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- The Collected Science Fiction and Fantasy of Jack London
series6 books1906
completed
similar byour world+2 more
- Kairos
series11 books1962
completed
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The Time Quintet is a science fantasy series of five young adult novels written by American author Madeleine L'Engle and made up of A Wrinkle in Time (1962), A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), Many Waters (1986), and An Acceptable Time (1989).
- Midnight Is a Place
Joan Aikenstandalone novel1974
similar byreflectiveour world19th century+2 more
In northern England in 1842, fourteen-year-old Lucas leads a lonely, monotonous existence in the house of his unpleasant guardian until the unexpected arrival of an unusual little girl presages a series of events that completely change his life.
- Jungle Book Universe
universe44 books1893
Start hereThe Jungle Book · Start here
similar by19th century+1 more
The Law of the Jungle is older than any animal reciting it, and a naked man-cub who wandered into a wolf den at dusk will have to learn every clause of it. Mowgli grows up between two peoples and belongs entirely to neither — the pack that took him in, Baloo who teaches him the words, Bagheera who bought his life with a bull, Kaa who is the most dangerous friend a boy ever had, and Shere Khan, who has been waiting since the first page. Rudyard Kipling wrote these as two books of stories, and the stories run well past Mowgli. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi fights cobras in a bungalow garden; a white seal searches the ocean for an island where men do not come; Toomai watches the elephants dance where nobody is meant to see them; and the beasts of the army explain, in Her Majesty's Servants, exactly why they obey. Verse runs between the tales, and the Jungle Books have been reissued, excerpted and adapted ever since. The voice is the whole point — biblical cadence, animal dignity, and a hard moral world in which the Law protects you precisely as far as you keep it. Read The Jungle Book first and take the Mowgli stories in their order within it; the rest stand alone and can be picked up in any mood. It is a children's book that never once talks down.
- A Modern Utopia
H. G. Wellsstandalone novel1905
similar byliterary & generalreflective+2 more
Two travelers, an unnamed narrator and his skeptical companion, find themselves transported to a parallel world: a planet identical to Earth in geography and even population, down to duplicates of everyone they know, but shaped by a different history. There they examine a global order run by a voluntary elite called the Samurai, who try to hold together progress and stability without the coercion Wells thought inevitable in the utopias that came before his. Framed less as a story than as a philosophical travelogue, it is Wells's own argument with the utopian tradition, tested through the world he invents to make it.
- Alias Grace
Margaret Atwoodstandalone novel1996
similar byliterary & generalreflective19th century+1 more
Alias Grace is a historical fiction novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. First published in 1996 by McClelland & Stewart, it won the Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
- Ragtime
E. L. Doctorowstandalone novel1975
similar byliterary & generalreflectiveclass conflict+1 more
Ragtime is a 1975 historiographic metafiction novel by American author E. L. Doctorow. The novel mixes historical figures and fictional characters together in a sweeping narrative set in the New York City area from 1902 to 1915. With its layered storyline, Ragtime explores themes of racial injustice, class division, and the American Dream in American society.
- Lost
Gregory Maguirestandalone novel2001
similar byliterary & generalreflectivefamily secretsour world
Lost is a 2001 novel by American author Gregory Maguire. Unlike many of Maguire's other adult novels, Lost is set in the real world. The novel's concept is that the protagonist is a distant relative of the man who inspired Charles Dickens' character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
- The Sorrows of Satan
Marie Corellistandalone novel1895
similar byliterary & generalour world19th century+1 more
The Sorrows of Satan is an 1895 Faustian novel by Marie Corelli. It is widely regarded as one of the world's first best-sellers – partly due to an upheaval in the system British libraries used to purchase their books, and partly due to its popular appeal. Roundly condemned by contemporary literary critics for Corelli's moralistic and prosaic style, it nonetheless had strong supporters, including Oscar Wilde and various members of royalty.
- Wold Newton
series21 books1972
similar byour world+2 more
The Wold Newton family is a literary concept derived from a form of crossover fiction developed by the American science fiction writer Philip José Farmer.
- A Visit from the Goon Squad
series2 books2010
similar byliterary & generalreflective+1 more
Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad follows a loosely connected group of characters orbiting the music industry across several decades, told through interlocking chapters that jump between narrators, timelines, and, in one chapter, a PowerPoint presentation. The Candy House returns to several of the same characters and their descendants a decade later, in a world reshaped by a technology that lets people access and share their memories. Egan links the two books through recurring characters more than a continuous plot.
- Orsinia
series16 books1961
completed
similar byliterary & generalreflective+1 more
Orsinia is Ursula K. Le Guin's invented Central European country, used as the setting for character-driven historical fiction rather than her more famous science fiction and fantasy: the linked short stories of Orsinian Tales and the novel Malafrena, set among failed 1820s revolutionaries. There's no ongoing plot connecting the pieces; Orsinia functions more as a shared place and history than a series with continuing characters.
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame
series11 books1895
- The Elliott Family
series8 books1946
completed
similar byour world+1 more
Ray Bradbury's From the Dust Returned gathers and expands short stories he wrote across five decades about the Elliotts, a large, ancient family of vampires, ghosts, and other gentle monsters gathered in a rambling Illinois house. Framed by new connecting chapters, it follows the family's mortal foundling, Timothy, as the household prepares for a once-a-century homecoming.
- Holes
Louis Sacharstandalone novel1998
similar byliterary & generalreflectivefamily secretsour world
Holes is a 1998 middle grade novel written by Louis Sachar and first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats IV, a young boy who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert in Texas, after being wrongfully convicted of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley's life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as labor, boyhood and masculinity, friendship, meaning of names, illiteracy, elements of fairy tales, and racism.
