I’m in a reading slump—life has been busy and I haven’t gotten to read in months and now I can’t seem to get started again. What have you read and loved lately? New, old, any genre.
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Straw Dogs of the Universe by Ye Chung, and Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter. The first is a delicate lovely novel about Chinese immigrants in 1800s US and the second is a bit bonkers with a ton of heart. Both very well-written, structured, and satisfying.
neither feels slow, but they keep the tension and drama interesting without being overwhelming (lol, in large part because the characters all actually talk to each other).
Lost Journals of Sacajawea by Debra Magpie Earling. From her POV, written by a brilliant Native American writer, formally innovative, gorgeous language, upends the "Corps of Discovery" by examining whose body is being discovered? by whom?
I like Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land even more than All the Light We Cannot See. The Stationary Shop by Marjan Kamali was lovely. (Popular books so I am almost certainly not telling you anything you didn't already know about books you've probably read!)
Re-reading Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Salisbury and Sujo. The protagonists pulled off (for a while) one of the biggest art frauds in history
Holly Gramazio's THE HUSBANDS, an unexpectedly thoughtful fantasy with rom-com energy; Patrick Ness's BURN, an alt-history set in the Eisenhower era with dragons; Elena Passarello's LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT, essays on various aspects of singing/speaking/the human voice.
Curtis Sittenfeld, Eligible, and Griffin Dunne, The Friday Afternoon Club were good, quick reads, the kind of book that transports you away even when you're standing in the airport line from hell
I read The Hours in May, having never seen the movie. I knew nothing about it except for the general structure (why I picked it up). I absolutely inhaled it and am still thinking about it.
I'm relieved to know this even happens to great authors. Also, sorry you're in a slump. I am reading Magnificence by Lydia Miller. Very funny. Perceptive.
Audio always helps ease me in.
I've been rereading Sarah Waters and Elena Ferrante lately because I'm terrible at rereading and it's helping me focus on the actual pleasure of it!
Recent releases I've loved: The Husbands, Piglet, The Other Valley, Come and Get It.
I just finished The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler and liked it much more than I thought I would. Meditations on consciousness and interspecies encounters meet good plotting in a near-future world—but also, octopus fun facts.
This is a friend of mine. Werewolves, vampires, growing as people (or not people), very hot sex, revenge, loyalty, true love ... I don't recommend it just because she's my friend - she's (IMO) a great writer! https://deborahwilde.com/book-series/magic-after-midlife/
Thank you for the question, what fun to follow the answers. My contributions:
Umami, Laia Jufresa
LoveStar, @andrimagnason.bsky.social
Already mentioned, but just so refreshing: An Immense World, @edyong209.bsky.social
Good luck!!
Backyard Starship by J. N. Chaney and Terry Maggert. It's a really fun space adventure with humans, aliens, sentient AI and tons of political intrigue. Never read a series that had me sore from laughing in just an hour of reading until I started this series, just to have me in tears pages later.
I love this series! I’m on book 14 at the moment - I couldn’t find anything to read and found this on Kindle unlimited, started it with low expectations…and wow! Absolutely hooked.
I just read a ton on vacation and loved these:
The Way of the Hermit
What You Are Looking For is in the Library
The Last Devil to Fie (the whole Thursday Murder Club series is great)
The Paradise Problem
Anything by these authors: S.A. Cosby - James Lee Burke, esp the Holland series, Stephen Graham Jones, Kate Quinn begin with The Alice Network (historical WW2 stunningly good), Paul Doiron's Mike Bowditch series & of course this: Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes series just 2 so far.
I just finished The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and loved it. Before that I read The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (late to this) and found it so affecting.
Can't go wrong with Scott Turow, recently brought back into public consciousness with the show Presumed Innocent. He does a fine job telling interesting stories.
The Bird King by G Willow Wilson
Little Foxes Took Up Matches by Katya Kazbek
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
GHOST FLOWER by @pairofclaws.bsky.social
THE REANIMATOR'S HEART by @authorkaraj.bsky.social
"The Girl With Barnacles For Eyes" by Lindsey Croal and "The Ballad of Horse Girl" by Bitter Karella, both in Split Scream 5 from @tenebrouspress.bsky.social
MERCILESS WATERS by Rae Knowles
Matthew Perry's "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing" was fascinating and sad
Brando Skyhorse's "My Name is Iris" really stuck with me
Lily Brooks-Dalton's "Good Morning, Midnight" was also really good
I’m listening to The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (spec fiction, time travel) and reading All This & More by Peng Shepherd (multiverse). Just finished Bury Your Gays and next up is The Drowning House!
I just finished the second book in The Saint of Steel series by T.A. Kingfisher- lovely cozy romance fantasy murder mystery. And the audio book narrator is *chef's kiss*
@megelison.bsky.social’s “Road to Nowhere,” Emily Tesh’s “Green Man;” Patrick Nathan’s “Future Was Color,” Justinian Huang’s “The Emperor and the Endless Palace,” Nicola Griffith’s “Ammonite,” Wade’s “London Haunting” and @itsviviactually.bsky.social ‘s “Amelia Temple” books.
I recently finished Little Fires Everywhere and absolutely loved it, but you've probably read that. 😉 Seven Days in June, The Lost Bookshop, and Starter Villain are high on my list of reads so far for the year.
Sir Terry Pratchett wrote some of the funniest fantasy novels of the 20th century. Pretty thoughtful, too. If you're at all into dragons, magic, and an extremely British sense of humor, he wrote a lot of fun novels you'll enjoy. I'm re-reading The Colour of Magic now, which is where it all starts
Great question. I’ve also been in a slump. Last thing I really liked was James by Percival Everett. Looking forward to The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.
I’ve slumped on and off this year but James got me happily reading. The other book I consumed was North Wood by Daniel Mason. Magical realism, history, humour but with an undercurrent of seriousness.
If you’re in a slump and it’s not clicking, nothing will make that book better! I tried re-read some things I used to love (Bel Canto, 100 Years…) but couldn’t get into them again. Felt like a malfunctioning version of myself.
I'm on the last chapters of the Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty, a fantasy trilogy that draws heavily from Arabian mythology. Lots of intrigue, cool magic, lots of magical history to uncover, very interesting characters - I've been struggling to read lately too but have flown through this.
May I suggest picking an audio book? Sometimes, an audio book is what I need to get back in the swing of things. Midnight in Chernobyl and Code Girls were very good. As was Operation Paperclip. I'm listening to Jerusalem by Simon Seabag-Montefiore rn.
Cocoon by Zhang Yueran and Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. Also iif you need something that is really funny, Nada Alic's short story collection Bad Thoughts.
When I get stuck-stuck, I go back to an old favorite, usually I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice, or On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.
Fiction - JAMES & WOUNDED both by Percival Everett
Non-Fiction - TWISTED: THE TANGLED HISTORY OF BLACK HAIR CULTURE by Emma Dabiri;
ATLAS OF AI by Kate Crawford; & DISABILITY INTIMACY: ESSAYS ON LOVE, CARE, & DESIRE Edited by @sfdirewolf.bsky.social
Short stories help break me a slump. I'm reading Leone Ross and she's incredible. Best novel I've read recently is Above Us The Sea, Ania Card's debut. Just beautiful
__Iron Widow__ by Xiran Jay Zhao is really good. Great execution of a fascinating concept, with a few deeply appreciated trope subversions thrown in for good measure!
I read it a few years ago but I recommend LOTE by Shola Von Reinhold. I also just had fun reading If We Were Villains, by ML Rio, which is basically if the characters in The Secret History were Shakespeare/acting students. And I’ve been rereading the Discworld Watch books, which are never bad.
Dayswork, by Jennifer Habel and Chris Bachelder. I love it so much. It’s also relatively short and readable in spurts, though I burned through it in a day.
The Joe Pickett books by CJ Box have been my latest series. Game Warden family man solves mysteries in sort of a cowboy-ish fashion. They’re well-written characters.
I will always recommend Tasha Suri’s fantasy Burning Kingdom trilogy. The first two books, The Jasmine Throne and The Oleander Sword are fantastic (book and audiobook versions) and the third book, The Lotus Empire comes out this Fall.
Ha - I meh-read it twenty years ago and have been wondering about returning to it. Sea monsters are looming in my head, and I might be ready to read eleventy million pages about whaling-related stuff.
Whale / maritime folks should check out the @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social live on YouTube tonight: Mary Roach talking to @danielkraus.bsky.social about Whalefall. The show is @bschillace.brandyschillace.com's invention. Most episodes free; tonight's is $5. https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar-events/
Maybe try a story collection? If you're into something interesting and different, I loved Diving Belles by Lucy Wood. It's modern day stories based on Cornish mythology. So very wonderful.
Absolutely. And it’s interesting to me as a non-American, the kind of snapshot of America and that American dream of glory and heroism embodied by whaling in the beginning
In college the prof that taught it to me was a very lefty old-school socialist and it was super interesting! He framed it as a critique of America and the American character and I find that reading really fascinating and convincing.
There was a period when I went back and read classics I had somehow missed (Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, Madam Bovary, etc.) and loved almost all of them. I bet I appreciated them more now that I would have in HS/college
Finally read it a couple years ago on the recommendation of my 20ish yo son (who read it bcs of the Led Zeppelin song lol)and lloved it. Hilarious, beautiful writing, relevant
It's bad form to suggest one's own books, but if you want unbridled silliness, jokes, wordplay and a novel narrated by a coffee machine robot, I'd be happy to tell you more.
Really digging Fintan O’Toole’s “We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland.” And what’s nice is it’s easy to dip into for a brief bit.
I was also in a huge slump from reading honestly too much of Dune two years ago 😂 I've been wading back into it by reading a ton of short stories ( @augurmag.bsky.social and @clarkesworldmagazine.com have been fantastic).
I recently read and loved The Book of Love by Kelly Link (which I saw recommended above) and also Witch King by Martha Wells and The West Passage by Jared Pechaček.
Kaiju Preservation Society by @scalzi.com. Fun and funny. Written during covid. Scalzi: "It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face."
I’m doing a Persuasion reread. It’s still amazing how fluid and expressive Jane Austen’s writing is even 200 years later. Regency era lit is often an exasperating slog of overly long sentences in passive voice but Austen makes her prose sing even within these conventions
I've been knee deep in hockey romances as easy reading after a slump... as a warm up to rereading Persuasion, which is one of my very most favorites and always gives me energy to read something more. I love Austen's prose so much.
I’ve found “It Can't Happen Here” (dystopian political novel) by American author Sinclair Lewis; “The Plot Against America” by Philip Roth; or “Iron Heel” by Jack London — all very instructive in our current times.
Lately early Angela Thirkell are fun comedies of manners. Ellis Peters Cadfael mysteries. Georgette Heyer. Gideon the Ninth. Just started The Puckwick Papers and it's a hoot si far.
For a reading slump, I usually go for a well-loved re-read, but right now I'm listening to the audiobook of Kamala Harris's autobiography, as read by the author and finding it really engaging. But I'm not in the US, so it may be less relaxing right now if you need an escape from politics.
i'm about to read charles dickens' bleak house on next thursday once this college class is done if you wanna get in on some absolute weirdos and freaks
One reason I get a Worldcon supporting membership even if I'm not going to be going in person is to get the Hugo Award Readers' Packet. This year, as most years, there's SO MUCH good stuff nominated: https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2024-hugo-awards/
And I've experienced a mild bounce effect after getting my Hugo packet reading finished! As in, I'm picking up and starting to read other books as they cross my bow.
These series always scratch that bit of my reading brain when it needs help starting again: Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper& Kate Daniels.
Seanan McGuire's October Daye & Incryptid.
T Kingfisher's Paladins.
KB Spangler's Rachel Peng, and Hope Blackwell
On the admittedly *very* off chance that you haven’t already read it, @amalelmohtar.com’s _This is how you lose the time war_ is exactly the book I would hand a person who matched that description
I enjoyed If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery - a bleak story following a second generation Jamaican immigrant in Miami after the great financial crisis.
Big focuses on colorism, precarity, and the porosity of racial categorization.
Shameless plug - my stories. Working on a full audio drama version. I wouldn't be able to spend so many hours with the characters if I didn't like them. ;-)
Sadly I was already two hours past my bedtime! And I am way too middle aged now to deal with the hot mess that is me the morning after going to bed too late. I did the midnight book release, finish book at 4am in my 20s-30s. I miss those days.
After putting it off for ages I finally read The Guncle. I thought it would be frivolous but it was actually an incredible, joyful treatise on processing grief. It was also very funny and it pulled me out of my own reading slump.
Because I'm an insane person I've been reading the Discworld books in publication order. I'm on Feet of Clay now and I've close-to-loved or actually-loved every one of them. Not a miss in sight so far.
I’m about to finish the ninth book in the Expanse series after reading through the series over the past seven months and FWIW it’s reinvigorated my love of reading.
I devoured "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang last month. Some utterly gorgeous stories in there - 'The Alchemist's Gate' and 'The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling' were highlights for me.
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
I hesitate to write what it is about, as it doesn't sound appealing. It is funny, fascinating, historically accurate, and very hard to put down. R U Ready?
It's the history of the periodic table.
Give it a try; you'll love it!
For some reason the best way out of slumps for me is rereading. I was served up an ad for the “Presumed Innocent” series and instead reread the book, which I hadn’t in years. Forgot how great it was, tbh. His writing is vivid.
Old: I know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou.
Old: Philip Roth trilogy: American Pastoral, Human Stain, I Married a Communist. Nothing like summer reading.
Yeah, that's why I grabbed it -- lots of stories about encountering new cultures and realizing things about your own in the process. Seemed perfect, and it really was.
He's got a story of them sneaking off their boat to go visit the Acropolis at night that's just perfection.
Unrelated: are you still in Cambridge? I walked past someone who looked like you the other evening, sitting at a table on Mass Ave, but didn’t want to interrupt (esp if it was actually a stranger!)
Fire Weather by John Vaillant. Non-fiction about the Ft. McMurray, Alberta wildfire. Part history, part science, part psychological study, part horror. I couldn’t stop talking about it to people.
I'm not sure I could bear to start it today while the town of Jasper, AB, is going up in flames, but I'm taking note and will likely read it come the winter rains.
I zipped through the first two books in Daniel Abraham’s Kithamar trilogy. Interesting take on epic fantasy, telling the same story through multiple perspectives. I also just finished The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera, which was unlike anything I’ve read before.
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Just finished The Remains of the Day, 30 years after seeing the film.
Legends & Lattes (fantasy setting, orc lady sets up a coffee shop, non spicy / kind / low drama queer romance)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (modern UK but witches, comedic, semi-spicy hetero romance but inclusive characters all around)
For nonfiction, I have demanded everyone I know read Timothy Egan's A Fever in the Heartland. Reads like a novel, super relevant to today.
https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Lynching_in_the_Heartland.html?id=dGUYDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1JPC6B
Bought for all my kids and his kids. Pure, simple writing gold.
Perhaps these short stories might help ease you back into reading.
(Worth a re-read too, as the case may be.)
I've been rereading Sarah Waters and Elena Ferrante lately because I'm terrible at rereading and it's helping me focus on the actual pleasure of it!
Recent releases I've loved: The Husbands, Piglet, The Other Valley, Come and Get It.
The Martha Wells Murderbot novellas/novels.
Shelley Parker-Chan's Radiant Emperor duology.
Umami, Laia Jufresa
LoveStar, @andrimagnason.bsky.social
Already mentioned, but just so refreshing: An Immense World, @edyong209.bsky.social
Good luck!!
The Way of the Hermit
What You Are Looking For is in the Library
The Last Devil to Fie (the whole Thursday Murder Club series is great)
The Paradise Problem
Emily St John Mandel
John Hanson Mitchell
Percival Everett
Stacy Schiff
Chantal James
Little Foxes Took Up Matches by Katya Kazbek
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
THE REANIMATOR'S HEART by @authorkaraj.bsky.social
"The Girl With Barnacles For Eyes" by Lindsey Croal and "The Ballad of Horse Girl" by Bitter Karella, both in Split Scream 5 from @tenebrouspress.bsky.social
MERCILESS WATERS by Rae Knowles
Brando Skyhorse's "My Name is Iris" really stuck with me
Lily Brooks-Dalton's "Good Morning, Midnight" was also really good
Hope you get out of your slump soon.
Nonfiction - The Little Book of Aliens, by Adam Frank
Two excellent reads for very different reasons
Non-fiction: Eric H. Cline’s 1177 BC The Year Civilization Ended.
There is a Door in this Darkness is cathartic
Non-Fiction - TWISTED: THE TANGLED HISTORY OF BLACK HAIR CULTURE by Emma Dabiri;
ATLAS OF AI by Kate Crawford; & DISABILITY INTIMACY: ESSAYS ON LOVE, CARE, & DESIRE Edited by @sfdirewolf.bsky.social
really beautiful, I thought
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-captain-ahab-and-i-say-we-must-never-transition-away-from-a-whale-based-energy-industry
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell;
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch; James by Percival Everett
Or Jodi Taylor's Just One Damned Thing After Another
https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2024-hugo-awards/
And I've experienced a mild bounce effect after getting my Hugo packet reading finished! As in, I'm picking up and starting to read other books as they cross my bow.
Seanan McGuire's October Daye & Incryptid.
T Kingfisher's Paladins.
KB Spangler's Rachel Peng, and Hope Blackwell
Big focuses on colorism, precarity, and the porosity of racial categorization.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (Her Paladin romances are great, too)
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
I was going to suggest Our Missing Hearts but then I looked again at the name of the poster. D’oh!
First Bad Man by Miranda July was outrageously funny, sharp, and weird.
Our Man in Havana was breezy, intermittently gorgeous writing.
Berlin Stories, Isherwood great stuff
Just read Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica and found it be quite engaging. Jason is soooo callow.
I hesitate to write what it is about, as it doesn't sound appealing. It is funny, fascinating, historically accurate, and very hard to put down. R U Ready?
It's the history of the periodic table.
Give it a try; you'll love it!
Old: Philip Roth trilogy: American Pastoral, Human Stain, I Married a Communist. Nothing like summer reading.
He's got a story of them sneaking off their boat to go visit the Acropolis at night that's just perfection.
I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy
“The God of Endings” (Jacqueline Holland) is just lovely.
Author is Christopher Buckley.
Some others
- Brave New World
- Billion Dollar Spy
- Myth of Sisyphus
- Heart of a Dog (anti-soviet, very fun)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin