20 Top Titles With A WOW Ending
Beyond your expectations…
There are literally thousands of titles that give you that WOW ending. We shortlisted 20 that we think are worth mentioning here – some are free and some are not. If you think that there are certain titles that are definite additions to this list, feel free to leave your suggestion(s) in the comment area below.
(Free) The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
An adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness, it focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty. In addition, it is a story that involves romance, loyalty, betrayal and selfishness, shown throughout the story as characters slowly reveal their true inner nature.
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(Free) The Count of Monte Cristo
Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
The eponymous Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.
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Flowers for Algernon
I Am Legend
by Richard Matheson
Robert Neville is the apparent sole survivor of a pandemic whose symptoms resemble vampirism. It is implied that the pandemic was caused by a war, and that it was spread by dust storms in the cities and an explosion in the mosquito population. The narrative details Neville’s daily life in Los Angeles as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease, to which he is immune. Neville’s past is revealed through flashbacks: the disease claimed his wife and daughter, and he was forced to kill his wife after she seemingly rose from the dead as a vampire and attacked him.
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I Am Legend
The Last Question
by Isaac Asimov
The story deals with the development of computers called Multivacs and their relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning in 2061. In each of the first six scenes a different character presents the computer with the same question; namely, how the threat to human existence posed by the heat death of the universe can be averted.
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The Last Question
The Last Answer
by Isaac Asimov
In the story, an atheist physicist Murray Templeton dies of a heart attack and is greeted by a being of supposedly infinite knowledge. This being, referred to as the Voice, tells the physicist the nature of his life after death, as a nexus of electromagnetic forces. The Voice concludes that, while by all human ideas he most resembles God, he is contrary to any human conception of the being. The Voice informs him that all of the Universe is a creation of the Voice, the purpose of which was to result in intelligent life which, after death, the Voice could cull for his own purposes-to wit, Templeton, like all the others, is to think, for all eternity, so as to amuse him. Conversing with the Voice, Templeton learns that the Voice desires original thoughts by which to please His curiosity, but surrenders that yes, in fact, if He so desired, the Voice could happen upon those thoughts himself, of his own effort.
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The Last Answer
Nightfall
by Isaac Asimov
A group of scientists from Saro University begin to make a series of related discoveries: Sheerin 501, a psychologist, researches the effects of prolonged exposure to darkness; Siferra 89, an archaeologist, finds evidence of multiple cyclical collapses of civilization which have occurred regularly about every 2000 years, and Beenay 25 is an astronomer who has discovered irregularities in the orbit of Lagash around its primary sun Onos. Beenay takes his findings to his superior at the university, Aton, who formulated the Theory of Universal Gravitation (the in-story discussion of this makes light of an article once written about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, referencing the false notion that “only twelve men” could understand it). This prompts the astronomers at Saro University to seek the cause of this anomaly. Eventually they discover that the only possible cause of the deviation is an astronomical body that orbits Lagash.
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Nightfall
A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the ‘war to end all wars’. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway’s description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.
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A Farewell to Arms
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
On a hot summer day in 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a momentÕs flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and CeciliaÕs childhood friend. But BrionyÕs incomplete grasp of adult motives-together with her precocious literary gifts-brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crimeÕs repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.
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Atonement
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Two migrant field workers in California on their plantation during the Great Depression-George Milton, an intelligent but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a man of large stature and great strength but limited mental abilities-are on their way to another part of California in Soledad. They hope to one day attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie’s part of the dream is merely to tend to (and touch) soft rabbits on the farm. This dream is one of Lennie’s favorite stories, which George constantly retells. They are fleeing from their previous employment in Weed, California, where they were run out of town after Lennie’s love of stroking soft things resulted in an accusation of attempted rape, when he touched a young woman’s dress, and would not let go. It soon becomes clear that the two are close friends and George is Lennie’s protector. The theme of friendship is a constant throughout the story.
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Of Mice and Men
One hundred years of solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) is the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo. The founding patriarch of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía, and Úrsula Iguarán, his wife (and first cousin), leave Riohacha, Colombia, to find a better life and a new home. One night of their emigration journey, whilst camping on a riverbank, José Arcadio Buendía dreams of “Macondo”, a city of mirrors that reflected the world in and about it. Upon awakening, he decides to found Macondo at the river side; after days of wandering the jungle, José Arcadio Buendía’s founding of Macondo is utopic.
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One hundred years of solitude
11/22/63
by Stephen King
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of President John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the novel’s titular date).
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11/22/63
The Stranger
by Albert Camus
The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus published in 1942. Its theme and outlook are often cited as exemplars of existentialism. The title character is Meursault, an Algerian who seemingly irrationally kills an Arab man whom he recognises in French Algiers. The story is divided into two parts: Meursault’s first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively.
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The Stranger
(Free) Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay’s wife.
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(Free) Tale of Two Cities
Cat’s Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat’s Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way. The title of the book derives from the string game “cat’s cradle.” Early in the book it is learned that Felix Hoenikker (a fictional co-inventor of the atom bomb) was playing cat’s cradle when the bomb was dropped, and the game is later referenced by his son, Newton Hoenikker.
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Cat’s Cradle
Wasp Factory
by Iain Banks
The Wasp Factory is the first novel by British writer Iain Banks. It was published in 1984. The ‘Wasp Factory’ of the title is a huge clock face encased in a glass box and salvaged from the local dump. Behind each of the 12 numerals is a trap which leads to a different ritual death (for example burning, crushing, or drowning in Frank’s urine) for the wasp that Frank puts into the hole at the center within tubes. Frank believes the death ‘chosen’ by the wasp predicts something about the future.
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Wasp Factory
His Dark Materials
by Philip Pullman
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels, coming together to form an epic, by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights (1995, published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the coming-of-age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes against a backdrop of epic events. The story involves fantasy elements such as witches and armoured polar bears, and alludes to a broad range of ideas from such fields as physics, philosophy, and theology. The trilogy functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost; with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing. The series has drawn criticism for its negative portrayal of Christianity and religion in general.
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His Dark Materials
The Things They Carried
by Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O’Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin in 1990. The Things They Carried depicts a dramatic recount of O’Brien’s experiences of the Vietnam War.
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The Things They Carried
Deadhouse Gates
by Steven Erikson
Deadhouse Gates is the second novel in Steven Erikson’s epic fantasy series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Deadhouse Gates follows on from the first novel, Gardens of the Moon and takes place simultaneously with events in the third novel Memories of Ice. The Malazan Empire is rocked by a cull of the nobility, many being sent to the mines of Otataral Island off the coast of the subcontinent of Seven Cities. However, Seven Cities is being consumed by a rebellion known as the Whirlwind, led by the prophetess Sha’ik from the Holy Desert of Raraku. With the cities being overrun, the Malazan forces in the city of Hissar plot a daring evacuation overland to the Malazan continental capital of Aren. The Malazan 7th Army, under the command of the legendary Coltaine of the Crow Clan of the Wickans, is tasked with escorting 50,000 refugees some 1,500 miles to safety. This legendary march becomes known as the Chain of Dogs and will become part of the legends of Seven Cities. Meanwhile, the assassin Kalam embarks on a dangerous mission and a group of travellers from Genabackis arrive in Seven Cities on their own mysterious errands…
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Deadhouse Gates
The Outsiders
by S. E. Hinton
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. The book follows two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs, who are divided by their socioeconomic status.
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The Outsiders
(Free) Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel by George Orwell, published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was an outspoken critic of Joseph Stalin and, especially after experiences with the NKVD and the Spanish Civil War, he was actively opposed to the controversial ideology of Stalinism.
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(Free) Animal Farm
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