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+---
+title: Awesome books
+date: 2025-04-20
+author: W. D. Sadeep Madurange
+layout: post
+---
+
+This article contains a list of my favourite books.
+
+## Cloud Atlas
+
+This highly creative novel rekindled my love of fiction. Cloud Atlas is a
+collection of six tales linked across time. As the novel unfolds, each story
+riffles over the previous ones, like a pack of playing cards.
+
+## Ender's Game
+
+In this sci-fi novel, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a young boy, is drafted to lead a
+squad of young children in an offensive against an alien race. It's a complex
+story that touches upon various political and philosophical issues. Those
+perceived as gifted by others (and alienated for it) will likely connect with
+Ender.
+
+## Flowers for Algernon
+
+This novel, written as a series of progress reports, tells the story of Charlie
+Gordon, a developmentally disabled man who acquires superhuman cognitive
+abilities through an experimental medical procedure. For some reason, I felt a
+deep connection with Charlie. If I had to pick a favourite book on this list,
+that would be this.
+
+## Dead Souls
+
+Nikolai Gogol is one of the most original authors I've read. Dead Souls is the
+story of Ivanovich Chichikov, a traveling merchant who trades dead serfs.
+Instead of simply describing them, Gogol develops realistic characters in
+minute detail by employing theatrical clashes between them.
+
+## The Overcoat
+
+Gogol's The Overcoat is one of the finest short stories I've read. Akaky
+Akakievich, an impoverished government clerk, must buy a new overcoat. I
+recommend reading Gogol before Dostoyevsky. What Gogol invented, Dostoyevsky
+perfected.
+
+## Demons
+
+After reading Demons, a story about an attempted revolution, I realized that
+Dostoevsky’s reputation is well-deserved. Dostoyevsky was a great observer of
+the human psyche. The depth with which he depicts his characters is
+unparalleled. Demons is a book that anyone aspiring to bring about change
+through revolution must read.
+
+## The Outsider
+
+Camus's quote, "In our society, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral
+is liable to be condemned to death," summarizes the book quite well. To
+appreciate the philosophical elements of this absurdist novel, you may also
+want to check out The Myth of Sisyphus.
+
+## Frankenstein
+
+I'm not sure why I found this story so charming. Perhaps it's a deep-felt
+empathy for Victor Frankenstein. Maybe it's the rustic descriptions of places
+I'd never seen. After reading the book, I traveled Frankenstein's trail from
+Germany through Lucerne, Geneva, and Scotland.
+
+## Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
+
+The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde needs no introduction. I'm drawn to
+Stevenson's writing style the same way I am to Mary Shelley's. Both writers
+evoke deep feelings and paint vivid images using simple language. The economy
+of their language lacks neither precision nor power. If I could write like any
+author, I would choose Mary Shelley or Stevenson.
+
+## Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four
+
+Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984 are inseparable, visionary novels
+that depict dystopian futures from two extremes. For some reason, I felt Brave
+New World lacked something despite being the more prescient of the two. It may
+be Orwell's eloquence overshadowing Huxley's brilliance. In any event, these
+two books are more relevant today than they've ever been.
+
+## Memoirs of a Madman
+
+Another one of Gogol's brilliant short stories. Presented in the form of
+Aksenty Ivanovich's diary, the story documents the government clerk's descent
+into madness. His obsession with social status and self-aggrandizement leads
+him on a trajectory of envy, wounded pride, and outright insanity.