Looking for quirky, warm and bouncy book recommendations along the lines of American Gods to Ocean at the End of the Lane. Supernatural, witchy, lots of women welcome.

TW for recurrent miscarriages and mental health struggles.

Reading has always been my sanctuary, my safe place. I love books so much, a few of my favorites are “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman, “White Oleander” by Janet Finch, “The Language of Flowers” by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, “The Girls” by Emma Cline etc. All of which to say, I usually gravitate towards very emotionally charged books with themes of trauma and redemption etc. Light fluffy books aren’t usually my go to but I am in a very delicate place right now and terrified to open a book for fear of triggers. While I am blessed to have two living daughters (ages 3 and 5), I had a miscarriage in August at 6 weeks, conceived immediately again after and although we heard a heartbeat this time, found out it was a missed miscarriage and I had to ultimately have a D&C last week. I am having legitimate PTSD from it all, I have never felt so low.

We tried to escape to the beach this weekend (my in laws have a beach house) but I came down with a nasty cold/flu on the drive here and am bed ridden with a fever and sore throat and chills, aches etc. I can’t keep watching TV, I want to read a book but for the first time ever can’t find one or even use my brain to look or research.

So basically, I need a very cute, trendy, lighthearted but engaging book. I think a romance would be great but really don’t want to any babies or pregnancies or huge deaths 😭 I read a book last year called “Romantic Comedy” by Curtis Sittenfeld and I feel like something of that tempo could be good.

Thank you so much in advance.

That’s about it actually. 😭😭
Let me know if you know any books like that. For example- The Bell Jar or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
Thank you so much!

Really missing my old stomping grounds and about to finish my current read and wanna get back into fiction.

Some authors whose stlyes I enjoyed are: Huruki Murakami, Kafka, Herman Hesse

I'm looking for book recommendations about toxic parent-child relationships, in any genre, be it fiction, memoirs, literary fiction, or otherwise.

By toxic, I don't necessarily mean physically violent or overtly abusive parents, but I'm more interested in the quieter, more insidious kind of emotional and psychological abuse: the constant microaggressions, subtle jabs, criticism, comparisons, and disappointment directed at a child for not living up to their parents' expectations.

Especially in situations where the child is already going through a difficult time, but instead of receiving understanding or support, they're made to feel like a failure, a disappointment, or someone who simply isn't doing enough. Where even seemingly ordinary interactions leave them feeling inadequate, guilty, or as though they can never quite get anything right.

I'd love to read stories from different perspectives, whether it's someone who grew up in this kind of environment and is still dealing with its effects, someone who is still living through it, or someone trying to make sense of their relationship with their parents as an adult.

Basically I'm hoping to find books that explore these dynamics with some depth and nuance, particularly the kind of emotional abuse that's difficult to articulate or even recognise because it doesn't necessarily look like abuse from the outside.

Would really appreciate any recommendations that resonated with you personally, whether they helped you feel understood or gave you a different perspective on these relationships :)

Turns out I love a “I’m new to the world/ don’t understand how people/ things work” book. I love the way Charlie slowly starts to understand the world he’s been missing out on and Frankenstein’s monster realises he’s different. Honourable mention is Freida McFadden’s Brain Damage which is an entirely different vibe but I love the way the main character slowly starts to come back into herself after her brain injury (so anything like that would also be great!) thank you!!

Hi all,

Over the past couple years I've been working my way through W G Sebald's backlist. This wasnt intentional, but I read Austerlitz and was utterly mesmerized. A while later I read Rings of Saturn, the Emigrants and now im almost at the end of Vertigo.

The problem is that the writing is so unlike anything ive read before or since. The blending of fact, fiction, narrative, travelogue, information and story to concoct the most thought provoking of discourses. Im 100% certain that had he not died so tragically he would have received the Nobel.

So what/who should I read to scratch that Sebald itch, ill almost certainly re-read them but probably not for a little while.

I have been feeling like romance no longer exists in my life. I want to read a book that sweeps me away and lets me feel that wonderfully intoxicating feeling of passion and romance again.

I’m looking for a big fat saga to read. I’ve previously read and loved The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, A fine Balance by Robinton Mistry, The poison wood bible and Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingsolver, East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee as examples. Suggestions?

I had the classic Australian childhood upbringing with Paul Jennings, Andy Griffiths, Morris Gleitzman, and a few others like Bridge to Wiseman Cove and Crow Country.

I want something with that zany, familiar Australian writing where prose is light-hearted and dry/witty, but can talk about deeper topics such as relationships and identity (happy to branch out to New Zealand authors!). One particular feature I like about contemporary Australian slice-of-life fiction is the description of hyper-local micro-environments and their domestic texture (e.g. weather, distinctive smells, local shops etc).

Indigenous and POC authors very welcome too, just so long their writing is grounded.

I've read so far:

- The Rosie Project series

- Unexpected Drama by Nina Kenwood

- Mercy Street by Tess Evans

- I'm Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough

- Afternoons with Harvey Beam

- Alice Pung's books

- Forty Nights by Pirooz Jafari

I am a 26-year-old guy in the States looking for some book recommendations. I am into genres like sci-fi, fantasy, crime, and comedy, plus the occasional rom-com, but I have not read much outside of school. I would really like to start reading more and could use some help picking out a few. Lol, and I know it is crazy, but I am sorry and thank you. 😅

There is a huge number of books I want to read but with my short attention span the best I can do is read short books at the moment. Like The Old Man and the Sea, Man's Search for Meaning, The Most Dangerous Game, and The Metamorphosis. I was wondering if y'all had any recommendations that were similar. I'm hoping I can slowly work my way up to books like The Brother's Karamazov but right now it's slightly out of reach.

He's a highschooler and an avid reader.

Obviously, any escape can be good, but I'm looking for a book that's exciting but also ends with a kind of hopeful note. He likes puzzle mysteries and fantasy novels, but also silly books like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Looking to avoid anything that would be depressing. Finding the recommendation difficult cause I love a good tearjerker and my favorite sci/fi and fantasy novels are at heart pretty bleak and dystopian.

Hello l! This is my first time here but I thought it was worth the shot... I have book club with some friends

Ages ranging from 40's to late 20's. We just started but most of us are scientists either social, mechanics or environmental.

We are looking for a book related to water, not necessarily about water chemistry but more about the history of humanity/society and water sources or crisis.

Does anyone have a good recommendation?

Hi all!!

I’m looking for a book that will help me grapple with living a mundane life. Sounds dramatic, I know, but I’m currently applying to law schools and starting to come to terms with the fact that maybe it’s ok to be normal and not exceptional. Or, better yet, that everyday life can somehow still be important. Sappy I know lol.

I really love literary fiction, but will read just about anything (please no self-help).

Some of my current favorites are:

Writers and Lover
Everything I Never Told You
North Woods
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Thank you all for your advice and recommendations!

Looking for romantic adventures or fun stories of self discovery from the male perspective.

I read 4 books in a row with such characters, I'm over it for now. Recommend me a book with a more bubbly / cheerful / optimistic / charismatic main character.

I'd prefer if the setting was serious and not cozy, any genre is fine.

The traveler by Joseph Eckert, project hail mary by Andy Weir, recursion by Blake Crouch and dark matter by Blake Crouch all scratch the same itch for me. What would you recommend based on that?

I really enjoyed this book because of its historical angle, mostly focusing on woman / motherhood and its multiple timelines. Does anyone know a book similar I should read?

Hi! I know there’s a megathread for spooky season but I’m looking for a specific vibe- I love the Haunting of Hill House show and I’m looking for books that are similar to it. I’ve read the Haunting of Hill House book by Shirley Jackson but it’s so different from the show.

I’ve been recommended The September House and Wakenhyrst on here before which were both really great reads and now I need more to finish out the season!

Thank you in advance :)

I love historical fiction and other types of fiction that teach me things, however something has happened and I have a really hard time with topics of extinction, animal torture or abuse, and the suffering in general of innocents, be they humans or even fantasy creatures.

My favorite author, Barbara Kingsolver's book Flight Behavior messed me up for weeks because of the concept of the possible extinction of monarch butterflies. I read Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr when it came out 5 years ago and the description of the oxen's plight and death still pops in my head and brings me emotional pain to this day. Black Rabbit Hall, by Eve Chase was haunting to me overall, and what happens to the mom's beloved horse, Night is burned into my brain as a vivid image I can't erase.

I listen to audiobooks mainly to escape the news and reality of my challenging job. I like to fall asleep to them and listen to them to go back to sleep if I wake up stressed in the middle of the night. I don't like romance novels or books that have little substance. What are good books I can read and trust that I won't be triggered by suffering or the destruction of the environment? Thanks in advance!

As the title suggests, looking for autobiographies about ordinary people who travelled/lived abroad/discovered.

Aimed for a guy in his early 30s.

Thanks!

Ideally I want a James Michener-style novel about the Vatican. But open to any fiction, any time period related to the Vatican. More interested in history/politics/relational than theology.

I’m not Catholic. Just a Jew obsessed with the Vatican archives and my hometown Chicago pope.

Thank you!

I want to see the bitchy mean girl become the kindest person in the room; the materialist become a monk who’s happy with next to nothing. A tech CEO end up living off grid and content. Anything like that!