A dystopian book that feels uncomfortably plausible

Book Prompt #19 for the Between the Lines 2026 Reading Challenge

Updated January 16, 2026
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Chain-gang all-stars
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from...
I, robot
Asimov, Isaac
Paper Book
This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence and heart. "A must-read for science-fiction buffs and literature enjoyers alike."--The Guardian...
The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (The New York Times) * The sixth and final season of the award-winning Hulu series starring Elisabeth Moss is now streaming ...
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The first volume in the internationally acclaimed MaddAddam trilogy is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future--from the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments A Kirkus...
The water knife
Bacigalupi, Paolo.
Paper Book
Paolo Bacigalupi, New York Times-Bestselling author and National Book Award Finalist, dives once again onto our uncertain future with his first thriller for adults since his multi-award winning debut phenomenon The Windup Girl.   In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona,...
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
Paper Book
Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before. Guy Montag is a fireman....
The light pirate
Brooks-Dalton, Lily
Paper Book
RUNNER-UP FOR THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda--a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane--as she navigates a rapidly changing world: A "symphony of beauty and heartbreak"...
Ready player one
Cline, Ernest.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. "Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix."--USA Today * "As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates."--Entertainment...
Vigil Harbor
Glass, Julia
Paper Book
From the National Book Award-winning, bestselling author of Three Junes comes "an engrossing, richly drawn and exquisitely told story of small-town residents grappling with the difficulties of changing times" (People). "Full of secrets and surprises...A must-read...
Brave new world
Huxley, Aldous
Paper Book
Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring masterwork must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit "A masterpiece. . . . One of the most prophetic dystopian works." --Wall Street Journal  Aldous Huxley's...
The running man
King, Stephen
Ebook
It is 2025, and reality TV has progressed to the point where people are willing to wager their lives in exchange for a chance at enormous wealth. Ben Richards is desperate: he needs money to treat his daughter's illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man. The objective...
The dream hotel : a novel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami--the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)--comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in...
A guardian and a thief
Majumdar, Megha
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE * Megha Majumdar's electrifying new novel, following her acclaimed New York Times bestseller A Burning, is set in a near-future Kolkata, India in which two families seeking to protect their children...
The deluge
Markley, Stephen
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book "This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting." --Stephen King From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future...
The road
McCarthy, Cormac
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive that "only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle). One of...
What we can know : a novel
McEwan, Ian
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the Booker prize-winning, bestselling author of Atonement and Saturday, a genre-bending new novel full of secrets and surprises; an immersive exploration, across time and history, of what can ever be...
V for vendetta
Moore, Alan
Paper Book
Set in a futurist totalitarian England, a country without freedom or faith, a mysterious man in a white porcelain mask strikes back against the oppressive overlords on behalf of the voiceless. Armed with only knives and his wits, V, as he's called, aims to bring about change in this horrific new...
1984 : a novel
Orwell, George
Paper Book
Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... This 75th Anniversary Edition includes: *...
The compound : a novel
Rawle, Aisling
Paper Book
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all. "Every bit as addictive as your favorite guilty pleasure binge-watch, but with all the substance of a literary classic."--Oprah Daily ...
Station eleven : a novel
Mandel, Emily St. John
Paper Book
This Anniversary Edition of Station Eleven, a finalist for the National Book Award and named a Best Book of the Twenty-First Century by the New York Times, celebrates ten years of this now iconic novel with a new color illustration and a guide to "The Mandelverse" A...
Zone one : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuild­ing civilization under...
Land of milk and honey
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK  Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Award Longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary...
Akira. Book one
ÅŒtomo, Katsuhiro
Paper Book
Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by a blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, making him a target for a shadowy agency that...

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