Hello, I’ve just finished reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I’ve never had a book affect me so deeply. I was thinking of reading something a bit lighter, but I love reading or watching something that impacts me differently and I’d love my next read to be just as impactful – something that lingers in my mind long after I’ve finished it.
What books have you read that left a lasting impression on you, that you can’t help thinking about for days, months or maybe even years after? (Bonus if it explores heavier or thought-provoking themes!)
by Littlecheeseo
16 Comments
My Dark Vanessa- Katie Elizabeth Russel. TW: grooming and CSA. But sooo impactful and thought provoking
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
I still think of a lot of John Irving or Pat Conroy books years/decades after having read them.
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Circe by Madeline Miller
ZOO Station: The History of Christiane F.
Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
All The Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin 100%!
Island by Alistair MacLeod. You will never be the same.
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
For you:
*The God of Small Things* by Arundhati Roy
*Just Above My Head* by James Baldwin
*Beloved* by Toni Morrison
*How We Disappeared* by Jing-Jing Lee
*Hamnet* by Maggie O’Farrell
*We Have Always Lived in the Castle* by Shirley Jackson
*Marlena* by Julie Buntin
Literally anything by Akwaeke Emezi (but I’d suggest starting with *The Death of Vivek Oji* or *Freshwater*)
Never Let Me Go is just one of those books that you never forget and wish you can read again for the same impact but can’t, for obvious reasons.
This is so different but I can’t stop thinking about it since I read it last year: **Black Pill** by Elle Reeve. It’s nonfiction but reads like fiction (I wish it were fiction!). It’s so well written and funny and dark and important, but also a page-turner.
“Five days at Memorial: life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital” by Sherri Fink.
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. Louise Erdrich
A woman disguises herself as a priest at an Indian reservation. Spends her life pretending she is a man. Great read
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
I read it 15 years ago and I still find myself thinking about it.
Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein
Just finished one that I think is going to stick with me for a long while: Thirty Days by Annelies Verbeke
Haven’t finished it yet but I think about it everyday:
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
You are basically following three characters through the 60s in Nigeria, centering around the Biafra War.
I am really enjoying it because you learn quiet a bit and the characters are extremely interesting but it’s also really really brutal and horrifying. There were some point where I almost cried.
For me, there’s nothing like Ishiguro’s books. I absolutely love them – have you read Klara and the Sun? Totally different, but the same thought provoking themes.
I would do a light palate cleanser book, then get into that one!