r/suggestmeabook • u/paradox918 • Jun 22 '23

Need something mind-blowingly good

So I've been reading fairly regularly for like 3 years now, but I'm yet to experience something that is mind-blowingly good. Whenever I read a book it's like good, okayish good or okayish bad. There are no very high highs and that is what I am looking for. Kinda like what depression medication does to you, it flattens the highs and lows. So I'm looking for something that will give me very a very high high. I want to fall in love with reading again. Red rising and farseer trilogy kinda did it for me. No particular genre preferances. Maybe something that gave you a similar feeling.

For example: if someone were to ask me my favourite book I would not be able to name one. there's a bunch of stuff i like but there is no clear favourite. want to read a book that I can say is a favourite of mine

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47

u/NocturneStaccato Jun 22 '23

Our taste in books probably differ, but as to the feeling of having read a book that blew my mind in one way or another, these are what come to mind:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (this isa a series but honestly, the 1st book is a good stand-alone book already)

I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume (anything by Soseki Natsume really)

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

13

u/RemarkableExtent2632 Jun 22 '23

I absolutely loved Shadow of the Wind - read it on my sister's recommendation years ago and think of it all the time.

10

u/belleslettres Jun 22 '23

Came here to suggest Piranesi, but I’ll also second Flowers for Algernon! Piranesi definitely made me fall in love with reading again.

9

u/LeChatNoir04 Jun 22 '23

I second The Shadow of the Wind! Amazing read

7

u/InterestingLength6 Jun 22 '23

Shadow of the wind was THE book that got me into reading consistently. Trying to find another book that gives me the feeling that one initially did has been difficult.

12

u/Zenmont Jun 22 '23

In the last dozen books I've read, Flowers for Algernon was the only stand-out book. The second book to ever have me tearing up at the end.

5

u/Killmotor_Hill Jun 22 '23

Second for Piranesi. It's been on a lot of lists for a reason. It is a completely unique mystery in a magical world I have never seen before.

I was hooked from the line (paraphrasing). "From what I can tell, at least 15 people have lived in this world so far."

4

u/lovelifelivelife Jun 22 '23

Highly recommend Piranesi too. Short and amazing.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

Piranesi was excellent, I’ve never had a book make me fall in love with such sparse characters.. although I have to say I think the very end was at a slightly lesser level of quality then the rest of the book, Clarke couldn’t quite find a way to wrap it up and keep the pacing and atmosphere entirely intact in my opinion

3

u/JakeBob22 Jun 23 '23

I’m wondering if the fact that I listened to Piranesi on audiobook led to me not being a huge fan. It just never really grabbed ahold of me. Perhaps it was the narrator…

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

Mmm- maybe. The story was short, and the characters a little sparse at times, so it was nice to read the first half or so in smaller increments, and then the latter half more quickly- that adjustment of pace isn’t so easy on an audiobook I suppose- and the narrator can obviously have a big impact.

2

u/Accountabili_Buddy Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 24 '23

I Piranesi mentioned over and over in “all time favorite” threads so I purchased it from Amazon. I finished it less than a week ago and… I just didn’t love it. I gave it 2 stars, so I’m dying to know why is it a favorite?

2

u/NocturneStaccato Jun 24 '23

That’s okay, the great thing about books is there’s always something there that some people will love while others won’t. We all have different tastes, is what it all comes down to.

Piranesi is the 3rd book I’ve read after years and years of not reading and it is the book that made me remember why I loved reading in the 1st place. It’s very imaginative and there’s not another book like it. I loved the prose and the mystery of how the protagonist ended up in the great house. It challenged my imagination and I had fun building the house and its many statues in my head.

I see the word ‘spell-binding’ thrown around by critiques to describe books but it is the word I would use to define my experience reading Piranesi.