Humor

8 Book Recommendations That Totally Miss The Point

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Rachel Cordasco

Staff Writer

Rachel Cordasco has a Ph.D in literary studies and currently works as a developmental editor. When she's not at her day job or chasing three kids, she's writing reviews and translating Italian speculative fiction. She runs the website sfintranslation.com, and can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

You know how some book reviews end with the sentence “…so read [novel x] if you like [x, y, and z]” ?

Well, I started thinking- what would happen if you took a person who was absolutely and completely clueless about everything in the universe and always misses the point (and we all know that person), gave them a book to read, and then asked them how they’d recommend it to a friend? Here’s what I came up with:

(I chose these particular books based on my own recent reads.)

 

onsuchafullseaRead On Such a Full Sea if you like:

  • fish
  • a group of people who think they’re one person
  • gated communities
  • traveling musical groups that may try to murder you

 

 

 

 

 

Annihilation_by_jeff_vandermeerRead the Southern Reach trilogy if you like:

  • owls that think they’re people
  • towers
  • not telling people your real name
  • notebooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

colorlessRead Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage if you like:

  • freaky dreams
  • sitting in railroad stations
  • swimming
  • Tokyo

 

 

 

 

 

 

American_godsRead American Gods if you like:

  • coin tricks
  • guys who have like 25 thousand different names
  • road trips to Wisconsin
  • the uber-freaky House on the Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

mercedesRead Mr. Mercedes if you like:

  • German engineering
  • ice cream
  • basement computers
  • more ice cream

 

 

 

 

 

 

silkwormRead The Silkworm if you like:

  • anything related to Hannibal Lector
  • people with grudges
  • obnoxious people
  • rain, lots and lots of rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

cloudatlasRead Cloud Atlas if you like:

  • boats
  • deja vu
  • unexpected chapter breaks
  • Tom Hanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

secret_historyRead The Secret History if you like:

  • clique-y people
  • precipices
  • snow
  • very small class sizes