100 Books Like The Coming of Galactus

“What is this?” I asked myself on first reading. “Fiction?”

Each short piece contained a moving story that was like a jewel to view and think about, but something was strange, in a wondrous way. It seemed like fiction posing as journalism, like the great classical Chinese tale “A Record of the Peach Blossom Land” by Tao Yuanming (6th century) that inspired my most popular play.

It upended my concept of short story, and of art, opening doors to ways of writing. “Fiction in disguise.” Astonishingly creative, yet peaceful and profound. Wildly creative themes and twists narrated by a quiet objective voice. Maestro Borges taught me that you can shock an audience through very calm narrative, and how profound creativity starts with format.

A master class in creativity that ends with compassion.

It’s not enough to know that Godot is a modern classic blah-blah-blah. I found that learning why was a crash course in creativity.

This play taught me so many profound lessons/strategies: Inaction is action; you cannot be inactive unless you have an active motivation; silence is brimming with sound; you can write a great play, and your characters can be anything but great; you can make a great philosophical statement through the most mundane of scenes.

Greatness comes with the overall synthesis of all the elements of the theatrical art – dialogue, story, stage, costume, etc. “Godot” is the most incredible name/metaphor. Can be anything, can be nothing.

I directed this play twice, and am still learning from it. I bow down to you, Samuel Beckett.

I have treasured this book since college days, as a concise summary of the truth of existence. 

That’s a lot to say, but try it. Eternal truths are so simple! Yet so profound! I was blown away by the first line – a book with its topic as “the Tao” says that if you can explain it, it’s not it! Then why did he write the xxx thing?

Ah, only through time can I start understanding. I feel this precious book gives me an anchor to view the world, life, people.

“Like the eternal void filled with infinite possibilities,” Lao Tzu is the master of oxymoron. He is tricky, challenging, cool. Sooo creative. Nothing I have ever done even approaches his toes. He doesn’t need to talk about creativity. He IS creativity.

As an artist, I seek inspiration from life, about life.

If creativity is about life, then life is about death. What better angle to view the light than from the shadows? I always keep death lurking about in my own work, though often thinking about it makes me deal with it in a lighter way, because only through the darkness can the light have meaning, and often through humor you can convey heavy things.

The author has been a constant inspiration to me, because he always tells it as it is. If you want spiced up feel-good spirituality, don’t read any of his books.

I love this book because it beautifully captures the endless possibilities of a child’s future with warmth and imagination. The poetic rhythm and dreamy illustrations make it a joy to read aloud, and every time I do, I feel a wave of hope and love. It’s the kind of book that makes you pause and appreciate the magic of childhood.

What really stuck with me is how it celebrates individuality without pressure—just pure encouragement wrapped in gentle words. It’s a book that I know children will carry in their hearts as they grow, and as a parent, it reminds me of the wonder of watching little ones discover who they are. If you want a book that feels like a warm hug, this is it.

Who doesn’t like a kid trying to be a superhero? Alvin is assigned a pollution project for school. Instead of writing a paper or doing an art project, Alvin becomes a superhero who fights pollution in his small town.

Alvin is a kid in a small town with a giant imagination and we get to go along for the ride as he tries to expose the biggest polluter in town-the chemical plant. And he does it with a funny mask and cape. Growing up, I didn’t need Superman because I had Superweasel as my inspiration.  

I adore superhero fiction, but it is hard to find good versions of it outside of visual mediums like comics and film. This book was one of the first superhero novels I found, and it is a lot of fun.

Penelope wants nothing more than to develop superpowers and be a hero like her parents, but instead, she develops mad scientist powers that lead to utter chaos! I squirmed as the young characters got themselves deeper and deeper into trouble, but I also laughed at this madcap superhero world filled with puns, metal-eating robots, and epic adventure. 

“In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits.” That’s how Updike’s story A & P starts, and really, all I’m doing in recommending this book to you is actually recommending that you read the story A & P.

I once became an English major mostly because I was an unconfident student, and both of my parents were English teachers. I figured I could go home and get help with my homework if I needed it. I always say Updike’s A & P is the first story I ever really liked. Later, when I made the English Honor Society in college, I was asked to read a story that was important to me, and I chose this one.

I used to think all stories were old like Beowulf or MacBeth, but this one showed me stories could come from situations I’d lived. After all, I had worked in… show more.

There are many remedies for racism, including education, transmission, and prevention. So as not to limit myself to the human and social sciences, I suggest this children's novel by Ayaan Mohamud. It's an embodied account, a fictionalized testimony that we discover by following Hanan, the main character, who attends a prestigious school where she is subjected to a very routine form of Islamophobic ostracism.

She follows her mother's advice to stay the course and not overreact for a while. But after a tragedy, this position is no longer tenable and she makes her voice heard, in other words, she takes her place as a visible Muslim in American society in a different way.

This novel will delight young and old alike and is a good complement to the more scientific works cited in this list of recommendations. It was originally written for my children, so they wouldn't shut up.

This is a brilliantly plotted book with a fascinating protagonist.

It’s fair to say that Cam Killick has issues stemming from his time in the Marines. He starts looking into a decades-old case of a family who went missing on the way back from a party. It was widely accepted that their car had probably crashed into the marshes and had lain there for thirty years. But when Cam finds the car, the remains of the family are nowhere to be found.