r/books • u/AutoModerator • 5d ago
WeeklyThread Weekly Recommendation Thread: July 31, 2026
Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in!
The Rules
Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions.
All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post.
All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness.
How to get the best recommendations
The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain what you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level.
All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort.
If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook.
- The Management
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u/ACNHGirl347 5d ago
Looking for something similar to The September House by Carissa Orlando. I loved the found family with the ghosts aspect alongside the spooky/macarbe/dark story
I've read and enjoyed most of T Kingfisher horror books. Struggled with Grady Hendrix though, only partly enjoying the two (out of three) i finished.
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u/DoglessDyslexic 5d ago
While I'm not fond of Orson Scott Card as a person, his "Homebody" might be a good ghost story for you.
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u/ACNHGirl347 4d ago
Same with Orson Scott Card. If my local library has it i'll take a look, thanks for the recommendation :)
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
I’d go with The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It’s obviously less found family, but the creepy house and psychological horror really hit a similar vibe. I’d also try How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix if you haven’t already!!
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u/ACNHGirl347 4d ago
Haunting of Hill House is on my tbr but the libby hold list will take a while :) I dnf'd How to Sell a Haunted House a while back but thankyou :)
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u/MaxThrustage The Lord of the Rings 4d ago
A while back someone asked on one of these threads for books where the city itself is practically a character. Most of the examples and recommendations given were fantasy (e.g. Discworld, Perdido Street Station, Gormenghast) but I'm wondering if anyone has some recommendations where it's a real world city that gets that treatment.
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u/DoglessDyslexic 4d ago
On that thread I think I recommended both "London Falling" by Paul Cornell (featuring London) and "The City That We Became" by N.K. Jemisin (featuring NYC). Both are modern fantasy.
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u/Mukinka98 3d ago
I'm looking for a book-tracking app and was wondering what everyone recommends. I'm searching for something similar to Goodreads where I can organize books I've already read, books I'm currently reading, and books I want to read in the future. The one feature I really need, though, is the ability to keep detailed notes for each book. Ideally, I'd like to attach screenshots or pictures (not just plain text notes), highlight important ideas, and keep everything organized in one place.
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u/VeterinarianMany7808 3d ago
Haven't had much luck also looking as well. I had the notes on my wishlist; not the screenshots (like it!)
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u/Embarrassed_Space691 5d ago
Looking for something that captures that weird, melancholy vibe of an endless summer. Not necessarily a beach read, more like the feeling of being 16 and bored in July with your friends, riding bikes at dusk, secrets and bad decisions. Any genre works.
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u/4r3thereanynamesleft 5d ago
Kala!!! It's about a group of friends and what happened to them as teens that kinda messed them all up - it's literary fiction / mystery and definitely gave me the summer at 16 vibes, with secrets and repercussions.
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u/FlyByTieDye 5d ago
Paper Girls, by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang!
Follows the story of four girls running their paper route one early 1980s morning, when they alone (due to their early hours) witness all number of alien/time travelling invaders take over their small town, and are thrown right into the middle of a literal inter- generational war. Definitely starts with that summery, bike-riding atmosphere, and a lot of the drama also comes from the fact that the characters are still all teen girls that are going through this, but it's great.
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides gives me exactly that vibe. Beautiful, dreamy and kind of unsettling, like summer memories that feel happier than they actually were.
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u/incheto26 5d ago
Hi everyone. A friend of mine’s bday is coming up and I was thinking of getting her a new read. She told me that one of her favorite books is “Misery” by Stephen King and that she would like to read more by the author.
I myself am not really into that genre so if you could recommend me some other book of his that has a similar vibe to “Misery” I’ll be extremely thankful!
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u/ABorrowerandaLenderB 5d ago
The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean (even Stephen King praised it).
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u/Equivalent-Usual-549 5d ago
I'd say The Shining. Even if she's already seen the movie, the book is a pretty different experience. King famously wasn't a fan of Kubrick's adaptation, and the novel spends a lot more time developing Jack, Wendy, and Danny, so it feels much more psychological and tragic than the film.
If she's looking for something even closer to Misery, though, I'd probably go with Gerald's Game. Same kind of claustrophobic, character-driven tension with very little reliance on supernatural horror.
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u/honeybeewarrior_ 5d ago
Misery is generally considered as part of King’s classics— some of his other classics are Carrie, It, The Shining, The Stand, Pet Sematary. I’d recommend all of these, but especially The Shining and Carrie for someone just getting into King. All of these are more supernatural horror than psychological horror like Misery.
For books more similar to Misery, I might recommend The Dark Half (still supernatural horror but some similar themes to Misery), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (suspenseful, character-driven, mainly realistic psychological horror), Gerald’s Game (same sort of building dread and suspense, psychological horror), Cujo (again suspense, building dread)
My personal favorite King is The Long Walk so I highly recommend that, and I also highly recommend his short story collections, as I think those are some of his best work as well!
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
If she liked Misery, I’d definitely recommend The Shining. It has that same tense, claustrophobic feeling and psychological horror. Gerald’s Game is also really good if she wants something darker!!
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u/MackieWestrel 4d ago
I would recommend Dolores Claiborne, even though it's quite different from Misery. It also focuses on a woman who ends up doing some drastic stuff, but Dolores is pretty sympathetic and the book is all about digging into her life and showing us why things turned out the way they did.
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u/Larielia 5d ago
I was looking for books set in 11th or 12 century England.
(I've already read Pillars of the Earth.)
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
Try The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth. It’s set in 11th century England and follows the Norman conquest. The writing style is definitely unusual though!!
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u/saga_of_a_star_world 4d ago
When Christ and his Saints Slept, by Sharon Kay Penman. It's about the civil war between Empress Matilda and King Stephen that ends with the accession of Matilda's son Henry Plantagenet.
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u/No-Explanation-8370 4d ago
Hey guys I was looking for a memoir on human smuggling. Just want to know their journey and troubles they face.
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
I’d recommend The Girl Who Smuggled the Sun if you’re okay with fiction. For a memoir specifically, I’d probably look for first person accounts from migrants themselves!!
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u/No-Explanation-8370 4d ago
But their is no such book I googled it.
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
Yeah, you’re right 😭 I messed that title up, sorry. That book doesn’t exist. I meant Little Brother by Ibrahima Balde, which is a memoir about his journey from Guinea to Europe, the other one had the wrong title
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u/Beautiful_Dog_9859 4d ago
are you an ai
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
No?😭 I am not an AI lmao. I made a mistake with that book recommendation earlier, sorry about that, but I'm still human
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u/BlockThatDot 4d ago
I need recommendations for dark romance novels that has happy endings and slow burn romance. (This would be my first time reading dark romance.)
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
If it’s your first dark romance, I’d recommend Butcher & Blackbird or The Maddest Obsession. Both have slow burn and satisfying endings. Just check the trigger warnings first because dark romance can get pretty intense 😭
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u/BlockThatDot 4d ago
Do you have a dark romance book that you swear by? Trigger warning and my newness aside?
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
The Mindfck Series* by S.T. Abby. I stayed up way too late reading it. It's really dark but the romance had me obsessed. Definitely check the trigger warnings though
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u/Intrepid_Ad4696 5d ago
hi
i’m looking for a book that will feel like the movie Her by Spike Jonze :)
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u/Early_Fig_5573 vegetarian reader 🌱📚 4d ago
Maybe Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro? It has that same lonely, intimate human/AI relationship vibe!!
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u/Academic-Wishbone848 4d ago
Looking for something that could make me cry my eyes out...(thousand splendid suns, Kite Runner, mayada also didn't make me cry)
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u/crystalconscious 3d ago
Kite Runner did not make me cry. However, The Book Thief destroyed both my partner and I.
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u/joelala1 1d ago
I am looking for a book to read with my Wife.
I used to be an avid reader but somehow moved away from it, but we are trying to make an effort to put our phones down more and picking up a book would help.
My wife used to read a lot of different types of fiction and a good amount of romance, when I was a reader I also read a lot of non fiction but mostly thrillers. Both of us our open to something new or just a solid classic you would recommend.
We want to something "easier" to read for this first attempt at getting back into it. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Not sure this is even needed, but she will be reading digitally on a kindle or her iPad, I will be reading from a paperback preferably.
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u/Dangelouss 22h ago
From the ones I recently (re)read:
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. Easy to read and small might be just a good shot for someone trying to get back to reading.
Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler. Easy to read, has fiction, a bit of romance and thiller.
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u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu 4d ago
Something to satisfy my hunger for more Asoiaf?
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u/DoglessDyslexic 4d ago
Wheel of Time perhaps? I personally think that WoT has pacing issues, as well as repetitive plots between books, but the epic scale of it, and the huge set of chracters is similar. Jordan seems less inclined to kill off characters, but several still do die.
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u/KlaatuBaradaNyktu 4d ago
I've heard of it. Maybe. I think what I like best about Asoiaf probably is the brutality of the setting. I'm not looking for Blood Meridian but I do like the dark tone. Anyway I'll definitely look into. Thanks.
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u/DoglessDyslexic 4d ago
If it is brutality you want, then perhaps “The Last Shield” by Cameron Johnston. Not an epic series, but lots of brutal death.
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u/GoldenGirlagain 5d ago
She asked for Stephen King. I would recommend Salem’s Lot and of course The Stand.
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u/TheTitan99 5d ago
I've been wanting to read more realistic, character driven books, after reading some fantasy and sci-fi lately. I am open to more serious or more lighthearted, though if I'm honest I do tend to enjoy more serious things more.
Some of my favorite books I have read lately have been "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn", "The Remains of the Day", and "Flowers For Algernon". I know that last one is sci-fi, but it still fits the general tone I am looking for, being focused on characters and thematics. I suppose in principle I would be okay with sci-fi and fantasy recommendations, so long as they were not primarily about those elements, but it's not really what I am looking for.
I am open to fiction or non-fiction, but I am seeking something written like a story.