The Buzz...About Books

Earlier last month, I posted a few titles - mostly teen fiction - that painted dreary futures of tyrannical governments, genetic experimentations gone awry and more. There were, of course, still many more titles I missed, and I had loads of suggestions from readers who had some of their own picks to share.

Here are some more featured dystopian reads, including favourites from commenters, and some more I wanted to add in. When it comes to dystopian reading, you can never get too wierd or too creepy, so if you think this list is too tame, consider this a challenge to bring it on!

The Classics
These have been around forever - and with good reason. You may have read some of these in school, and they may have actually *gasp!* interested you! If you haven't yet, make time to get yourself into the worlds of these writers who were ahead of their times.

1. 1984 by George Orwell (reader suggestion!)
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (reader suggestion!)
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (reader suggestion!)

If you'd like to try your luck, you can also walk into a local library branch and check out the Classic paperback section for the titles above.

Hot for Teens
Fresh off the success of hits like The Hunger Games and Divergent, there have been a slew of young adult books that deal with themes of isolation, loss of identity, and power struggles - usually against the backdrop of mass government control. Here are some other titles to get you psyched (and maybe just a little paranoid...)

1. Scored by Lauren McLaughlin
2. This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
3. A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
4. Beta by Rachel Cohn
5. Feed by MT Anderson (reader suggestion!)
6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

You've heard of it...now read it!
You may have seen the screen adaptation or had a friend gush over how much she loved this book...and cha nces are, you haven't quite read the book yet. Why wait?

1. We by Yevgeny Zamyat in (reader suggestion!)
2.   The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin (reader suggestion!)
3. The Book of Dave by Will Self (reader suggestion!)
   
4. World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler (reader suggestion!)
5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (considered more utopian, actually...)
6. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
7. World War Z by Max Brooks
8. The Devil's Alphabet by Daryl Gregory
9. Blindness by Jose Saramago
10. Battle Royale by Koushun Tamaki

Remember that many of these titles are available in a number of formats, including paperback, ebook and audio, so you can read it however you want.

Happy Reading!