Lakeland Public Library discussion

As part of the Adult and Teen Summer Reading Challenge, we've asked you to imagine your story in an alternate world. These are stories that reimagine our history or our future; or stories in which time travel is used to preserve or alter history. Here are some suggestions. We've included fiction, non-fiction and YA fiction. If we missed a title you really enjoyed let us and other readers know in the comments sections.


FICTION:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Philosophers series by Tom Miller

11/22/63 by Stephen King

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mothar and Max Gladstone

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Severance by Ling Ma

V For Vendetta graphic novel by Alan Moore


NONFICTION:

Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarland

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

The World Until Yesterday: What We Can Learn From Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond

The End is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, From the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't by Nate Silver

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell


YOUNG ADULT FICTION:

American Royals by Katharine McGee

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

The Conqueror's Saga (And I Darken) by Kiersten White

Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Front Lines by Michael Grant

Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

I read (and enjoyed!) A Wrinkle in Time (and the whole rest of the series as well), Outlander (and book two in the series), and The Yiddish Policeman's Union previously. I almost went with the next book in the Outlander series, but then decided to try The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln! Hopefully, I will get this far in the challenge!

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln sounds like a great "what if" title!

And no worries, you can collect badges in the challenge in any order. So you're already on you way to another badge, which in turn means you're closer to an entry into our grand prize drawing. :)

If anyone is into audiobooks I recommend listening to Ready Player One! I enjoyed the story, but I don't know if I would have enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed listening to the story. There are a lot of gaming descriptions and I think Wil Wheaton conveyed them with the perfect emotion.