Book Suggestions

[MMarquez]

I must've started 5 books in the past few weeks and just haven't been liking them. Every so often I fall into one of these slumps where I go through book after book and nothing does it for me. Was wondering if you guys had any suggestions?
I'm pretty open about genres just nothing dark or gory.

 

[Unimportant]

I must've started 5 books in the past few weeks and just haven't been liking them. Every so often I fall into one of these slumps where I go through book after book and nothing does it for me. Was wondering if you guys had any suggestions?
I'm pretty open about genres just nothing dark or gory.

When I'm in that slump, I go back to my tried and true favourites, most of which are older than my house. Comfort reads.

Mary Renault (esp The Persian Boy and The King Must Die)
Georgette Heyer -- both her Regency romances and her mysteries
Mary Stewart -- romances underlaid with a mystery. Touch Not The Cat is a favourite.
Lois McMaster Bujold -- the Sharing Knife series
Stacia Kane -- the Downside series

 

[Fi Webster]

Robertson Davies's The Deptford Trilogy (relish the story and character)

Italo Calvino's Insivible Cities (engage your imagination with wonders)

 

[Schaun]

Recently read the following and greatly enjoyed them (especially the first two):

• Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
• In the Night Wood, by Dale Bailey
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow

A few core books I've loved for a long time:

• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
• A Prayer for Own Meaney, by John Irving
• Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
• Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey

Much older books that I find I keep coming back to (these are from late 1800s early 1900s, so expect some wording and perspectives that don't fit today's standards):

• The Visioning, by Susan Glaspell
• Voices, by J.E. Buckrose
• Cactus Thorn, by Mary Austin
• The Vinegar Saint, by Hughs Mearns
• Shops and Houses, by Frank Swinnterton
• Roper's Row, by Warwick Deeping
• Mary Wollaston, by Henry Kitchell Webster

 

[ElaineB]

My recent best reads are:
Fiction: The Night Watchman (Louise Erdrich), Light from Uncommon Stars (Ryka Aoki), Our Missing Hearts (Celeste Ng), Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr)
Nonfiction: Gathering Moss (Robin Wall Kimmerer), The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love (Kristin Kimball--and I subscribe to her newsletter which is terrific!), Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope (Doug Tallamy), The Story of More (Hope Jahren)

 

[dickson]

I’ll second Shaun on Piranesi, and add the rest of Joanna Clarke’s oeurve to the list.
Everything I’ve read by Roberto Calasso has been marvelous.
I can say the same for Connie Willis, and Marlon James.

On a less serious note, if you enjoy crime fiction, Donald Westlake/Richard Stark and Elmore Leonard write superb yarns set in America, as does Derek Raymond, but set in England. Raymond is as noir as they come.

Arthur Machen for fin de siecle horror.

For fantasy, Hope Mirlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist is unlike anything else I’ve read. And no list of fantasy would be complete without Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.

Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries. Goode and Grant’s Lovecraftian apocalyptic farce Oddjobs, both SF on the lighter side…

I think I need to stop now.

ETA: Reread OP, and for dark I would strike off D. Raymond and possibly R. Stark. The D. Westlake Dortmunder novels are comic crime fiction, however. M James’ African fantasy novels are woundrously inventive, One Hundred Years of Solitude level, but there’s a fair amount of gore. Worst of all: White magic!

 

[Brigid Barry]

Marsha Canham's Pirate Wolf series was absolutely fantastic. They're historical romance with pirates in the Carribean during Elizabeth I's golden age. Ship battles and lots of good stuff.

For Fantasy, Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller chronicles are amazing. The first two are out and the third one is TBD.

Oldies but goodies by Michael Crichton: Dragon Teeth (set in the old west), Timeline, and Next (technothrillers).

And if you've never read Bag of Bones by Stephen King is about a writer who has writer's block after his wife dies.

And one of my favorite books ever is Beauty by Robin McKinley. That book is falling apart I've read it so many times.

 

[Clovitide]

If I'm struggling to read something, I usually go for something small. Something with a tried and true formula that I enjoy to death because I know, sort of, what will happen. Usually, that involves cozy supernatural mysteries.

Small, easy reads:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells -- First person, Sci-fi about an AI. Some people love it. I found it okay. 150 pages so more like a novella, or a long short story.

The other short one can get pretty gory. All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. They made a movie loosely based on it Edge of Tomorrow. Military sci-fi about repeating the same day over and over again. - like 200 pages

Now, some funny guys, which always makes reading go by faster:

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes -- title says it all.

Soulless by Gail Carriger - the voice alone is worth the read. A supernatural historical fiction

Redshirts by John Scalzi -- play on the red shirts of Startrek that always ended up dying. Had some funny dialogue

Will Save the Galaxy for Food by Yahtzee Croshaw -- satirical sci-fi adventure that had me laughing out loud at times


Anyway, there's some books for thought. I'm a sci-fi/fantasy type of girl, so my list is heavy with them.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hmm... my signature link is chock full of books I've read and reviewed, if you're exceptionally bored (and I mean exceptionally - north of 1000 reviews)...

When I'm in a lull, I change up genres or age categories, or try some short story collections/anthologies. I'd suggest Neil Gaiman, but he can skew dark, and you didn't want dark. If you're up for middle grade, Bruce Coville's anthologies and collections are always entertaining, if a bit older.

As for books that I really enjoyed, off the top of my head:

The Thorne Chronicles, K. Eason. YA SF/F mashup, fairy tale tropes in a space opera "multiverse".

The Stone Girl's Story, Sarah Beth Durst. MG fantasy, standalone tale in a world where stone carvings can be brought to life.

Catherynne M. Valente. Pretty much anything, but if you want stuff that's not as dark (except maybe between the lines), try Space Opera (like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Eurovision in the best possible way), Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods (MG standalone fantasy), or her Fairyland series (MG fantasy).

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend. MG fantasy, some darkness but very enjoyably done.

Time Travel Dinosaur, by Matt Youngmark. A "Chooseomatic" story with time travel, dinosaurs, and more laughs than I've had in eons...

The Finder Chronicles, Suzanne Palmer. Adventurous SF series with a bit of a throwback feel (but without the throwback stereotypes/attitudes), about a wayward Scotsman whose knack for finding things gets him into a galaxy's worth of trouble.

Terry Pratchett. Pretty much anything by him's worth a read (or reread).

The Singing Hills Cycle, by Nghi Vo. Ongoing novella series, interconnected but each essentially standalone, following a cleric and their talking hoopoe bird as they travel their Asian-inspired realm recording stories and history, and often getting tangled up in scrapes and stories themselves.

The Brian Robeson books, Gary Paulsen. Classics for a reason, MG adventures of a city boy stranded in the Canadian wilderness who learns how to survive and find meaning and even beauty in the green world. (Also recommended are other titles by him, particularly Gone To The Woods, his autobiographical tale of a young boy's first awakening to the wonders of the wilderness). Paulsen could make the land come alive in a way many writers aspire to but never reach.

For starters...

 

[Elle.]

Some of my favourite reads this year:

* Romantic Comedy — Curtis Sittenfeld
* She Rides Shotgun — Jordan Harper
* Razorblade Tears — S.A Crosby
* Notes on An Execution — Danya Kukafka
* Looking Glass Sound — Catriona Ward

 

[Sully317]

I must've started 5 books in the past few weeks and just haven't been liking them. Every so often I fall into one of these slumps where I go through book after book and nothing does it for me. Was wondering if you guys had any suggestions?
I'm pretty open about genres just nothing dark or gory.

What was the last book you really liked? It's hard to make a recommendation without an idea of what might spark your interest. -Sully

 

[MMarquez]

What was the last book you really liked?

The Last Train to Key West - read it a few months ago and LOVED it. I've been a fan of all her books
Also, The Dragon Heart Legacy really got me.

 

[sjf13]

Couple I've recently finished that I enjoyed:

• Station Eternity - Mur Lafferty
• Blacktop Wasteland - SA Cosby
• Braking Day - Adam Oyebanji
• Earthside - Dennis E Taylor (if you've already read "Outland")
• The Apollo Murders - Chris Hadfield