100 Books Like We Can Remember It for You Wholesale and Other Classic Stories

The book offers an in-depth exploration of how an anarchist, anti-capitalist society without money or government would work and juxtaposes it against a more familiar, wasteful, capitalist world. It's thought-provoking and can be a great tool for self-exploration because this world isn’t easy to live in and has its own challenges.
Even though it took me a long time to get into the story, once I did, I was fascinated by all the details. It's unlike other stories. It offers ideas that don't often get explored in speculative fiction, and it left me with a lot to think about.

What fascinates me most about this novella is its ability to capture such depth and fullness in such a short length.

This book explores the concept of time and language, and how the way humans perceive time vastly differs from the alien species, and the way language ultimately affects time perception and decision-making as well.

Reading this book reminded me that understanding another person is a continuous struggle, and that we lose the most when we mistake appearances for truth. Even for someone like Genly, an emissary whose role is to bridge cultures, truly understanding Estraven proves painfully difficult.

What stayed with me was the tragedy of that gap: how insight often arrives too late.

Estraven’s sacrifice, made so that Genly could reach safety, and Genly’s decision to visit Estraven’s family afterward, left me with a lingering sense that remembrance itself carries moral weight. Sometimes understanding cannot undo loss, but memory—how the living choose to carry it—can still salvage a trace of good from tragedy.

Le Guin’s novel taught me that empathy is not a destination, but an act that must be fought for, again and again.

Truly a book for the ages, how could I not recommend this? It is THE iconic book about a constructed being and his consequent travails.

Made by Victor Frankenstein from all sorts of collected detritus, when the monster opens his “yellow, watery eyes,” the scientist flees from him and never looks back. The monster is left to negotiate the world on his own, but much like a newborn baby, he is ignorant and unequipped to do so.

I love how, unlike the popular concept of the monster, he is, in fact, a vegetarian, and at the start, very vulnerable and peaceful. He learns to read by sitting outside a cottage where he can hear the cottagers teaching a foreigner to read.

I wrote a whole novel about him, A Monster’s Notes, which transports him into the 21st century.

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 read this as a teenager, just as I was diving into the horror genre. I already knew at this point that I wanted to be a storyteller. What struck me while reading It was the jumping back and forth between time periods.

I had never read a book structured that way, and it seemed that every chapter ended on a cliffhanger, forcing me to keep reading. There aren’t many books that I would say I had a hard time putting down (I get bored easily), but It was certainly one of them!

I’m just a sucker for books where characters who don’t seem to have power or agency within their society wind up sneakily subverting power for their own ends while letting the “power-hungry” think they are in charge.

In this case, women once again have figured out a way to get what they want and essentially take down patriarchy (in a dystopian setting) without using the tools of the aggressor. It’s a surprising, potent, and beautiful book (though there are some outdated concepts/ideologies, given that it was published in 1988).

While many turn to Lovecraft’s Cthulu writings as his best work, it was this short story of Houdini’s fictional encounter with an unspeakable beast beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza that had the most impact on me. Told from the perspective of Harry Houdini, the tale masterfully captures the mounting dread and claustrophobia of the famous escape artist as he unwittingly delves further underground, to say nothing of the fantastical horrors that await him. Forced to witness strange mummified creatures, under the direction of the malevolent Nitokris, give offerings to one of Lovecraft’s trademark many-tentacled monstrosities, Houdini may dismiss his encounter as a mere flight of fancy but the implication that some gruesome Old One was responsible for the creation of some of the world’s most awe-inspiring structures hits just a little differently.

There are many reasons why I love the character Conan. He is big, strong, and fearless in the face of danger. He battles monsters of epic proportions and evil beings to satisfy his own bloodthirsty tale of revenge. That plus the action kept me on the edge of my seat. 

I love this book because it offers an intimate glimpse into the place that the Kennedys called home, where they felt most comfortable, and where they went to celebrate their triumphs and mourn their tragedies.

Storey is a terrific writer who makes the reader feel as if they are on the Cape with the family as they engage in various (and often strenuous) activities. She manages to capture the family's life away from cameras and reporters.