Any bookworms?

MakeNoPeaceWithEvil

MakeNoPeaceWithEvil

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Sudden urge to pick up a novel, but I'm not an avid reader. Looking for a recommendation.

Books I have read and liked over the years are all the basics from highschool like Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Atlas Shrugged etc...but over my adult life I have read and enjoyed Angela n Demons, the DaVinci Code, Forest Gump, The Jason Bourne trio from the 80s, Jupiter by Ben Bova, some random book I found while deployed on the submarine by Danielle Macomber - I think it was about angels, and I read a song of ice and fire.

Just looking for suggestions based on me liking these silly books mentioned. I'm fine with action, sci-fi, fantasy,

Oh and my favorite book or I guess novella, is A Christmas Carol. I HATED a tale of two cities but was forced to read that one in the 9th grade. May give another shot someday.

I also read Blood Meridian on deployment and although it intrigued me because of the style of writing, it was actually a difficult read for someone not an avid reader. I plan to revisit it someday.
 
A zen novella about consciousness that is also a dark comedy:

Memories of Amnesia



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Memories of Amnesia



Brain surgeon Izzac Drogin experiences firsthand the my…

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www.goodreads.com

The ultimate paradox of the book—that the brain constructs a self that the self cannot find in the brain, even when the self is a neurosurgeon—comprises the main metaphor of the book, which is the hall of mirrors that modern self-consciousness has become.

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The doctor’s rebellion leads to an extraordinary climax, in which narrative point of view, the concept of the self and even observable reality are all called into question. Memories of Amnesia begins off-kilter and grows more convincingly askew as it progresses, until, when you put it down, the world of the book seems normal and the world around you seems to have shifted

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Dean Koontz - Intensity

A read that keeps you on the edge of your seat! This book started me reading all of his books.
 
You read Animal Farm in highschool for a class? Nice. I had to read Les Miserables, The Crucible, Scarlet Letter, Screwtape Letters, the Odyssey, other lesser knowns. I hated all of them honestly. I liked To Kill a Mockingbird okay.

Have you read the Art of War? Or Lord of the Flies? Or Of Mice and Men? Those might be up your alley.
 
Mick Herron's Slough House series is really good. Apple made a show out of it that leaves out so much. The books are so good. Don't skip the interstitial ones. The series is numbered but he went back and wrote like a 2.5 and a few others. They are all good. After reading them, I bought them as audio books to relisten while I walk and workout. I just love his sense of humor.
 
I read too much fiction, mostly Sci fi or mystery. Currently reading 1Q84 by Murakami and enjoying the different writing style and pace.
 
MakeNoPeaceWithEvil said:


Sudden urge to pick up a novel, but I'm not an avid reader. Looking for a recommendation.

Books I have read and liked over the years are all the basics from highschool like Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Atlas Shrugged etc...but over my adult life I have read and enjoyed Angela n Demons, the DaVinci Code, Forest Gump, The Jason Bourne trio from the 80s, Jupiter by Ben Bova, some random book I found while deployed on the submarine by Danielle Macomber - I think it was about angels, and I read a song of ice and fire.

Just looking for suggestions based on me liking these silly books mentioned. I'm fine with action, sci-fi, fantasy,

Oh and my favorite book or I guess novella, is A Christmas Carol. I HATED a tale of two cities but was forced to read that one in the 9th grade. May give another shot someday.

I also read Blood Meridian on deployment and although it intrigued me because of the style of writing, it was actually a difficult read for someone not an avid reader. I plan to revisit it someday.

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Blood Meridian is tough for anyone that attempts it. I made it mostly through though I was ill most of the way. GD disturbing. Like you I’ll pick it up again someday. Perhaps
 
Ken follett: pillars of the earth (and others)

More cormac McCarthy: the road

Neil Gaiman: American Gods (then read more)

And because I love it: Max Brooks World War Z
 
I am a huge Ilona Andrews fan and their new book "This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me" is aces. But all their stuff is my style. I like a little romance with my escapism action and adventure.
 
OP, Iron Druid Chronicles. Sci-fi ish with humor. I haven’t been thrilled with the mini books/half steps but am at book 4.

amosmylove said:


Have you read the Art of War?

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This one was a little like stereo instructions… maybe I had a poor translation? Thing is, is I usually don’t mind reading manuals.🙃 it seemed really disjointed.
 
'The War of Art' by Pressfield (actually, anything by Pressfield) is aces as well.
 
I adore the William Kent Krueger books, I read em all and there's a lot! Start from the beginning, they'll last you a good long time.
 
amosmylove said:


You read Animal Farm in highschool for a class? Nice. I had to read Les Miserables, The Crucible, Scarlet Letter, Screwtape Letters, the Odyssey, other lesser knowns. I hated all of them honestly. I liked To Kill a Mockingbird okay.

Have you read the Art of War? Or Lord of the Flies? Or Of Mice and Men? Those might be up your alley.

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Yeah we read Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies in highschool. I never took AP courses but did usually take "honors" classes so maybe that's why we read some of the more macabre novels. We did read like the Canterbury Tales and The Odyssey, but were like really shortened versions of them in a big textbook.
 
Pocket said:


Pretty much anything by Peter F Hamilton. I love his books. He has a really great way of building an intricate universe without losing my attention. I am especially a fan of his Commonwealth Series.

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I really liked Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. The Void trilogy felt like a waste of my time by comparison. One also has to tolerate some rather tawdry sexism to read what is otherwise pretty good sci-fi.
 
Elgordoboy said:


Blood Meridian is tough for anyone that attempts it. I made it mostly through though I was ill most of the way. GD disturbing. Like you I’ll pick it up again someday. Perhaps

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I burned through it pretty quickly, but not even the disturbing content that makes it difficult to read...it's the language. It's special, beautiful, like modern Shakespearean and it was just hard to read initially lol, or maybe since I'm not an avid novel consumer I was just slow lol
 
There is no Antimemetics Division was a fantastic recent read. I also quite enjoyed The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
 
Scraped everyone's recommendations with Gemini and added synopsis.

  • Memories of Amnesia by Lawrence Shainberg: A dark, philosophical comedy following a prominent brain surgeon whose own neurological faculties begin acting erratically, sparking an obsessive internal conflict between his sense of self and his malfunctioning brain.
  • Intensity by Dean Koontz: A fast-paced psychological thriller centering on Chyna Shepherd, a woman who survives an assault by a sociopathic killer and secretly trails him in a desperate attempt to save his next intended victim.
  • Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained) by Peter F. Hamilton: An expansive space-opera epic where humanity uses a massive network of wormholes to colonize the galaxy, only to inadvertently trigger an existential conflict with a hyper-aggressive, hive-minded alien civilization.
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding: A classic allegorical novel about a group of stranded British schoolboys whose attempts at self-governance quickly unravel into tribalism and savagery.
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: A poignant story set during the Great Depression following George and Lennie, two itinerant ranch workers pursuing the dream of owning land while grappling with Lennie's intellectual disability and accidental strength.
  • Slough House Series by Mick Herron: A darkly funny espionage series focusing on "Slow Horses"—disgraced British MI5 agents relegated to paper-pushing duties at Slough House who routinely stumble into high-stakes, off-the-books conspiracies.
  • 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: A surreal, atmospheric mystery set in an alternate 1984 Tokyo, following a female assassin and a quiet math teacher whose fates intertwine around a strange religious cult and the appearance of two moons in the sky.
  • The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: An expansive historical epic centered on the multi-generational construction of a grand Gothic cathedral in 12th-century England against a backdrop of civil war, religious conflict, and political ambition.
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy: A stark, post-apocalyptic journey of an unnamed father and son walking through a burned, ash-covered American landscape, surviving on scavenged goods while maintaining their moral humanity.
  • American Gods by Neil Gaiman: An urban fantasy following Shadow Moon, an ex-convict hired as a bodyguard by a mysterious grifter named Mr. Wednesday, who gets pulled into a brewing war between traditional mythological deities and modern gods of technology, media, and wealth.
  • World War Z by Max Brooks: An epistolary, oral-history-style horror novel that documents the geopolitical, social, and logistical realities of a global zombie pandemic through interviews with survivors worldwide.
  • This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews: A fantasy adventure where an avid reader from modern-day Texas awakens inside the brutal, unfinished dark-fantasy world of her favorite book series, using her plot knowledge and an inability to permanently die to navigate lethal political schemes.
  • The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne: An action-packed urban fantasy series following Atticus O’Sullivan, the last surviving ancient Celtic Druid, who runs a quiet occult tea shop in modern Arizona while evading vengeful gods and mythological monsters.
  • Cork O'Connor Series by William Kent Krueger: A long-running mystery/thriller series centering on former sheriff Cork O'Connor as he investigates crimes and navigates deep-rooted tensions between local communities in the remote Northwoods of Minnesota.
  • There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm: A high-concept sci-fi horror novel focusing on a clandestine division tasked with containing anomalies and cosmic horrors that actively erase themselves from human memory and perception.
  • The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North: A speculative novel about a man living an endless cycle of rebirth—each time retaining the memories of his previous lives—who is tasked with preventing the premature end of the world across centuries.
  • I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin: A satirical road-trip thriller following a rideshare driver hired to transport a passenger and an ominous, sealed black box across the country, igniting nationwide paranoia and viral internet conspiracy theories.
 
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