Want to get into reading,  but the size of bookstores and stacks of books overwhelming you? Well, you have to start somewhere. Here are the 5 books you should read if you liked the movie Inception.

The Film

Inception:

Starring a ton of Hollywood’s renowned actors and featuring a soundtrack that will leave you with goosebumps, Inception is all about perception and cliff-hangers. Leonardo Di Caprio and Joseph Gordon-Lewitt play Dominic and Arthur, two ‘extractors’ who specialize in executing corporate espionages, extracting powerful information by infiltrating into the subconscious of their targets [dream crashers that mess with your dreams, basically]. The duo then meets Japanese businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) who assigns them their most difficult challenge – inception, which involves implanting an idea into the subconscious of another using a dream-invading military technology. The movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, also stars Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Ellen Page. Impeccable ride that leaves you reflective for days after.

If you enjoyed Inception, you’ll also love:

These Books

Hard-Boiled Wonderland & End Of The World by Haruki Murakami:

This twisted tale is written by Haruki Murakami, a writer in the 1980s known for his bizarre, dream-like novels. The story is divided into two narratives; Hard-Boiled Wonderland and End Of The World. The Hard-Boiled Wonderland narrative is provided by a ‘Calutec’, an encryption device that works partly for the government, designed to use its subconscious as an encryption key. The Calutecs are challenged by Semiotecs, who are generally fallen Calutecs that steal the data that is protected. The second half, End Of The World, is set in a strange, isolated town, which is surrounded by an impenetrable wall where the residents’ shadows are banished to the Shadow Ground, where they are said to perish during winters. The story then progresses to reveal the narrator’s intention to find his Shadow and help it escape the Shadow Ground.

Sounds confusing? Read the book – it may clear it up [or mess with your head even more]

Vellum, Hal Duncan:

In this story, Earth barely exists. Vellum is the concept that universal reality revolves and that Earth is a mere part of it. This reality can be reprogrammed through Cant, a method used by ancient deities, called Unkin. The Unkin consider themselves to be Angels and have set up their own Covenant where they disallow any ancient deities to regain their past glory. This Covenant is also preparing for a final war to win over the universe. The story revolves around a group of new Unkins who refuse to take part in this war.

Strange? Well, it comes with the genre – and also, who doesn’t like rebels?

House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski:

The debut novel of Mark Danielewski, this book can be described as a horror story or a love story – it’s a matter of perspective. In addition to the strange theme, the book itself has pages that seem to be arranged in a bizarre form, from pages with footnotes which also have footnotes, to pages with just a series of words in disarray scrawled across, the novel distinctly makes you feel claustrophobic in a unique way. The narrator of the story is Johnny Truant, who is an employee at a tattoo parlour in Los Angeles. He moves into a new apartment previously owned by a deceased old man by the name of Zampano.  After moving in, he discovers a journal that turns out to be a case study based on a documentary film called The Navidson Records. However, upon heavy researching, Johnny finds no existing records of a documentary by that name, and decides to read the academic study to find out more.

We’ve got you hooked – admit it. This mind-bending book will have you grasping at your pillow at night.

Maze of Death, Philip K. Dick:

This 1970 novel is written by Philip K. Dick – an author known for his exploration of the difference between reality and perception. Being one of the darkest novels ever written by the author, the story explores the darkest, most twisted facet of the human mind – murder and death instinct. The story revolves around fourteen protagonists living in Delmak-O, a mysterious realm widely unexplored and inhabited by both real and artificial beings. These fourteen entities experience strange events where one by one, each person commits suicide or gets killed under mysterious circumstances. Confused by the instances, the survivors begin to feel that they are criminally insane and under an extreme psychiatric experiment.

A bit of darkness for fans of the distorted and abnormal. Be warned: this is not for the faint-hearted.

Neuromancer, William Gibson:

Neuromancer is a 1988 cyberpunk genre novel written by William Gibson that won the Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. The story may not be about dreams, but it seamlessly weaves in and out of the virtual world. The protagonist of this novel is Henry Dorsett Case, a lowly hacker in the underworld of Japan, who was caught stealing from his employer. As a result, his talent was lost after his punishment entailed injection of mycotoxin into his nervous system, disallowing him to access Matrix – a virtual reality dataspace. His life experiences a turnaround when he is hired by a mysterious employer to pull off a seemingly impossible hack.

Matrix, but better? Read it and you’ll find out.

Good luck coming back to reality after this wild ride into the surreal! 

Featured Image Source: pivotallabs.com

Did you enjoy this list? Are there any others you would add that you’ve read? Any movie suggestions? Tell us in the comments below.