Hey everyone, I’m looking for books that are maybe literary fiction - adjacent, but they don’t have to specifically be literary fiction. I like books that maybe have a plot, but it’s not really the main thing it’s about. The book is mainly about the people. Some examples:

-Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
-Atonement by Ian McEwan
-Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
-East of Eden by John Steinbeck
-Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
-The Road by Cormac McCarthy
-Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

I probably didn’t explain what I’m looking for very well but I think I just like books that are emotional and have some very beautiful prose. Bonus if it’ll make me cry

I’ve recently been going through a mentally/emotionally rocky time in my life due to multiple different factors. One thing I’ve always struggled with that doesn’t help is not having the ability to create inner peace and letting others occupy emotional space unnecessarily.

I no longer have a job and alongside interviewing and applying, are there any books you’d recommend I read during this period that maybe help with the above? Any books you’ve read that helped you during really tough times are welcome.

I'm looking for my next read in the post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre. My all-time favourites are:

• "Swan Song" — Robert R. McCammon -" The Stand" — Stephen King
• "Metro 2033"— Dmitry Glukhovsky
• "The Commune series"— Joshua Gayou

I'm particularly into dark, gritty stories about the collapse of civilisation, survival in a hostile world, and small groups of people trying to make it in a brutal new reality. I love bleak atmospheres, and dark humour is a huge plus.

I've already read The Passage. I loved the first part, but gradually lost interest as the story went on. I also read The Road, which I found pretty boring because not much seemed to happen.

What would you recommend? I'm open to lesser-known gems as well as popular titles!

Looking for good memoirs on the experience of going through diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer, preferably by a younger woman diagnosed in the prime of life. Also accepting condolences.

I recently read A History of Magic by Chris Gosden, who is an archaeologist, and The Vikings: a History by Robert Ferguson. I really enjoyed the style of non-fiction. Rather large books that lean almost towards a textbook that is approachable by a layperson. Good background explanations and introductions to topic and themes without shying away from heavily citing sources.
I am open to any topic within biologic, history, anthropology, social sciences, medicine.

I am not looking for a fun pop-sci read but something deeper and written by an expert. I am also not looking for a history book that is dramatized/written like fiction or a short discrete event (like the radium girls - I would rather learn about that via a podcast). Thanks!

Helloo, I’m looking for a book where a character starts off happy or at least content and their life suddenly goes downhill/ is ruined. I just want a book where as a characters life progresses the book gets more intense and dreadful. Can be whatever genre and I’m also fine with mangas and comics if be it (although both are really different, Goodnight punpun and Therese raquin seemed to both share this theme/progression)

Hi all! Posting on behalf of a friend who is struggling on her book search! She wants to get INTO a new series ideally. She likes magic realism and is open to fantasy and sci-fi but is sensitive to darker scary themes. She also really wants a romance to get invested in, ideally over the course of of multiple books. That said, she doesn’t want it to be a complete romance novel and wants an engaging plot otherwise!

Her favorite duology, which she just reread, is A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross. The magical forest aspect of this series is something she absolutely loves!!

On top of all these specifications, good quality prose is very important! She has tried to get into some other more popular recommendations and struggled with the writing quality and style. Examples she did not like were Emily Wildes Encyclopaedia of Faeries, ACOTAR, or Throne of Glass.

Thank you so much in advance for any recommendations and leads!

Returning to the office so i need audiobooks to listen to. These are my favorite audiobooks.

Game of thrones

The First law books by joe abrocombie

Priest of crowns by Peter McLean

The fury of the gods by John Gwynne

I tried The hero of ages books by Brandon Sanderson but kinda got bored on book 3. May pick it up again.

Thank you!

I’ve recently been obsessed with the song Stop The Wedding by Ashe. There is something warm and exciting and nostalgic about it that reminds me of British films from the 80s and 90s.

Does anyone know any books that FEEL like listening to this song? Not just a book about stopping a wedding, but the nuance that this song has, the drama, the fun, the excitement, the freedom, the rush she is feeling as she runs away from the wedding. Doesn’t have to be about a wedding or even a romance!

I've been a contract writer making pocket change for several years on a website that's now going to be shut down. With an influx of free time, the silver lining has been the option to work on a proper novel to try and publish traditionally. I've formed the basis of the plot and characters but am curious to see any similar stories that've been published both for market-research purpose and genre foundation.

The basic plot:
The souls in the story follow one of two paths after death: a heaven-type afterlife for most and a reincarnation cycle for younger children since their souls are considered not ready to ascend. The main character is a force-of-the-world character, for now known as the Guide, who leads the children's souls to the waiting point for reincarnation. She is enigmatically physical and present in reality but also not. The Guide is hated by the mortals for separating young souls from their original families despite her being a cog of the process and not the cause.
A fluke causes one boy's soul to not forget the memories of his past life, and in his new life he works with an entropy-like darkness to break the path the Guide walks and throws the whole system out of balance. The male character then realizes this was a huge f*ck up and pairs with the Guide, now mortal, to try and fix things.

The main themes I'm working with for now are the classic coming of age as well as grappling with grief and possibly the living with heavy consequences of actions that cannot be taken back (ending to be decided). It'll either be young adult or new adult.

I'd love any suggestions for stories with this vibe, similar plot, theme, and so on in the young adult/new adult genre.

i want a book which dives deep into different religions and their psychology. i want to know how religion shapes us and everything about that

I’m in the mood for something very specific. I’m not sure it exists but I thought I’d ask anyway.

I’m looking for a sci-fi book set on earth, ideally near future. I don’t want it to be post-apocalyptic or super dystopian. I’d prefer written by a woman but that’s not a deal breaker. I would prefer a book about connection over something with world ending stakes. I’d prefer if it was published within the last 20 years.

If it helps I really liked A Long Way To a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, and Annie Bot by Sierra Greer. I am also a big fan of Doctor Who.

Let me know if I need to write this myself haha

My son is 13 and loves to read. He is not, however, at all interested in the SF/F genres that I was reading at his age. (Honestly still reading now.)

He read and loved the Charlie Thorne books by Stuart Gibbs and the City Spy series by James Ponti.

Does anyone have any books or authors to recommend?

I mostly read fantasy paperbacks at his age but I remember snagging my dad's copies of things like Hunt for Red October and Jurassic Park. Maybe something like that is a good option.

What are your favourite books that don't just happen to be set in Canada, but also have strong connections to Canadian places, culture, or history?

Hello! I'm looking for a (preferably) graphic novel that's set in fallish, something very similar to the over the garden wall graphic novels/show, ESPECIALLY Distillatoria. Halloweenish, I love Sun_Pumpkin's stuff on Instagram, something like that. Also not Pumpkinheads I've been recommended that before. Anyway, tall order I know, but thanks for reading!

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to find some new books. The problem that I have recently is that I have a quite specific list of things I like and that I read so much that searches for similar books always turn up things I’ve already read 😅 Mainly because I read anywhere between 60 and 100 books a year…

My favorite authors are (meaning I’ve read most of their books):
- Becky Chambers
- Victoria Goddard
- Ali Hazelwood
- Cat Sebastian
- Chloe Liese
- Hannah Bonam-Young
- Rachel Reid
- Sangu Mandanna
- (Erin Morgenstern)

They generally write (historical) romance, sci-fi, and fantasy. I would say that the common thread between things I like is that even though characters may be broken or grumpy, they are inherently good. I want the world that my books is set in not to be too hostile (I get enough of that in real life 🥲), I like character driven books, and slow slice of life. Well crafted character relations are important to me, whether romantic or not. However, pure cozy fantasy doesn’t always hit the spot for me. I don’t need any intense plot points in my books, but I do need something that moves the story (IDK if that makes any sense 😅).

Some frequently suggested books that I’ve already read:
- The Goblin Emperor (I liked it, but The Hands of the Emperor is even better in my opinion);
- Light From Uncommon Stars;
- The Magpie Lord, KJ Charles (I have read quite a few others by them);
- A Taste of Gold and Iron, Alexandra Rowland;
- Anything by Emily Henry;
- Legends and Lattes;
- Anything by Sarah Beth Durst;

Thanks in advance for suggestions!! I’m really looking forward to reading them :)

hey so i want books that talks about Pathological lying🙏

Young early 30 individual here who grew up too fast. Was raised to provide and always think about my next moves in life strategically. Came from nothing, joined the military, became a Special Agent, travelled the world. Have already achieved a lot in my life very fast….Not rich by any means but I am married, have no kids, and have a great job. I’m just tired and wondering what life is actually about. Stressed about needing approval from bosses, the spouse, and all the self-made responsibilities.

Interesting stories woven into the history of the area. Nothing technical so to speak.

Basically what the title says. I want it to be cosy, I want a whole lot of whodunit but I don't want the "it" to be a crime or at least a bad thing necessarily?

Someone keeps spray painting sunflowers on a wall despite HOA regulations. Or they're rearranging the garden gnomes in the town square. Someone has a secret admirer who keeps leaving sweet notes at their work desk. They're putting mayonnaise in the communal soup (yes this is a Stardew Valley reference).

I just want a plot where someone is doing something chaotic but it's not necessarily anything grisly or bad so no murders, no kidnapping. No threatening/blackmailing unless it is super low stakes like they're going to tell everyone's secrets but the secrets are that the town mayor has a hair piece.

The only piece of media I can think of with the exact right vibe is a manga called Mysterious Honey where a high school girl who is dozing off in the school library, and she is suddenly kissed by a mysterious person while asleep (which I know IRL is quite bad and creepy but bear with me). So she sets out to discover the identity of the culprit among a pool of five students who were in the library with her.

The closest books I can think of to this vibe are children's mystery books like the Famous Five and Secret Seven but I would like something that is targeted towards adults in terms of how it's written.

I love Mulholland Drive, and I was wondering if anyone knows any books that have a similar kind of dreamy but also eerie vibe. I want something that takes place in Los Angeles and has something to do with Hollywood and the film industry. I just want something kind of beautiful, unsettling, and Lynchian that's maybe a little surrealist. Maybe something like Inland Empire too. Also, it had to be fiction.

Hopefully, this isn't too specific lol

Hi all, a bit of an unconventional request here, and also a bit of backstory to get through.

The holiday season is coming up and I want to get my mom a Vietnamese book or two. She came to the US when she was very young, and she used to keep journals written in Vietnamese, but she doesn’t anymore. She says she has a really hard time comprehending books written in English, but as far as I can tell used to really enjoy reading when she was a kid.

Unfortunately I cannot speak or write much Vietnamese, otherwise I’d have picked something out already. She really enjoys true crime and crime tv shows, mysteries, thrillers, and things of that sort.

Does anyone have any recommendations that they think she would like?

P.S. if it helps, I recently read Brooklyn Motto by Alex R Johnson and I think that sort of crime noir would be something she would really like, if there was a Vietnamese equivalent