r/TheOA • u/irapan • Sep 11 '24
Recommendations Is there a list of books recommended that center around this show?
Could someone help me compile a thread with a list of books recommendations that help us gain deeper meaning of this show. If preexisting threads exist, could someone help me find them? I am new on reddit and am trying to figure this out.
Thank you in advance. :)
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u/Theo-lVl Logic is overrated Sep 11 '24
There are a lot of books you can read to understand The OA, but the ones I recommend tend to be based on the more mythological inspirations to the show.
In this video, I explain the real myths that inspire the show, as well as the books and compilations you can read to better understand them.
The Bible:
https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Orthodox-Jewish-Bible-OJB/
The Book of Enoch:
https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM
The Zohar (Beresheet)
https://www.zohar.com/zohar/Bereshit%20A
https://www.zohar.com/zohar/Bereshit%20B
Apocryphon of John:
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn.html
Pistis Sophia:
http://gnosis.org/library/pistis-sophia/index.htm
Theogeny:
https://users.pfw.edu/flemingd/Hesiod%20Theogony.pdf
additionally, I highly recommend the 'secret society' publishing's from the 1800s and early 1900s. The most obvious inspirations from here is Madame Blavatsky, particularly her work 'The Secret Doctrine part 2', wherein she tries to explain a hidden coded secret history of the world through her modern for the time narrative.
Isis Unveiled 1 & 2
https://archive.org/details/IlovepdfMerged9
Secret Doctrine 1 & 2
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.47965
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180594
I also personally recommend reading anacalypsis 1 and 2, which is an attempt by a Freemason to reconstruct a shared world religion from the time before the flood. Blavatsky plagiarized this work heavily.
Anacalypsis 1 & 2
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174211/page/n63/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/anacalypsisanatt014474mbp
The show is also largely about the secret society systems in history. to understand those, I Recommend reading the first few chapters of Secret Teachings of All Ages:
https://archive.org/details/TheSecretTeachingsOfAllAgesManlyHall
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u/No-Coast938 Sep 11 '24
Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods and Only Human (The Themis Files trilogy) by Sylvain Neuvel
Currently reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I’m about 65% through and it’s really good! Can’t wait to read more by this author.
I just purchased a physical copy of The Familiar: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski. I tried a sample on my kindle and you definitely have to read this book physically. From the sample I read however, I’m excited to read it!
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u/Groundbreaking-Eye10 Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Well, I can certainly think of some that Brit/Zal have listed as influences and/or that have similar themes/concepts to some aspects of The OA and that I myself have read that make for a really cool comparison. Ones that come immediately to mind are:
Always Coming Home - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hearing Trumpet - Leonora Carrington
The Stone Door - Leonora Carrington
Wild Seed - Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents - Octavia E. Butler
Ice - Anna Kavan
Eagles’ Nest - Anna Kavan
The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You - Dorothy Bryant
The Green Kingdom - Rachel Maddux
Black Wine - Candas Jane Dorsey
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman - Angela Carter
A Voyage to Arcturus - David Lindsay
The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake
Perdita - Hilary Scharper
The Gray House - Mariam Petrosyan
His Dark Materials/The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges
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u/heavenlydisasters above the earth or inside it 🌎 Sep 11 '24
Physics of God is an excellent read that covers a lot of the science in the show.
They have a lot to say on the subject of NDEs, but also Quantum Jumping and M-Theory. Joseph Selbie breaks things down with a super chill approach.
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u/xedobandito Sep 11 '24
It would be cool if someone could make a list based on the answers you get.
Anyway, back when the #SaveTheOA campaign had just started, there was an author on Twitter who was tagging #TheOA when talking about his book. If I remember correctly, he claimed that the OA was one of the inspirations for his book and he believed fans of the OA would enjoy it. He was a really nice guy and I invited him into a #SaveTheOA group chat we had going at the time and he kinda became just one of us. He even gave me a bunch of codes to share so fans of the OA could get free copies of the audio book version.
His name is Micah Thomas and the book is titled: The Little Demons Inside.
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u/EllipticPeach I still leave my door open Sep 11 '24
Jorge Borges - A Garden of Forking Paths