We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page.
1. A copy of The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid, which is a powerful and evocative exploration of a woman's life on the Caribbean island of Domenica. It's intense and worth the read.
2. A copy of Joan Didion's Slouching Toward Bethlehem, which is a series of short essays that'll give you a taste of 1960s California dreamin'. If you're not feeling like sludging through a full-sized novel, you'll be pleased to know these essays are a breeze (and a pleasure) to read through.
3. A copy of After Dark by Haruki Murakami (translated from Japanese to English by Jay Rubin). This international bestseller takes place over the course of one weird and dreamy night, and is one of those books you can fly right through.
4. A copy of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil by John Berendt that’ll take you deep within the Southern States of America in the 1980s. It reads like a fictional novel, but is based on the true events surrounding the murder of Danny Hansford.
5. A copy of Dawn that'll start you on your journey through the brilliant Xenogenesis trilogy. It's written by Octavia E. Butler, who was the first science fiction writer ever to receive the Genius Grant.
6. A copy of In The Skin Of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lanken-Canadian writer who has received about a billion literary rewards for his works. This is one of those books my high school English teacher made us read that made me think, "Dang, books are rad."
7. A copy of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood that'll rock your world if "true crime" is basically your middle name. Capote (journalist and writer of Breakfast At Tiffany's) investigates a quadruple murder in Kansas to give us a detailed recount of the events that ensued.
8. The first volume of Seven To Eternity written by Rick Remender and illustrated by Jerome Opena. If you're looking for a dystopian graphic novel with wildly vivid and detailed artwork, please, read this.
9. A copy of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, that'll make you laugh at the absurdity of heartbreak, life, and death (y'know, all the juicy stuff). If you're looking to relate with a character going through a period of serious self-reflection, this quirky book might be the one for you.
10. The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu (translated from Chinese to English by Ken Liu). It explores human society as the earth prepares for a future Alien invasion that is meant to occur 1,000 years from the start of the book.
11. The Saga compendium, written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. Think: Epic space fantasy meets Romeo and Juliet, with a whole lot of bizarre encounters along the way.
12. The first volume of of Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo that'll awaken a deep appreciation for Neo-Tokyo and Japanese cyberpunk. If you've seen the film and loved it, you'll be pleased to discover it only covers the first of six volumes — meaning there is so much more story to delve into.
13. A copy of Haroun And The Sea Of Stories by Salman Rushdie, which, disguised as a book easy enough for children to read, is dripping in rich allegory surrounding censorship and the ten years he spent in hiding after a fatwa was issued against him.
14. A copy of The Sculptor by Scott McCloud that'll make you bawl your eyes out. Don't worry, the photo on the right is from the first page (don't you dare go thinkin' I'd include any spoilers up in here).
15. A copy of Womancode by Alisa Vitti that gave me some incredibly interesting insight about my body (and why my uterus hates my guts, literally). It has helped me gain ANY understanding of my endocrine system, which was essentially non-existent prior to reading this book.
16. A copy of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, because it's just so iconic. If you've ever been interested in the war on drugs and the American dream, it's probably about time you pick this baby up.
17. A copy of Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, which is incredibly touching and a Pulitzer prize winner, so, I mean, what do you have to lose? It's a series of short stories, which is perfect if you're someone who has a hard time committing to an entire novel.
18. A copy of Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. If you are obsessed with the movie (or the HBO series), there's no doubt that you'd enjoy the original comic, too.
19. A ~replica~ of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, because if you've watched Blade Runner, you should probably read the book it's based on.
20. The first volume of Nausicaä, which was written and illustrated by Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki. This manga is actually credited for the foundation of Studio Ghibli — which produced popular films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The more you know!
21. A copy of Neuromancer that'll let you escape into a dystopian reality that isn't your own for once (woo!). It's one of the best examples of cyberpunk literature and basically a rite of passage for anyone who's into that kind of stuff.
22. And finally, the complete Harry Potter collection, so you can finally understand why the books are better than the movies (sorry, not sorry). If you've already read them, then you can revisit your witchcraft and wizardry obsession time and time again with a light re-reading of the series.
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