I used to finish a book every other day, now I think I haven’t finished anything in months and I can’t remember what it was.

I’m looking for books that are enjoyable to read.

Aren’t all books enjoyable? I hear you ask.
To clarify, I’m not looking for sad, historical fiction, heavy dramas or «great works.» I can’t get into any deliberately pretentious writing.

I want fun! I would love series. I was on a romance kick for a while but it got a bit formulaic and I need something more.

A hint of fantasy or science fiction would be great but I don’t want something completely removed from humanity. By that I mean I’d prefer something human or humanlike in terms of characters.

It doesn’t have to be dumbed down, it just doesn’t need to take itself so seriously.

Looking for the burger and fries of literature.

As a kid I was all about those survival books: Hatchet (really anything Gary Paulsen,) My Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins... you get the idea. It felt like this magical, robust genre.

I recently got a hankering to read something like that again, and while I have nothing against rereading kids books, I was hoping to find something more adult. I haven't been able to find anything that's really recapturing that feeling.

So, give me your best survival stories. I'm talking woods, islands, deserts, whatever you've got. I want the protagonist struggling to build a fire and trying to figure out which berries are edible.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

hello! i've recently been getting into more historical fiction, and I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for books (set in history) that cover a long period of time or multiple generations, and explore the change and transformation that happens in that time

books in this category I've enjoyed:

We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen (my gold standard for this type of story)

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (though less so, it captures a similar atmosphere)

I assume something like Dune would be similar, though I haven't read it yet (and I would prefer if it wasn't sci-fi, though fantasy is welcomed)

thank you!!

Hi everyone!

I’m planning a trip to Central Europe soon, specifically visiting Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Whenever I travel, I love reading a book that is closely connected to the destination to enrich my experience.

I am looking for fiction or narrative non-fiction recommendations that take place in these countries and include strong historical elements (it can be historical fiction, classics, or contemporary books with deep historical context).

It would be awesome if the books capture the atmosphere, culture, or history of these places.

Any suggestions? Thanks

I’m wrapping up my first trip to Chicago. Did the architecture boat tour and during it, realized I haven’t read many books with Chicago settings!

Any historical fiction recs?

I did read Devil in the White City — which was fantastic non fiction, but I’m looking for something a little less dense (I got a little glossy eyed on the architect’s chapters). Hope that makes sense.

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your suggestions!!! I’m sitting at ORD waiting for my flight home and my TBR list is growing! A number of the suggestions were already ones I’d been interested in (not even realizing they had connections to Chicago), so I’ll probably start there. Thanks again, this is wonderful.

Looking for a novel that features the underground gay scene in the past, between 1700s ish - early 1900s. Doesn’t have to be a romance or super serious book, I would welcome a fun read too. Just looking for something that features that setting please.

Looking for morally vile protagonists

Please recommend me books or series where the main narrator is a despicable person but very fun to read. I like fast pace, twists, thrillers, dark fantasy. Bonus points if they are LGBTQ or women but doesn’t have to be!

For example I enjoyed fruit fly recently but want something darker and with a more vile protagonist. I don’t mind a slower pace if it isn’t boring or pages of nothing.

I grew up in a Megachurch. I left when I turned 18. Briefly went back in my 20s and haven’t been back since. I’m 37 now. Anyway - the majority of my family (including parents) still subscribe to that belief system except one aunt and my sister. I consider myself agnostic, though I don’t think it matters for the purpose of the recommendation.

I would love to read a book where the main character diverges from their childhood/familial belief system and the difficulties that come from it. It doesn’t have to be religion specifically just something that might resonate. Thanks in advance!!

My 3yo loves books and being read to. I've found the Winnie the Pooh, House at Pooh Corner and the Catwings books by Ursula K Le Guin have the perfect illustration to word ratio: enough pictures to maintain interest and break up the text, but with 1-2 page stretches without pictures. I feel like these books build up her stamina for listening and visualising the story herself.

I'm looking for books with a similar picture to text ratio as the books mentioned above that are toddler friendly.

Thank you!

Looking for a gripping, brutal look into the psyche of a character crashing out

I read Skylark earlier this year and I can't stop thinking about it. I'd love to read more about the Catacombs of Paris-- fiction or nonfiction, any era.

I love living in NYC but I find the winter so depressing, especially that January to March stretch that feels endless. It can be hard to love this city in the depth of winter when everything is gray and dead, and going outside feels like punishment. I've lived in NY for most of my life and still hate the winter.

I'm currently reading The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti and I really love the atmosphere it's built; this loving depiction of the alps and the people who find refuge there. There's a bittersweetness to it that is really resonating with me. I'm looking for books that ruminate on both the sentimentality and the harshness of NYC winter, and/or focus on the quirks and lives of it's residents during that season.

I'm looking for books of any genre that leave you feeling a bit wistful but I'm not looking for stuff that's too cutesy and no YA, please. Thanks!

Been in a very long term book club (7+ years), and have had a string of dark books lately. So looking for something GREAT but less dark.

We're a diverse, but highly educated group that loves books that start a good conversation. Group likes literature, sci fi, fantasy, pretty much anything except non fiction and romance.

Triggers-no animal death, no extreme violence (although we did read McCarthy and lost a few members on that one).

Rules-no one can have read it already and it should be under 450 pages. Prefer no series

Favorites include

A Gentleman in Moscow

Klara and the Sun

Ubik

Read

Project Hail Mary

Dungeon crawler carl

This is how you lose the time war

Scalzi (all)

I’m looking for a book whose aesthetics are saturated in a vintage autumn style. Something fairytale and sinister!! Any ideas would be great

I need recommendations for romantasies. I have read some romantasies (mostly enemies-to-lovers), but I haven't enjoyed all of them. So, based on my personal interests, I hope you can help me find new books I will enjoy. Therefore, I’ll talk about what I find interesting and give examples of books where I either enjoyed it or disliked it. 

Balance fantasy-romance: I enjoy it when the romance does not become the main plot of the book. I’ve read multiple books where, at a certain moment, the plot becomes only about the other person. As in helping each other the whole time, always being close to each other, or every other sentence is about the other person.
Where I found this balance lacking: Fourth Wing, The Ashes and the Star Cursed King (book 2).
Where I found the balance good: The Cruel Prince trilogy and Red Queen series

Worldbuilding: I find worldbuilding very important; it does not have to be complicated, but it needs to make sense. There should be some thought put into the world. I do find darker worlds more appealing.
I liked the world of: The Cruel Prince trilogy, Red Queen series, Crowns of Nyaxia series, The Shepherd King Series, and Alchemised.

Also, if a world is dangerous, it should be dangerous, give characters consequences, and don't just tell me the world is dangerous. 
This happened in: Crowns of Nyaxia series, and The Shepherd King Series.  

Romance level: I do like to have a strong romantic couple, so a bit of heat and tension.
Where I found this lacking: The Red Queen series 

I do not need any spice, but I don’t mind if it is there. However, the pacing of the book should not slow down for any romantic scenes. If something else happens in every chapter and then the romantic scene happens over 3 chapters, I already lose interest. 

The Cruel Prince trilogy is by far my favorite romantasy. 

Fourth Wing, Glass Sword (book 2), and The Ashes and the Star Cursed King (book 2) are my lowest-rated books. 

Hello

I have endured a severe level of bullying in my workplace and need books to help me hec me as self sufficient as possible in a sense where I follow through with the complaint I have filed.

There were rumours of me being desperate and thirsty for my male coworkers, being dirty, unhygienic and mentally I’ll even. I have been off work for a while and recently decided to face my fear head on and file a formal complaint against these people.

How we, despite focussing in myself, reopening this wound is making it difficult for me to live life again.

Any suggestions would be great.

Hello!

I got back into reading this year after not seriously reading any books since I was a teenager. In the last few years I’ve completed maybe 10 books combined, all on Audible - and this year so far I’ve finished 33 books that I’ve actually been taking the time to sit down and read!

(No disrespect to audiobooks btw I still love them! I’ve just come to really appreciate how sitting down to read forces me to focus on one thing.)

Anyway I’m looking for books about Greek mythology: retellings of myths, fun spins on the genre, Hades is one of my favorite games of all time and that’s in large part because of the characters. Anything that really goes into the pantheon of gods, their relationships and their moral ambiguity would be super cool! Bonus points if everyone’s hot and/or queer.

I read Song of Achilles this year and it was one of my favorite books of my excursion back into reading. Thanks for helping an ex-voracious reader get back into the practice!!

Hi ya'll I was hoping for some recommendations on adventure fantasy books. Some that I love: LOTR, Dune, The Child Thief, Mist Born, The Pellinnor series. I don't need it to be a specific gender MC though I do love a well written female lead. I am not into romance being the main driving plot though I do love Walking Drum which absolutely has romance woven into the plot. I am open to stand alone and series books. I would love some international options though I do have to read it in English. I am studying Spanish but at this time Harry Potter is my max capability level right now.

Suggest me a book where the main character not only survives, but thrives thru and after a divorce. Lesbian/queer rep is a bonus. (No Eat Pray Love)!

I want a book which just gives “British 2000s” vibes, not just a book with a British Author published in the 2000s. I like gay (MM) romances, horrors, memoirs and gothic literature books usually, but I’m open-minded :)

I found out this year that I really enjoy speculative science fiction after discovering Blake Crouch and Emily St John Mandel! I read and loved Dark Matter, Recursion, Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility. I just finished The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch and also loved it, but it was definitely very heavy and dark. I don't want to burn myself out because I genuinely really love these kinds of stories. I just need a breather, it could be a totally different genre, something light but I don't like "cozy" fiction or romance. For reference, some of my favourite books of all time are Ender's Game, East of Eden, Jurassic Park, Pilgrim's Progress and The Machine Stops. Any recs for me? I've read the Mistborn and the Red Rising series and I'm not interested in DCC. I have no books on my TBR so I'm open to anything! Thank you 🙂

Hi everyone, as the title suggests I’m somewhat new to reading and I’m not really sure where to start. I (23F) have only finished a handful of books in my life… even in school I’d generally find ways to get answers to tests or ideas for essays without reading the books because I found reading very difficult. I’ve become very aware of the literacy crisis and I don’t want to be another statistic…

Here are the books I’ve finished:
Book thief - Markus Zusak (one and only book i finished for high school)

Heartstopper and solitaire - Alice oseman

A whole new world - Liz braswell (didn’t like as much as the Hercules one because the first 50 pages or so was just the ending of movie where as the Hercules one started right of the bat)

Go the distance - Jen calonita

It’s not like it’s a secret - Misa Sugiura (read on my one time in high school)

Most of the books I’ve read are based on IPs I already enjoy. Like Hercules is my favorite Disney movie and I’ve seen it 50+ times and was able to finish go the distance in about a week. I loved the heartstopper show so I wanted to read the graphic novels, and Tori was my favorite character so I read the book based on her.

I’ve tried a handful of books but either they were too difficult for my current reading level (hoping to improve by reading more) or i just wasn’t hooked on them.

Books I’ve tried:
The Dresden files - Jim butcher (my moms favorite series and while I like the characters and idea i just find it kind of boring at times)

Looking for Alaska - John green (a book I was reading for my ex at the time and again just find it kind of boring about 1/2 through)

Dungeon crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman (this one I think to some extent it too difficult for me right now, but I also like more dialogue than descriptions and it took me weeks to get to chapter 3 when I read most of heartstopper and solitaire in about the same time. I like the idea and I know it’s super popular, I’ve heard it’s a better audio experience so I might try that.)

Harry Potter - jk Rowling (while a movies series I enjoyed, I found the books differing too much from the movies and I’d rather just watch the movies)

Things I like:
Comedy
YA romance - high school type of stuff where it’s just cute and awkward without the nsfw stuff
LGBTQ+
Some Action
Some mystery
In general just a fun read
Twists
Graphic novel recs are ok too

Other media I like:
How I met your mother is my all time favorite show - I do like a decent amount of sitcoms in general though
Gilmore girls
Some serious shows like - Gotham, law and order, Lucifer - but they me longer to watch than sitcoms
Disney movies in general
Marvel movies in general
Good omens / good place
Avatar the last airbender (I have read some of these books too but I don’t find them as interesting as the show)
Invincible / vox machina
Spy x family
Food wars - mostly for the camaraderie and people working together even when they’re competing against each other
Demon slayer / JJK
Young royals

I hope this is enough to go on. I’m sorry if it’s a little all over the place. I’m open to just about anything. I am looking for stuff a little more newer like 2010 or newer but I’m not opposed to older stuff. If it’s apart of a series that’s also cool cause it just means more to read. While I would say most of the stuff I currently read is YA I am trying to expand my reading so I’m able to read harder books.

Inspired by a recent post on r/TopCharacterTropes because I absolutely love love love this trope and now need more, and the only books I saw mentioned were Going Postal (which I've read) and the manga Silver Mountain. I've also mostly encountered this trope in shows and movies and would love to find more examples in books!

Best examples: Going Postal, Klaus, Rango

Bonus for the conman growing as a person and becoming better being the character's main journey/a big focus!

I recently read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy and The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and absolutely loved them!
I am looking for other books that have the same feel, in depth characters and reverence for the wild of the world. Any recommendations?

hi so some of my favorite books of the year have been project Hail Mary and the midnight library. I’m searching for things to read that encapsulate these feelings of something bigger than yourself and thought-provoking while still being a really entertaining read. Any suggestions are appreciated!!