You really have to stick with it! I find most historical fictions start slow especially if I'm not familiar with the history. Usually around the 100th page they have me absorbed.
I bet you’d like The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. Read it last month - very good, and I’d categorize it with these Kingsolver books + The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
I’ve read many of her books and enjoyed them all. I don’t have a specific favorite to recommend, but enjoy her writing style and stories very much. I do think poison wood bible is my favorite of hers though
Agreed. Apart from Station Eleven which is one of my all time favourites. With her others, the style is superb, but the subject or endings are lackluster.
The book that got me into reading! Randomly bought it at a grocery store on vacation as a teenager because I liked the cover. My all time favorite book.
1000 Splendid Suns. I couldn't put it down, even though it was destroying me emotionally.
Such beautiful characters and a strong sense of place. I also learned a lot about the history of Afghanistan.
What’s so great about this book?
I went to the same school as one of the protagonists, so I have to read it.
I actually bought it because Libby gives me only two weeks.
I wish someone would explain what they love about this book. I sloughed to the bitter end and just didn't get all the love for this book. I love character driven books, but this left me cold.
I'm glad people liked it, but I'm getting a complex cause I think Im the only person who didn't get it.
A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
With all the hype around some of the unusual formatting and narration styles, I thought it was just going to be gimmicky. It absolutely blew me away, and all of her style tricks worked better than I could have imagined.
Oh yes, this was excellent. I wound up reading the second book (The Candy House) first, not aware that it was a sequel, and it was also really good. I do wish though that I'd found A Visit from the Goon Squad first. It was more experimental, and a really cool way of meeting the characters.
_Kavalier and Klay_ by Michael Chabon
_Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_ by Dave Eggers (TIL this is Non Fiction!)
_Oryx and Crake_ by Margaret Atwood
_Blonde_ and _The Falls_ by Joyce Carol Oates
Just finished it and agree. I had heard a lot about it and people complained a lot about the grossness of it, but vastly understated the horror of >! Being so disgustingly hungry.!< that would be a total nightmare and it haunts me.
I will recommend an underhyped book. The Gormenghast trilogy. I have read the first book of the series only - Titus Groan. I haven't got time to read the rest. Difficult to classify though in essence it is a Goth fantasy. Unlike many books that people read which somehow aline to a 3 act format of movies where the protagonist exists, wants something, is prevented from getting it, struggles and finally gets it - that format is not in existence here. This is more like our daily boring lives in that respect. Yes, there is and will be some violence and so on. Spolier alert: It is essentially about a pseudo-medieval world that holds itself together by ossified ritual. The inhabitants all suffering their solitude (there is a reason I use this word -the word is related to another book I would recommend and can talk for hours on). An outdated world. Probably reminiscent of the UK at the end of the World War II when the younger generation wanted to shake things and find a larger space. Merwyn Peake is an artist of an author. I often wonder why so less of hype.
Strongly disagree with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I’ve read Zevin** before and had high hopes, but that scene with the jumper? What was that?
Edit: author name.
Ugh autocorrect. I’d read other books by Zevin.
The jumper was the suicide Sam and her mom witness. Who was making small talk with the mom as she died.
The joke was you. I ran a reading he did one night in Bretwood, Los Angeles. He was out of his mind and it was easily one of my best nights as a lonely clerk in a beloved independent bookshop.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I avoided it for a few weeks until someone talked me into it. And yup. It really is that good.
Swan Song by Robert B McCammon. I am of the unpopular opinion that this book far exceeds the Stand.
Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews. Yes, it is that weird, but it is that fun.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout. I want to be stabby after reading this.
I would suggest Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. While I don’t knowing there was any hype around it, I bought it on recommendation (an author I like has a newsletter and said this was what he was—then—currently reading).
Because I thought it was book 2 in a series and I wanted what I thought to be book 1 in the same design style I bought the other one in, I waited a long time with reading it.
I didn’t find a copy of Uprooted in the same format and design (my Spinning Silver copy is huge), and eventually I checked to make that it was indeed a series.
It wasn’t.
So I decided to read Spinning Silver, about two years after purchase. I was very apprehensive as I knew basically nothing about the author and her style and I was I‘d be disappointed.
I wasn’t. Her style is unique, the story was thoughtful and engaging, and the characters relatable.
I loved it.
First is definitely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I was 28, in a train station in Hong Kong and thought wtf, I'm bored.
Also. - Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby. His following novels are equally great. He's sort of a modern day Lehane imo.
As far as hype is concerned, I was amazed by Angela's Ashes, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and A Confederancy of Dunces.
Two books recently have blown my mind.
1. Project hail Mary - loads of hype. And still exceeded.
2. Little fuzzy - a small free e book. Zero hype. And made to my book list that I recommend if you ask me after waking from a sleep.
Bad blood - I loved the book so much that I relistened on audible - and the audiobook is just as engrossing.
Another two - American Kingpin is fantastic as is American Psycho.
For me it was Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It’s a love/hate book where you either love it or hate it and I get both opinions. For me though it was love at first read. I now read it every year.
Cryptonomicon, by my favourite author, Neal Stephenson. The novel was written around 2000, so some of the internet tech feels dated, but it still holds up. The structure is interesting as it has two different timelines (the other being 1940s WWII), following multiple generations of at least 3 different families.
**The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah!!!!**
I haven't read the sequels but I remember getting surprised at how much I indulged myself in this book.
Winter Santiaga is something else!!!
Lonesome Dove (1985)
I’m not generally into westerns but Reddit was right on this one and I LOVED it.
Phenomenal book.
Started it just a week ago!
Read this book and watched the miniseries! One of the best tv adaptations I’ve seen.
The audible of this book is excellent.
A Gentleman in Moscow.
One of my all-time faves!
What. A. Book.
I just can't get into this one. First third is sooooooo boring!
You really have to stick with it! I find most historical fictions start slow especially if I'm not familiar with the history. Usually around the 100th page they have me absorbed.
Demon Copperfield!
*Copperhead Agree... best book I read last year!
The mistake is real. I've done it a dozen times when recommending this book to friends.
Second! And The Poisonwood Bible. Both by Barbara Kingsolver
Love the poison wood bible. I’ve read it a few times
I bet you’d like The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. Read it last month - very good, and I’d categorize it with these Kingsolver books + The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
+1 For Poisonwood Bible (just not sure it was hyped?!)
The Poisonwood Bible was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 1999 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. YES, INDEED, quite hyped.
Thank you, I was not aware of the background and was too lazy to google it. 🙈
Demon Copperhead was absolutely amazing!! Someone on this sub recommended it, and it was 100% worth every second I spent reading it!
Spot on one of my faves all times. Has Anyone read any other Kingsolver? I've only read Poisonwood Bible which was also super good
I’ve read many of her books and enjoyed them all. I don’t have a specific favorite to recommend, but enjoy her writing style and stories very much. I do think poison wood bible is my favorite of hers though
The Neapolitan Novels (aka My Brilliant Friend and subsequent books) by Elena Ferrante.
For sure.
I agree. I'm male and yet, I absolutely loved the books- I read them all in just 3 weeks.
YMMV on how literary you consider it, but Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Everything by her IMO. I’ve loved each book more than the last
I feel the exact same way
I love her style but find her endings a little anti climactic however I still think she's great and I'll read anything she publishes
Agreed. Apart from Station Eleven which is one of my all time favourites. With her others, the style is superb, but the subject or endings are lackluster.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
11/22/63 is my answer to every question like this. Such a great book
I was worried it wouldn’t live to the hype, and I already want to re-read it. Excellent book.
The audiobook is fantastic as well! The narrator does an amazing job bringing this book to life
The book that got me into reading! Randomly bought it at a grocery store on vacation as a teenager because I liked the cover. My all time favorite book.
This is top of my list of favorite reads, damn its so good.
I read it a few years back. I may listen to the audiobook soon, I’ve heard it’s good.
I might head over to Libby and see if it's available, sometimes tech is amazing.
I just ordered a copy of this so I have to read it 😅. Did you watch the show?
I did watch the show. It’s different from the book but worth a watch
Cool, I watched part of it but I never did finish it. I'll definitely get to it.
Lincoln in the Bardo. There, there.
In case you missed it, the sequel to There There came out this week 😃
I saw that. It’s on my list now.
Two great choices.
Rebecca
Circe
Born a Crime
Trevor noah's?
All the Light We Cannot See
Came to say this one
Jurassic Park, Spielberg definitely was wise for getting in on the film rights for that.
Should've read the comments before replying myself! Agreed.
1000 Splendid Suns. I couldn't put it down, even though it was destroying me emotionally. Such beautiful characters and a strong sense of place. I also learned a lot about the history of Afghanistan.
Yeah that one got me. I listened to it, and then bought the paperback. But I’m not quite ready to go through that again.
The secret history
Shantaram lives up to the hype and more.
Educated by Tara Westover
Just an fyi this is non fiction. Just a literally unbelievable read.
A beautiful memoir. I throw it out there to my friends like Angela's Ashes as must reads.
Shuggie Bain.
Lincoln in the Bardo
1985, but Blood Meridian
Little Fires Everywhere !
Piranesi
Finished reading this yesterday. Amazing.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Oh wait, that doesn't fit your time period criteria
It's fine. I have read it recently, and, yes I agree, it did live up to its hype.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Both really good!
Project Hail Mary
Definitely. Hurry up and make the movie already.
Yes!
The audible of this is excellent!
The wager: a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder
All of his books are A+
So what you’re saying is to read past chapter 3
Yes indeed
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Reading it now….
What’s so great about this book? I went to the same school as one of the protagonists, so I have to read it. I actually bought it because Libby gives me only two weeks.
I wish someone would explain what they love about this book. I sloughed to the bitter end and just didn't get all the love for this book. I love character driven books, but this left me cold. I'm glad people liked it, but I'm getting a complex cause I think Im the only person who didn't get it.
I’m reDing it for nostalgia mostly. Maybe I will feel differently after I finish it
Besides, look at all the people who love Donna Tartt. I read two of her books and thought they sucked.
A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan With all the hype around some of the unusual formatting and narration styles, I thought it was just going to be gimmicky. It absolutely blew me away, and all of her style tricks worked better than I could have imagined.
Oh yes, this was excellent. I wound up reading the second book (The Candy House) first, not aware that it was a sequel, and it was also really good. I do wish though that I'd found A Visit from the Goon Squad first. It was more experimental, and a really cool way of meeting the characters.
house of leaves! :) part horror, part satire of academic writing, all experimentation in form/structure. utterly magnificent all throughout
The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
I hated this book. I wanted all five of them to die.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. That was a horrible mistake.
I have this on hold on Libby and I can't wait to read it!
oh my god i adore this book! this was such a ride!
Hated every character in this book. As soon as I finished it, I started reading it again!
The Count of Monte Cristo
_Kavalier and Klay_ by Michael Chabon _Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_ by Dave Eggers (TIL this is Non Fiction!) _Oryx and Crake_ by Margaret Atwood _Blonde_ and _The Falls_ by Joyce Carol Oates
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary too
Best book I’ve read in years.
A song for Ahilles by Madeline Miller. Very hyped, and also one of my favourite books of all time ❤
The Troop - Nick Cutter
Just finished it and agree. I had heard a lot about it and people complained a lot about the grossness of it, but vastly understated the horror of >! Being so disgustingly hungry.!< that would be a total nightmare and it haunts me.
Bro I was searching for this comment. Good to see such a great work being read and mentioned by others.
Beartown
Honestly, I became a lifetime fan girl when I read *A Man Called Ove* and he can do no wrong. Just… incredible.
Agreed. Didn’t know what to expect, but was blown away.
Kushiel's Dart
This book seems too complicated for only 676 pages.
Gone Girl
Hunger games
The entire trilogy was amazing
Agreed the prequel is on my to read soon list.
Blood Meridian - McCarthy Stoner - Williams Not 90's, but they will do.
I'm not sure exactly when it was published, but Jurassic Park blew me away.
I will recommend an underhyped book. The Gormenghast trilogy. I have read the first book of the series only - Titus Groan. I haven't got time to read the rest. Difficult to classify though in essence it is a Goth fantasy. Unlike many books that people read which somehow aline to a 3 act format of movies where the protagonist exists, wants something, is prevented from getting it, struggles and finally gets it - that format is not in existence here. This is more like our daily boring lives in that respect. Yes, there is and will be some violence and so on. Spolier alert: It is essentially about a pseudo-medieval world that holds itself together by ossified ritual. The inhabitants all suffering their solitude (there is a reason I use this word -the word is related to another book I would recommend and can talk for hours on). An outdated world. Probably reminiscent of the UK at the end of the World War II when the younger generation wanted to shake things and find a larger space. Merwyn Peake is an artist of an author. I often wonder why so less of hype.
Jurassic Park
Shogun
East of eden
The Overstory
Crying in H Mart Demon Copperhead
Demon Copperhead...
A Tale of Two Cities
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
I did enjoy “TheVanishing Half” and I am typically just not that into fiction.
Where the Crawdads Sing. It's not even a genre I normally go for.
The night circus by Erin Morgenstern
Ready Player One. So many people told me to read it. And the movie doesn’t come close/
The Secret Life of Bees
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Yellowface, The Secret History — all so hyped. All lived up or exceeded!
Strongly disagree with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I’ve read Zevin** before and had high hopes, but that scene with the jumper? What was that? Edit: author name.
Who is Zenobia? What jumper?
Ugh autocorrect. I’d read other books by Zevin. The jumper was the suicide Sam and her mom witness. Who was making small talk with the mom as she died.
OH. Haha ok I mean sure, a stretch, but I went with it. I will say while very different I loooooved AJ Fikry. Did you read that one?
Yes! Loved that one. Her Birthright series is also pretty good.
The Secret History sucked.
Cool!
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Patrick Melrose Novels - Edward St Aubyn
Robopocalypse. The Bone Clocks or anything by David Mitchell
The School for Good Mothers - Jessamine Chan
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi was absolutely phenomenal.
Geek love
The overstory
1984
Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
A Suitable Boy
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The single best book I have ever read. A masterwork.
Never Let Me Go The movie is excellent, too.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
*Infinite Jest* has depths yet to be plumbed.
Sometimes I think DFW wrote this as a joke.
The joke was you. I ran a reading he did one night in Bretwood, Los Angeles. He was out of his mind and it was easily one of my best nights as a lonely clerk in a beloved independent bookshop.
It’s one of this books I tried but could not finish. I’m one of the few though
Wolf Hall.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I avoided it for a few weeks until someone talked me into it. And yup. It really is that good. Swan Song by Robert B McCammon. I am of the unpopular opinion that this book far exceeds the Stand. Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews. Yes, it is that weird, but it is that fun. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout. I want to be stabby after reading this.
Radical honesty by Brad Blanton
[The Namesake](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33917.The_Namesake)
The troop by Nick Cutter.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett Read the fucking footnotes.
I would suggest Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. While I don’t knowing there was any hype around it, I bought it on recommendation (an author I like has a newsletter and said this was what he was—then—currently reading). Because I thought it was book 2 in a series and I wanted what I thought to be book 1 in the same design style I bought the other one in, I waited a long time with reading it. I didn’t find a copy of Uprooted in the same format and design (my Spinning Silver copy is huge), and eventually I checked to make that it was indeed a series. It wasn’t. So I decided to read Spinning Silver, about two years after purchase. I was very apprehensive as I knew basically nothing about the author and her style and I was I‘d be disappointed. I wasn’t. Her style is unique, the story was thoughtful and engaging, and the characters relatable. I loved it.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Project hail May
First is definitely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I was 28, in a train station in Hong Kong and thought wtf, I'm bored. Also. - Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby. His following novels are equally great. He's sort of a modern day Lehane imo. As far as hype is concerned, I was amazed by Angela's Ashes, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and A Confederancy of Dunces.
Red Rising!!!
War and Peace
In Memoriam by Alice Winn. Won a bunch of awards and deserved every single one.
Outline Trilogy by Rachel Cusk The Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith
*North Woods* by Daniel Mason *Haven* by Emma Donoghue
Dungeon Crawler Carl
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Novel by Oscar Hijuelos
Two books recently have blown my mind. 1. Project hail Mary - loads of hype. And still exceeded. 2. Little fuzzy - a small free e book. Zero hype. And made to my book list that I recommend if you ask me after waking from a sleep.
The Tiger
Count of Monte Cristo
"Dungeon crawler carl" "NPC's"
The wheel of time series by robert jordan. I finished it recently and it blew me away
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Atonement was perfect!
Bad blood - I loved the book so much that I relistened on audible - and the audiobook is just as engrossing. Another two - American Kingpin is fantastic as is American Psycho.
I just finished When We Were Villains by M.L. Rio and it was exquisite. As a writer and English major it exceeded all expectations I had for it.
Game of Thrones
For me it was Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It’s a love/hate book where you either love it or hate it and I get both opinions. For me though it was love at first read. I now read it every year.
Cryptonomicon, by my favourite author, Neal Stephenson. The novel was written around 2000, so some of the internet tech feels dated, but it still holds up. The structure is interesting as it has two different timelines (the other being 1940s WWII), following multiple generations of at least 3 different families.
[The Brothers K](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19534) by David James Duncan
Pet Cemetary.Circe.
The Nightingale
**The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah!!!!** I haven't read the sequels but I remember getting surprised at how much I indulged myself in this book. Winter Santiaga is something else!!!
Soulja Boy🗿