If you’re reading this, it might just mean you’ve decided to take the WPPL Reading Challenge this year! Or, if could mean that you’re interested in books about invisibility. Either way, I hope that you take a look at this list for some fun reads. Our first prompt of the year is A Story that Features Invisibility. How to interpret this topic? Here are a few suggestions:
- Characters are invisible or can become so
- Characters feel invisible
- Characters travel through time and cannot be seen because they aren’t truly there
- There is something else (an animal, an object) that is invisible
- Invisibility is mentioned in the title
And of course, you might have a different interpretation that you’d like to use. The choice is yours. I came up with the prompts, but at the end of the day, this is your reading challenge! All the same, here are a few books to get you started on that reading challenge prompt!
The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells)
A brilliant scientist creates a serum that can turn people invisible and tests it on himself. But, while that’s extremely cool, he finds to his horror that he cannot turn himself back. And to make matters worse, the formula starts to have an adverse reaction on his mind, slowly turning him insane. It’s a race against time to undo the formula’s effects before its too late. When the good doctor’s behavior changes from erratic to violent, the police set out to bring him in, but how can they catch a madman that no one can see?
What makes this a story about invisibility? I think the answer should be obvious: we have an invisible madman! How thrilling!
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
A miserly old man named Ebeneezer Scrooge gets the shock of his life when he’s visited by his former business partner, Jacob Marley (who is very much dead, and has been for years). Marley comes with a dire message: that night, Scrooge will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways with the intention of helping him to avoid the fate that has befallen Marley, and will surely befall Scrooge if something does not repent and change his life. This Christmas classic is beloved by readers of all ages, and is one of my favorites!
While invisibility is not a central theme of this story, when each spirit shows Scrooge of a vision of what was, what is, or what will be, he is invisible to those he observes, unable to interact or be seen by any of them.
The Willows (Algernon Blackwood)
This chilling novella is written by my favorite horror writer of all time: Algernon Blackwood. In it, two friends are taking a trip down the Danube River, and find themselves beset by a supernatural horror that they cannot see. Each night as they go to sleep, strange phenomena occurs outside their tent–weird noises, strange holes appearing in the ground, and as crazy as it sounds, the trees seem to get closer and closer. Blackwood is a master of atmospheric horror that relies on a growing sense of dread more so than blood and guts. This creepy tale will get under your skin and keep you glued to the page!
While the threats may have a visible form, we never see them, making them to all intents and purposes invisible in a different way.
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Bilbo Baggins is a respectable Hobbit (a member of a fantasy race that are smaller than Dwarves, nimble and quick, good with their hands, and fond of bright colors, good food, and parties). When the wizard Gandalf shows up at Bilbo’s house, his quietly ordered life is thrown into chaos and he’s enlisted to play burglar for a group of Dwarves seeking to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by a horrible dragon. This is a classic of the Fantasy genre and again, one of my all-time favorite books.
As for the invisibility connection, Bilbo finds a magic ring that makes the wearer invisible!
The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
This is a classic of African American literature! As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets of Harlem, a young Black man documents the strange and often terrifying encounters he experiences, from the “battle royal” where Black men are reduced to fighting each other like animals to the Communist rally where they are more like trophies than people. Suspenseful, sardonic, funny, painful, and shocking, this is a fascinating take on racism and American society.
Our narrator is not invisible in a literal sense, but he navigates a society that does not really see him, making him functionally invisible (and making for a fascinating gut-punch of a story).
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V.E. Schwab)
In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain: to live forever, but to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Is immorality worth it when no one remembers you? Addie’s life plays out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she’s willing to go to leave her mark on the world. But, everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
Once again, we’ve got a story where we’re not dealing with “true” invisibility, but certainly a sense of being invisible in a very different way.
