#168. "Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder" by Dav Pilkey

At this point, readers will know whether they are on board with the Dog Man series. Having usurped its status as the Captain Underpants spin-off, it has managed to develop its own strange lore that has become more engrossing and substantial than anything Dav Pilkey has written. What's been especially exciting is finding the author move between juvenile humor and deeply emotional pathos. The results continue in this graphic novel that finds the absurd premise dovetailing with a familiar vulnerable core that delivers another reliable entry. It may not be the most memorable book in the series, but Pilkey has found a way to keep the series alive with a youthful bouyancy that encourages them to give into their creative pursuits and find their own adventure worth following.

#167. "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert

Upon its release, "Madame Bovary" was considered a controversial text that reflected the downfall of moral women. As a story about a chaste lady giving into carnal desire, it reflected a shift towards a more independent era that was uncommon for the 19th century. As a story that revels in realism and modernist technique, it explores the interiority of its character while placing her in a series of situations that conveys the emotional depths of a figure in desperate need of connection. The results are not without tragedy, though the journey does a fantastic job of showing the highs and lows of frivolous lifestyles. Thanks to Gustave Flaubert's prose, it never strays too far into seediness and instead works as a commentary on why the unexamined life is ultimately meaningless. There has to be risks and failure to appreciate its larger purpose, and nobody achieves it quite like Madame Bovary.

#166. "Billy Budd" by Herman Melville

Towards the end of his career, Herman Melville wrote a novella that remains a perplexing study of sea life. As one of the premiere authors to ever discuss the lonelines of the seven seas, he ended it with a slim story that hides his deepest desires somewhere in the subtext. The central character of Billy Budd spends the story going about his mundane life, and yet there is something to the camaraderie of his peers that is undeniable. Is what he's experiencing something akin to typical male chumminess, or is there something more passionate underneath? For a story that ends on a bit of a slight, it's an amazing testament to his craft that the emotions evoked in the text resonate centuries later, leaving one to fully understand the larger authorial intent.

#165. "Heartstopper: Vol. 3" by Alice Oseman

When readers last left the cast of "Heartstopper," the protagonists had broken the tension and finally became a couple publically. While this tension is where most queer young adult texts would end, Alice Oseman's desire to move forward is exciting, allowing the relationship to grow in that cute, awkward way that most romances do. The only difference is that this one features a journey overseas and allows for an expansion of the supporting cast to have their own adventures. Even if this series can at best be considered quaint or wish fulfillment, there is still something endearing about a love story that revels in the naivety of discovery without fully removing the fears of the outside world. 

#164. "Endzone" by Don Delillo

Few sports have been as essential to the American identity like football. For most of the 20th century, athletes have taken to the field to adoring fans who believe their silly rituals will be enough to get them over the hump. It's an activity that is in itself comical and few authors felt as ripe to tackle it like Don DeLillo. The mater of post-modernism took on the whole nine yards in a story that studies the masculinity and the homoeroticism underneath. It's a chance to break down every play and find the comedy within fumbled plays. Even if it fails to live up to his greatest work, those wanting a breezy sports comedy will be rewarded from an author who knows how to economically structure a sentence so that it mixes highbrow insight with lowbrow confusion. The results would be anyone else's high point, but it's credit to DeLillo's technique that it's in the middle of the huddle.

#163. "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood

Throughout history, there are figures who become mythologized without being understood. With "Alias Grace," Margaret Atwood explores the trial of one woman in the 19th century. Many would be quick to label her a pariah, or someone deserving of her fate. However, Atwood's tender eye towards subtext and grand hypotheticals, she creates a rich biography for Grace that allows her story to become more tragic, full of unfortunate circumstance and even a sense that her reputation was doomed before the inevitable downfall. While it sounds like a simple martyr story, the author's gift comes in finding her humanity and turning this piece of history into an immersive experience. By the end of the novel, the reader will come to empathize with Grace, creating a subtextual connection to contemporary gender politics that is sometimes thought provoking and others haunting.

#162. "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

Everyone likes a good murder story. In the past decade, few novels have resonated with audiences as much as  Delia Owens' "Where the Crawdad Sings." A major reason could be due to her attention to detail which brings the south to life with natural detail that makes even the air feel mysterious. As a novel, it's an immersive experience that makes the reader understand the world that she's inhabiting. Add in a murder mystery and it has an interesting moral dilemma that finds the characters slowly unwinding until a greater truth emerges. In this regard, it's a successful text that manages to present a pulpy good time. However, it's still a bit bland and unable to build much of an original enough yarn to truly stand out as something special.