#187. "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak

The general consensus around Russia is that it's a cold and desolate place. While there's a rich culture, there's often a need to focus on the weather, of which can be an unforgiving landscape that swallows those unprepared whole. For Boris Pasternak, it's also a place to find hope. In "Doctor Zhivago," he explores the life of a doctor who is surrounded by misery during the time of war. He deals with the revolutionaries who wish to present a new and more idealistic world. They quote the literary giants of the past, looking for direction on the way forward. Even if the titular Zhivago cannot lead, he's doing more than enough to keep the cause alive. The question eventually comes whether he could find something for himself to live for. That's what leads to one of the most bittersweet romances of the 20th century, portraying a world of hope and sacrifice, while also acknowledging that not everything is fair. This is a story that will make hearts flutter, but also make them sink. It's a profound journey unlike any other in the literary world. 

#186. "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion

Like the characters at the center of Joan Didion's sparse novel "Play It As It Lays," this story is a narrative gamble. With everyone's lives spiraling out of control, this is a study of characters who are never understood lower than a surface level. Whereas most would get lost in the winding trail of interiority, Didion's fascination is more about the immediate response, relying on paragraphs that are at times so zippy that they tempt the reader to miss hidden details. This is a world where shocking detail happens in mundane prose, and introspection doesn't always reveal itself beyond the immediate action being performed. What it lacks in depth it more than makes up for in a go-for-broke immediacy that makes for an entertaining read. It may result in the reader asking what just transpired, but hopefully the interpretation of the prior pages will be enough to make this playful exercise worth the gambit. 

#185. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Among the echelon of fantasy that feels like an all-too-real portrait of the modern age is Aldous Huxley's satirical ride "Brave New World." Unlike the more piercing nature of "1984," Huxley is more fixated on a comic read of a culture that has been designed for nonstop pleasure. Everything becomes so accessible that the very concept of sex seems absurd, where even the birthing process has lost its sentimentality in favor of nonstop excess. Even in the quest for a titular brave new world, the people in charge of that journey don't have the wherewithal to make it better. Is everyone doomed to be distracted by debauchery as worse behavior becomes accepted, or will something change for the better? In short, the answer is like all satires and exists somewhere amid the humor.

#184. "A Supposedly Fun Thing That I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace

Throughout the 1990s, few authors sought to redesign the literary language quite like David Foster Wallace. Along with his maximalist magnum opus, he was a regular culture critic known for his detailed essays that pushed far beyond the page and into the footnotes. Nowhere is this clearer than in his essay collection "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," which finds him interweaving the hot topics of the day along with personal perspectives that turn academia into an accessible and sometimes emotion-driven art form. One doesn't need to be a fan of tennis, state fairs, or David Lynch to appreciate what Wallace has created. It's such a succinct look at what drove the writer that it becomes one of the essential portraits of a period in American history that was both full of ambition and farce. In some ways, these essays surpass his fiction, introducing a new way to think of the world, even if there's things about it that he doesn't care for.

#183. "The Moviegoer" by Walker Percy

There ain't no city quite like New Orleans. Few authors knew that as well as Walker Percy. In his novel "The Moviegoer," he turns acts as simple as walking down the street into a colorful collage of figures who are trying to make the most of their own eccentric situations. Compared to most novels, the plot is sparse and at times meandering. However, the slice of life nature allows for a deeper introspection that allows for humor to clash with dread in a way that subverts expectations. In the Big Easy, it's fun to see someone who looks to be having a good time but somewhere deep inside is missing an element that could make him more satisfied. 

#182. "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth

Even decades later, it's difficult for America to fully escape the image of its former glory. The protagonist of Philip Roth's "American Pastoral" is the ideal citizen. He did everything right. He was a renowned high school athlete who married the prom queen. Everything was working in his favor, down to his career focusing on assembling gloves. If this were the 1950s, there's a good chance that this would be the picture-perfect vision of a happy life. However, there is one caveat to his image. His daughter is an anarchist who defies the definition of patriotism. Over the couse of a taught little novel, Roth finds the deeper meaning of the American dream and how the image of post-war suburbia isn't what it seems. Somewhere in the happy faces is a reality that's hard to fully explain. By the 1960s, America was at a crossroads, and the youth were ready to fight back. Who will win? Who is right?

#181. "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson

Few authors knew how to write tension as well as Shirley Jackson. There is a level of trust she forms with her readers that causes them to lean forward and read with morbid curiosity the exploits of her characters suffering from their own strange ailments. They are tragic, but more importantly, they are familiar. The motivations are those of everyday dysfunction, and in he case of "The Haunting of Hill House," she outdoes herself by finding the perfect balance between interior and external dread. A visit to a house with an ever-changing layout results in moments of hallucination and fear that escape the melodramatic texture it suggests. By the end, the reader feels as connected to the characters as they are to the building they inhabit, maybe even causing them to question their own floor plan and experience their own optical shenanigans.