Down World

Written by: Rebecca Phelps

First line: So we've decided to leave.

Why you should read this book: Starting her sophomore year at a confusing new high school, Marina O'Connell gradually becomes aware of a strange not-so-secret secret in the basement, one that could upend not just Marina's understanding of reality, but reality itself. As she creeps ever closer to the truth, she begins to ask not just what the other kids know about the three mysterious doors beneath the building, but what her own mother might know, what they might have to do with the tragedy of her past, and what they might mean for her future. But when the act of investigating has the power to warp your world beyond recognition and the truth is strong enough to literally devastate or even destroy lives, every step Marina takes becomes critical, and it gets harder and harder to take back mistakes. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're obsessed with the mistakes of the past. 

The Divine Invasion

Written by: Philip K. Dick

First line: It came time to put Manny in school.

Why you should read this book: Herb Asher is having a weird existence, living as a colonist on a far-off planet where he's being guilt tripped into becoming the legal father of God and smuggling his new wife and their unborn fetus deity back to Earth; but also he's dead and in cryogenic stasis reliving his entire life over and over while being subjected to elevator music and awaiting a new spleen; but also he's living in an alternate reality where his actions will have a major impact on the eternal battle between good and evil. Emmanuel, Manny, also known as Yahweh, or Yah, has his own issues, trying to remember who he is and what he's forgotten over the last few thousand years, which he needs to do before the Adversary foils his plans. This second book in the VALIS trilogy, while not a true sequel, continues to examine Dick's late-in-life musings about the nature of reality, this time with a strong focus on Judeo-Christian mythology.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you need to know what is definitively real in a story and have it seem logical and rational, this isn't the book for you. People with no understanding of Torah and Kabbalah or no interest in Judeo-Christian mythology may have trouble keeping up.