Books that make you sit alone and question everything. I mean when we read something so mind blowing and shocking we close the book and just THINK. Books that send you into deep void of thoughts.
It’s a classic for a reason: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I finished the book in the airport and had to just sit and stare into space for a while after processing the last 2 pages. The rest of the book is good, and has a significant purpose, but the last 2 pages take the book on to an entirely different level.
Only warning is that Achebe challenges the readers by making the lead Protagonist a not good person. He also challenges the readers on their perspective on colonization by having the reader know that the book is against colonization, but also by having the lead protagonist be an immoral person and the lead colonizer be a kinder person. It forces the reader to put aside the moral readings of individual to look at the morality of the bigger picture, in my opinion – or to state it more simply, it forces the reader to recognize that seemingly good people can do bad things, and bad people can have immoral things done to them.
I heavily recommend it. I cannot say what shocked me and made me think without giving you a spoiler, but just know it fits the bill!
veganmomPA on
Ted Chiang’s short stories.
sfl_jack on
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (and later others) by Richard Bach.
Anonymauthor on
I know that feeling — the kind of story where you don’t just finish it, you sit there for a while after.
I’ve been drawn to that kind of writing lately — quieter, but unsettling in the way it makes you think about what just happened.
I actually put together a short collection in that space. Made it free for 2 days if you’re open to trying something new.
Roseheath22 on
Sum: 41 Tales of the Afterlives
A Short Stay in Hell
I Who Have Never Known Men
malabi_snorlax on
Timeshelter by Georgi Gospodinov – really beautiful reflections within the narrative. I stopped multiple times to screenshot paragraphs that made me stop and read them again and just think.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa for a really weird and slightly disturbing plot that makes you stop and wonder what the hell is going on.
Read Timeshelter if you want paragraphs of writing that make you stop and think and question elements of life you took for granted, or The Memory Police if you want the plot to do that.
No_Beautiful_8647 on
Breakout, by Martin Russ. The best non fiction description of a modern battle I’ve ever read. The amount of suffering the participants had to endure just to stay alive was staggering.
Every page makes you stop and say, God DAMN!!!
8 Comments
Whipping Girl by Julia Serano (nonfiction)
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
It’s a classic for a reason: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I finished the book in the airport and had to just sit and stare into space for a while after processing the last 2 pages. The rest of the book is good, and has a significant purpose, but the last 2 pages take the book on to an entirely different level.
Only warning is that Achebe challenges the readers by making the lead Protagonist a not good person. He also challenges the readers on their perspective on colonization by having the reader know that the book is against colonization, but also by having the lead protagonist be an immoral person and the lead colonizer be a kinder person. It forces the reader to put aside the moral readings of individual to look at the morality of the bigger picture, in my opinion – or to state it more simply, it forces the reader to recognize that seemingly good people can do bad things, and bad people can have immoral things done to them.
I heavily recommend it. I cannot say what shocked me and made me think without giving you a spoiler, but just know it fits the bill!
Ted Chiang’s short stories.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (and later others) by Richard Bach.
I know that feeling — the kind of story where you don’t just finish it, you sit there for a while after.
I’ve been drawn to that kind of writing lately — quieter, but unsettling in the way it makes you think about what just happened.
I actually put together a short collection in that space. Made it free for 2 days if you’re open to trying something new.
Sum: 41 Tales of the Afterlives
A Short Stay in Hell
I Who Have Never Known Men
Timeshelter by Georgi Gospodinov – really beautiful reflections within the narrative. I stopped multiple times to screenshot paragraphs that made me stop and read them again and just think.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa for a really weird and slightly disturbing plot that makes you stop and wonder what the hell is going on.
Read Timeshelter if you want paragraphs of writing that make you stop and think and question elements of life you took for granted, or The Memory Police if you want the plot to do that.
Breakout, by Martin Russ. The best non fiction description of a modern battle I’ve ever read. The amount of suffering the participants had to endure just to stay alive was staggering.
Every page makes you stop and say, God DAMN!!!