Fiction
Books of the fiction variety.
Listed by the author as a part of her reading list for the summer, epitomizing her love for fantasy.
A book by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, described as a masterpiece of human confabulation.
A novel by John Fante that captures the luminous gloom of 1930s Los Angeles with a lyrical noir style, almost like reading poetry.
A novel that juxtaposes a story of revolution in 1950s Egypt against contemporary insurrection movements in the Middle East.
A thriller novel by a former case officer at CIA turned writer, detailing espionage and intrigue.
A collection of sci-fi stories that explain complex topics in an accessible manner, akin to a conversation with a friend.
Mentioned as a mind-blowingly good book the reader still thinks about.
Recommended by Rebekah Sanderlin and obtained through Alexander Chee’s subscription box service from Boxwalla.
A classic novel by Jane Austen.
A quiet but totally devastating account of the narrator’s relationship with her parents, particularly her mother. It’s excruciating at times but also quite funny.
'Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz', in his first collection, is the one most returned to.
About an Irish family struggling with a moral crisis in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s little but has a huge heart.
A novel about an overthinker who can’t stop making awful decisions, with one of the funniest endings.
A novel by Cory Doctorow about a world where a small group of rebels reject control by elites and create their own economy.
William Gibson's book about a post-apocalyptic world that discovers a two-way portal to an earlier time, and a woman's life in both worlds.
Neal Stephenson’s trilogy exploring the development of science and key figures in the early days of the Enlightenment.
A representative example of the Japanese genre shin honkaku, known for its abstract approach and adherence to the rules of orthodox detective fiction. In its introduction, Shimada Shoji highlights the unique, almost robotic character depictions and a focus on storytelling over sophisticated writing.
Part of the shin honkaku genre, published in 1989 as a pillar of this movement in Japanese detective fiction.
A novel by Michael Mann that serves as a prequel/sequel to the movie Heat, adding depth and history to the story.
A book that transports the reader to a sunny Italian courtyard in the 1950’s, celebrated for its prose and characters.
A book Christine is currently reading based on the advice of her well-read in-laws.
An engrossing love story described as 'an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love.'
A story that ties together simulation theory, time travel, and future dystopia.
The main character is a writer who has a baby and does everything a mother, especially a new mother, should not do: ditches her baby and husband, gets high, masturbates a lot.
No specific description given (Not to be confused with the film).
It’s about a woman who decides to live her life according to the principles of the Robert Louis Stevenson book.
A novel by Alexandra Kleeman that explores themes of identity, consumerism, and the body in a surreal, dystopian setting.
Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, encompassing Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam, explores a dystopian vision of the future, focusing on themes like climate change, corporate power, wealth disparity, and technology.
A suspense novel with humor and surprises, unexpected from the Deadspin author.
Late to the game but the HBO series is a perfect opportunity to catch up.
A book by Tove Jansson without additional context in the newsletter.
The book that helped inspire the vision for the metaverse and coined the term.
A story beginning with a heatwave in India that addresses climate change.
A novel that captures a unique writing voice and perspective, sparking significant discourse and being described as both special and important.
A fictional story by Agatha Christie, alternating with non-fiction in the reading choices. It is part of exploring diverse genres.
C. Auguste Dupin, a purveyor of 'ratiocination,' or intensive reasoning—who was introduced to the world in 'The Murders on the Rue Morgue' by Edgar Allan Poe, which invented the murder mystery genre we know today.
A book by John Steinbeck, mentioned as a liked sweeping multi-generational story by the author of the post.
A book by Hanya Yanagihara that is described by the author of the post as a sweeping multi-generational story.
A book that provides a taste of and twist on Japan, imagining Sherlock Holmes' adventures there.
A book by Italo Calvino, consisting of 55 vignettes of imaginary cities, which all turn out to be Venice.
This novel by Muriel Spark details a woman hunting for a man whose task is not to be her lover, but her murderer, speaking volumes to the complexity of women’s sexual liberation post-#metoo.
A collection of stories by Izumi Suzuki, a pioneering Japanese science fiction writer, tackling imperialism and gender politics with speculative freshness.
A two-act play by Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) about a white woman who murders a black man on the New York subway after he refuses her seductions, using the subway as a metaphor to address a lineage of Karens and the ghost ship myth of the ‘Flying Dutchman’.
A novel by Rebecca Watson, recently finished by the author of the post but yet to be succeeded by a new reading choice.
A novel by Sheila Heti, described as a novel from life.
One of the recently finished books by the narrator that was considered a fabulous, fast read.
Laymon's work is much appreciated, particularly this book which involves themes of time travel.
A plausible future. A good allegory for our current relationship with the ecological destruction of our future.
A 1953 sci-fi novel that inspired Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. The novel features a band of exceptional people 'bleshing' their consciousness to create a super-being.
A novel that strikes a perfect balance between surreal and relatable; eerie and fantastic.
A collection of short stories that are both surreal and relatable; eerie and fantastic.
A book recommended by the author that they found particularly impactful.
A novel by Delia Owens that explores love for the natural world.
A science fiction novel by Liu Cixin, exploring themes of military science, weapons development, and more.
A short story collection by Ted Chiang, which includes 'Story of Your Life,' the basis for the movie Arrival.
Set in Sweden, it tells the story of a bank robbery gone wrong, a small group of extremely nervous hostages, and two policemen working hard to unravel what’s happened. The narrator found it laugh-out-loud funny for most of the book.
A 6-part autobiography by Karl Ove Knausgaard that details every aspect of his life, offering an in-depth exploration of his anxieties, rituals, and experiences.
A novel about the four divergent paths the life of its protagonist might take, exploring themes of fate, love, and the challenges of life.
A novel set in Bombay, weaving together the lives of a retired police officer, a notorious gangster, and the intricate world of Bollywood.
A science fiction novel that questions traditional notions of gender through its exploration of a planet where the inhabitants can choose and change their gender.
A novel that walks the line between psychological thriller and introspection, telling the story of an elderly woman who finds a note implicating a dead body in the woods.
An experimental novel that blends historical fact with speculative fiction to tell the story of Abraham Lincoln's grief over the loss of his son.
A science fiction trilogy that explores themes of environmental destruction and racial prejudice.
A novel by Patricia Lockwood that explores the dichotomy of the online world and real life.
A novel by Sylvia Townsend Warner about a woman moving to the countryside to live as a witch.
A 2017 translation of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson, featuring brisk, plain English and written in iambic pentameter to capture the urgency and freshness of Homer's work.
A collection of speculative fiction tales about the afterlife, written by neuroscientist and author David Eagleman. The book explores various imaginative scenarios of what may happen after we die.
A novel by Maryse Condé that is a must-read, focusing on the African Diaspora, with insights into their colonialism and slavery past.
Full disclosure I haven't yet read Segal's first book yet, but based on her thought-provoking and often quite funny trend reports for K-Hole and Nemesis, I bought a copy on sight and eagerly await its arrival.
Recommended as a must-read by Debbie Millman.
A multi-generational historical fiction thriller set in Japanese occupied Busan.
A free ebook collection featuring a story by Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor, who developed the concept of "Africanfuturism," along with work by seven other African science fiction authors.
A novel that is both light and dark, described as a total page turner.
A fiction book that Roman Mars couldn't put down, noted for its dialogue and accents reminiscent of those he grew up with.
An audiobook created for Audible and A24 by Jesse Eisenberg. Mentioned in a positive light.
A novel that is eerie, disquieting, and prescient, discussing dynamics between a white Brooklyn family and an older Black couple amidst an apocalyptic event.
Described as a campus novel, offering a distinct perspective and narrative.
Another book by Rumaan Alam, indicating a breadth of themes and explorations in relationship dynamics.
One of Rumaan Alam's other books mentioned as part of the works to expect from the author.
A novel that has become a cult classic in running circles, detailing the life of a fictional runner.
Part of Vaughn Tan's current reading list, being re-read.
One of the books Vaughn Tan is currently reading.
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan is praised for its extremely direct way with words, humorously cutting to the funnybone.
A vintage whodunnit by Michael Gilbert set in a prisoner of war camp in Italy during WW2, first published in 1952.
A novel that Robin Sloan recently reread, described as nearly perfect and richly captivating, with its events unfolding in the run-up to the First Opium War.
A novel by Chitra Banerjee-Divakaruni that tells stories from epic Indian tales from the female perspective.
A novel by Ben Lerner about the difference between language and talking, the power and the powerlessness of verbal communication.
The first novel by Helen DeWitt, which has been enthusiastically recommended.
A novel by Colson Whitehead.
A first novel by a poet, structured as a letter from a Vietnamese-American son who is a writer to a mother who cannot read. The book is a meditation on the limitations of words and explores the distances immigrants travel, both physically and symbolically.
The first book of the sci-fi series inspired by fellow WITI contributor Chris P's recommendation.
A book by Kurt Vonnegut that touches on themes of building versus maintenance in human character.
In this blend of mystery and philosophical musings, the novel follows an eccentric woman in a remote Polish village as she becomes involved in investigating a series of mysterious deaths, presenting a unique commentary on the human condition and our relationship with animals.
A haunting, Orwellian novel about an unnamed island where things, and then people, start disappearing from memory, policed by the ominous Memory Police. It delves into themes of memory, loss, and resistance.
Environmental fiction that delves into more than just ecological concerns.
A fragmentary novel with interconnected stories, great for summer reading.
A novel by Ottessa Moshfegh about an unlikeable main character with an obsession with sleep, which is being adapted into a film by Yorgos Lanthimos.
The best book on bottlenecks revolves around Goldratt’s “theory of constraints” and the five focusing steps to uncover bottlenecks.
A dystopian science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick that explores themes of identity, surveillance, drug use, and paranoia.
A seminal cyberpunk novel by William Gibson that has influenced much of modern science fiction and internet-centric culture.
A novel by J.G. Ballard about a man stranded on a section of abandoned land created by several intersecting motorways.
A novel by William Gibson that explores themes of technology, globalization, and culture.
