After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again.

Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.

Review from Drew: Don’t feel like I have to say much for this one, other than - even if you’ve seen the movie, it is so, so, so worth it to read the book. So much nuance and commentary in there, about religion and animals and will to survive and life. And the writing is absolutely spectacular.

In an "epic, game-changing, moving and brilliant" story of love and hate, two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race (Viola Davis).

Review from Drew: I’m a little obsessed with the concepts of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, and I’ve never seen them as clearly portrayed as in this novel. Doro is an ancient spirit with boundless powers, possessing humans and killing without remorse as he jumps from body to body to sustain his own life. He’s immortal, so he spends his time traveling the world and breeding humans with supernatural powers into beings that at least might resemble him. He knows no equal until he meets Anyanwu, who can heal with a bite and transform her own body, mending injuries and reversing aging. She uses her powers to cure her neighbors and birth entire tribes, surrounding herself with kindred who both fear and respect her. The mixing of the two is horrifying, and magical, and fuckin’ well worth the read.

The kin of Ata live only for the dream. Their work, their art, their love are designed in and by their dreams, and their only aim is to dream higher dreams. Into the world of Ata comes a desperate man, who is first subdued and then led on the spiritual journey that, sooner or later, all of us must make.

Review from Drew: This one is a hidden treasure. Slight trigger warning at the beginning, as the narrator commits some horrible domestic violence to kick off the book. But the you drop into a utopian community where the entire society is set up around improving your ability to dream… It’s great food for thought for the new world we hope to build, and I highly recommend.

Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom, and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Review from Drew: I might catch some hate for this one but I loved The Alchemist, especially for the time in which I read it, right near the beginning of my spiritual journey. Sometimes, so much more can be said it short, simple fiction than in any nonfiction format.

Though set in a place and time far removed from the Germany of 1922, the year of the book’s debut, the novel is infused with the sensibilities of Hermann Hesse’s time, synthesizing disparate philosophies–Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism–into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man’s search for meaning.

Review from Drew: It’s simple and straightforward, written in an engaging narrative style, and you’ll feel goosebumps all along the way. I also love the fact that Herman Hesse had to pause his writing of this book between Part II and Part III and live alone on a mountain for several years in order to feel enlightenment, before he felt like he could write about it.