Mental Floss

BOOKS







James Mato (background); HarperCollins Publishers (cover)

Angie Thomas’s 2017 debut novel, 'The Hate U Give,' has held its place in our hearts (and on the New York Times Bestseller List) for half a decade now. Here's what you need to know.

Rachelle Saint-Louis


Amazon

If you want to get into the classics but aren't quite ready to crack open a book that was written centuries ago, these comic book versions should be far more accessible.

Tasia Bass
You might associate his name with science fiction, but Ray Bradbury wrote plenty of scary stories that will keep you up at night.

From a homicidal infant to a man who gleefully dismembers his own adolescent daughter, these Ray Bradbury stories are not for the faint of heart.

April Snellings






Curious George lives up to his reputation.

Beloved childrens' book character Curious George got himself into some real pickles, including knocking himself unconscious while high on ether.

Jake Rossen






Erin McCarthy

More than two decades before a certain boy wizard ditched his cupboard at 4 Privet Drive for the halls of Hogwarts, readers were introduced to clumsy but sweet-natured Mildred Hubble in the 1974 kidlit classic 'The Worst Witch.'

April Snellings


Star Trek was a key influence in Emily St. John Mandel's 2014 novel, Station Eleven.

Emily St. John Mandel’s ambitious and acclaimed 2014 novel, 'Station Eleven,' whisks readers around the globe and across decades, exploring the before and after of a fictional pandemic that eradicates the world as we know it.

Kristy Puchko


Jackie Collins at her home in Beverly Hills, California in 1995.

Before there was 'Sex and the City' or 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Jackie Collins was delivering unapologetically raunchy tales of glamour and seduction with a treasure trove of erotic novels.

Kristy Puchko
Authors Khaled Hosseini (left), Ralph Ellison (top center), Octavia E. Butler (bottom center), and Toni Morrison (right).

As recent graduates start exploring the job market, they should take comfort in the fact that these noteworthy authors—featured in Mental Floss’s new book, 'The Curious Reader: A Literary Miscellany of Novels and Novelists,' out now—took a sometimes windi

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