51 books like Batman: The Killing Joke

This is the book that forever changed how superheroes were written.  

In Watchmen, masked vigilantes started as a craze in the 1930s, and history got slightly bent in the process. We won the Vietnam War, Nixon stayed president, and...you'll have fun picking out all the bits of altered history in the background.

The heart of the book is its unforgettable characters - slightly over-the-hill superheroes brought out of retirement by the murder of one of their own, to face an ever-deepening mystery and their own midlife crises.

Although technically a “graphic novel”, Moore’s novel has nonetheless been a relevant warning on both complacency and ignorance. Powerful entities not only use the “shove it under the rug” to their advantage, but they both incentivize and negatively reinforce behavior to promote this kind of mindset.

This is a story about re-empowering the individual, not only for their self-worth and pride, but to have the courage to stand against tyranny in order to choose true freedom over the chains of oppression. People should never be afraid of their governments, but rather the governments should remain fearful of their people.

I'd heard about this famous book many years before I actually got around to reading it. What I loved about this book was its originality.

I am always reminded about Orwell's book whenever I hear phrases like ‘ thought police’ or ‘big brother’, which have become part of our everyday language. Probably one of the most influential books ever written. For me, the message of Orwell’s book is that the State will always win.

The narration is completely devoted to the worldview of main character Harry White. A man who climbs the ladder of corporate and social America thanks to unnatural drives inside him both dedicated to achieving his success and predicated ultimately to securing his eventual self-destruction. The demon is inside Harry White and it is the American dream. An extraordinary novel from an extraordinary writer who had already written himself into the annals of American literature with such classics as Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Room. The Demon in my view is Selby Jr.’s most personal and impersonal work.

This isn’t fantasy or supernatural, but the book really delves into the strangeness of people.

It starts as something mundane and ordinary until you scratch the surface. Full twists that genuinely caught me completely unaware, this book is a horror masterpiece that isn’t technically a horror.

And it has one scene that made me feel physically ill—that is amazing writing.

This was one of the hardest books to "get into," but a friend of mine told me to stick with it because the rewards of getting through the first quarter would be so great. I'm glad I did. It is an astounding piece of work, quite different from anything I've ever read before or since, and remains one of my top five books.

The tangents the book takes, and the blasé attributes of the leading character are superbly crafted. It was suggested it was "unfilmable," and there's one scene in particular I thought they'd never get away with, but if you look at the movie version carefully, it's in there. 

I first read Lolita when I was 14 and have read it every few decades since, learning something new each time.

I love the first-person immediacy of it and the way it is a crime novel in reverse: the narrator is already imprisoned but not for the crime he describes. It is a love story turned on its head: what the narrator says is love is in fact abuse.

It is a road trip across the vastness of the US, like one I took when I was a student.

I used this book to relieve the boredom of a long daily commute.

Instead of looking out of a train window at the same old scenery I'd passed a thousand times before, I was now taken to a dystopian society in which everything which I had taken for granted about family life was turned upside down. Where humans are manufactured to a specification instead of being born. A new pseudo religion where everyone makes the sign of the ‘T’, to signify their devotion to the original Ford Model T, which was the first vehicle to be manufactured on an assembly line.

Lifechanging! Alan Moore’s 1984-1987 run on D.C. Comics’ Swamp Thing still ranks among the most influential literary work in my creative life; particularly, the Swamp Thing story arc known as “American Gothic” (Issues 37-50).

Moore took an obscure character to D.C. universe icon, transforming him into the green god who is haunted by memories of his lost humanity. American Gothic immerses the reader into a powerful, supernatural character and his world, where the being’s consciousness and experiences collide with the extremes of America’s societal issues of the time.

I was awestruck by Moore’s story series about an atypical hero who is simultaneously on a journey of self-actualization and a quest to stop dark forces from summoning an ancient evil … while also giving me pause to consider deep-rooted issues.

I love this book for Shin’s exploration of extremes ‘below the pale.’ In it, the most engaging drama is focused on the ‘within’ vice the ‘without.’ What happens when a being’s duty and ultimate purpose come into conflict with their personal desires?

Shin takes the contested space of these interpersonal relationships to another level, because they involve mortals and supernatural beings—angels and humans! The other intriguing theme is the personal struggles for balance and harmony in an extremely complex society which provides compelling context for engaging storytelling, making it a highly recommended and relevant read for today’s world! You definitely need to add this wonderful book to your TBR pile!