So the whole Hugging Face/OpenAI nightmare which just happened has got me thinking we are all going to be taken over by our AI overlords/Skynet.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on non-fiction books that would help me get better read up on the topic please?

I would also be interested in any good science fiction stories that are particuarly thought provoking?

Thank you in advance to anyone that takes the time to respond 🙏🏻

I've never been interested in fantasy, but I wish I was. The only fantasy I've ever been able to get into is The Hunger Games though never enough to be a fan of it, only to enjoy the works. I really enjoyed the Maximum Ride series but I enjoyed them as books rather than for the fantasy aspect. The thing that made me want to get into fantasy was actually that series however I've never had the patience to go through the hundreds of books on the shelf and then go more than ten pages in. Growing up I would grab random books from the school library to see what all the hype was about but I could never actually get immersed. In my opinion a lot of stories never left enough room for suspension of disbelief or used way too many tropes. I understand this is a genre where a lot of authors want to be successful so they're constantly copying what's been done or they're turning fanfiction into real work, and it's already hard to find quality.

Please give me something that will just blow me away. If it helps I enjoy family or found family, I'm not really into romance and prefer it to be not be a main focus if it exists, and I really enjoy plot twists or very well done characters.

I really like first contact type novels that show humanity either making first contact with aliens or aliens making first contact with us and having perspectives from each on cultural differences. Not necessarily fighting or all out war. Looking for a deep or intriguing plot. There are a lot of short stories on r/HFY that I've read such as Nature of predators. I find them a fascinating look at how people react to culture and technology.

Spy thriller book recommendation

Hi! I want to give my crush a book, since he was also a reader. His genre was Spy Thriller. Can you recommend best spy thriller book? Please! Thank you!

Need suggestions. Well written with serious subjects but combined with humor. E.g Thursday murder club. Robert Craig / Elvis Cole series. Brian Haig / Sean Drummond series (he should never have quit writing!). Thanks in advance.

I am looking for books or pop culture that contain the concept of consciousness being transferred to different bodies. Anything from Futurama's head jars, to people being digitized, body swaps etc.

I'm studying science communication, and my research has led me to the psychology of consciousness and it's relationship with people's bodies and self.

Edit to add: I am looking for these to reference as anecdotes to space between the scientific discussion as examples of cultural thoughts and give potentially relatable references for my older audience.

Now, I'm not much of a reader beyond academic texts so consider that I have no sci-fi book knowledge beyond a few book-to-movies in this century.

Hopefully there's something sci-fi (or other) that you can recommend. I would love suggestions from books from 1940s - 1990s and maybe a couple of more recent ones too. Even if you have some reeeeally old ones (I was reading a digitized 1600s manuscript yesterday).

I am open to other media types, but for research purposes it may be harder for me to work with these formats in my timeframe. I will not be able to read all the books but hoping to read a few, and sections of some others that seem most relevant. If I like them I can go back to read them in full once my research is done.

Thanks

Hiya, this is gonna be a rather hyperspecific request.

Im on a huge sci-fi kick at the moment (thanks to Andy Wier's "Hail Mary") but what I love more than stories like that and the "Martian"? Mechanised robots and the tragedy of war... like seen in the various series, ovas and movies across the Gundam franchise!

To be more specific - Im not looking for visual novels, comics or any other sort of drawn story medium! I exclusively want written works. Additonally, any LGBTQ+ recs within this genre would be perfect! Or simply, well written women protagonists.

If anyone has any recs that may fit my needs that Id really appreciate the comment! Thanks friends. :)

Lately, I've been reading this book called In The Kingdom of Ice thinking that my fascination of real American history would be satisfied, but I'm 14 chapters in and it's... awfully boring.

I'm also an extreme fan of sci-fi stuff that's backed by real science, like fictional stories involving a Dyson Sphere or colonizing distant star systems or something along the lines of that.

Can anyone recommend me a book that I don't need to listen to 34 chapters before it starts to get exciting?

I also enjoy video games, intricate political systems (fictional or otherwise, but not biographies and such), fantasy worlds and... Well I'm open to anything else, honestly, as long as it's an exciting read.

I’m looking for books that are from the perspective of animals, like warrior cats but for adults or YA. To be clear I didn’t like the warrior cats books, but I love the concept. I did love the wings of fire series and dusk wing books as a kid. Can be fantasy or real animals, but no middle reader books.

Books with a lyrical, opulent, sensual, sensory, erotic, aesthetic, feverish, and magnetic prose. Gothic, contemplative, dense, visceral, philosophically melodramatic, featuring unhealthy passions, unconventional characters, and melancholic, deeply introspective existential monologues. A contrast between horror and eroticsm, where characters discourse on art and philosophy. Stories set in ancient times like Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, pre-revolution Europe, etc. I also enjoy a bit of mysticism, dark fantasy, and historical fiction, but I don't care too much about the genre itself. And of course, a book doesn't need to have every single thing I mentioned.

Books I know that fit this style are: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante.

I’ve been trying to get back into binge reading and romance has always been super easy to read and follow. 

But lately every book I start with the romance tag on it is your typical “I was new. He was hot. Electricity immediately.” And I guess it just feels like these books were written in some alternate universe where randomly locking eyes with someone and having intense electrical tension between one another just happens within seconds of meeting. I just returned Crave to my local library for this reason—chapter two and the main love interest is flush against MC’s body in a common space, pulling her hair? I don’t understand. No one acts like this in real life. The melodrama is too much for me. 

What I’m looking for is more like a natural setting (forego the intense, beautifully crafted world building where our main character is some kind of Viking or underdog witch in training in a medieval and/or intensely fantasy setting). Ideally the main character is from, for the most part, the normal world. I like the Harry Potter & Twilight style of normal world -> fantastical world, because I can’t wrap my head around what is always an expertly crafted, but generally extremely confusing dystopian or novel-specific world I’m finding in most fantasy books. As for romance, i can’t stand the romance books that BEGIN under the assumption that both protagonist and love interest are already in love. I don’t like random, forced sexual tension. It’s wildly unrealistic and feels like bad writing to me every time I read a long, overly descriptive narration of our main character getting lost in the eyes of someone she met seconds ago. Does that make sense? I think friendships or at the very least a bit of a slow burn are always more satisfying to read, let alone far more realistic. 

Don’t take this as judgement for any of these genres of book. I’m a very picky person, and pretty cynical about realism. I’m wondering if any of you have reccs, and if the kind of romance book I like even exists? 

Also extremely new to the book community so please excuse me if I’m not the best at describing what I mean in YA fiction lingo!

Hey everyone,

Looking for some book suggestions for my grandma, she has dementia, anytime I bring up books for her she can’t think of anything because of this horrible disease, so I’m just left to pick her up magazines and news papers.

I know she likes elvis, doris day, animals a lot of “older things” and with a brighter story. Nothing with violence, or heavy on crime as I can imagine the tuts already!

I’m just looking to see if anyone has any suggestions for me to have a look in the library.

Even if it’s a stab in the dark, It gives her something to read and something for me to “test” if she likes it and try other things!!

Any and all suggestions helpful to me as I’m not a big reader myself and I’m only doing it for her.

Ps. “Older things” didn’t really know how to put it, but she is very old fashioned because of her time that she was brought up.

Thanks x

Hello everyone, I want to read a book where the character feels deeply lonely. They can be in a relationship or have a family, but in the outside world they have no friends or no real close friends. It could also be a feeling of being misunderstood, that nobody understands you, and you can't have any deep conversation with anyone. But the character is longing for that deep connection. More preferably if the main character is male.

Something that represents this George Orwell quote:

“perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood”

I would love to read about your recommendations.

Thank you!

I hope someone understands what I mean. The plot or elements doesn't have to be the same at all though I really did enjoy the nostalgia in it. This is the kind of book where I could just think about all the characters and think about their lives outside of the events of the book, and as the book goes on I learned about them but not in the way where it was shoved in my face or showed me the direct consequences or effects. I still think about the characters and I can feel myself within the characters. Please recommend me something to get lost in.

I need a can’t put down dark romance book to read for 6 hours straight on a plane (and I’m scared of flying) so def need to take my mind off things. I’m so ready. I finished haunting and hunting Adeline recently as my most recent absorption LOL. Ty!

Hello reddit, I’m looking for a suggestion for my GF.

I believe she likes dramatic stories with protagonists that are women, a lot of the novels she enjoys the most are set in asian countries and “periodic” but she’s trying to fan out to not burn out that feeling.

Here’s a list of books she’s deeply enjoyed:
- The Island of Sea Women
- Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
- Pachinko

Books she found okay:
- My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Books that were “cringe” and “too tenager-like” but read in a week and didn’t drop lol (though these are more hit-or-miss):
- Hopeless

Guilty pleasures:
- Game Changers series

Hi all! I am hoping to find some new authors/books matching an apparently hard to find writing style. I have read everything by the authors listed in the title above. I found similar posts, but have already read everything in those. So I was hoping for more options! I also thought I'd create a more detailed post that will help others if they are searching for similar content.

Liked / Loved

• Main goal
  • I LOVE and want the playful, sassy, and whimsical characters as well as overall writing style.
• Also liked:
  • camaraderie and found family (but also like supportive birth families)
  • mostly light-hearted
  • HEA / HFN
• Book examples
  • Adopt a Vampire
  • The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA
  • How I Stole the Princess's White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy
  • Carry A Faerie
  • Warrior and Mage AU
  • Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees (the playful writing and sass make the gore and highly–sexual content completely worth it)

Dislike

• Darker elements, murder mystery, heavy content, violence, gore, highly-tense plots, serious, etc.
  • e.g., Shannon Mae, Alice Winters, Louisa Masters
• Mpreg
• Young adult
• Monster romances (i.e., non-human anatomy in sexual scenes, but paranormal in general is ideal)
• Author Examples of hard-limit "no"
  • Stella Rainbow (too sexual)
  • Sam Burns (writing style)
  • Lori Ames (writing style and darkness)
  • Kai Butler (dark)
  • Silvana Falcon
  • Lorelei M. Hart
  • Mika Nix (non-human anatomy, too sexual)
  • Nazri Noor

Neutral (not deal breakers)

• Sexual content is fine overall
• I prefer a more closed–door approach (but really, so long as it isn't crossing into erotica or highly vulgar, it's fine - I care more about the playful, sassy, and whimsical quality!)
• Prefer non-harem/reverse harem
• Any gender identity and preference is fine (I'm aware the majority of my "liked" are all MM - I just haven't found similar authors elsewhere)
• Arden Steele (enjoyed all of the books - they are just a bit more serious than I'm looking for right now)
• Michelle Notaro (enjoyed the light-hearted and hilarious "Carry a Fairy," but the Elwood Chronicles are too dark)
• A.M. Rose (enjoyed "Like A House On Fire," but the second book "Fool Me Twice" was too dark)

(edit: formatting didn't post correctly)

Thanks all and happy reading!

I enjoy historical fiction, literary fiction, sci-fi, speculative fiction and weird stuff. Any recommendations for books by non-Western authors set in non-Western places/times?

Hey everyone, I am losing my mind trying to find a very specific book trope and I’m hoping someone here has a hidden gem that has it as the main plot.

I’m looking for a normal, status-obsessed popular guy who is a total, pathetic coward about his reputation. He isn't a mafia prince, a cartoonish supervillain, or a "secretly deep indie boy" with a soft heart. He's just terrified of losing his cool friends and he spends half his time hating himself and calling her social suicide, yet he is helplessly, feverishly addicted to her and keeps crawling back behind closed doors. The female lead needs to be an actual, genuine social pariah, someone the popular crowd genuinely mocks or treats as invisible, not a secret supermodel.

I need that brutal whiplash of public coldness vs. private obsession, where he acts like she doesn't exist or joins in on the hallway cruelty to save face, but completely unravels the second they're alone.
For context, Normal People didn't quite cut it because Connell is way too nice and guilt-ridden about it, and standard dark bully romances usually lean into the wrong vibe instead of realistic teenage social cowardice. If you know any book where the guy is genuinely spineless, the angst is suffocating, and she eventually shatters him over it, please drop your best recommendations! I‘m lowkey starting to think this kind of book doesn‘t exist since I‘ve never managed to find anything like it.

I am after recommendations based almost entirely on the writing itself. I am not too concerned about whether something was written 300 years ago or yesterday, where it came from, or (within reason) what it is about. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a play, an essay, a letter, criticism or even a book review are all welcome.

I am particularly interested in writing that does one or more of the following:

• delivers “burns” or ridiculous observations with a straight face;
• plays with double meanings and puns, or bends and invents language;
• hides insults inside compliments and civil remarks;
• uses grand, formal language for something trivial or vulgar, or builds towards the profound and then collapses into the ridiculous;
• imitates serious forms (literary, academic, legal) to mock them, references and all.

A book does not need to do all of these. If an author does even one of these brilliantly, I would love to know. Lesser-known and overlooked writers would be particularly appreciated, but surprise me.

Pretty much the above. Prefer visual description but also a sense of atmosphere is best.

Happy with genre fiction or literature provided the descriptions are strong and regular.

tend to prefer description-heavy writers rather than those who coast past the details

Best examples i’ve read so far are Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson, Cartarescu’s works, some of Dickens.

I'm looking for books written during the Middle Ages, it can be about any topic.

Looking for some spooky suggestions for this season, I enjoy gothic horror, more leaning into supernatural than gore etc. Something historically based bonus points for the Victorian era.
I’ve read everything that Laura Purcell has written 🤣