Lyndsay’s Top Picks

 
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Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut

A great choice if… philosophical fiction interests you (also Vonnegut is the GOAT)

Slaughterhouse-Five features a narcoleptic who travels in time when he falls asleep. If that’s not wacky enough for you, it also features Tralfamadorians, an alien race with a refreshing point of view. Conventional philosophy books can be a head-scratcher, but Vonnegut’s fiction makes philosophy more consumable and entertaining. He’s my favorite author (very original, I know), so you should read this. 

 
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Catch 22 By Joseph Heller

A great choice if… you want to laugh when you’re not supposed to

Catch-22 is literally the source of the phrase “catch-22”— stay woke. Joseph Heller mocks anything and everything, giving readers both philosophy and satire. The characters drive the story and he makes them extra wonky. He throws a bunch of guys with nonsensical personalities onto a military base and we get to witness the consequences.

 
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The Catcher in the Rye By J.D. Salinger

A great choice if… you want to stick it to the man!

You weren’t born under a rock—you know this book. But have you read it since 9th grade English class? I like my review of it-- so you should just check that out. Also, some people want to ban this book. Read it to piss those people off! 

 
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Tenth of December By George Saunders

A great choice if… you want to start getting into short stories

George Saunders is the king of short stories. He places an everyday man in a tight spot and sees where he lands, so his stories are grounded in realism… but it’s certainly not shit I’ve ever encountered. Have you ever read a short story collection? If you haven’t, who hurt you? The flexibility of the medium is ideal, and reading an entire story in one sitting is uniquely satisfying.

 
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All the Ugly and Wonderful Things By Bryn Greenwood

A great choice if… you want a page-turner that will push your ethical limits

Bryn Greenwood’s novel is ugly and wonderful. It’s intense, but it has stuck with me more than most books I’ve read. By focusing on intent, not just the actions themselves, Greenwood gives a voice to people doing conventionally “wrong” things for the “right” reasons. If you categorically dislike the book without reading it, you can go ahead and continue polishing that bubble. 

 
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Lolita By Vladimir Nabokov

A great choice if… you want an unconventional “classic”

Lolita is NSFW. Nabakov’s narrator, Humbert Humbert (lol, really) will give you chills, but you don’t have to like the main character to appreciate the writing. Nabakov perfectly depicts a manipulative, obsessed, self-deceived, hysterically-in-love man. The guy is gross, but Nabakov nails the grossness and delivers clever prose.

 
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The Things They Carried By Tim O’Brien

A great choice if… you’re curious about the blending of fiction and nonfiction

When I bought this novel, I knew I was getting a Vietnam War book. I figured it would involve guns, camouflage, and stressed-out men running around and yelling code words. Sure, it’s a story involving war…but more importantly, it’s a book about being a human. O’Brien’s vulnerability really rocked me. 

 
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Room By Emma Donoghue

A great choice if… you want a deceptively dark page-turner

Five-year-old Jack lives with his Ma in a heavily insulated, soundproof garden shed, where Ma has been held in captivity for seven years. Because Jack was born within “Room”, he doesn’t know anything outside of it. His naivety is chilling and Ma is not f***ing around.  

 
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The Goldfinch By Donna Tartt

A great choice if… you want to get wrapped up in a long, compelling story

At 771 big pages (not to brag), Donna Tartt’s novel is a doozy worthy of your time. The book is a compelling fictional maze; it’s lengthy enough to get totally lost in and it’s detailed enough to fully invest you in the characters. In the time that I read it, I thought about this book constantly, even when I put it down. When I picked it up the next day, I tried to guess what would happen next, and I was inevitably wrong-- a testament to Tartt’s endless imagination. 

 
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The Girls By Emma Cline

A great choice if… you have a penchant for cult stories

The Girls is about the Manson Family without being about the Manson Family. It never uses the M-word; instead, it focuses on a fictional cult, seen through the lens of a fringe member, Evie. Even a few pages in, Evie comes to life so vividly, and I felt a slew of emotions towards her: fascination, revulsion, empathy, disappointment. Emma Cline’s first novel is a rollercoaster, and I’m still feeling the lingering effects. 

 
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The Best of Roald Dahl By Roald Dahl

A great choice if… you want a good bang for your buck and you have a dark sense of humor

You probably recognize my man Dahl from his children’s books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, etc. His classics might have padded his pocketbook, but he saved his most dark and twisted literature for adults. This collection contains 25 short stories. You won’t find any happy endings here, but hey, a happily-ever-after is for suckers.

 
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Candide By Voltaire

A great choice if… you want some old-school satire

What comes to mind when you hear “18th-century fiction”? Candide will defy your expectations. The humor is hella dry and there’s plenty of religious blasphemy. Voltaire wrote Candide because he was tired of people’s unrealistic optimism. It’s a novella, so it won’t take up a ton of your time.

 
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius By Dave Eggers

A great choice if… you want a memoir that makes you laugh one second and cry the next

At age 21, Dave Eggers’ parents died within five weeks of each other, and he became the primary caregiver for his eight-year-old brother. Eggers is terribly funny amidst terrible tragedy. The story of his life is truly heartbreaking and his writing is staggeringly genius.