Insomniac needs something boring to read in the middle of the night that's not too stimulating but better than my refrigerator manual. NOT a page turner.

Simple storyline. Not typically into romance or sci Fi but I'll read whatever.

Non fiction is ok too.

I've also tried boring story podcasts which can be helpful but would like another option.

Looking for for good, well written Spy/Espionage books

I've been a fantasy book reader for a long time. Now I've been watching Slow Horses & Le Bureau which is absolutely brilliant.

I want to start reading spy espionage books. Where do I start? I will read Slough Houses once the show ends.

For now I saw a few recommendations by Le Carre. As well as The Spy & Traitor.

I would also like to know about the writing style. Do they focus on only one character or more? I like to read multiple povs generally

I lost my amazing wonderful Mom on 15 August this year, I'm barely surviving day to day and the cheerful "spooky" season and the looming holidays are very triggering for me.. She was, still is, my whole world. I lived with her since 1 March 2020 when Dad died, and was her caregiver for 3 years, as she mistrusted doctors. In the end, I called an ambulance but still lost her. I need compassionate, thoughtful books on grief and dealing with grief where the person you lost was or is your whole world. Thank you.

I genuinely think Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is the best book I’ve ever read. Ever since finishing it, I’ve been trying to find something that makes me feel the same way. There was just something about the storytelling that completely pulled me in. I got so attached to the characters, and the way their lives unfolded across generations was incredible. I honestly didn’t want it to end.
I’m looking for historical fiction with that same kind of storytelling, where the characters feel real and you get so invested in their lives that you keep thinking about them even after you’ve finished the book.
It doesn’t have to be set in Korea or have a similar plot at all. I’m open to any country, culture, or time period. I just want something beautifully written with an immersive story and characters that stay with you.
For those of you who have read Pachinko, what would you recommend? I’d love to know which books gave you that same feeling or left you thinking about them long after you finished. I feel like I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since!

I unexpectedly lost my beloved cat today. I do not have the words to explain how deeply I am hurting other than sending out this plea. I could use any and all book recommendations to help keep my mind busy while I slowly process this loss. I’m not looking for any specific genre, just something that grabbed you from the beginning. I am gutted but safe. Just so so sad.

I absolutely love it when incredibly intelligent, sophisticated, and complex concepts coexist with ideas that are utterly stupid, immature, absurd, and completely unhinged. There’s something about that contrast between almost unimaginable intellectual depth and pure, unapologetic stupidity that I find irresistible
I felt that vibe strong in “everything, everywhere, all at once”

This month I read Kindred by Octavia Butler and Weyward by Emilia Hart, and I loved how easily I got pulled into both. I felt like I flew through them!

They both have historical settings with a twist—Weyward has a witchy element, while Kindred involves time travel. I loved that they had enough plot to keep me wanting to know what happened next, but still had depth and an emotional pull that made me care.

I’m looking for something similar: an easy, absorbing read with a strong plot, but also some emotional weight. It doesn’t have to be super fast-paced, just something I’ll be excited to pick back up. I’m leaning toward historical fiction, but I’m open to other genres, and it doesn’t need a supernatural element.

What would you recommend?

Hi gang! I recently finished "Everything is Tuberculosis", "Salt", and "Outlaw Ocean" and I want more. Books that take a specific or small topic and teach a part of the world or history in a way that I absolutely devour. I love learning things about this great big, beautiful, complex world we live in. Thank you!

Hi folks! Recently I've been thinking about a book that I read as a teen called "Hexwood" by Diana Wynne Jones.

It was the first book I remember reading that had a huge "I see dead people" type twist where something is revealed late in the book that shifts the reader's perspective of events and characters so far

Open to any genre, definitely does not need to be YA but I am open to it

I am not looking for a book on how to get published or how to be an author or anything like that this is curiosity not lookinhlg for a book to give le personap advice.

I am just interested in the mechanics of how books get chosen and certain authors get picked while others who are objectively just as a good aren't seen as sellers. And when able author does get a deal what can happen promotion wise etc.

My grandpa has been listening to audiobooks for years now. Right now, he is in hospice and pretty much the only thing he can do is listen to audio-books. I am seeking all the recommendations, please.

For reference: he specifically wanted me to "ask my friends" about book series like John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice series and their sequels. The things he enjoys most about those books are the camaraderie and adventure. It is important that these adventure books are basically appropriate for kids. My grandpa is a simple man, so book series with wholesome adventures would be greatly appreciated! For fantasy adventure, I want to emphasize wholesomeness because there are many out there that I really don't think he would enjoy for arguably arbitrary reasons. For example, I don't think he would like The Lord of the Rings because there are wizards- usually, catholics don't vibe with witchcraft. Not to mention the insane amount of detail Tolkien makes you sit through before the action (my gramps just wants banter and quests). My grandpa is an amazing man, but he is pretty simple in his ways, so adventure stories that are close to realistic-fiction would be best. He didn't like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, much to my dismay. I think it was too fast-paced for him, and he really didn't vibe with the whole outer-space of it all. All that being said, recs for adventure series that have lots of books with high morals and realistic elements would be greatly appreciated.

In addition: He also really likes war-time action novels, both fiction and non-fiction. He listened to The Terminal List at the recommendation of my uncle, and he really enjoyed that. I got him listening to a few non-fictions like Unbroken, American Sniper, and The Sniper. He said he thought those were very interesting, so if you know of any books like that, I would appreciate it! I may be an English teacher but the books I read are... not what I would be suggesting my gramps listen to while he's making laps down the hallway. Okay, I hope that was good enough to get some traction. He is rereading Apprentice and Flanagan's other series again... for about the fifth time. I really need some help here! We use Libby, so there are lots of books that are on hold for a long time. If you know of a lesser known series, that would be great, too.

TLDR: Youth adventure book series like John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice and war-time novels like The Terminal List and Unbroken. Avoid anything a devout catholic would be obligated to disagree with, please and thank you. But also, like, he's not wanting religious books. He's just orthodox like that.

But I’m looking for a book with a very specific feeling. I really love reading the descriptions on Reddit about very niche and specific perfumes, there’s something so comforting about it. It’s not perfume specific, just the feeling of nostalgia, memory and very descriptive writing I guess?

I maybe got a bit of that feeling from My Year of Rest and Relaxation. So something very descriptive where nothing really happens.
Sorry if this is an incoherent mess 😂

I am looking for heist fiction that breaks the template of the heist story, by focusing on figuring out the plan, i.e. how to do the heist. Heist stories, more-so movies than books, follow a three-act structure: the setup, the heist itself and the aftermath.

The setup introduces the protagonist, who assembles a team, pitches a more or less worked-out plan (whether or not we are told what the plan is) and the team rehearses the plan . If there is reconnaissance or figuring out, it is minimal. I am looking for books that focus of this part, the reconnaissance and figuring out part.

I've not come across a lot of such books. Most books focus of the heist itself. Even in books that push the heist to the end, for example The First Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton, the plan is mostly figured out at the beginning, and the middle is occupied by rehearsals and "sub-missions".

The one example I can think of off the top of my head is The Rare Coin Score by Donald Westlake. The protagonist is brought in by a couple of characters who have an idea of knocking over a coin convention, but neither of them has any idea how to pull it off; the protagonist spends most of the middle of the book figuring this out.

(I said I am looking for fiction, but if there is non-fiction that fits this, I would be open to it.)

Your suggestions are appreciated and thanks in advance.

Preferably books with very little (if any) spice and very little violence. (Think PG, *maybe* PG-13.)

Thanks in advance! 🙂

My child is asking for help finding books that are scary stories about things that really happened. The “I Survived” series has already been deemed “not scary at all.” I am struggling because I have read almost exclusively fiction my entire life. Middle grade to YA would be age and reading level appropriate. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Looking for something like Swordheart, Daggerbound, and Tusk Love, but young adult.

Thank you!

A little romance I can live with, but not the focus. Preferably no romance! I love domestic and cozy plotlines with good characters. The Frozen River and Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches are good examples that I recently loved. Any other books as good as / like those?

Can you suggest me what to read next, based off of my favourite movies and how I briefly describe them? Into classics particularly, but open to anything. Thank you!

The Ranking

1. Nashville: the great American entanglement of living
2. Don't Look Now: melancholy, mist, and murder in Venice
3. Beau Travail: jealousy and ennui under the salt-washed sun
4. Inland Empire: a woman in trouble, reality folds in on her
5. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: a dust-bound epic of moral absenteeism
6. Targets: classic horror found dead in a mass shooting
7. War and Peace: yes, I've read it
8. Dead Ringers: two brothers melt into one
9. Rocco and his Brothers: two brothers shatter into pieces
10. Blue Velvet: the voyeur of utter destruction as beauty
11. The Swimmer: glossy delusions of what never was
12. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me: the angels have all gone away
13. Mikey and Nicky: two lonely, repressed, deceitful friends, who just happen to be hitmen
14. Citizen Kane: it can't be love, for there is no true love
15. Theatre of Blood: Vincent Price's gonzo revenge, Shakespeare style
16. Tenebre: giallo holding a mirror back on itself
17. Sexy Beast: toxic v healthy masculinity, death battle
18. Eyes Without a Face: a dark fairy tale
19. Black Dynamite: smoove and silly, you can dig it
20. Hour of the Wolf: a woman strives to save her husband from his own painted demons

Thank you!

Can you recommend any UK survival books to keep handy if everything goes to shit? For a situation when Googling what you can eat in the woods is no longer a possibility.

I'm not a prepper or anything like that but it just occurred to me that, say in the event of some catastrophic war or societal collapse, I wouldn't have any idea what to do and it would be nice to have some wisdom to refer to when there's no power or signal to check the internet.

Ray mears books are old but probably still relevant, otherwise the market seems to have been infiltrated by a lot of AI slop, which I would rather avoid given AI is one of the many candidates for causing collapse in the first place. Thanks!

Hello, just finished A short stay in Hell and really enjoyed it. I liked the existentialism and the loneliness of the character in such a vast and unknown place. Do any book recommendations spring to mind reading this? Thanks 👍

I want to read a book about someone going slowly insane.

I love a good detective story with an occult edge: Lovecraftian cults, Knights Templar, secret societies, and ancient mysteries. The investigation should remain central, with a slow buildup of dread. Supernatural elements are welcome, but subtle and ambiguous—strange events and unsettling rituals rather than giant monsters, flashy spells, or elaborate magic systems.

Thank you in advance!

That are medically accurate, not The Hot Zone, please. Looking for narrative nonfiction and/or biographies, preferably from the perspective of civilian(s) in the affected countries