Transformations begin with a moment. A clue uncovered; a task charged; a revelation. Unexpected elements prompt moves into the as-yet unknown, from where one never returns exactly as they left.
These books are replete with tales of such epic quests, and include both fiction and non-fiction offerings. Some are family searches, plumbing genealogies, faded pictures, and myths for a fuller sense of self through the past; some are searches for artifacts so coveted they’d make Indiana Jones faint.
From Mordor to Mumbai, from unmapped space and unknown planets to once-fled from hometowns; between dimensions and into the grey areas of our memories; out of the South toward hoped-for opportunities, and back to a South where equality is still denied; down staircases that unwind into seeming infinity, and on the slow climb toward the American presidency; into future landscapes we’d be wise to avoid, and toward a clearer vision of a past we can’t undo; out of fairylands, toward the Emerald City, and back to the remnants of myths again, these books set their seekers down uncertain paths and transform everything in the course of the journey.
These are exciting, revelatory, inspiring, and upending stories—and are presented, let it be known, in no particular order, so please don’t treat number assignments as a map. Instead, find what intrigues you, and forge your own path of discovery, one page at a time.
FICTION
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne
Dreams of Maryam Tair, Mhani Alaoui
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
Becoming Kirrali Lewis, Jane Harrison
Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis
Possession, A. S. Byatt
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
A Guide for the Perplexed, Dara Horn
The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir, Susan Daitch
Seven Wonders, Ben Mezrich
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
The Hidden Keys, André Alexis
Home, Toni Morrison
Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien
House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
Kafka’s Son, Curt Leviant
The Autograph Man, Zadie Smith
A Single Stone, Meg McKinlay
Katherine Carlyle, Rupert Thomson
Minnow, James McTeer
The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
Pictures at an Exhibition, Sara Houghteling
Paradise Lost, John Milton
The Theory of Clouds, Stephane Audeguy
The Reeducation of Cherry Truong, Aimee Phan
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Tom Rachman
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
The Sea Beach Line, Ben Nadler
The Arrival, Shaun Tan
Gentleman’s Agreement, Laura Z. Hobson
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson
Open City, Teju Cole
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
All We Have Left, Wendy Mills
Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic, Emily Croy Barker
Searching for Caleb, Anne Tyler
The Divine Comedy, Dante
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Daughter of Fortune, Isabel Allende
The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
By Blood, Ellen Ullman
The Distant Hours, Kate Morton
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien
Little, Big, John Crowley
Contact, Carl Sagan
Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco
The Drowned World, J. G. Ballard
Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
Alphabet of Thorn, Patricia McKillip
Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
Mr. Fox, Helen Oyeyemi
The Lost Book of the Grail, Charlie Lovett
Home, Marilynne Robinson
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Forgotten Country, Catherine Chung
Valis, Philip K. Dick
The Invisible Bridge, Julie Orringer
Labyrinth, Kate Mosse
The Calcutta Chromosome, Amitav Ghosh
The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald
Gold Fame Citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins
Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay
The Odyssey, Homer
The Gloaming, Melanie Finn
NONFICTION
77. A Long Way Home, Saroo Brierley
78. In the Darkroom, Susan Faludi
79. The River of Doubt, Candice Millard
80. The Orpheus Clock, Simon Goodman
81. Walking the Llano, Shelley Armitage
82. In Search of King Solomon’s Mines, Tahir Shah
83. Full Moon Over Noah’s Ark, Rick Antonson
84. The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates
85. Wild, Cheryl Strayed
86. Catfish and Mandala, Andrew X. Pham
87. The Unconquered, Scott Wallace
88. The Lost Ark of the Covenant, Tudor Parfitt
89. One Drop, Bliss Broyard
90. Sacred Trash, Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole
91. The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
92. A Princess’s Pilgrimage, Nawab Sikandar Begum
93. The Lost City of Z, David Grann
94. The Return, Hisham Matar
95. Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama
96. Ordinary Light, Tracy K. Smith
97. The Lost, Daniel Mendelsohn
98. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
99. The Book of Wanderings, Kimberly Meyer
100. Valverde’s Gold, Mark Honigsbaum