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A quintessential coming-of-age novel about a farm boy who adopts a baby deer, but must learn harsh truths about how the real world treats naivete. Really well-written, with local colloquialisms that expertly flesh out turn-of-the-century rural America. (On a personal note, this book came into my life at a time when I was really struggling with personal growth, and had a significant impact on that process, and for that it will always have a special place in my heart.)

You'll need to read The Book of the Dun Cow, a story about a war between Good and Evil fought by talking animals, before picking up this one. The sequel follows the aftermath of that battle, but it's not the rebuilding of the community readers might expect; darkness, death, and destruction feature throughout. If a book has never made you cry, this might be the one to change that. Never before has a book been so aptly titled, and it left me in a depressive funk for weeks. Still, beautifully written and worth reading. (Ignore the third book, it's nothing like the first two and was obviously written decades later as a cash grab.)

A classic tale of Good Vs Evil, with a deeply flawed but well-meaning protagonist and a literal menagerie of hilarious characters. But don't let the talking animals fool you, this is no lighthearted children's book. Dystopian themes, unflinching violence, and a sweeping darkness that may leave readers depressed for days. Beautifully written in a highly lyrical, saccharine style that belies the unfolding destruction. The sequel, The Book of Sorrows, is just as good but even darker, if you can believe it. (The third book can and should be ignored outright, written after three decades as a quick cash grab by an author who very obviously got swept up in the recent alt-rightening of the evangelical crowd. Gone is the allegory, gone is the beauty, leaving nothing more than a ham-fisted sermon.)

A young man visits his childhood friend in a mental asylum to try to convince him he's not actually a bird. Loyalty, isolation, the Vietnam war, bird erotica... You'd never believe they could all blend together so beautifully, and yet. Not a well-known book, but almost won the Pulitzer, and with good reason. Well-written and intriguing. (The film features Nicholas Cage in an early role. It was a sign of things to come.)

A story about a deranged teenager in an isolated island community who uses a broken clock to decide how to mete out death. One of the most original, intriguing, and disturbing novels I've ever read, with twists and turns aplenty. So good I've deliberately avoided reading anything else by Banks because I don't believe he could ever again match the lightning he caught in this one.

The book that made me fall in love with Murakami's imagination. Surreal encounters, a parallel dimension... Though the rest of his work never quite achieves the same harmonics, I continue to read him hoping for another visit to the end of the world.