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Recommendations based on The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventureby Hans Magnus Enzensberger
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Blindness
by José Saramago
A society is plunged into chaos when everyone suddenly loses their sight.
Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortune of a ... (Wikipedia)
Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
A young man's journey of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1960s.
Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of ... (Goodreads)
Marcelo in the Real World
by Francisco X. Stork
A young man with Asperger's Syndrome navigates the challenges of the real world.
Marcelo Sandoval, is a seventeen-year-old who hears music in his head as a result of mild autism , described as a " cognitive disorder " by his father. , He attends a school that caters to the needs ... (Wikipedia)
The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
A poetic journey through the afterlife, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining ... (Goodreads)
Odd and the Frost Giants
by Neil Gaiman
A young boy named Odd embarks on a journey to save Asgard from the Frost Giants. Along the way, he meets gods and animals who help him on his quest.
Odd is a young Norseman whose father, a woodcutter, drowned during a Viking raid. His Scottish mother marries a fat widower who neglects him in favor of his own children, and when soon after the ... (Wikipedia)
Murder on the Orient Express
by Agatha Christie
Detective Hercule Poirot solves a murder mystery on the luxurious Orient Express.
After taking the Taurus Express from Aleppo to Istanbul , private detective Hercule Poirot arrives at the Tokatlian Hotel , where he receives a telegram prompting him to return to London . He ... (Wikipedia)
The Idiot
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A man's struggle to find his place in society, and the moral dilemmas he faces.
Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to ... (Wikipedia)
Candide
by Voltaire
A young man's satirical journey through life, encountering misfortune and eventual optimism.
Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a ... (Goodreads)
Five Little Pigs
by Agatha Christie
A detective investigates a 15-year-old unsolved murder case, uncovering secrets and lies.
Sixteen years after Caroline Crale is convicted for the murder of her husband Amyas, her daughter Carla Lemarchant approaches Hercule Poirot. In the meeting, Carla claims her mother was innocent, and ... (Wikipedia)
Tears of the Giraffe
by Alexander McCall Smith
A humorous and heartwarming story of the lives of the inhabitants of a Botswana village.
Newly engaged Mma Ramotswe is not impressed with Mr JLB Matekoni's maid, Florence Pena. Unknown to him, she has been sleeping in his bed with her men friends. Obvious to Mma Ramotswe is that she does ... (Wikipedia)
The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas
An adventurous tale of friendship, courage, and battle in 17th century France.
In 1625 France, d'Artagnan leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard . At a house in Meung-sur-Loire , an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted, ... (Wikipedia)
Crooked House
by Agatha Christie
A detective investigates a murder mystery in an old, aristocratic house with a web of secrets.
Towards the end of the Second World War , Charles Hayward is in Cairo and falls in love with Sophia Leonides, a smart, successful Englishwoman who works for the Foreign Office . They put off getting ... (Wikipedia)
The Martian Chronicles
by Ray Bradbury
Human colonists struggle for survival on Mars, facing the challenges of a new world.
The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection. The Martian Chronicles tells the story of ... (Goodreads)
Moon Palace
by Paul Auster
A young man's journey of self-exploration, uncovering secrets of his mysterious past.
Marco Stanley Fogg is an orphan, a child of the sixties, a quester tirelessly seeking the key to his past, the answers to the ultimate riddle of his fate. As Marco sets out on a journey from the ... (Goodreads)
The Joke
by Milan Kundera
A reflection on the nature of humor, and the consequences of a single joke.
The novel is composed of many jokes, which have strong effects on the characters. The story is told from the four viewpoints of Ludvik Jahn, Helena Zemánková, Kostka, and Jaroslav. Jaroslav's joke is ... (Wikipedia)
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo
A squirrel with superpowers and a young girl team up to save the world. Heartwarming and humorous, with charming illustrations.
Flora Belle Buckman, a self-proclaimed cynic, spends her time reading comic books and struggling to understand her parents’ recent divorce . She is jolted into action when the neighbor runs over a ... (Wikipedia)
The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.
In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)
Death in Venice
by Thomas Mann
A writer's journey of self-discovery in an Italian city, through a tangled web of art, beauty, and passion.
The main character is Gustav von Aschenbach , a famous author in his early fifties who has recently been ennobled in honor of his artistic achievement (thus acquiring the aristocratic " von " in his ... (Wikipedia)
The Grim Grotto
by Lemony Snicket
A trio of orphans navigate a treacherous journey to unlock the secrets of an elusive organization.
Klaus examined the tidal charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl relative to the water cycle . He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. An octopus -shaped submarine, captained by Count ... (Wikipedia)
Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez
An epic love story spanning decades, exploring the power of true love.
The main characters of the novel are Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. A secret relationship blossoms between the two with the help of Fermina's ... (Wikipedia)
The Sword of Summer
by Rick Riordan
A young man discovers he is the Norse god of thunder, embarking on a quest to prevent Ragnarok.
The novel opens on the sixteenth birthday of protagonist Magnus Chase, who has been living on the streets of Boston since his mother Natalie's death two years ago. After learning that his uncle ... (Wikipedia)
Quidditch Through the Ages
by J.K. Rowling
A detailed guide to the magical sport of Quidditch, its history and its rules.
The most checked-out book in the Hogwarts Library, and a volume no Quidditch player or Harry Potter fan should be without! If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the ... (Goodreads)
Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
An American couple's struggle to stay afloat in suburban conventions and expectations.
Set in 1955, the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the ... (Wikipedia)
Pedro Páramo
by Juan Rulfo
A man returns to his hometown in search of his father, discovering the ghostly inhabitants.
A classic of Mexican modern literature about a haunted village. As one enters Juan Rulfo's legendary novel, one follows a dusty road to a town of death. Time shifts from one consciousness to another ... (Goodreads)
Vanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
A story of social climbing and ambition, set against the backdrop of 19th century England.
A novel that chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her ... (Goodreads)
The Epic of Gilgamesh
by Anonymous
Ancient Sumerian epic poem recounting the adventures of a hero who struggles with mortality.
Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as much as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world’s oldest epic, predating Homer by many centuries. The story tells ... (Goodreads)
The Gambler
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A story of addiction and gambling, and the psychological depths of a man’s desperation.
The first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is ... (Wikipedia)
Kindred Spirits
by Mark Anthony
A group of friends reunite after years apart, but their weekend getaway turns into a fight for survival against a supernatural force.
an alternate cover edition can be found, here, Magic and Murder When Flint Fireforge, dwarf and metalsmith, receives a wondrous summons from the Speaker of the Sun, he journeys to the fabled elven ... (Goodreads)
Animal Farm / 1984
by George Orwell
Two classic dystopian novels that explore the dangers of totalitarianism and the corrupting influence of power.
The poorly-run Manor Farm near Willingdon , England , is ripened for rebellion from its animal populace by neglect at the hands of the irresponsible and alcoholic farmer, Mr. Jones . One night, the ... (Wikipedia)
Ketchup Clouds
by Annabel Pitcher
A teenage girl confesses to a murder in letters to a death row inmate, revealing secrets and a forbidden love triangle.
Secrets, romance, murder and lies: Zoe shares a terrible secret in a letter to a stranger on death row in this second novel from the author of the bestselling debut, My Sister Lives on the ... (Goodreads)
