What to Read Next if You Liked Grain Brain, S., I Am Malala, The Great Gatsby, or Dr. Sleep

If you’ve already terrified yourself discovering what bread is doing to your body in David Perlmutter’s Grain Brain, by David Perlmutter, then there’s more where that came from. Sugar, Salt, Fat, by Michael Moss, explores exactly why it is that you love all the junk food you love—because it has been specifically engineered, at a chemical level, to be utterly addicting and free of actual, you know, nutrition. By the time you’ve finished both books, you’ll be eating nothing but kale.

If the puzzle box structure and nested narratives of S., by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst, left you aching for a similarly beguiling literary treasure hunt, you might be ready to take on House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski. Ostensibly the dual story of a blind man named Zampano, who dies and leaves behind a strange book, and Johnny Turant, the man who discovers it, it’s really a haunting meditation on the fluid nature of narrative and, perhaps, reality itself. In the same way that S. includes ephemera such as notes scribbled in margins and random physical objects tucked between pages, House of Leaves features typography that changes size and color and crawls around the page, forcing the reader to meet the book head-on. For obvious reasons, neither of these fascinating books is available for your ereader.

If you’ve already been inspired by Malala Yousafzai’s I Am Malala, the harrowing, ultimately uplifting story of a young girl who stood up to the Taliban and fought to be educated, read Half the Sky, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Their book tells more inspiring stories of women around the world who, like Malala, defy oppressive regimes and social inequities and demand to be treated as humans, and explains how you can work to make a difference yourself.

If you were drawn in by the dazzling Jazz Era excesses (and the darkness beneath them) on display in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you’ll find an even seedier take on the early 20th century in The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West. Far west of West Egg, in the golden age of Hollywood, West’s novel introduces us to Todd Hackett, who, like Jay Gatsby, is bewitched by an American Dream of money, fame, and power, not realizing that getting everything he wants won’t fill the emptiness within.

If you’re amazed that Stephen King can still write a book as gripping as Dr. Sleep after so many millions of words, you’ll want to see what his son can do as he’s just getting started. In many ways, Joe Hill’s NOS4A2, only his second novel, feels like vintage King, with a villain out of your worst nightmares and magical objects that can move between dimensions. But Hill might be even better than his dad at moving beyond the macabre to dig deep into his characters and make them the true beating hearts of his books.

What books are you recommending to your friends right now?