Several times this year, I found that solace; moments stolen from the hectic outside world through reading a good book.

Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it, except sitting in a corner by myself with a little book. – Arthur Helps

If there are times you need to be taken away from it all, forget the bath salts and pick up one of the following. These are the books that kept the world at bay, even for just a little bit.

General Fiction/Mystery/Thriller

Don’t Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon
Room by Emma Donoghue

Literature/Classic

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Horror

The Strain by Guillermo Del Torro & Chuck Hogan
Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Fantasy

Monster by A. Lee Martinez
The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill

Science Fiction

Boneshaker & Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

Juvenile Fiction

Hieronymus White: A Bird Who Believed That He Was Always Right by Jeff Ross
The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses by Ty Drago
The Atomic Weight of Secrets by Eden Unger Bowditch
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Young Adult Fiction

The Declaration by Gemma Malley
Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Non-Fiction

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle
Anything by Anthony Bourdain (A Cook’s Tour, Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw, etc.)

If you don’t have these on a wish list or your TBR shelf, take a look at the links and see if they should be. I’d call myself an enabler, but hey, I read your blogs too. I owe ya.