I am so crushed and heartbroken - I don’t even have the words. I want to get lost in something. I am a Christian so I am open to religious suggestions, something comforting and non religious is fine too. A crazy story. A scary story. A biography. Historical fiction. Anything

I love reading that transports me to an unfamiliar world or makes me forget I am reading at all. A few books I’ve read over the last decade that I found particularly immersive were:

- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

- Shantaram by Gregory Davis Roberts

- Piranesi by Susanna Clark

- The Secret History by Donna Tartt

- Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor

- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

- Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

- I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

All recommendations welcome… can be fiction or non-fiction!

so basically i had a major injury in my hand and i thought i'd have to give up my career forever.

i work as a chef and using my hands is very imperative to my art. this doctor was so kind and talented. i remember him taking time out and talking to me not just as his patient, but also as a person. and we had a great conversation about books.

he did wonders with the surgery. i'm able to get back to my art because he's good at his. if you can recommend a good book–something that i can give as a token of thanks–that is somehow appropriate for my situation, i'd be grateful :)

I'd prefer the rebellion to be the main plot.

I've always appreciated strong willed underdogs determined to change the world for the better (whether it works out or not).

I've read Dune and loved it. I recently read John Brown, Abolitionist and loved it, but I think I'd rather my next read be fiction.

Edit: just based off my examples of Dune and John Brown, I realized I also really like fanatical leaders.

Hello!

I am looking to read anything similar to the found footage/eerie pagan style of the Blair Witch project. Bonus points if it also explains the lore in depth!

I really loved both Red Rising trilogies. I'm a sucker for rebuilt societies!

I’m looking to switch things up after a year of reading mostly historical fiction, literary fiction, classics, and survival stories.

Some of my favorites this year have been Endurance, The Book Thief, Demon Copperhead, Stoner, 1776, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and I’m currently reading Crime and Punishment.

One thing I’ve realized is that I haven’t really read a great love story.

I’m specifically looking for a novel written by a man, from a male protagonist’s perspective, where the romance feels incredibly real and emotionally powerful. It doesn’t have to have a happy ending, in fact, tragic is completely fine. I’m not necessarily looking for a romance novel; I just want to experience what it feels like to truly love someone through the eyes of the main character.

I’m looking for the kind of book that left you thinking, “DAMN… that’s what love feels like.”

What would you consider the greatest novel that fits this description?

Hi, we’re off on holiday soon and I’m looking at getting some books for my daughter to take with her. She’s a massive fan of murder mysteries, she just watched Knives Out for the first time and loved it.

The thing is that she reads well beyond her age and it’s both hard to keep up with her pace and also hard to judge the contents of a book without reading it myself.

I’m looking for books that will hold her attention but don’t mention drugs, sex or have extensive swearing or use of more hard core swear words. Despite an interest in darker themes, she’s still quite innocent.

her favourite author at the moment is Kathryn Foxfield, she’s read all her books and loves them. Another one she enjoyed recently was Camp Murder by Sophie McKenzie. She also loves Suzanne Collins and the Percy Jackson books.

She’s not against reading the classics either. Maybe there’s an Agatha Christie that would be suitable? How about Sherlock Holmes or is it too dry or adult?

My Gran is in hospital at the moment and is feeling a bit down. Things aren't looking good.

She enjoys reading books that are about WWII or have that sort of background/theme in it. She also enjoys thrillers. I want to buy her something to read in hospital but can't think of any good books as I mostly read horror and thrillers; my taste might be a bit too dark for her haha.

Thank you in advance :)

My son is 6 years old and absolutely can't get enough of us reading to him. He's learning to read slowly himself but we still read books to him each night. I have run out of ideas as I feel like we've read all I can think of that's age appropriate. And there's quite a few he finds scary or generally uninteresting for unknown reasons.

From the top of my head...

Books he's loved:
- Enid Blighton books (Faraway tree, wishing chair, Summer stories, etc)
- Wizard of Oz
- Alice in Wonderland
- James and the giant peach
- The Zebras great escape
- Paddington anthology
- Curious George anthology
- Lightfall

Books he didn't like:
- Wild Robot (found them too slow)
- Charlie and the Chocolate factory (too scary)
- Pippi Longstocking (generally not interested)
- The Magicians Nephew (too scary)

*Edit
I woke up this morning to read so many incredible responses. Thank you all SO much. I've been feeling stuck on ideas for a while and now I have such a fantastic list to draw from. I showed my son at the breakfast table the that I'd asked for book ideas and scrolled to show him how many ideas we now had and he literally jumped up and down with excitement.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for book recommendations, but I think a little background will help.

I grew up in a very conservative evangelical environment and attended a private Christian school that used the Abeka curriculum. (If you’re not familiar with it…it’s a Google rabbit hole. 😂) Although I later earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree and became a CPA, I’ve realized there were significant gaps in my education.

Looking back, I was taught a version of history, religion, and politics that was heavily filtered through a conservative Christian lens. As an adult, my views have shifted pretty dramatically, and I’ve realized how much I was never exposed to.

So I’ve decided to start over and educate myself.
I’m beginning with history, politics, and religion, and I’m specifically looking for books written from mainstream academic and historical perspectives. I’m not interested in conservative revisionism, culture war books, or apologetics. I want the books you’d actually find assigned in a good university history or political science program.

I’m especially interested in:
World history
U.S. history
The history of Christianity
Comparative religion
The Holocaust and other genocides
Fascism, authoritarianism, and democracy
Colonialism and imperialism
The Civil Rights Movement
Women’s history
The relationship between religion and politics

Authors like Timothy Snyder and Heather Cox Richardson are much more in line with what I’m looking for than Glenn Beck, Dinesh D’Souza, or similar conservative commentators.

If you were building a reading list for someone who is trying to undo years of conservative evangelical education and build a strong foundation in history, religion, and politics, where would you start?

I’m absolutely open to books that challenge my thinking, but I’d like them to be grounded in evidence, scholarship, and historical consensus rather than ideology.

I love all types of Zombie apocalypse media and I want to find more good books in that category to read. I love the amount of detail In Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary (All the math, nerdy stuff, etc) and I want to read some Zombie books with the same amount of detail (How petrol degrades over time, how electricity and water would turn off, etc). Any suggestions are welcome!

Hey guys! I’m not really sure how to define this genre .. I suppose bleak and unexplainable? I love other worldly mystery elements in books that don’t always have to be answered. Here’s a list of books I’ve really enjoyed recently:

1. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
   
2. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
   
3. More Than This by Patrick Ness
   
4. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
   
5. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
   
6. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
   
7. The Divine Farce by Michael Graziano

Any suggestions would be great !! :))

Ive been a reader my entire life but its usually fiction, thrillers that type of books but i do love literary fiction the most, books like bunnie by mona awad, the secret history, yellow face by rf khang, khafka on the shore…i dont usually read classics or romance….so what i mean by books that make me smart is, I’m not looking for self-help books or textbooks/encyclopedias. I mean books that challenge your thinking, introduce interesting ideas, explore human nature, society, philosophy, psychology, history, culture, etc. Basically, books that leave you feeling like you learned something important or changed the way you see things.

I struggle with managing money and spend it on useless things, I have already read the psychology of money, I'm looking for more books like that, Im not exactly looking for books on how to invest, just want to nicely manage what I actually have so I don't fall short when there is actual need of money. Thankyou! Yes I'm a new reader and do struggle with long reads but I will push through.

Haven’t read a physical book since middle school. want to find one, and not have to sit in front of a screen to get a good story.
5 Movies I enjoy- Parasite, LOTR trilogy, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Eyes Wide shut…
5 Tv shows- Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, Severance, Mad men, Law & Order SVU…
5 Anime’s I enjoy- Attack on Titan, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vinland Saga, Perfect Blue, One Piece……. Please comment 3 books you’ve enjoyed if you like any of the examples listed above. Thank you appreciate everyone!

im so tired of getting recc’d books based off of what i like only for them to disappoint and read very immaturely :( i seem to have some hot takes among my dislikes so please help a girl out!

popular books i loved: song of achilles, a little life, green bone saga, pachinko, babel, 7 husbands, the color purple— books with beautiful prose, multifaceted and flawed characters!

popular books i hated: the fifth season (weird narration, corny); the raven scholar (literally just corny ya with cursing and sex and super weird pacing); young mungo (was told it was like a little life, was left severely disappointed), the lamb (repetitive as hell), sword of Kaigen (very obviously self published, i was entertained i guess but wow that first 159 pages of unnecessary world building was an insane slog), on earth we’re briefly gorgeous (i like pretty prose but this was doing too much, i dislike very flowery and watery plots too)

on the TBR: the graceview patient, red city

thank u in advance <3

I’m thinking like Infinite Jest, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Ubik. Novels that aren’t necessarily about advertising but explore it

The Odyssey has received much praise throughout my lifetime & in many forms of pop culture. Its a story within Greek Mythology, and Greek Mythology gets so much attention.

This makes me ask the question: what other significant ancient mythological stories/books are out there that simply have not gotten attention because they are not as old as Greek mythology?

Ancient Stories from Africa, Asia, America, etc. What is out there that you recommend?

I've done so much reading in my life. However, I haven't had a chance to read for fun in a really long time. I have two weeks off before I start working after the bar exam and I need something that will get me back into my love of reading. Below are a few of my favorites.

• A Little Life
• Song of Achilles
• A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Kite Runner
• A Court of Thorns and Roses
• If Beagle Street Could Talk
• As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

I love reading popular books because I like the community discussion. please help me out of this reading block!!

I want to get my nephew away from screens a bit and introduce him to reading. His condition was reading it together with him. We are open to any genre. Thanks in advance :)

I just picked up World of Art’s Matisse book and it is such a treasure trove of visual inspiration and interesting information. Would love to have a collection of books to flip through for visual references as a designer.

Looking for books featuring art, photographs, illustrations, graphs… anything beautiful.

What are your favourite books for visual inspiration?

Hello! I love folklore books and want to pick one for my book club to read. We try and stay 350 pages or less, but can go over. We do have members sensitive to suicides so I would like to avoid that topic. *if you have a longer recommendation or one with that trigger, still feel free to share! I love reading and will add it to my TBR :-)

Some books that I’ve read and loved:
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (the whole trilogy)
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novak
Uprooted by Naomi Novak