The Shinning: By Stephen King

This novel, published in 1977, fits well within the horror genre. The book stars Jack Torrance who attempts to re-start his career at the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains as an off-season caretaker who brings along his family; his wife, Wendy and son, Danny. The setting becomes remote as the harsh winter storms set in, and Danny takes notice. As a gifted five-year-old who is able to connect with certain spirits and visions, Danny is able to sense the sinister energy that exerts from the hotel. With the help of Tony, Danny's figment of his older self, he is constantly alerted of the shocking history of the hotel and what elements await his family in room 217.

Themes that prevail in this book include isolation, addiction, power and good versus evil. It stresses a family who fights to remain together but ultimately is taken over by the harm that moves fast to befall them with a father who battles supernatural demons. This stands today as a favorite and will become a read that you won't be able to put down. Be prepared for a terrifyingly strange, unique, and dark horror story that will consume you.

Astragal: By Albertine Sarrazin

This story was first written in 1965 by Sarrazin in a French prison, and translated in 2013. It follows the story of Anne, who leaped from her jail cell and broke her ankle. She is rescued by Julien, who himself is a small-time criminal, and keeps her safe and hidden as she is on the run. The two fall in love and continue a journey with fears of capture and life uncertainty. "Every detail is fiercely felt" throughout the novel, and gives readers an inside into the laws and culture of this early time period.

Anne writes of bouts of restiveness in her journal, describes her memories of prison and the physical and mental pain that follows her. With Julien finding his way into her heart, these two thieves in love lead a strong and determined path to freedom and content. This novel will make you feel emotions that you thought weren't there and will have you questioning the power of love.

To Kill a MockingBird: By Harper Lee

This novel highlights a child's view of race and justice in the Depression-era South. Scout Finch lives with her brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, in the sleepy Alabama town of Maycomb. A new boy in town, Dill, joins the story and quickly becomes friends with Scout and Jem, and becomes interested in the creepy house on their street whose resident never ventures outside.

This family endures threats and hate from the community when Atticus, a lawyer, defends a black man in a case, in a community full of racism. A family full of empathy, intelligence, and kind hearts delivers a story that is deemed classic and empowering. The storyline includes many twists and turns, crime and hope, and truth about the heated opinions of the time.

The Devil in the White City: By Erik Larson

This novel is set in Chicago, Illinois in the early 1890s, and it intertwines two true stories that seem unrelated at first. The first story is of an architect, Daniel H. Burnham, who masterminded the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago; the second follows the tale of Dr. H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer who used the fair to lure hundreds of people to their deaths. A sense of madness follows these two tales and reveals a shocking backstory of Holmes, who seemed deranged from the beginning between his obsession with medicine and surgery.

This narrative contains wonder of newly discovered history and thrills the readers with sophistication and mystery. "As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find."-San Francisco Chronicle

"The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing." - John Moe

Topics of Conversations: By Miranda Popkey

Last but not least comes a novel that is the very first from Popkey, and follows a plethora of ideals including pain, envy, guilt, loneliness and despair. The novel is composed of stories and conversations between women, and between themselves, and introduces its readers to stories of motherhood, art, and feminism. A complicated and quirky examination of relationships and female desire comes from an unnamed narrator who explains a series of conversations she has had with others over a span of 17 years.

What do these women talk about in the field of love? Affairs, self-sabotaging behavior, restlessness, and harmful lies. Female subjugation and exploitation. These women dive into their experiences with men and what they expect to gain from love. It explores the unrealistic expectations for women and overall, the calling for life itself.