I want to get back into reading fiction. Pls send recs. Not really sure what I like at this point but my favorite book is The Great Gatsby.
Last book I read was Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Didn’t care for it much.
I want fire prose, compelling plot, not too complex.
Last book I read was Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Didn’t care for it much.
I want fire prose, compelling plot, not too complex.
Comments
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/left-hand-darkness
Fall on Your Knees, Anne Marie MacDonald
Judas, My Brother, Frank Yerby
Of the several thousand titles I've read, these three have really stayed with me. (I used to read a book every 2 days for years.)
https://Oceanofpdf.com has many titles, free, no sign up required
Celestial Matters
-- Richard Garfinkle
Player Piano
Slaughter House 5
Breakfast of Champions
-- Kurt Vonnegut
Thief of Time
Thud
Good Omens
-- Terry Pratchett
Grapes of Wrath
-- John Steinbeck
All Quiet on the Western Front
-- Remarque
1/
•Three Lives
-- Gertrude Stein
•Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and Sensibility
-- Jane Austen
2/fin
And Tom King blends serious subjects and comedy in a way that's kind of bizarre, but brilliant.
Would also second other recs above re: Ted Chiang short story collections and Station Eleven.
Abercrombie writes gritty character based fantasy but without any of the cliche and generic fantasy tropes.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M2HZ4J6/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_-jzNFbYMGFXTP
https://www.demontheory.net/
Lord of the Rings if you like fantasy
to: oh shit, I needed that!
Also been reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, guy who wrote The Martian, about an astronaut sent on a suicide mission to another star system to save Earth from dying.
Others I recommend:
-Station Eleven
-Ninth House
-The Lies of Locke Lamora (swashbuckling Thievery in a fantasy Venice)
She Who Became the Sun - an amazing retelling of Mulan
The Tainted Cup - Incredible Sherlock type mystery
A Memory Called Empire - an amazing sci-fi look at what it means to be a cog of an empire
If you want more I have them-these are the first that I think of
https://www.101bananas.com/library2/bluebouquet.html
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Ticks all your boxes.
Also:
Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Recent faves with solid stories
I’m starting her Poppy War book series next.
Sharon Kay Penman has some great UK-focused stuff. Justin DeQuincy was a mystery series of hers.
Also love Rifles for Waite (Civil War focus).
The Westing Game is a more mystery-ish favorite to reread.
1. A slapstick comedy about the Devil's Minions
2. A lady helps host a Ball
3. The Gospel According to Pontius Pilate
invisible cities
lathe of heaven
when you're ready
Palestine+100
iraq+100
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D7SZ9C51/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Every time this man goes up to the attic, he is replaced with a DIFFERENT HUSBAND and her life transforms alongside him.
(Written by someone who worked on DICEY DUNGEONS!)
A meditation on memory and the stories we tell ourselves. A retired man looks back on the people he grew up around, the decisions he made, and the ghosts, and lovers, that have haunted him his entire life.
Really good page-turner, especially when you're getting started so it's easy to pick right up.
Also really enjoyed If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino. It’s a love letter to reading.
Reading can be REALLY difficult for me, but something about this book kept me engaged in a way that I simply have not ever had before or since.
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
Pachinko is years old now but one I still recommend.
Binti by nnedi okorafor
Parable of the sower by Octavia butler
True biz by sara novic
Piranesi by Susanna clarke
Raybearer by Jordan ifueko
The raven tower by ann leckie