100 Books Like The Monkey King

I thought it was great to have Circe herself narrate her love affair with Odysseus.

The first half of the novel interestingly shares her tribulations growing up as a child in a family of gods. I found that this establishes a theme of immortality vs. mortality that the book explores in profound ways. Especially fascinating was Circe’s personal story of her love affair with Odysseus.

I was surprised and delighted that Miller included the resulting child, Telegonus, who is not in Homer but is in ancient myth. Even more surprising to me was Circe falling in love with Telemachus, Odysseus’ son by Penelope (also not in Homer!). This relationship allows the novel to end on a positive note as Circe learns to live like a mortal in her new life with Telemachus.

As someone who’s moved around a LOT and lived far from family most of my life, I’m a sucker for found family of any kind.

This story is one of the best. I loved reading about all these demi-god children working together and finding their connection through loyalty and depth of friendship.

As someone very familiar with Greek mythology, I really enjoyed the fresh and enjoyably new story with familiar players. 

I had to include this first Harry Potter book because Harry is the epitome of a gifted child and I loved these books from the first.

When my own book, The Meme Machine, came out in 1999, someone rang me excitedly to tell me that my book was number 5 on Amazon!!! (There were not so many books listed on Amazon in those days!!).

I was so thrilled that, of course, I had to find out what the top four were. And guess what – they were the hardback and paperback versions of the first two Harry Potter books, which I’d never even heard of. I bought them immediately and never looked back, receiving each one in the post on its publication day.

What terrific books they were and are.

Inspired by both the Chinese classic Journey to the West and Japanese epic historical fantasy The Eight Dog Chronicles, the Dragon Ball manga series took me into an action-packed world filled with wonderful martial art sequences.

The protagonist, Son Goku, started as a kid at the beginning of the series, and by the end, he had grandkids. I love following the entire life arc of characters, watching them grow, learn, fail, overcome obstacles, and succeed.

I refer to Arthur Waley’s famous translation and abridgment of the novel Journey to the West, purportedly written by Wu Cheng’en in sixteenth-century China.

The story has the underlying theme of a quest—the protagonist Monkey, born from a stone egg, an impetuous, impatient, self-centered creature, occasionally violent but ultimately good-hearted, seeks knowledge and eternal life. His exploits get him in trouble with the Jade Emperor who imprisons him beneath a mountain for five hundred thousand years. He is released by the monk Tripitaka when he promises to accompany him to India to bring the Buddhist scriptures back to China. Adventures ensue with monsters, dragons, and ghosts. They pick up companions along the way until they eventually succeed and become enlightened.

It is a magical, humorous story with a refreshingly non-western sensibility. It is comprised of Chinese folk tales with added political satire. It also has an almost cartoon-like quality.… show more.

This is a wonderful historical fiction story, which I love for the way the tale has been crafted around a ghostly lighthouse inhabitant, weaving in and out of time.

Lighthouse legends and their historical backgrounds have always been fascinating for me. Fictional stories based on historical facts always draw me in. This particular author visits the locations in the stories to gather the information, which is something I admire greatly. The kids in this story become convinced they could assist in helping to right a past wrong. It had me thinking: what if we were able to do that?

I love this as a page-turning adventure for young readers to immerse themselves and learn some interesting facts, along with a tale for the imagination.

This is my favorite version of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Often called the father of yoga, in the yoga sutras, Patanjali lays out the eightfold path of Yoga and goes into detail about how to work with our minds to move from ignorance to self-realization. Most versions of the Yoga Sutras also have commentary by the author on each sutra.

I have found that, except for a few ideas about celibacy, Taimni is very insightful, and many of his commentaries have brought my mind into states of bliss and Divine absorption.

These sutras are powerful readings and a direct scriptural source of Truth and Wisdom.

The most insightful guide to the best-known text about yoga philosophy. Among other things, it explains why yoga isn't all about "eight limbs", since the main technique is one-pointed focus and physical contortions are later inventions. Patañjali’s pithy one-liners are hard to interpret without more context. Instead of filling in the gaps to fit modern assumptions, Bryant draws on traditional commentaries to clarify meanings. 

Ravindra's book provides a concise commentary on the Yoga Sutras, which were written about 2,000 years back. In his commentary, he draws from many spiritual traditions, including Christianity, Buddhism, and the work of Krishnamurti. Thus, he makes the yoga sutras relevant to our contemporary life, puts them in a wide context, and shows their universality. His translation and interpretation touch on issues that pertain to any human being who is curious about the great mystery of existence.  

I constantly refer to this book in my teaching and personal study of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The word ‘sutra’ means ‘thread’ and Zambito definitely helps me to untangle the webs that many books on the subject seem to weave.

This book expertly defines and delineates the technical, meta-psychological, and meditative premises of the classic text on yoga. It breaks down each verse, explains each word, and also gives 12 well-known translations for each individual sutra.