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My Favorite Books!

Purple Star emoji 22 items
Books that changed me fundamentally.
Sections
6
 
 
 
 
 
 

Disturbing and Disgusting Horror

Books that I consider truly disturbing. I love when a book makes me feel physically ill!
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
This book is written from Bela’s perspective, an eight year old haunted by Other Mommy. I really just have to let you experience this. Don’t go in with any spoilers if possible. It’s VERY good.
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
Think “Lord of the Flies” but worse! I hope you aren’t hungry…
The Troop: A Novel: Cutter, Nick
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
Y’all. This is soooo fucked up. I couldn’t stop reading. I hated it. I couldn’t put it down!
Tampa: A Taboo, Sexy Thriller: Nutting, Alissa
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
A medieval fiefdom is plagued by the villagers’ insane stupidity, selfishness, and religion. In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy named Marek finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle ...
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
now this story is good. a little girl is lured to her neighbour’s basement, where she ends up losing her life. from beyond the grave, she watches her family grieve—and her murderer walk free, completely unsuspected. she does her best to help solve he...
The Lovely Bones: Sebold, Alice:
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
One thing I don’t play around with: cannibalism. Seriously this book is so good. It takes place in a world where animal meat is no longer viable and human meat becomes a staple. the main character tries very hard to separate meat from human, and it c...
Tender Is the Flesh: Bazterrica, Agustina
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
This was a beautiful medieval horror about coming together in times of crisis, learning to trust, and understanding yourself. A little sapphic and a little disgusting, but a great story and hopeful ending.
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling | Goodreads

Wartime

Books that center on war and the stories throughout such times.
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
Set during the Blitz. It’s so heartbreaking in all the best ways; love, pride, joy, violence, sacrifice, and peace. the writing style will make your jaw drop. the storyline is FANTASTIC and everything about this entire book makes my heart near to bur...
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
this book is a true memoir of Tim, a US soldier in the Vietnam War. his inner journey through the beginning of the draft and also his adventures as a soldier are all hard-hitting, heartwarming/heartbreaking, educational, funny, just plain weird, and ...
The Things They Carried: O'Brien, Tim
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
think Catch-22, but more Alice in Wonderland. Billy Pilgrim is a soldier who loses his innocence very quickly. he processes his trauma by creating his own time traveling persona that is able to have a fantastical life and fall in love inside an alien...
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
this book is about the entirely nonsensical tune of war. each character is hilarious and very specific to their jobs; the protag is constantly put in a place of moral contradiction and has to learn about duty and honor in a place that values none of ...
Catch-22: Heller, Joseph

Romance

Books that I rose toy to
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
i’m sure you’ve heard of this one. This book is really the blueprint for a interesting class commentary as well as love story. the social class here is incredibly important to the storyline and breaking those boundaries Is an interesting book at why ...
Pride and Prejudice: Austen, Jane: Books

Fantasy

Books that I could disappear into.
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
this book will make you yearn for your childhood again. It will make you think of fantasy adventures and if your stuffed animals could talk and if your pets could be your best friends, with all the tension and suspense of a great thriller. several gi...
The Twistrose Key #1
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
another fave book!!! this book is about a princess named Sylvie. she is a storybook princess who yearns for adventure beyond the pages of her own book. she goes on this mind-bending, trippy AF adventure and ends up living as a dream in her book reade...
The Great Good Thing: Townley, Roderick
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
What else could I say? A classic for a reason. Truly set me up for a great imagination as a child.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass

Sci-Fi

Books that contain that good science fiction! Mind bending and creative!
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
the FIRST fucking sci-fi novel of American literature, this book (apparently it’s a series but I can only speak for the first book) is the epitome of adventure. the protag is a Virginian gentleman who gets magicked to Mars and becomes a warrior in th...
A Princess of Mars: Burroughs, Edgar Rice
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
This book made me question reality for a week after. A sci-fi thriller that not only makes you wonder if you know your world around you in real time, but has you rooting for a man who is arguably seriously incompetent. And yet, you love him anyway.
Rabbits: A Novel by Terry Miles, Paperback
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
incredible sci-fi. lots of non-explicit sex and drug use (kind of the thing which their New World is founded on), but the works of it all will really make you think about what makes a society great and why the American ideal of excess is such a bad i...
Brave New World: Huxley, Aldous

Coming of Age/Less Disturbing Fiction

 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
MYSTERY. family. electrifying storyline, such a rabbit hole of wonderment. honestly a very good read. a bit dark. but you’ll be on the edge of your seat the whole time! who is the little boy? is Lisa ok? is her best friend *really* her friend? writin...
Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
you want a coming-of-age teen story, this is it!!! a wonderful story about a hijabi girl in Australia just trying to make it thru high-school. i related so hard to some of the struggles she faces (like discrimination and some boy trouble ahaha) and i...
Does My Head Look Big in This?: Abdel-Fattah, Randa
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
i cannot recommend this book enough if you want to look into some existential horror. the story is so good!!!! dorian’s slow descent into madness is well paced and you’ll fall in love with some of the characters. the writing is old fashioned and migh...
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
 
Jaymee Prestley profile picture
ok, it’s technically for kids but it’s so good. it’s literally a whole adventure of this kid Milo who hates his boring life, and eventually learns to cherish and enjoy everything he has. the wordplay in this is off the charts; Milo makes friends with...
The Phantom Tollbooth: Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer