The Metamorphosis

Gregor Samsa wakes to find he has become a huge insect. He was a salesman; now he and his family have to work out how to live with a change nobody can explain. That is all the set-up you need. I would be checking whether I was still asleep, then checking again with considerably less confidence.

The fear here is the thought of being trapped in a body you do not recognise, while the people closest to you try to make sense of it too. There is something awful about an ordinary morning becoming impossible before you have even had coffee. It feels unsettling rather than like a book you need to hide behind, though your tolerance for insects may have a vote.

This is for a quiet night when you want a strange, uncomfortable thought to sit beside you in the reading corner. Franz Kafka gives you a situation that can mean different things to different readers. You need not settle on one answer to feel its weight. Make a hot drink, get comfortable, and leave yourself a little time afterwards to stare at the wall.