Books that Slap
Fiction: Organized by genre, subject matter, and whim.
- The Solar Cycle by Gene Wolfe // For being a masterclass in prose, unreliable narration, worldbuilding, character writing, myth, and subtext, all at the same time.
- The Broken Earth by NK Jemisen // Triple-hugo-winning series that's the modern answer to Wolfe's tetrology, with new tricks and top-tier storycraft.
- The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez // Narrative perfection in redirecting the audience using formatting and context, beautiful prose and fiercely-written.
- The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh // Two parts documentary, three parts poetry, with a seasoning of romance and adventure. Ghosh brings the Sundarbans to the fore in this masterwork.
- The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu // It's the steampunk industrial revolution speedrun if you start the game in Asia, and it's wonderfully told. It's also a story about family legacy, politics, philosophy, and... dragons.
- The Telling by Ursula K LeGuin // Along with The Book of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, The Dispossessed, The Word For World Is Forest, and the rest of her amazing catalog, The Telling is a lesser-known gem dealing with corporate tourism and commodification and how we face it.
- Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa // For being a semi-fictionalized account of one of history's most interesting samurai.
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell // Along with Ghostwritten and number9dream, Cloud Atlas is Mitchell at his best: playing with format and structure, crafting dreams.
- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon // One of SFF's luminaries; Solomon should be far more widely read. Their work is always challenging the reader with insightful critique.
- A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller // First published in 1959, it still holds up today as a haunting vision of a future we might have.
- Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny // Written intentionally readable as SF or fantasy, Zelazny nails it in this mythical exploration of culture.
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne // Nemo was right, actually.
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas // All of Dumas is fantastic.
- The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi // Climate Fiction's leading man.
- Ambiguity Machines by Vandana Singh // Fantastic collection.
- Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino // There is a city full of stories.
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco // It's detective fiction set in Medieval Europe, and written immaculately.
- Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust // The richest chocolate and madeleine in novel form.
- Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges // Creativity unfettered, Borges' works are infinite mind palaces.
