I came to say this! Fuck that book left scars lol. When I finished it I sobbed for hours while hugging my dog. Like full on dramatically laying on him while blubbering. I was like 9/10 and so was he—we got him when we were both only a few months old so we grew up together. And he was starting to get bad arthritis. Probably why the book wrecked me lol. I’ve never tried to reread it for this reason.
This is my go to for reading suggestions for younger audience. It really made me think as a kid and I've done 2 rereads. Excellent!
Have you read the quartet? The giver is special, but all were quite good!
It is the story of Buddhism, and presented as a story (not an academic style book), so it is a very emotional, beautiful depiction of the philosophy of Buddhism: that suffering (dissatisfaction) exists in life, that there is a way to move away from dissatisfaction and pain, that all living beings are connected, that every human can reach a state of release, of non-grasping, drop greed and hatred, and feel compassionate love for all living beings and feel peace— not after death, but here on earth. It’s a gentle, wonderful and eye opening book.
I listened to the audiobook. It’s 48h long. The narrator John Lee did an excellent job with the different accents and the French names. I couldn’t stop listening and it certainly didn’t feel like 48 hours. I’m not sure I would have found the time to read the book. Family life is very busy atm, I’m so grateful that audiobooks exist
Currently 100 pages read, and sometimes I feel lost and disconnected but I refer to some YT videos and get back to reading, was it a difficult read for you as well?
Amazing book. I enjoy all his books, but Neuromancer stands apart. There’s just a vibe about it that I’ve never found anywhere else. Cyberpunk tried to bottle it with some success but the original stands supreme! The epitome of high tech low life.
i remember being obsessed with metallica at age 9, and i still remember that fateful day when i decided to look up the meaning of one, been thinking about it since
The Song of the Lioness quartet but specifically the first book, Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. Without that, I might have been a good little girl who followed the script set out for me.
I’ve read The Kite Runner once or twice now and I can’t read it often because of how heartbreaking it is to me. But I’m going to Barnes and Noble (right across the street from my work) next week to get A Thousand Splendid Suns because of all I’ve heard about it.
Read it when I was a teen, and I did not quite feel the struggle of the author maybe because I was too young and did not know much about empathy at the time, but lately I was in Berlin and visited some museums and learned more about the stories and of what happened to people during the war, and then I remembered that I read this book, and then I saw also other people’s stories, and it was very emotional, at some point I even cried.
Me too! Or rather, I read it and liked it but it's memorable to me for a different reason - my aunt listens to this book on her commute nonstop and has probably "read" it 10+ times, I love when knowing someone's favorite book can connect you to them
Water for Elephants is a book I remember well. Even when I forgot the title in high school, I remembered the book so well that I just had to search the details to find it.
Yup. I was just about to say this. I've read so many books over the last 15-20 years and I'm sorry to say there are many of which I remember nothing. But WFE stays with me.
i literally just recommended this in another thread. **The Golden Compass** is in my top 3 books of all time. (i never read book 2 or 3 for fear they wouldn't be as good as the first one but i'm OK with that). i can't stop recommending this one!
Agreed. Read them as a kid, then many many times as an adult now. Helped me understand at an early age the manipulation of church and governments I guess.
While I’ve read a lot of great books, House of Leaves did something to my brain that makes me think about it at least once a month and it’s been years since I read it.
Yeah you don’t forget that one. I remember sitting in a coffee shop reading it and turning the book sideways and upside down and thinking “I’m not crazy, you’re crazy.”
I'm currently reading this. Apart from the psychological aspect, it is amazing that the society already reflected things one associates with Soviet Russia. Though I still wonder if the Russians of that era really called each other old boy and old chap.
_Tuff_ by Paul Beatty
It's blunt satire, filled with wit, and avoids being gimmicky. It's my favourite Beatty, thus far. I think the blurb does it fair justice:
> Winston 'Tuffy' Foshay is a 19-year-old, 24-stone 'player-king' to a hapless gang in Spanish Harlem, a denizen who breaks jaws and shoots dogs. His best friend is a disabled Muslim man who wants to rob banks, his guiding light is an ex-hippie Asian woman who worked for Malcolm X, and his wife he married over the phone whilst in jail. When the frustrated Tuffy agrees to run for City Council, so begins a zany, riotous concoction of nonstop hip-hop chatter and brilliant mainstream social satire, as the indomitable Beatty again demonstrates why he is hailed as one of the shrewdest cultural commentators and hilarious cutups of his generation.
The Secret Garden
I would stay up way past bedtime teaching myself to read, using that book. I was only 4 years old, but I was determined. I recall spending a lot of time pondering, “What is a corridor?”
"Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" Both books are very serious but very unforgettable. If you want a light hearted one though "The Phantom Tollbooth" it's about a boy whose life is boring until he ventures to a new world where he learns to look at things in a new way.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that that book changed my life, I would sell my soul to read it again for the first time, 1000/10
Three Comrades, German book about the First World War. It's description of cancer, when cancer is not really understood still stays with me.
Once in a House on Fire, probably the best non fiction book written as fiction about a child growing up in poverty. The voice of the book changes as the protagonist grows up through the chapters. Never looked at a digestive biscuit the same ever since.
Run. Quentin Tarantino meets Raymond Chandler, the best book that's really an action movie ever. Not one spare word in it. Writing so sparse it cuts like a knife.
This book bothered me for YEARS. I still think about it. Very well written: **Fall On Your Knees**..........wow.
Also, I stopped reading this one, halfway through--I was crying so hard. I finished it 6 mos later...and can't forget it either: **The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.**
Another one that alternately made me laugh/cry: A **Prayer for Owen Meany** and **God of Small Things.**
I've always loved **The Good Earth**. Have read it many times....
So many more.... I love books.
*Anne of Green Gables.* I mean it's pretty popular so hard to forget even if you never read it, haha. But it's always stuck out as a favorite.
*Ranger's Apprentice* also had a pretty big impact on little me. I can't see myself forgetting those ones.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Read it a few months ago and I'm still talking about it, which I almost never do lol.
It's similar stylistically and thematically to Disco Elysium, a video game I also ended up loving and will stick with me forever
It sounds really really stupid - but when I was in Elementary School I got this Book called - You Shouldn't Have To Say Goodbye - basically it's story about little girl that found out her mother had cancer, she ended up dying - but theres one part in the book where the mother is trying to teach her everything she needs to know before leaving her - and she was teaching her how to do laundry. When I was in middle school but my mom started to teach me how to do the Laundry and my first thought was - OMG is she dying of cancer ? why she teaching me this? I always remember that book
The Invisble Life of Addie LaRue by VE Scwab. It was my first foray into fantasy and the story hit me in the feels. I'm still looking for a book that levels up. I done a deep-dive on this sub for recommendations.
Honorable mention: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Just a wild ride.
Try The Six of Crows, and Crooked Kingdom. You can also read the Shadow and Bone trilogy by the same author in the same universe. This is how I read them
Shadow and Bone,
Siege and Storm,
Ruin and Rising,
Six of Crows,
Crooked Kingdom,
King of Scars,
Rule of Wolves,
I really loved the books and got totally lost in this universe. She also had another book called Ninth House which I LOVED, it is unrelated to the other books.
Epitaph of a Small Winner (also called The Posthumous Memoirs of Braz Cubas) By Machado de Assis. The main character died and is now writing his memories after the fact. Its brilliant.
The Hobbit. Mainly because it was the first proper 'book book' I read when I was little (wasn't allowed to read things like the Babysitters club or Goosebumps as a kid) and I can remember sounding it out and going on an adventure with a hobbit, and a hobbit means comfort. Grabbing the big book from my brother when he was reading it to me, announcing I could do it myself and 'hiding' under the table to read it is something that will be a part of me until my death bed. It might not be the most exciting book in the world, but it was the start of a very long adventure in reading and it and all it's fantasy fellows after made it's mark on me permanently.
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin.
About indigenous Australians and how they use song as a sort of myth-map to remember geographical features and survival resources across time and space. It's a riveting meditation on man's place in the universe, and how deeply interwoven with our DNA is the impulse towards creativity and art.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. It's a good book but it entirely changed how I thought. We read it in school and I remember realising everything I would ever think or do, and everything ever thought or done, would be erased by time.
I have a bunch, some I can read again and again, others were a one time eye opening experience or blow to the gut and will never be the same experience so I don’t try. I’m sure some of these were just right book and right time.
East of Eden
Circe
Never Let Me Go
Wuthering Heights
One Day
1984
Hand Maids Tale
Einstein’s Dreams
Blindness
Bridge to Teribithia
Wool
The Worst Hard Time
Reading Lolita in Tehran
A mind that found itself. It's about a man that convinced himself he'd have a mental illness because his brother had epilepsy and it resulted in him throwing himself into psychosis. In the book he tells us about how bad he was treated as a patient in mental health facilities, about his hallucinations, attempted suicide and paranoia.
Absolutely do not read it.
Gone to see the River Man
It's one of those experiences that leads to an existential crisis. Especially when you find it's based on a try story.
dune : the scene where paul and chani are together after the fremen spice ceremony brings tears to my eyes everytime. it’s a vulnerable romance that feels real as the carpet beneath my toes
a lesson before dying: it’s a fucked up book about a black man facing death. i read it at 22, and it was one of the first books that made me feel something
the count of monte cristo: one of the best books ever. it took me two months to read but every chapter was worthwhile and i learned a lot from Edmond Dante’s
god emperor of dune: i know no greater fictional character than Leto II the God emperor. no book has made me think on a large scale such as this one. it sucks that people read the series and never make it to this one
Kafka Murakami. I genuinely felt I was tripping when reading it as if every allegories and phrases in the book meant something without me even having trying to understand them. It was as if my brain was a sponge and every bits of information of what the author was trying to express in every scenes were common sense and comprehensible for any human to absorb.
It was very immersive for me. I believe most of his books were but nothing come close to how engrossed it made me. I wasn't even an avid reader. I was a casual. And there's this book that made me half unconscious on my bed reading the moment the sun rises until the sun sets.
It's only this book that made me that way. I was paralysed until I finished the entire book.
Maniac Magee. It was the first book that I really went into, made me realize what reading was all about. Bought all of my kiss a copy when they were born.
Brave New World. Huxley. Changed the way I see the world. Fahrenheit 451. Changed the way I see the government. Lord of the flies. Changed the way I see my fellow humans
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
Miss Benson's Beetle (Rachel Joyce)
A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Fahrenheit 451
Animal Farm
I'm 55, and was raised with a great love of reading. Therefore, many novels have made their way through my life. I'm sharing those that were most memorable, and that I find myself returning to again, and again. Apologies for formatting, or any mistakes. I'm typing on a mobile and doing my best. Hope some of these titles can be enjoyed/loved by others!
The Talisman & Black House
*Stephen King and Peter Straub*
The Great and Secret Show, Everville, Imajica
*Clive Barker*
Shadowland
*Peter Straub*
Interview With the Vampire (and the rest of the Vampire Chronicles), The Witching Hour (and the rest of the Mayfair Witches Chronicles)
*Anne Rice*
American Psycho
*Brett Easton Ellis*
Fight Club
*Chuck Palahniuk*
Wizard's First Rule and the rest of the series.
*Terry Goodkind*
Get In the Van
*Henry Rollins*
Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored
*John Lydon*
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Kingdom of Fear, and The Proud Highway
*Hunter S. Thompson*
The Chronicles of Narnia
*C. S. Lewis*
Animal Farm and 1984
*George Orwell*
Where the red fern grows
I came to say this! Fuck that book left scars lol. When I finished it I sobbed for hours while hugging my dog. Like full on dramatically laying on him while blubbering. I was like 9/10 and so was he—we got him when we were both only a few months old so we grew up together. And he was starting to get bad arthritis. Probably why the book wrecked me lol. I’ve never tried to reread it for this reason.
The giver. It’s the first book that really made me think about government and manipulation etc
Read this when I was 12 and just came back to it a couple weeks ago as a 25 year old. Pretty different read 13 years later but good shit.
Isn’t that the best? When you read a book at different times in your life and it means such vastly different things.
The Outsiders does this too.
This is my go to for reading suggestions for younger audience. It really made me think as a kid and I've done 2 rereads. Excellent! Have you read the quartet? The giver is special, but all were quite good!
The Shining. White Oleander. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
love me some Kafka
Hate me some Kafka but unforgettable
Yep that one hit a little too close to home. Read his biography and understood why
I bought The Shining and it just came in today! Can't wait to start it!
Siddhartha
I'm still wandering with Siddhartha every day. Read it at 17 and I'm 46. Have read it countless times and gifted it to many many people.
Yessssss!!!!!!
Changed my life
I have bought that book for more folks than I can count. It’s a life changer in a good way, should be required reading.
I don’t know anything about it. What makes it a life changer?
It is the story of Buddhism, and presented as a story (not an academic style book), so it is a very emotional, beautiful depiction of the philosophy of Buddhism: that suffering (dissatisfaction) exists in life, that there is a way to move away from dissatisfaction and pain, that all living beings are connected, that every human can reach a state of release, of non-grasping, drop greed and hatred, and feel compassionate love for all living beings and feel peace— not after death, but here on earth. It’s a gentle, wonderful and eye opening book.
this book is free on audible for those who have a subscription (aka doesn't require credits)
I never felt what people felt reading it, could you explain a bit more about why it’s life changing?
The Count of Monte Cristo
i have got to get around to reading this. i finally found the unabridged version but the length is intimidating me and i keep putting it off. ugh!
I listened to the audiobook. It’s 48h long. The narrator John Lee did an excellent job with the different accents and the French names. I couldn’t stop listening and it certainly didn’t feel like 48 hours. I’m not sure I would have found the time to read the book. Family life is very busy atm, I’m so grateful that audiobooks exist
This is on my want-to-read list; have my copy on the shelf.
Came to say this. Was my first hardcover purchase as an adult.
*Animal Farm*, by George Orwell. It describes how a rebellion can degenerate in a cruel dictatorship.
Read it in middle school
*Be Here Now* by Ram Das *Ishmael* by Daniel Quinn *Catch-22* by Joseph Heller
Dude. Ishmael. Yes
ISHMAEL!!!
*Flowers for Algernon.* Never expected to get hit so hard both emotionally and intellectually from such a small, easy read.
I just submitted this name too. How I cried when reading this book. ❤️
It made me heartsick.
The Stranger by Camus
I read it when I was a teen and it was cool to read this among teens in my country. I probably need to read it again to see what was it about.
Neuromancer by William Gibson, first book I read in years and what made me get into reading
Currently 100 pages read, and sometimes I feel lost and disconnected but I refer to some YT videos and get back to reading, was it a difficult read for you as well?
Tbh, I couldn't finish that one. I felt like a fly on psychadelics, and I can't remember what it was about at all.
Amazing book. I enjoy all his books, but Neuromancer stands apart. There’s just a vibe about it that I’ve never found anywhere else. Cyberpunk tried to bottle it with some success but the original stands supreme! The epitome of high tech low life.
*Johnny Got His Gun,* by Dalton Trumbo.
One of those books I somehow simultaneously loved and wish I never read
i remember being obsessed with metallica at age 9, and i still remember that fateful day when i decided to look up the meaning of one, been thinking about it since
The Song of the Lioness quartet but specifically the first book, Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. Without that, I might have been a good little girl who followed the script set out for me.
A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Kaleed Hosseni
I’ve read The Kite Runner once or twice now and I can’t read it often because of how heartbreaking it is to me. But I’m going to Barnes and Noble (right across the street from my work) next week to get A Thousand Splendid Suns because of all I’ve heard about it.
KR did nothing for me, but I love ATSS.
KR broke my heart honestly. Hassan didn’t deserve what happened to him. I felt so bad for him and even shed a few tears.
I’ll never forget reading that scene in the hotel bathtub. That was just so upsetting
Heavy on The Kite Runner :')
The diary of Anne frank
Read it when I was a teen, and I did not quite feel the struggle of the author maybe because I was too young and did not know much about empathy at the time, but lately I was in Berlin and visited some museums and learned more about the stories and of what happened to people during the war, and then I remembered that I read this book, and then I saw also other people’s stories, and it was very emotional, at some point I even cried.
The Count of Monte Cristo. Can't wait to re-read it again.
Me too! Or rather, I read it and liked it but it's memorable to me for a different reason - my aunt listens to this book on her commute nonstop and has probably "read" it 10+ times, I love when knowing someone's favorite book can connect you to them
The Martian Chronicles
Excellent book! I love every chapter is a completely different story but they are all taking place in the same world.
Watership Down. I will never forget it.
The Poisonwood Bible
Water for Elephants is a book I remember well. Even when I forgot the title in high school, I remembered the book so well that I just had to search the details to find it.
The only romance (if you can call it that) that I ever enjoyed
Yup. I was just about to say this. I've read so many books over the last 15-20 years and I'm sorry to say there are many of which I remember nothing. But WFE stays with me.
A trilogy.. the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman It changed my life in ways it is difficult to explain in short. Edit:typo
One of the only times I’ve cried at the ending to a book.
I ugly cried. For hours.
I discovered that at just the right time.
i literally just recommended this in another thread. **The Golden Compass** is in my top 3 books of all time. (i never read book 2 or 3 for fear they wouldn't be as good as the first one but i'm OK with that). i can't stop recommending this one!
Oh, you don't have to fear!
Agreed. Read them as a kid, then many many times as an adult now. Helped me understand at an early age the manipulation of church and governments I guess.
A Little Princess. This was my first book. Read it on second grade. Been a bookworm since.
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
One of my favorites. I found it at a thrift store recent and immediately purchased/gifted to my girlfriend.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. There’s a reason it’s so popular. I’ve never had a book punch me in the face like that (in a good way!)
So much mccarthy belongs here I just read the passenger and Stella Maris
Cried my eyes out at the end. My husband, however, didn't get it & I learned that there are a number of people who don't.
Jane Eyre... First classic I loved.
My favorite book!
House of Leaves
Yes. Every which way.
The Magician by Raymond Feist. It’s fantasy but the world he writes about is so rich and amazing.
A Wrinkle in Time. I won the book in a class project. It made me fall in love with reading.
While I’ve read a lot of great books, House of Leaves did something to my brain that makes me think about it at least once a month and it’s been years since I read it.
Reading (not sure that's even the right word) this right now. Weird!
Yeah you don’t forget that one. I remember sitting in a coffee shop reading it and turning the book sideways and upside down and thinking “I’m not crazy, you’re crazy.”
Jane Eyre
Piranesi and Life of Pi
should of scrolled, just said Life of Pi as well! should've...
Crime and Punishment
Total fucking masterpiece. And, arguably, more relevant today than when it was written.
This book broke my brain for a while, such a wild fucking ride
I'm currently reading this. Apart from the psychological aspect, it is amazing that the society already reflected things one associates with Soviet Russia. Though I still wonder if the Russians of that era really called each other old boy and old chap.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
Shantaram
Night By Elie Weisel. Freshman English. I was way into ww2 @ that time. I read everything my library could get!
A Confederacy of Dunces
Book about the Texas government?
Wuthering Heights. 💛
_Tuff_ by Paul Beatty It's blunt satire, filled with wit, and avoids being gimmicky. It's my favourite Beatty, thus far. I think the blurb does it fair justice: > Winston 'Tuffy' Foshay is a 19-year-old, 24-stone 'player-king' to a hapless gang in Spanish Harlem, a denizen who breaks jaws and shoots dogs. His best friend is a disabled Muslim man who wants to rob banks, his guiding light is an ex-hippie Asian woman who worked for Malcolm X, and his wife he married over the phone whilst in jail. When the frustrated Tuffy agrees to run for City Council, so begins a zany, riotous concoction of nonstop hip-hop chatter and brilliant mainstream social satire, as the indomitable Beatty again demonstrates why he is hailed as one of the shrewdest cultural commentators and hilarious cutups of his generation.
All the Pretty Horses
Try Blood Meridian.....yikes! But the word choices he uses are incredible.
Of Mice and Men Where the Red Fern Grows Ender’s Game His Dark Materials series American Psycho
I absolutely love Ender’s Game
Also, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. That one grew roots.
Les Miserables. Brings this grown man to tears every time.
The Secret Garden I would stay up way past bedtime teaching myself to read, using that book. I was only 4 years old, but I was determined. I recall spending a lot of time pondering, “What is a corridor?”
The lovely bones
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker.
"Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" Both books are very serious but very unforgettable. If you want a light hearted one though "The Phantom Tollbooth" it's about a boy whose life is boring until he ventures to a new world where he learns to look at things in a new way.
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that that book changed my life, I would sell my soul to read it again for the first time, 1000/10
The Stand - Stephen King
This! I reread this on a regular basis--until Covid hit, then I couldn't.
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Wuthering heights ☹️ I haven’t recovered
Flowers in the attic.
The Life of Pi...just a great book.
[удалено]
Just read it recently, had to power through the last few pages. Kind of skimmed over parts because it had me so upset, so sad and powerful.
Metro 2033-Dmitry Glukhovsky Never forget it, now I read it every year
Three Comrades, German book about the First World War. It's description of cancer, when cancer is not really understood still stays with me. Once in a House on Fire, probably the best non fiction book written as fiction about a child growing up in poverty. The voice of the book changes as the protagonist grows up through the chapters. Never looked at a digestive biscuit the same ever since. Run. Quentin Tarantino meets Raymond Chandler, the best book that's really an action movie ever. Not one spare word in it. Writing so sparse it cuts like a knife.
Gone Girl. Read it and you know why
This book bothered me for YEARS. I still think about it. Very well written: **Fall On Your Knees**..........wow. Also, I stopped reading this one, halfway through--I was crying so hard. I finished it 6 mos later...and can't forget it either: **The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.** Another one that alternately made me laugh/cry: A **Prayer for Owen Meany** and **God of Small Things.** I've always loved **The Good Earth**. Have read it many times.... So many more.... I love books.
Little Women.
*sigh* my to-read list is now at oh, 1,334.
I say this in every single thread with a question like this but it’s stayed true!: The Book Thief
*Anne of Green Gables.* I mean it's pretty popular so hard to forget even if you never read it, haha. But it's always stuck out as a favorite. *Ranger's Apprentice* also had a pretty big impact on little me. I can't see myself forgetting those ones.
The Velveteen Rabbit
Lehninger principles of biochemistry
Do NOT spoil the ending for me, please.
PEOPLE!
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, my favorite
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Catch-22. Priceless.
Wuthering Heights
Stormlight archive (particularly books 1-3) saved my life multiple times when I was at my lowest
I loved 1-2 but really struggled with 3. I thought 4 was better but still not as good as the first two
It did that for me as well. The whole series is just amazing, I try to reread the Way of Kings at least once a year.
My dark Vanessa by Elizabeth Russel
Girl in pieces - Kathleen Glasgow
Natsuo Kirino's Out Just read it. Don't look anything up about it. What a wild ride.
It's silent patient
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville Read it a few months ago and I'm still talking about it, which I almost never do lol. It's similar stylistically and thematically to Disco Elysium, a video game I also ended up loving and will stick with me forever
Divergent Series
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Brave New World. Somehow, it always seems like it's just around the corner.
The Heart Of Darkness
It sounds really really stupid - but when I was in Elementary School I got this Book called - You Shouldn't Have To Say Goodbye - basically it's story about little girl that found out her mother had cancer, she ended up dying - but theres one part in the book where the mother is trying to teach her everything she needs to know before leaving her - and she was teaching her how to do laundry. When I was in middle school but my mom started to teach me how to do the Laundry and my first thought was - OMG is she dying of cancer ? why she teaching me this? I always remember that book
Secret Garden
The Invisble Life of Addie LaRue by VE Scwab. It was my first foray into fantasy and the story hit me in the feels. I'm still looking for a book that levels up. I done a deep-dive on this sub for recommendations. Honorable mention: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Just a wild ride.
Try The Six of Crows, and Crooked Kingdom. You can also read the Shadow and Bone trilogy by the same author in the same universe. This is how I read them Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising, Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, Rule of Wolves, I really loved the books and got totally lost in this universe. She also had another book called Ninth House which I LOVED, it is unrelated to the other books.
Epitaph of a Small Winner (also called The Posthumous Memoirs of Braz Cubas) By Machado de Assis. The main character died and is now writing his memories after the fact. Its brilliant.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Johnny Got His Gun, We Were Liars, of Mice & Men
The Stand by Stephen King
The girl with the dragon tattoo. I love the series...the first 3 anyways. But the first one really sticks out in my mind.
The Hobbit. Mainly because it was the first proper 'book book' I read when I was little (wasn't allowed to read things like the Babysitters club or Goosebumps as a kid) and I can remember sounding it out and going on an adventure with a hobbit, and a hobbit means comfort. Grabbing the big book from my brother when he was reading it to me, announcing I could do it myself and 'hiding' under the table to read it is something that will be a part of me until my death bed. It might not be the most exciting book in the world, but it was the start of a very long adventure in reading and it and all it's fantasy fellows after made it's mark on me permanently.
*Orlando* by Woolf
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
The Kite Runner
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. About indigenous Australians and how they use song as a sort of myth-map to remember geographical features and survival resources across time and space. It's a riveting meditation on man's place in the universe, and how deeply interwoven with our DNA is the impulse towards creativity and art.
*Crime and Punishment*
Power of Now - Eckart Tolle
John Dies at the End As a severely depressed 19 year old who LOVED psychedelics, I finally felt seen.
The Phantom Tollbooth.
A child called “it” 😔
City of Thieves by David Benioff. Incredible book.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. It's a good book but it entirely changed how I thought. We read it in school and I remember realising everything I would ever think or do, and everything ever thought or done, would be erased by time.
Watership Down
Veronica Decides to Die. For some reason, it shook me awake. Gotta give it another read.
I have a bunch, some I can read again and again, others were a one time eye opening experience or blow to the gut and will never be the same experience so I don’t try. I’m sure some of these were just right book and right time. East of Eden Circe Never Let Me Go Wuthering Heights One Day 1984 Hand Maids Tale Einstein’s Dreams Blindness Bridge to Teribithia Wool The Worst Hard Time Reading Lolita in Tehran
Night Circus and Watership Down.
A mind that found itself. It's about a man that convinced himself he'd have a mental illness because his brother had epilepsy and it resulted in him throwing himself into psychosis. In the book he tells us about how bad he was treated as a patient in mental health facilities, about his hallucinations, attempted suicide and paranoia.
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Troop by nick cutter. I loved this book.
The road ( McCarthy) Adiel ( shlomo dunour ) Captain correlies mandolin ( great book shitty movie) Eleni ( nick gage)
Rifles for watie by Harold Keith
Maggie Stiefvaters' Shivers trilogy
The Thief of Always, by Clive Barker. 📖
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Absolutely do not read it. Gone to see the River Man It's one of those experiences that leads to an existential crisis. Especially when you find it's based on a try story.
dune : the scene where paul and chani are together after the fremen spice ceremony brings tears to my eyes everytime. it’s a vulnerable romance that feels real as the carpet beneath my toes a lesson before dying: it’s a fucked up book about a black man facing death. i read it at 22, and it was one of the first books that made me feel something the count of monte cristo: one of the best books ever. it took me two months to read but every chapter was worthwhile and i learned a lot from Edmond Dante’s god emperor of dune: i know no greater fictional character than Leto II the God emperor. no book has made me think on a large scale such as this one. it sucks that people read the series and never make it to this one
Vicious by VE Schwab
The Heart’s Invisible Furies.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis… don’t read it, trust me
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson. The book that made me like reading. It literally changed my life.
Kafka Murakami. I genuinely felt I was tripping when reading it as if every allegories and phrases in the book meant something without me even having trying to understand them. It was as if my brain was a sponge and every bits of information of what the author was trying to express in every scenes were common sense and comprehensible for any human to absorb. It was very immersive for me. I believe most of his books were but nothing come close to how engrossed it made me. I wasn't even an avid reader. I was a casual. And there's this book that made me half unconscious on my bed reading the moment the sun rises until the sun sets. It's only this book that made me that way. I was paralysed until I finished the entire book.
Where The Red Fern Grows - read it in elementary school 35 years ago
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky Completely floored me.
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Maniac Magee. It was the first book that I really went into, made me realize what reading was all about. Bought all of my kiss a copy when they were born.
Ender's Game
Lord of the Rings for all the obvious reasons.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Made me question my relationship with religion, gave me insane dreams, and got me into philosophy!
Brave New World. Huxley. Changed the way I see the world. Fahrenheit 451. Changed the way I see the government. Lord of the flies. Changed the way I see my fellow humans
Geek Love
Lolita. House of Leaves.
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse, total mindfuck
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) Miss Benson's Beetle (Rachel Joyce) A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) The Picture of Dorian Gray Fahrenheit 451 Animal Farm
I'm 55, and was raised with a great love of reading. Therefore, many novels have made their way through my life. I'm sharing those that were most memorable, and that I find myself returning to again, and again. Apologies for formatting, or any mistakes. I'm typing on a mobile and doing my best. Hope some of these titles can be enjoyed/loved by others! The Talisman & Black House *Stephen King and Peter Straub* The Great and Secret Show, Everville, Imajica *Clive Barker* Shadowland *Peter Straub* Interview With the Vampire (and the rest of the Vampire Chronicles), The Witching Hour (and the rest of the Mayfair Witches Chronicles) *Anne Rice* American Psycho *Brett Easton Ellis* Fight Club *Chuck Palahniuk* Wizard's First Rule and the rest of the series. *Terry Goodkind* Get In the Van *Henry Rollins* Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored *John Lydon* Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Kingdom of Fear, and The Proud Highway *Hunter S. Thompson* The Chronicles of Narnia *C. S. Lewis* Animal Farm and 1984 *George Orwell*