Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Mind of My Mindby Octavia E. Butler
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Wild Seed
by Octavia E. Butler
A shape-shifting immortal and a mortal healer's lives intertwine over centuries, exploring power, oppression, and the human condition.
Wild Seed is the story of two immortal Africans named Doro and Anyanwu. Doro is a spirit who can take over other people's bodies, killing anyone and anything in his path, while Anyanwu is a woman ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, exploring themes of faith and power.
Parable of the Talents is told from the points of view of Lauren Oya Olamina and her daughter Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere. The novel consists of journal entries by Lauren and passages by Asha Vere. Four ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic story of survival, hope, and the power of community.
This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with, 1984, or, The Handmaid's Tale," (John Green,, New York Times,)–now with a ... (Barnes & Noble)
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
A black man's journey towards self-actualization in a world of racial oppression.
The narrator, an unnamed black man, begins by describing his living conditions: an underground room wired with hundreds of electric lights, operated by power stolen from the city's electric grid. He ... (Wikipedia)
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A diplomat's mission to a distant planet, exploring themes of gender and identity.
The protagonist of the novel is Genly Ai, a male Terran native, who is sent to invite the planet Gethen to join the Ekumen, a coalition of humanoid worlds. , Ai travels to the Gethen planetary system ... (Wikipedia)
The Fifth Season
by N.K. Jemisin
A world where seismic and magical disasters ravage the land, and a woman's journey to save humanity.
In a prologue, an extraordinarily powerful orogene discusses the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his enormous power to fracture the entire continent along ... (Wikipedia)
Giovanni's Room
by James Baldwin
A man's struggle for identity and acceptance amidst a tumultuous romantic relationship.
David, a young American man whose girlfriend has gone off to Spain to contemplate marriage, is left alone in Paris and begins an affair with an Italian man, Giovanni. The entire story is narrated by ... (Wikipedia)
The Stone Sky
by N.K. Jemisin
A climactic finale to a trilogy, featuring a powerful woman's journey to save her world from destruction.
Following the events of, The Obelisk Gate, , the former inhabitants of Castrima-under are moving north after damage by rival comm Rennanis has compromised the mechanisms of the geode and made it ... (Wikipedia)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
by N.K. Jemisin
Yeine Darr is summoned to the city of Sky, where she must compete for the throne against two powerful cousins.
Yeine Darr was born to Kinneth Arameri, who was heir to the Arameri throne but abdicated twenty years before the start of the story to marry Yeine's father, a Darre man. Kinneth was disowned by ... (Wikipedia)
Native Son
by Richard Wright
A young African American man's exploration of his identity, facing the harsh realities of systemic racism.
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black ... (Goodreads)
The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A sci-fi exploration of utopian and dystopian societies, and the struggle for a better world.
Librarian note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN, 9780061054884,. Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the ... (Goodreads)
Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.
The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)
The Lathe of Heaven
by Ursula K. Le Guin
An exploration of the power of dreams, with the potential to reshape reality.
The book is set in Portland, Oregon , in the year 2002. Portland has three million inhabitants and continuous rain. It is deprived enough for the poorer inhabitants to have kwashiorkor , a protein ... (Wikipedia)
Lovecraft Country
by Matt Ruff
A thrilling and terrifying journey through 1950s America, where a young black man and his family face supernatural horrors and racism.
The book consists of eight interconnected stories: Atticus Turner, working in Florida after leaving the army, returns home to Chicago after receiving a mysterious letter from his estranged father, ... (Wikipedia)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
A woman's journey of self-discovery, liberation and empowerment.
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person – no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three ... (Goodreads)
The Foundation Trilogy
by Isaac Asimov
Intergalactic future-history saga of a Galactic Empire on the brink of collapse.
A THOUSAND-YEAR EPIC, A GALACTIC STRUGGLE, A MONUMENTAL WORK IN THE ANNALS OF SCIENCE FICTION FOUNDATION begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism ... (Goodreads)
Fool Moon
by Jim Butcher
A wizard detective must solve a supernatural mystery with intrigue and danger.
After the events in, Storm Front, , Kim Delaney, whom Dresden helped to control her magical talents, asks Dresden how to create a set of three magical circles, which could be used to contain powerful ... (Wikipedia)
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Exploration of African culture and traditions, grappling with the tension between modernity and tradition.
The novel's protagonist , Okonkwo, is famous in the villages of Umuofia for being a wrestling champion, defeating a wrestler nicknamed "Amalinze The Cat" (because he never lands on his back). Okonkwo ... (Wikipedia)
The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
A Jesuit mission to an alien planet ends in tragedy, raising questions about faith, morality, and the nature of God.
In the year 2019, the SETI program at Arecibo Observatory discovers radio broadcasts of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri . The first expedition to Rakhat, the world that is sending the ... (Wikipedia)
Perdido Street Station
by China Miéville
A thrilling adventure through a captivating and unique city, filled with danger and magic.
Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is a scientist living in the city of New Crobuzon. He is approached by Yagharek, a member of a birdlike species known as garuda , who has had his wings removed as a ... (Wikipedia)
Silver Sparrow
by Tayari Jones
Two teenage girls navigate their complicated relationship as sisters and daughters of a bigamist father in 1980s Atlanta.
Dana Lynn Yarboro's parents meet in Atlanta, Georgia when her father is buying an anniversary present for his wife. Her mother, a young divorcée named Gwen Yarboro, becomes James Witherspoon's ... (Wikipedia)
Blood Music
by Greg Bear
Scientist unleashes microscopic organisms that rapidly evolve, transforming the world.
In the novel, renegade biotechnologist Vergil Ulam creates simple biological computers based on his own lymphocytes . Faced with orders from his nervous employer to destroy his work, he injects them ... (Wikipedia)
Children of Dune
by Frank Herbert
Epic saga of a royal family's struggle for power and the fate of their desert planet.
Nine years after Emperor Paul Muad'Dib walked into the desert, blind, the ecological transformation of Dune has reached the point where some Fremen are living without stillsuits in the less arid ... (Wikipedia)
Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman
A young man discovers his magical family history and learns to use his new supernatural powers.
Anansi Boys is the story of Charles "Fat Charlie" Nancy, a timid Londoner devoid of ambition, whose unenthusiastic wedding preparations are disrupted when he learns that his father (Mr. Nancy) has ... (Wikipedia)
An Unkindness of Ghosts
by Rivers Solomon
A powerful story of survival, set on a generational spaceship, as a young woman fights to free herself from oppressive social structures.
Odd-mannered, obsessive, withdrawn, Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If ... (Goodreads)
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
by Nancy Farmer
A futuristic adventure of three children in search of their parents in a dystopian world.
In Zimbabwe in the year 2194, Chief of Security General Matsika leads a battle against the gangs which terrorize the nation. His three children, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda, are kept in a fortified ... (Wikipedia)
Life After God
by Douglas Coupland
A collection of stories of searching for meaning in life after childhood faith.
This collection of stories cuts through the hype of modern living, travelling inward to the elusive terrain of dreams and nightmares. ... (Goodreads)
Mama Day
by Gloria Naylor
An exploration of the power of faith and family in a small African-American community.
Mama Day centers around the characters George and Cocoa. Cocoa, whose real name is Ophelia, is a young southern woman living in New York who is still deeply connected to her family and ancestry, even ... (Wikipedia)
Kushiel's Avatar
by Jacqueline Carey
A gripping fantasy saga of political intrigue, magic, and forbidden love.
The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. It's inhabited by the race that rose from the seed of angels, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre nó ... (Goodreads)
Woman on the Edge of Time
by Marge Piercy
A woman is sent to the future to see the potential of a utopian society and how it can be achieved.
In the 1970s, an impoverished but intelligent thirty-seven-year-old Mexican-American woman Consuelo (Connie) Ramos, a resident of Spanish Harlem , is unfairly incarcerated in a New York mental ... (Wikipedia)
