Don’t Google these six books before you read them.

The book even contains common proverbs. But it is often intended to be judged by its cover. The jacket cover contains marketing copy designed to entice browsers to purchase. (And, ideally, read.) They tease out details of the plot, mood, or flavor of the prose. But these beautiful descriptions The same goes for many attempts at concluding a compelling story. It can hardly convey the thrill of reading a book that truly amazes you. Maybe a better name suggestion wouldn’t be, like a friend who said, “Trust me,” a good book is still good. Even if you don’t know much about it.

In fact, I would venture to say that the feeling of encountering a particular book for the first time is enhanced by not knowing anything at all. and for some books The lack of knowledge felt almost necessary to the experience. Some stories are like a bolt from the sky or change in unexpected ways. which readers should aim to reach without any information about what to expect. Some are genre novels that come with a fair expectation of shock, others present themselves as a type of storytelling. But it became another matter entirely. Because there is a name on this list So you can safely assume that the six titles below will have many different types of twists. But each title offers rich rewards to travelers who choose to travel without a map.

trust exerciseBy Susan Choi

Readers who come to read Choi’s novels trust exercise When it first launched in 2019, it offered an enviable experience of being able to encounter storytelling acrobatics without any preparation. At this point in the life of the book The book’s status as a model of fiction that exceeds expectations suggests to readers that it has. something unusual about it The first half of the book, set at a highly competitive performing arts high school in the 1980s, is pure nostalgia for the theater kid. Two freshmen David and Sarah fall in love with a secretly toxic drama teacher: Mr. Kingsley. David and Sarah’s mysterious acting teacher Manipulating emotions and desires in the name of art. trust exercise These events reverse in the second half of the novel. With a completely different perspective. It is an emotionally unstable experience. It opens up provocative questions about ethics, intimacy, and authorship. The novel delights in refuting easy answers. The title is not just a drama type game. But it is a true description of the contents of the book. Just let it happen.

Read: To prevent spoilers

dictionaryBy Max Barry

The novel is something unlikely: a high-concept thriller about language. Like many literary protagonists before her, Emily Ruff is an orphan recruited by agents of a mysterious boarding school. This one teaches the art of forcing. Students who rise to the highest level – earning the title Bard – join a mysterious and dangerous society that can shape the world with the power of persuasion. Emily is a clever speaker. It is easy to integrate into a rigorous program and become a star student. But when she falls in love The delicate work of using language as a weapon is suddenly flung aside by the force of undisciplined desire. dictionary It’s a clear case for genre fiction to be the most rewarding form for those who enter it without any prior knowledge. Barry creates an incredible sci-fi world. It has a pseudo-fantasy power to it, though, by creating a world that is at best familiar and cliché. It brings the stakes of language abuse to the highest point.

about writingBy Stephen King

The King’s Nonfiction Craft Book about writingIt clearly lives up to the promise of the subtitle: Memories of handicrafts– King called the book “a kind of Course history” that mixes autobiographical scenes with helpful advice. (One tidbit that stuck with me as a young writer: Every writer has one ideal reader. (which they should keep in mind while working) But King couldn’t stop himself from using horror. When I was a child He was prone to illness and was taken to the doctor for pain from a cut in his eardrum. which he described in detail The terror increases as King recounts the pitfalls of adulthood, such as addiction and the unexpectedly grueling recovery from a near-fatal accident. What begins as a book about writing that weaves personal threads into something more feels like a Stephen King novel. What else? Readers who come for advice alone will be rewarded and shaken by the narrative. that follows

Read: How does Stephen King teach writing?

In Writing: Memoirs of a Craft

by Stephen King

To name a bigger lieBy Sarah Viren

At first, To name a bigger lie It seems like a straightforward coming-of-age story. As a high school student in Tampa, Florida in the 1990s, Viren falls under the influence of a charismatic teacher, Dr., who is intent on pushing his students to question the nature of reality. His teaching involves revealing his class. Often without criticism for conspiracy theories that include Holocaust denial, several years later, in 2016, Viren began writing a book that treated that period in her life as an allegory for the rise of fascism in United States of America But in the course of writing, his wife, also an academic, like Viren, was falsely accused of sexual abuse, and the ensuing Title IX investigation became part of Viren’s narrative. Surprised that Veeren found out during this case with Dr. Wheels’ teaching Both methods turn out to be dangerous and investigative methods of trying to reach the truth. It culminates in an interrogation of the fact-finding methods our institutions rely on.

Name the Bigger Lie: Memoirs in Two Stories

by Sarah Viren

natural beautyBy Ling Ling Huang

Huang’s first novel centers on the health industry. This is a fertile source for physical discomfort. The speaker is a young classical musician. abandoning a bright future as a concert pianist to help her parents after an accident She works at the high-end beauty salon Holistik, which has products that are unnaturally effective. As the speaker becomes more involved with the company’s founding family, She discovers important clues that something is amiss, such as evidence of animal testing in a lab. and the dramatic physical transformation among clients. Yet, the financial dependency on her work and increasing entanglement with founders. Makes it hard for you to walk away When the power behind this company’s ethos and practices was finally revealed. I was immediately shocked and foretold from the start.

Read: You might be surprised at what scares you.

agreeBy Jill Ciment

Ciment has written about the relationships that animate this memoir before, in half lifeher 1996 book, she describes her three-decade marriage to artist Arnold Mesches. whom she met when she was a 17-year-old student in his art class Back then, Cement stood out to her as a temptress. But this book, written in the wake of Meches’ death and the #MeToo movement, asks whether things are ever so clear cut. The story of their long marriage would be more powerful if the reader experienced it without reading the entire backstory. or at least be willing to abandon one’s biases in agreeCiment provides context for many of the original memoirs. Even after analyzing some passages That sticking too rigidly to the first version of this story would make the follow-up feel too much like a lawsuit. Such a reading would minimize Ciment’s computational complexity. She doesn’t just examine how her marriage began. But she also honors the productive artistic partnership that grew out of that marriage. while simultaneously placing those realities in the context of the development of cultural traditions based on authority and consent.