Five Mind-Bending Books to Devour
Five Mind-Bending Books to Devour: Speculative Fiction Picks
As summer ends and kids head back to school, trick-or-treaters remind you of the colder weather ahead. Outside, the golf course is turning shades of orange and yellow, and the promise of that new Marketplace Starbucks has you craving a fancy latte on your upcoming golf cart rides. Even though winter is approaching faster than we’d all like, it seems like the perfect excuse to cozy up under your blankets and start checking off books from your Libby or Kindle apps. To keep things interesting, each season, I’ll recommend some titles to help you embrace the changing weather vibes.
This fall, we’ll start with five books to devour in speculative fiction—a genre that encompasses alternate realities, science fiction, fantasy, and any narrative that bends reality, the supernatural, or the fantastical. Think Inception, The Matrix, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Everything Everywhere All at Once. Join me in exploring these narratives, their complex characters, and thought-provoking themes that will keep you turning pages while we wait for the holidays at Holliday!
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
“A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.” This is the tale of a young French woman in 1714 who, at twenty-three, makes a deal with the devil to live forever. In exchange, she’s cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets until she’s willing to part with her soul. Flash forward to 2014, three hundred years after her Faustian bargain, when Addie meets a man who somehow remembers her, revealing how much she hasn't experienced in life despite her many uncelebrated birthdays. This book has it all: beautifully written prose, captivating world-building, breathtaking art scenes, and, most importantly, a strong female character whose story will feel like a romance you've never read before.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
“What if…” That’s the central question of this novel. What if there was a library somewhere in the universe where you could open a book and instantly be transported to another version of yourself? The version who never married and put her career above all else, or the one who made it to the US Olympic swimming team? These are the kinds of questions we ponder when thinking about our pasts, filled with invisible blessings and giant “what ifs.” In this novel, Nora Seed explores these possibilities after the worst day of her life, when she enters the Midnight Library at exactly midnight. As her journey unfolds, we follow her mistakes, the things that make her human, and the realization that life is never as perfect or as awful as we think it is. What truly matters is not having no regrets, but how we choose to live with them.
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Time and memory are a funny thing—they’re both headed away from one another, but together they weave the fibers of reality. In this novel, the world is coping with a new disease, “False Memory Syndrome,” in which people remember lives they’ve never had and families that never existed. With every page, it becomes abundantly clear that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as NYPD detective Barry Sutton is committed to uncover the truth behind it. Along a parallel line that eventually intersects with Barry’s investigation, a brilliant neuroscientist, Dr. Helena Smith, finds herself as the gatekeeper of one of the biggest inventions ever created, capable of bending the world’s fate into a future that is impossible to conceive. In this thrilling piece, Blake Crouch explores the very fabric of what makes us human, from our deepest forgotten memories to our most cherished and happiest moments, in a book that makes you feel like you’re in charge of saving the world along with the main characters. If you have read and loved Recursion, consider also Dark Matter and Upgrade by the same author.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
It’s the 1950s, and twenty-two-year-old heroine Noemí Taboada is summoned by her father to investigate a strange illness afflicting her newlywed cousin, Catalina. To uncover the truth, Noemí must leave her opulent life in Mexico City and travel alone to a remote town where Catalina now lives at High Place—a crumbling mansion with dark secrets. As Noemí delves deeper into this enigmatic setting, she experiences eerie visions, unsettling dreams, and nearly supernatural events that pull her closer to the truth while blurring the lines of reality. This novel, filled with both dread and allure, follows Noemí’s journey, proving that being a young woman in the 1950s is not a limitation but a strength.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Imagine one day everyone on Earth received a mysterious wooden box containing a string that determines how much time they have left to live? From Paris to New York City, Tokyo to Moscow, everyone faces the same choice: would you open the box to discover whether you are a “short stringer” or a “long stringer?” In this phenomenal speculative novel, Nikki Erlick delves into the lives of seven strangers grappling with this profound knowledge, exploring how individuals and society react to the implications of knowing one’s ultimate fate. With vivid scenes of anger, tears, and laughter, plus a poignant exploration of what it means to be human, The Measure is a thought-provoking journey into the very fabric of our existence.
Did any of these titles catch your interest? They are all great picks for your next book club, so feel free to try them all. Do you have any other speculative fiction novels you love? If so, please share them with me on social media—I’d love to read them too!
This article was originally published on Stroll Holliday Farms Magazine (October 2024 issue).
