10 Outstanding Books That Are So Good, I Want To Erase My Memory To Experience Them Again

These books are so good, I wish that Will Smith could transport out of the Men in Black universe to use his little mind eraser on me, just so I could experience them for the first time again.

This list is comprised of books which have stuck with me since I first read them. As a nerd who loves to read and who annually sets their Goodreads goal to 52, just to say in obnoxious truthfulness that I read "about a book a week." These are the 10 books that I either cried over or devoured in less than 24 hours, because they were SO GOOD. I mean it when I say that I wish I could wipe them from my mind, just to fully experience these books again. 

Some of them are rather popular and if you are the type to read a book recommendation list, then I am sure you might have already read them. If you have not, then I urge you to read them as soon as humanly possible. Hoping it translates from most to least popular, I have arranged them in descending order by number of Goodreads ratings, putting my personal preferences aside.

11. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

20th Century Fox / Via giphy.com

Between a popular movie adaptation and the fact that it was released more than a decade ago, I believe it would be nearly impossible for someone to pick up this book and begin it with sheer obliviousness to the twist.

I will avoid spoiling it, but the basics are that a wife is missing and the husband is the prime suspect. Gone Girl does not contain the most innovative plot twist by any means, but it is incredibly well-written and built up with so much background detail that was tragically left out of the film. While we're here, Neil Patrick Harris as the bad guy?? What was that casting?

I was a freshman in college reading this novel and still vividly remember my exact location when I reached the reveal, which arrives almost exactly at the halfway point. I was sitting in an urgent care waiting room unable to bring my bottom jaw back up to close my open mouth. Up until this point in life, I believed "jaw dropping" to be a hyperbolic phrase. I had to pause my reading to rethink every moment from the start of the novel.

I love mysteries or thrillers that leave you in suspense, but that was the first and only time a book had actually left me stunned silent. For that reason there and the "cool girl" monologue, this book made this list.

10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Atria Books

Taylor Jenkins Reid deserves every bit of acclaim and riches she is receiving right now. Daisy Jones and the Six has seen success as a show for Amazon Prime and believe me when I say that I cannot wait for the adaptation of this work.

It's about an aging-movie star finally doing a tell-all with a young reporter and disclosing the details of her scandalous, serial-monogamous love life throughout her successful film career. This blew up on BookTok and I kept seeing this suggested for me on my own Goodreads, yet avoided it for some unknown reason. My only regret is that I did not read this sooner in life, but everything happens for a reason, and I experienced it at a time when I needed it. This book healed me. It was also written in a way that I forgot I was physically reading words on a page. Instead, I felt like I was transformed into the deuteragonist interviewing Evelyn and hanging on her every word. I was also personally transported back to the golden age of Hollywood. A wonderful book from beginning to end without a single punctuation I would dare to change.

9. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Viking

Truly one for book lovers and for anyone who has ever wondered what would have happened if they had made a different choice in life. I would especially recommend this to anyone in their twenties — when the world makes it seem like you should know exactly what you want to be, a formative time when each decision feels monumental and each heartbreak cataclysmic. I can't personally speak for any age range beyond your twenties, because I'm still in mine, but I am sure it's just as good for everyone else (and the main character is 35). A novel crafted so gently by Haig, it made me cry tears of joy, sadness, and reminiscence.

Read. This. Book.

If you did already enjoy this one, then my follow-up suggestion is This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. A book where on her 40th birthday, a woman is transported back to her 16th birthday. While TML isn't explicitly time-travel, the themes are similar being that Straub's is slightly more lighthearted — but just as enjoyable.

8. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Vintage

Oddly, this is the only memoir on the list. It's about a neurosurgeon who finds out he has terminal cancer and seeks to answer what it is that makes life worth living. I read this one while floating in my pool on a day off and I'm surprised all my tears didn't cause the pool to overflow. Once they started, I had to blink them back to continue reading successfully, only for more to come in a vicious sad loop. A good read for fans of the classic Tuesdays with Morrie, this memoir plays tug-o'-war with each and every heartstring, and it will make you reevaluate what is truly important while reminding you of your own mortality.

7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Penguin Books

At first glance, the plot summary might not sound the most intriguing: "a Chinese family living in 1970s small town Ohio," and this is an incredible disservice. Perhaps one of the most relatable books I have ever read, because it centers around interpersonal relationships that are both intergenerational and between spouses. It is about the secrets we withhold from our loved ones and our motives for doing so, but also how over time truth evolves.

Celeste Ng is best known for Little Fires Everywhere, which has since become a hit Hulu limited series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon. I am begging you though, please, please, read this novel. It's so unique that I can't even think of a similar book for comparison. It's good, and you can trust me or the more than 125,000 five-star Goodreads ratings.

6. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

William Morrow Paperbacks

Most murder mysteries are simple — there is one, or many, known victims and we are simply tasked with answering who committed the crime. What makes this book unique from others is that throughout a majority of the novel, both the identity of the murderer AND the victim remain unknown. In typical fashion, there is a cast of characters who (for the plot) end up isolated in a remote location. Slowly, as we get to know them all, there is motive for each one to murder at least one other person present, and eventually, I was even hoping more than just one would die.

*Disclaimer here: I am not sure if this is the first novel in this style where the murderer and victim are both a mystery, but it was the first that I had read, cementing its spot on this list. Foley fans will note this is the same formula she uses for her follow-up novel, The Guest List. Having read both, my enjoyment of her second novel was definitely affected by the lack of novelty since it had already been done. This is why I wish I could experience The Hunting Party again — or forget it and read The Guest List with no familiarity to the formula. Both are great and Lucy Foley remains one of my favorite current mystery authors.

5. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

This novel is based on the historic Dozier School, a real and infamously abusive reform school in Florida that operated for more than 100 years. It follows Elwood Curtis and his time at The Nickel Academy, detailing the horrors withstood by him and the other students.

Please do not attack for this, I listened to this book over a few days during a time when I had an hour-long commute to work (shout out to all my audio book girlies out there). The morning I finished this book and walked in, clearly recovering from sobbing my eyes out, was awkward to explain to my boss.

I will not spoil anything, but the ending will either wreck you or you are heartless, and there is truly no other option here. The choice is yours to listen to it or read it, but consume this novel in any way possible. Keep the tissues close.

4. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Soho Teen

Think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Love, Simon. In the author's own words, "it's about science versus nature, friendship, sexuality, and a quest for happiness." The novel takes place in a world where there is a procedure available that can erase peoples' memory, and in this instance, to make someone "forget" their sexual orientation. The protagonist is a lovable teenage boy who is in high school and coping with a major loss. By the end, you feel like his protective older sibling/best friend. I have never rooted more for a main character.

Happiness is something we all seek. A collective experience most queer people, myself included, can relate to is the passing thought of what it could have been like if we could change our sexuality. An eye-opening and tear-jerking book for anyone regardless of sexual orientation and a must add for your own TBR. It's easily a book that's readable in one afternoon, mainly because you will not be able to put it down. If this is your first work by Adam Silvera, prepare yourself to have a new favorite author.

3. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Picador

This is another one you will not be able to put down. Totaling around 200 pages, this novel is short but sweet and indescribably innovative in its narrative structure. This book takes readers through the alphabet and a relationship's journey in its entirety. If you have ever loved someone or been in a relationship, you will appreciate this work. I actually read this before ever being in any type of official relationship, so I can't even imagine revisiting it today.

It gets an A for absolutely amazing. Plus, look at that cover!

2. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Anchor

This novel is one of my all-time favorites in terms of reader's experience. It is artfully told in the form of letter correspondence, set in a society which is slowly banning the use of certain letters. As the letters are banned within the story, the author continues the novel without using those letters. It is a wacky and wonderful exploration of language and a government infringing on people's freedom through unnecessary bans, turns out this work is as timely as ever...

It's another quick read and just as creative as the previous entry. Actually, it's one of the most creative books I have ever read — PERIOD. A book that I have since gifted to favorite professors and family. Overall, it's a fun read that you will want to experience again, and one that will bring you so much joy as a reader you will be recommending it to anyone who asks.

1. And honorable mention: The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood

Hulu / Via giphy.com

Not officially included in the numbered list, because has anyone not read this by now?? If so, stop what you're doing and go pick up a copy from your nearest library or used bookstore. And when you've finished, make sure to also read The Testaments, Atwood's long-awaited sequel which reminds you of her geniusness and returns to the dystopian world of Gilead with a more intimate look at some of the characters, but also includes a free woman and her outsiders' perspective.

So that's it from me. But what books make your list as being so good you wish you could zap them from your memory just to re-experience for the first time? This is a totally normal list to compile, right? Comment your own book recs below!