The Return of the King

Written by: JRR Tolkien 

First line: Pippin looked out from the shelter of Gandalf's coat.

Why you should read this book: I don't know if Lord of the Rings is the greatest story ever told, but this tale of epic bravery in the face of impossible odds is certainly very high on the list. By the beginning of this third book in the trilogy, every single character is convinced that theirs is an impossible suicide mission, and despite this knowledge every single character chooses to continue on their path simply because it is the right thing to do. Good triumphs over evil, but at great cost, and while there is celebration and joy, there is no true happy every after, because everything always ends, and what has been destroyed can never return (except for Gandalf, of course). 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The poignant, gripping thread of sorrow and loss woven throughout may cause grief and nostalgia for a world that can never be.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Written by: Eiko Kadono (translated by Emily Balistrieri, illustrated by Yuta Onoda)

First line: Once, there was a little town sandwiched between a deep forest and a gentle grassy hills.

Why you should read this book: The inspiration for the fabulous Miyazaki film, this book presents a more complete picture of the little witch who must set out to support herself in a new town with only one magical power: to fly on a broom. With patience and good will and creativity, Kiki begins to win over a population of people who are suspicious of witches and unsure why they should welcome one into their town, until eventually she finds herself a popular local celebrity with lots of friends who is known for being able to solve any problem. A sweet, delightful story about independence, growing up, and love. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You can't imagine anything good about having a witch around. 

The Two Towers

Written by: JRR Tolkein

First line: Aragorn sped up the hill. 

Why you should read this book: The fellowship shattered, the remaining members go their own way: Pippin and Merry, kidnapped by the Uruk-Hai, managed to escape and make friends with an ancient, sentient, ambulatory tree, who is very interested in their story about what's happening outside the forest; Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas enjoy a few days of ultra-marathoning in pursuit of them; and Sam and Frodo head south to complete their absolutely impossible mission. With the destruction of Isengard by the Ents, the emasculation of Saruman by the very much not dead Gandalf, the rallying of various noble men to the cause, and the return of Gollum, it almost feels like the party is making progress. Then everyone goes off again on further impossible suicide missions. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Well, you have to read the first one first. 

The Fellowship of the Ring

Written by: JRR Tolkien

First line: When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday, with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

Why you should read this book: The story of an unassuming little halfling who leaves behind a life of comfort and ease when he inherits a weapon of mass destruction that is too powerful to even be handled by any creature with more gumption and ambition than a hobbit hits different when you are actually living in a world where a dark shadow is indeed crossing the land. Accompanied by his faithful gardener and two adventurous cousins, Frodo Baggins sets off on a very long ramble, to figure out what to do with this insidious artifact, is pursued by unspeakable terror, is aided by the forces of good, and eventually finds direction and companionship. Determined to undertake an impossible and suicidal quest for the benefit of his entire world, Frodo is the hero to inspire the least among us to strive to do great things in the face of great evil. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't want to read one of the greatest stories ever told. 

The Days Are Just Packed

Written by: Bill Watterson

First line: MOMMM

Why you should read this book: If you find yourself yearning for a simpler era, one in which the entire country was rallied around the philosophical musings of an impulsive six-year-old and his more mature but equally prone to chaos tiger companion, perhaps it's time to revisit the magical world of Calvin and Hobbes. This collection from the early '90s has it all: dissociative daydreams, rhyming verse, Calvin harassing his father, Calvin harassing his mother, Calvin harassing his teacher, and, of course, Calvin harassing the little girl next door. Just all around late twentieth century joy from a time where everyone consumed the same media and people felt OK about little children reading the news.

Why you shouldn't read this book: This work is not to be consumed by authoritarians. 

179 Degrees from Now: Four Stories from Just Past the Edge

Written by: Thomas Watson

First line: "She's too old for this imaginary friend nonsense," said George.

Why you should read this book: These four short stories hit that speculative space that sometimes leans toward fantasy and sometimes toward science, asking questions like "What if imaginary friends were real?" and "What if there was some direct connection between Charon on the River Styx and Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond?" There's one about the multiverse and one that's sort of about a ghost, plus excerpts from two of the author's novels. Each story turns on a bit of a twist, the kind that is only available to writers of speculative fiction who know how to weave reality and imagination together on a single loom.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're absolutely dragging your ex to hell with you if at all possible.  

Animalia & Fantasia: The Magical Worlds & Fantastic Creatures of Professor Anton Seder, an Art Nouveau Bestiary 1886-1903

Written by: Thomas Negovan

First line: The first Anton Seder Artwork that I remember seeing was a welcome shock.

Why you should read this book: Mere words cannot do justice to the luscious, full color universe depicted in the pages of this oversized art book, based primary on a fin de siecle folio of animal illustrations by a largely forgotten master of the decorative arts. A series of short essays locate the work within its historical, geographical, and artistic contexts and describe the career and philosophy of Professor Seder and his innovative Ecole superieure des arts decoratifs de Strasbourg. Most of the folio pages include multiple close-ups to offer the reader insight into the absolutely insane level of detail of these astonishing illustrations, including numerous dragons. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The main barrier here is the price, which is about what you'd expect to pay for a 10"x13.5", 200+ page full color coffee table book in 2025, but it's a shame that starving young artists might not have access to this work. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Written by: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

First line: Oh, gosh, is that the time?

Why you should read this book: This novel (or 4 linked novellas depending on how you want to count) about a magical basement cafe where, if you follow the rules and respect the ghost and don't expect too much from the trip, you can travel to the past or the future for the exact space of time it takes for a cup of coffee to get cold was a bestseller in Japan. Even though the characters who take these journeys are aware that they cannot change the present by traveling to the past (they can't even leave their seat, or communicate with anyone who wasn't physically in the cafe on the day they arrive) they still feel strong compulsions to go back and say the thing they didn't say the first time around. And even though they can't change events, they can still change emotions and expectations and use this magical gift to improve their lives.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It may lose something in translation; it's a very "quiet" kind of story with very little action, but an awful lot of exposition. 

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest

Written by: Aubrey Hartman

First line: Clare was dead.

Why you should read this book: Clare the undead fox is an Usher, a gentle, folksy sort of psychopomp whose job is to help any confused souls in the area find their way to the most appropriate afterlife in one of four realms: Peace, Progress, Pleasure, and Pain. Clare takes pride in his work, and comfort in the solitude of his free time, spent amidst his beloved mushroom friends, but has little use for company and zero interest in badgers, until the day that a dead badger called Gingersnipes turns up, completely unable to access any of the possible realms, but brimming over with nonstop questions and exposition and completely destroying Clare's job satisfaction. This is a lovely and deep story for children about death, loss, and grief, but also about love and life, and what we owe other people, and ourselves. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Might be a bit heavy for those who are not prepared to read a children's book about death, loss, and grief. 

Super Boba Cafe

Written by: Nidhi Chanani

First line: OHMYGODTHISISHOWIDIEOHGODDDTHEWATERAH

Why you should read this book: Aria's excited to spend the summer with Nainai, her grandmother, and determined to put her sleepy little neighborhood boba cafe on the map by leveraging the power of kittens and social media, but her plan is too good. The shop is suddenly, virally successful, making it hard to ignore some of the Nainai's more peculiar behavior, especially the way she vanishes every night into her secret kitchen. Aria is determined to uncover Nainai's secret, and then, when she realizes the seriousness of her grandmother's secret work, to find a way to make life easier for her heroic grandmother. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't care if California falls into the ocean. 

Wake the Wild Creatures

Written by: Nova Ren Suma

First line: At first it was beautiful.

Why you should read this book: As long as she can remember, Thalia has lived at Neves, the crumbling, derelict remains of an old Catskills hotel, which shelters a motley assortment of vulnerable and abused women and children within a shroud of magical mist. On the first full moon after her thirteenth birthday, when she is prepared to become a full member of the community, tragedy strikes, her mother is arrested, and Thalia is sent to live with an aunt she's never known, in a stifling and unnatural suburban environment, in a room with a cousin who seems to despise her. But Thalia is convinced that her mother and her community will call her home, and she's been waiting patiently in her new, alien environment, for the day when the mist will open up and welcome her home again. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: One of the author's hallmark stylistic devices is to never explain any supernatural occurrence in any way whatsoever.

Howl's Moving Castle

Written by: Diana Wynne Jones

First line: In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. 

Why you should read this book: As the eldest of three sisters, Sophie expects to lead a boring and unfulfilling life, until the day she bumps into Wizard Howl, learns that her sisters have swapped identities, and runs afoul of the treacherous Witch of the Waste. Transformed into an old woman (and gradually realizing she's more than a little witchy herself) Sophie takes refuge in Howl's moving castle, a magical hideaway powered by an opinioned fire spirit. While the Miyazaki film based on this book is delightful and one of my favorites, the book is much richer and deeper and will hold many surprises and details that wouldn't fit into the movie.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're a cowardly womanizer.

The Last Cuentista

Written by: Donna Barba Higuera

First line: Lita tosses another pinon log on the fire. 

Why you should read this book: Petra and her family are among the lucky few granted a place on the great starships leaving Earth just before Haley's comet smashes into it and destroys everyone and everything, including her beloved storyteller grandmother, and now she will spend hundreds of years in cryo-sleep, having important computer files uploaded to her brain so she can be a scientist when humanity finds its new home. But even as the ship launches and Petra falls into an uneasy stasis, dissidents have taken over the ship, and when Petra finally awakes, it is into a strange, nightmare reality controlled by "The Collective," a group that has evolved into a species she can barely recognize as human, which has eliminated hunger and war by eliminating art, culture, love, feelings, family, and the stories that Petra loves. Alone among the others on the ship, Petra retains her memories of Earth, and armed with her grandmother's stories, she must find a way to save what remains of humanity from The Collective's single-minded focus to destroy it. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It took me way longer than usual to read because this book is frankly terrifying for a children's story; I don't scare easy in print (I think the last time was Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box) but something about this girl forced to pretend to be brainwashed while mourning the loss of her family and the rest of humanity and made to live among the fascist Collective just hit way too close to home. 

Right Back at You

Written by: Carolyn Mackler

First line: Dear Albert Einstein, I am only writing this letter because Barb told me I had to. 

Why you should read this book: An epistolary novel about a friendship between two twelve-year-olds who discover they have a great deal in common, despite being separated by three hundred miles and thirty-six years. Mason doesn't want to talk about his feelings at all, and is surprised to find the letter he hid in his closet answered by a girl in the past who demands to know why she found his letter in her closet. Once they decide the unlikely situation must be caused by a wormhole, they can start to share their secret thoughts with each other, discovering surprising connections and ways they can help each other across a seemingly insurmountable distance. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think Lord of the Flies is an inevitability. 

Bad Dreams in the Night

Written by: Adam Ellis 

First line: My favorite movie as a kid is something nobody seems to have heard of. 

Why you should read this book: A collection of short horror stories presented in comic format, this book runs the gamut from creepy to horrifying, touching on various subgenres, putting new twists on old stories and probably showcasing the author's own fear. There's sci-fi horror, gothic horror, true crime horror, and just weird horror. Nothing too graphic, they're mostly chilling and atmospheric, sometimes touching or even comedic, but also spooky.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Some of it is a bit gruesome. 

Reverie

Written by: Ryan La Sala

First line: This is where it happened. 

Why you should read this book: I think, at its core, it's a metaphor about maladaptive daydreaming, the kind where it's so easy to escape into your dissociative fantasy world that your coping mechanism becomes more real to you than the real world, and begins to impact your real life and all your relationships, but it's also a YA queer fantasy, so the daydreams are very, very real and if the characters can't control them, it could be the end of life as we know it. Kane doesn't have any real memories of the night he supposedly crashed his car and burned down a local landmark, but, as he heals, he starts to realize that he's missing a lot of memories, mostly those pertaining to close friendships he doesn't remember having, but also that he was the leader of a group of teens with superpowers and that other worlds are creeping out of people's imaginations and taking over reality. Kane has to figure out who to trust and who to protect, and to defeat a magical drag queen who wants to use him to create another world in place of the one Kane calls home. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It took me a while to get into it.

The Republic of Salt

Written by: Ariel Kaplan

First line: It was three nights until the New Year, and in the mountains north of Mazik Rimon, Naftaly Cresques was lying on the ground beside two old women and a Mazik who was mostly dead. 

Why you should read this book: The second novel in the Mirror Realm cycle, this doorstop of a fantasy novel picks up pretty much where the last one left off, with Naftaly and his crew in the Mazik land and Toba and the now-mortal Asmel back in the human world, and all of them knowing that if they can't stop Tarses from taking over both realms it's not going to go so well for anyone. Arduously, all the characters must travel to Zayit, outwitting enemies, finding surprising allies, eating lentils, and learning more about magic, especially as it pertains to part-mortal magicians. The pacing is good, so that the story keeps moving forward in a Lord of the Rings kind of way, even though it takes everyone a very long time to get where they're going. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Due to its structure and the way Naftaly's powers work, it's kind of obvious precisely how the book is going to end (hint: a cliffhanger). 

Not Quite a Ghost

Written by: Anne Ursu

First line: The house stood a little apart from the rest of the block, as if it did not quite fit in. 

Why you should read this book: Violet Hart is already dealing with that strange uncertainty that accompanies the transition from elementary to middle school and the questions of whether the people you've been friends with your entire life will remain your friends once puberty commences, and now her mom and stepdad have decided to purchase this really creepy house so she can have her own room, even if that room is in the extra creepy attic. This isn't quite a ghost story, although there's definitely something like a ghost in the house, but it draws most of its spookiness from its discussion of undiagnosed chronic illness and its use of symbols and themes from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." Anyone who's ever been accused of malingering when they felt awful or been gaslit by "friends" who had turned against them will understand what Violet is going through in this well-paced and clever story.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you still haven't gotten a diagnosis, it might be a bit frustrating. 

Unexpected Stories

Written by: Octavia Butler

First line: The Robkohn Hao, Tahneh, was sharing her evening meal with her chief judge and discussing the current drought when she first learned of the foreigners who had entered her territory.

Why you should read this book: Two previously unpublished stories written early in the career of the master science fiction author were discovered after her death and come together in this book, highlighting many of the themes for which she went on to become famous. In "A Necessary Being," a hierarchical alien society requires the most powerful among them to serve for the good of all, even against their will. "Childfinder" was originally sold to Harlan Ellison's final, unpublished Dangerous Visions anthology and discusses issues of race and class through the device of a society where psionic powers are controlled by a powerful cabal. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you're unfamiliar with Butler's work, you might want to start with some of her popular novels. 

Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Ashes

Written by: Linda Addison

First line: Consumed, reduced to ashes,/beautiful grey,/light as angel wings

Why you should read this book: From the award-winning author, a poetry collection that is equal parts creepy and intense. These poems speak of death, of our fear of it, of the comfort of its inevitability, but also of love, and longing, and the knowledge that from ashes new things may grow. Addison's precise and loving use of language recreates the world in her image, with the knowledge that there is no darkness without light and no light without darkness, a balance that humanity must embrace, because we can never escape it. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You prefer poems that rhyme and paint pretty pictures.