keep her family and home going while her husband is at war. She has to fight a source of evil that invades her home to preserve the norms that seem all-important to her. The fight means stepping outside of those very norms. I recommend this book as an exploration of what it means to do whatever it takes to protect a loved one.
In The Blank Wall (1947) ‘a suburban matron, harassed by wartime domestic problems – her husband is overseas – finds herself implicated in the murder of her young daughter’s extremely unattractive beau’ (The New Yorker). An outstanding example of the psychological thriller genre, ‘worthy of the great Patricia Highsmith herself,’ as Lady Antonia Fraser said in the Spectator, it was filmed as The Reckless Moment in 1949 and as The Deep End in 2001, starring Tilda Swinton. In 1950 Raymond Chandler asked his English publisher, ‘Does anybody in England publish Elisabeth Sanxay Holding? For my money she’s the top suspense…
As an Indian writer of contemporary fiction revolving around family, relationships, emotions, and hope, I am constantly on the lookout for similar novels to take inspiration from them and learn how to build beautiful, well-etched characters and portray heart-wrenching emotions. I love books that make me cry as they give me a fulfillment like nothing else. I love characters that are likable and make me feel a strong connection with them. And I like to write similar characters in my books as well. The readers of my novel The Fragile Thread of Hope have corroborated the same. I live in Gangtok, a hill station in northeast India.
Employing delectable metaphors and classy language, Stormy Hazika scripts a moving novel about love that defies the barriers of age and time. The unorthodox relationship between Ryeed, a professor and Nikita, his young student, is penned with such skill and depth that I couldn’t believe it’s her debut novel. I loved reading about the trials and tribulations they face from their respective families, their sacrifices, and how destiny gives them second chances. Several lines filled me with inspiration and tugged at my heartstrings. A wondrous novel indeed.
Devastated by the death of his wife, university Professor Ryeed Lahan initially ignores the attentions of the very young and attractive Nikita Adhikari, a young, college student who refuses to leave him alone. Gradually, Lahan begins to believe that he is being given a second chance at happiness. But Destiny has more challenging choices in store for him and Lahan is eventually compelled to make decisions that will forever alter the course of his life. A narrative of love, hate, betrayal and trust, A RIVER ON THE WALL explores the extraordinary range of human emotion that the ordinary individual experiences.…
Ever since I read 1984 when I was a teenager, I’ve been fascinated by this idea of how we as humans respond to desperate situations, and where better to find those situations than in the dystopia and post-apocalyptic genres? Novels in these categories are often, at their core, underdog stories. As a reader, I love seeing a character battle and overcome situations that, in the real world, would give any of us nightmares. But more than that, I love stories that touch me emotionally, that balance the line between tragic and beautiful.
The entire Forgotten Lands trilogy is amazing, but I cannot gush enough about Tide and Tempest. I have a weakness for the enemies to lovers trope, and when set against a post-apocalyptic wasteland, I was utterly sold. Fantastic writing and world-building paired with unforgettable characters you will want to root for. This author is an auto-buy for me!
Lightning decimates the land, but the people of Ebonpeak know there are greater threats than tempests and firestorms. Raiders pillage the coastline, destroying everything and leaving none unscathed.
Six years ago, Desolation Day stole everything from Samara—except the drive to be stronger, fight harder, and never look back. But her greatest test is yet to come. When the enemy washes ashore with the rising tides, upturning Samara’s world once again, can she shed the scars of her past to save her people, or will her hatred destroy her completely?
I love to read. Reading since I was 3 years old, devouring book after book. As I grew, my taste expanded. Yet it was the sci-fi book, The Black Hole, by Disney that I discovered in second grade that captured my passion for writing and storytelling. I cannot count how many books I've read, but I can tell you the ones that have left a lasting impression on me. Because of that, I began to write my own stories. I've seven books written and published, the newest one releasing soon. While my tastes in books vary, only one thing remains consistent: finding the best books that capture me and hold me hostage!
Eric Landfried put a new spin on a dystopian setting. I’ve always enjoyed the movies Mad Max and Book of Eli. With Solitary Man (and yes, I start singing the Johnny Cash song!), I got the same vibe as those movies, yet with a twist! From zombie-like cannibals to a super-enhanced military general, the character was hard-pressed to survive. I just couldn’t put this book down!
Ten years after a brutal war, cannibals and humans fight over the pieces of a hardscrabble existence.
Former Navy SEAL Doyle has been prowling the broken remnants of a devastated America for years. Alone in an armored bus loaded with weapons and supplies, he's grateful for his solitude. Being alone makes it easier to survive, as others can become a liability in the end of the world. But when a particularly brutal attack leaves Doyle in need of fuel and repair, he has no choice but to venture into the nearest settlement.
I write fiction and nonfiction. I tell the truth, but on occasion, I twist the truth to create entertaining stories to feed your soul like soul food Sunday. I write for kids: for the teeny tots and rebel rousers. Stories both short and long with characters brave, bold, and strong. Settings that transport you to a world so captivating, you don’t want to leave. My stories are like quilts, threaded with themes of love, hope, family, and food. They provide comfort, keeping you hopeful through times of despair. I handle your heart, mind, and soul with care. I love seeing children have agency on the page. I love that they do them, and they are unapologetic about what they do.
This book is the first of its kind. It is a dystopian picture book. Flowers are almost non-existent. It’s a rarity. So, every year, there is an annual race. Rou wants to win, but not for her. She wants the flowers for her grandmother. I love that she put someone before her. This book is gorgeously illustrated and the message of what you would do to please the ones you love is abundantly clear. I love this book.
Rou and the Great Race: In a time when a flower is so rare that it is the grand prize of an annual race, Rous only wish is to win for her grandma, who is haunted by memories of when flowers were once abundant. But sometimes the real prize is not whats offered by others, but what we make for ourselves.
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