#43. "Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas" by Dav Pilkey

For those who think of Dav Pilkey as a one hit wonder, never underestimate the power of underpants. With his latest in the Captain Underpants spin-off Dog Man, he has released 10 million books including three million just for the fifth installment "Lord of the Fleas." So, why is the series so successful in spite of being full of juvenile humor and silly parodies of pop culture mainstays? Well, it could be that at the center of a story about a hero who's half-dog and half-man (get it?) is an emotional core that is stronger than anything from the man who's created such characters as Professor Poopypants. For as silly as the book is, it continues to show how to create characters that grow with each installment in ways that are subversive and honest, and most of all prove that children's literature can be gross and heartfelt.

#42. "The Stepford Wives" by Ira Levin

By now the term Stepford Wife has been ingrained in the pop culture lexicon for almost half a century. It's hard to recognize a time when it didn't hold some impact, or at least was misconstrued as a satire of suburban life. However, Ira Levin's original short book "The Stepford Wives" came at a time when there as a rise in second wave feminism, where there was a struggle for women to appear strong and independent. It's why the gist of the story's submissive housewife seemed like a scary concept, especially since they all acted and dressed a certain way. The story, clocking in just shy of 130 pages, is a quick read about the dangers of indulgence and male domination that is at times funny and other times horrifying. Altogether, it is a thrilling read that brings the reader directly into the lap of the 70's mentality better than most with prose that is both dated in references, but also provocative because of those references' subtexts.

#41. "The Girl in the Spider's Web" by David Lagercratz

In the ream of literature, there was no story as perplexing as that of Stieg Larsson, who died prior to the release of the juggernaut bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It was a crime thriller that rocked the world of literature with a protagonist who was exciting and new. Lisbeth Salander wasn't so much a hero, but one that the 21st century could adopt as a hacker who sought revenge on the "men who hate women" of the world. The two sequels were also written by Larsson and together spawned four film adaptations. But what does the future hold for the book series that was cut short by an unfortunate event? Well, it took some meddling from the family and the agreement of author David Lagercrantz to write the fourth book in the series "The Girl in the Spider's Web," which continues the series in the actual meaning of the word, though it does little to capture what made the series so exciting in the first place.

#40. "The Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty

For true horror fans, there's few films as renowned for its scares quite like William Friedkin's The Exorcist. How could it not be, especially as it deals with a fear that goes beyond what can be seen and eats at the very soul of every viewer? It's a demon, Pazuzu, who lives inside the bodies of the innocent, destroying them until they wither and die. If that was all that the story was about, it would be scary, but it wouldn't be accepted as one of the scariest works in 20th century fiction. No, what makes the story far more fascinating is something that can be found more often and effectively in the text, where censorship seems to be misbegotten in favor of the most brutal, intense descriptions imaginable to reasonable man. William Peter Blatty's book may have the blueprint for what the film became, but it's such a gross, ugly vision that no reasonable filmmaker would put any actor through it. And yet, that is what makes Blatty's novel so vital and in some ways superior to the film adaptation.

#39. "The Friedkin Connection" by William Friedkin

If you're a fan of classic cinema, there's a good chance that one of William Friedkin's movies will have crossed your path at some point. Whether it's The French Connection or The Exorcist, he was the master of intense cinema with a documentary-like realism that made his work stand out against his contemporaries like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Coppola. It makes sense then that a filmmaker whose very aesthetic is meant to be intense would take on his own career with a certain honesty and detail that doesn't only debunk the movie magic, but comes to understand what drew Friedkin to film in general. "The Friedkin Connection" is both a love letter to the man who made some of cinema's most exciting films, but also to the hubris that comes with gaining success too early in one's career. 

#38. "Palo Alto" by James Franco

Multi-hyphenate artist James Franco is a man who enjoys challenging himself. In his book "Palo Alto," he discusses his attraction to exploring literature. After all, he's an actor who is hired to tell stories, so why not tell his own? The collection is based off of his own childhood, and centers around a group of teens in Palo Alto, CA as they find joy in the aimless moments of high school. There's frank talk about sex, random acts of vandalism, and even some questionable word choices. Franco's book is nothing if not vulgar in all of the ways of reckless abandon. However, there's also a sense that there's not a bigger purpose to any of what he has written, as most of it is simply short stories, told without exciting climaxes (in a sense). It does plenty to get inside the characters' heads, but the bigger issue is that cumulatively it doesn't add up to much of a satisfying read. It has some things that work, but not enough to establish Franco's stance as a writing virtuoso.

#37. "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

There have been better and there have been worse books, but has there been any with the reputation as that of David Foster Wallace's crowning achievement "Infinite Jest"? Over the course of roughly 1100 pages (150 of which are detailed end notes), Wallace sets out to explore the meaning of life in America through a variety of moments regarding the addiction of drugs, tennis, entertainment, politics, and everything else that constituted life at the turn of the 20th century. To call it essential reading is easy. To actually pick up the book and try to understand its many pages without a dictionary, web assistance, or other forms of cheating is a fool's errand. By making a book whose language is so dense, Wallace has reinvented the very idea of writing by failing to be postmodern and instead invoking the earnest movement's desire for honesty over sarcasm. The book is an achievement, that's for sure. However, it's also one that may at times be unsatisfying.