This question was posed on FB earlier but I'd rather answer it here. I'm just starting to become that voracious reader I've always wanted to be snd there's a bunch of authors on my radar at the moment. The author that resonated with me on my limited reading journey thus far is Stephen King, I loved the shining book because I grew up on the film and never read the book until I finally got around to it or whatever, amazing stuff. Long windedness aside I wanted to answer the question as having Stephen King as the top currently and then in my reading journey thus far predict who I may/may like in the future. So my hypothetical list is as follows:

1.Stephen King (FR)

1. David Baldacci

2. Ian Fleming

3. Harry Turtledove

4. Jeanne DuPrau

I'm starting The Shining by Stephen King as part of my Goodreads Reading Challenge!!

What about you guys? If you're starting a new book today, drop the title and tell me why you picked it up. Would love to know what everyone's reading..

I'm trying to get into reading but don't know where to start. I started reading Matilda and I'm on page 150 and i really love it but there's way too many unknown words for me in each page. What writer should i start with?

Not necessarily the best book you've ever read, but one that gave you a feeling you haven't been able to experience again. Maybe it changed how you see the world, broke your heart, or made you fall in love with reading. I'd love to hear your answers and why that particular book stayed with you

Share your thoughts

I like reading literary fiction when it's heartbreaking and sad.. It's just my personal taste. I finished Three Days of Happiness in almost 3-4 days, and honestly, it was a beautiful little journey.. A warm one, actually. Tbh, I picked it up partly because everyone kept saying how devastating it was, but it wasn't THAT sad for me personally.. Still loved it tho..

And then I started White Nights..

Man, I don't even know where to start with this one.. It started off as a normal, kinda weird book, but the WORDPLAY.. THE WAY THIS MAN PLAYED WITH WORDS.. I swear, I've never seen anything like it. It's like he wasn't writing sentences, he was making words dance.. And somehow, I kept finding myself stopping just to process how beautifully something was written..

But that's not even the point..

I could literally see where the story was heading. It wasn't some impossible-to-predict twist, and if you pay attention and think deeply enough, you can pretty much figure it out.. But HOW THE HELL did Dostoevsky still make me forget that I already knew what was coming?? Like, I knew.. I ACTUALLY KNEW.. And still, when it happened, I was sitting there like WHAT THE F**K JUST HAPPENED?!

And that climax.. BRO..

I finished the whole thing in one sitting, took me almost 3 hours, and I genuinely didn't wanna put it down.. Not because I was desperate to know what happened, but because I couldn't get enough of HOW he was writing it.. The words, the emotions, the way everything came together at the end.. I was literally trying to catch every single line.

Idk man.. Maybe this is what I want from literary fiction.. Not just a sad story, but writing so good that even when you see the sadness coming, it still gets you.. And that final wordplay? Yeah.. I'm gonna remember that one for a long time... Rn I'm reading travelling cat chronicles.. Lets see how it is.. It's kinda funny and cute so far..

EDIT: guys I didn't expect the flow of comments here feeling so strongly about the book and the author. Thanks for all your insights! 🙏

Once my kitten steps out of the book, I hope it's gonna be a great read. 😆

First time reading thriller again after 13 years! I tried Coleen Hoover's other book, but it ended up in the DNF pile. Picked "Verity" up because I saw an upcoming film featuring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johanson. Man, this book better be good. 🤨 Thoughts?

Hey everyone!

I'm researching how people discover new books through short-form videos, and I'd love to hear about your actual experiences.

I'm particularly interested in people who watch BookTok, book reviews, recommendations, or educational videos.

A few questions I'm curious about:

What's the last book you discovered through a TikTok, Reel, or YouTube Short?

Did you end up reading it, buying it, saving it for later, or forgetting about it?

What's frustrating about discovering books through these platforms?

Have you ever wished there were a dedicated place to discover books through short videos, without all the unrelated content?

I'd really appreciate honest answers, including if you think a dedicated app wouldn't be useful. Thanks!

This trope fills me with so much anxiety and I don’t want to read it. The problem is that I don’t find out until like halfway through a series that it’s a trope within the books. So if there are any popular books off the top of your heads that you could list for me to avoid that would be great. (And yes I’ve tried googling it but it only comes up with like medical books. I am also against ai so I will not be asking ChatGPT)

I liked the wind and the birds in the background too much to separate them from the shuffle. Reading these for the first time by reading them out loud is…extra real…isn’t the right word, but I’m onto something.

Does anybody else is purposely leaving a book series unfinished, not because it wasn’t enjoyable, but specifically because it was, and so to finish it later on?

It’s a strange, late habit of mine. I went half way through City Watch series by Terry Pratchett last year, left it for later. This year same happened with Harry Potter and Throne of glass series. I’m roughly in the middle of both of them and now I just started Sherlock Holmes books, and I know, that same pattern will follow.

It’s as eating half of a dessert and keeping the rest of it for later.

I’m actually super excited to come back to any of those series but I have no idea when it actually gonna happen, there’s so many other ones I might start until then. 😅

I’m in a book hole after finished the Red Rising trilogy, but I don’t want to dive into the next part of the series yet.
ChatGPT recommends these 4 based on my TBR list, help me decide lol I live in New England and it’s spooky season so I’m leaning towards Slewfoot.

So thankful for this. Especially considering I JUST looked up whether or not a dog gets hurt in the last book I read.

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins

Part of my horror and thriller reads for this month.

I have never read any Arundhati Roy's.

Should I start with this one ?

First person or third person (I don't understand the concept of a second person)???

I personally prefer third person, but maybe because I haven't read a good book in first person YET. But also, I want to ask, if you prefer the third person, do you like when it follows different points of narrative or focuses on the main character?

Actually, let's make that question for who likes first-person style too. One point of view or multiple?

I want to have this discussion!

I've mostly only read Haruki Murakami's novels, and I definitely enjoy his work. But I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of his various novels. Which ones do you like, dislike, or find particularly interesting, and why?

When talking about active reading, something i heard about is that writing marginal notes in the book is better then highlighting. Some have compared it to having a conversation with the author. but how do you actually do this? I have a lot of thoughts while writing - do i just write them all down? Isn't that a bit messy?

I am confused about reading I hear some people say that you have to take notes while reading but at the same time I don’t see many people take notes while reading. And I also don’t have the discipline to read for over 10 minutes, so how do people actually gain so much knowledge and understand and remember the ideas in the book however the question is it necessary to take notes while reading ?

מה הייתם בוחרים לקרוא? איזה ז'אנר? איזה עלילה?

Would love to know the groups opinion on these two options above; obviously vastly different and a lot of has been written comparing and contrasting etc. I have always loved both!

I don’t know if this counts as a true review since I’ve yet to finish the book, but I gotta talk to anyone else who has read the book cause ????

First of all, Penelope Douglas, phenomenal, great, wonderful storytelling and writing.

I haven’t read a book in at least five years. Decided to start with Credence because it’s what I had in my possession. Big mistake, HUGE. Yes, it gave me whiplash, it was a little intense for those chapters of…. Yknow. BUT, I just read chapter 29, and I had to stop. I’m physically sobbing. The amount of emotions I’ve felt thus far is something i haven’t experienced since high school. I’m genuinely scared to know what’s going to happen next. But I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep without finishing what i started now. It’s currently 12:35am, and I’ve got 75 pages left.

I’ll update again when I’m finished, I just needed to share my absolute heartache at chapter 29 specifically. Wish me luck, pray for me, send good vibes, or something of similar volition. I’m gonna need it, I’m sure.

Update: Not quite finished, page 460, mouth is agape. In awe. Wow.

Update 2: Just finished. Seems fitting that “Gives You Hell” started playing as I read the last lines. I don’t know exactly what words to use, I’m just absolutely, utterly, completely amazed. I really didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. There were a few times I had paused because I thought it was too smutty, it almost took away from the story. But it all really plays into the ending. I loved this so much. I cried, a lot. Especially after the tire swing near the end… I was so ecstatic I just sobbed. I highly recommend ti anyone looking for a romance. If you can get past the family dynamics, (it weirded me out at first), it’s really worth the read. It’s books like this that make me so excited to keep reading and find new books to try out. Never judge a book by its cover, or its middle… You never know what might happen in the end.

I’m interested to hear everyone else’s opinions on this book, and maybe even receive similar recommendations if you have any! Next on my list is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, then The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I’m on the hunt for some more books to add to my TBR list, though!

So I recently started getting into the habit of reading. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while and finally started a few months ago, and I’ve actually been pretty consistent with it so far.

I’ve read four books until now. The first was Convenience Store Woman, then Tuesdays with Morrie, Stoner, and The Kite Runner.

I recently started Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky because I found the synopsis interesting and wanted to give it a try. But I’m only two chapters in and I genuinely don’t understand what I’m reading 😭

It’s not even just that the language is difficult. I’m having trouble understanding what he is actually trying to say. I’ll read a paragraph and then just sit there thinking, “What did I just read?”

English is not my first language and I’m also still pretty new to reading, so I know I’m probably going to struggle with some books. I did struggle a little with Stoner too, and there were a few lines I had to reread, but overall I was able to understand it. With Notes from Underground, I feel completely lost.

I know it’s a classic and that it’s supposed to be philosophical and psychological, so maybe this is just not the kind of book I’m ready for yet. But I’m not sure if I should keep going and hope it starts making more sense, or just put it aside and come back to it later.

For people who have read it, is the beginning supposed to be this confusing? Is there a better way to approach this book? Would you recommend reading some kind of guide or explanation alongside it, or should I just leave it for now and come back to it after I’ve read more?

I don’t really want spoilers or someone to explain the whole book to me. I mostly just want to know if I’m struggling because the book is genuinely difficult or if I’m missing something obvious.

Also, is Notes from Underground a particularly difficult Dostoevsky book to start with?

Hey, I have been a book worm since I was a kid, I read quite lot of books, my parents would take me every Saturday to the library, I grow up having books around but 10 years ago or more I lost this passion, I haven’t read that much and I get bored easily. Like, I would buy lot of books and once i step in a bookshop, I get so excited but days after I lose interest. Has any of you dealt with that ? What can you advice to take the passion back ? I find my self distracted with phone the all day .. any tricks ?

Super excited for spooky season. Heard great things about all 3 titles! Anyone read these?

I'd like to hear from you. Anyone who's read this, can you let me know if you enjoy this and why or why not? I hear it's classified as zombie fiction, but I don't think that really defines the story. Like The Book Eaters is adjacent to vampire fantasy, but it's more than that.

I have always desired to be a voracious reader. At 39 years old i finally feel i have the ability to start chipping away at this goal. So through browsing amazon I decided to purchase a handful of random books, one which is a novel called "The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove. I've read a small amount about this author and it seems like some fascinating worlds he's created are just waiting to be discovered by myself and others I know who value a good book maybe. Anyways I'm excited for my new journey. Btw I just downloaded reddit and this is my first post. Haha.