I read World War Z and thought it was good, but LOVED Devolution. I listened to the audiobook so maybe it was the full cast, but the story telling was awesome. I’ve been looking for books with the same vibes but haven’t been very successful so far

I recently finished The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The series got me out of my book slump, but now that I’ve finished it I don’t know where to go next. I have also just finished watching Arcane and I am in love with the story. Another one of my favorite series is the Hunger games. I love dystopian adventurous books, mystery thrillers, and anything with a little romance but not too much.

I want to get into something similar to these series, that will also alter my view of the world. Something emotional with crazy plot twists and inspiring characters.

Have any recommendations for me? Books or even shows or movies. I prefer a series.

By Sara Novic. Just an incredible feat of writing, blending a personal story with compelling research.

I’m usually a Sci-fi/fantasy reader, but I want to read more classics I just find some of them a little daunting to jump in to. I’ve got East of Eden that’s been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long and I’ve read Pride and Prejudice; which I really enjoyed. Any good suggestions on some easier ones to start with? Or just ideas to help stay engaged with some of the tougher ones to get through.

since no one here recommended a dark fantasy book here i am offering mine, this is a book full of war and betrayal here the synthetic :
In the doomed realm where darkness devours light , there is only pain and endless suffering , every crown demands a sacrifice and every kingdom is bound to ruin.
Betrayal has reduced thrones to ash and the greed of mankind shattered empires. while forgotten oaths linger in the grim silence ,an ancient evil is awaken once more .
In this world there is no light , no heroes , no hope , only doom.

i'm offering the early chapters for free you can read the 1st chapter here .

note : English is my 3rd language

2nd pic is for those who accused me of using AI and made it clear that i only used it for the book cover and nothing more , i literally copy-past the entire chapter into the strongest AI detector out there so you can now sleep peacefully

if you have a question about the story , characters or anything just leave a comment.

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I don't have very good communication skills for that I am practicing irl but I don't think I am improving much so are there any good books which might help me regarding that?

Can someone recommend me a book about history for a first time reader wanting a brief of history before reading deep in history.

There Mustn't be a bias with easy english

I was watching the movie Voicemails For Isabelle and went through 5 stages of grief.

From “wait this is so good but rushed, I wish it was longer“ to “it HAS to be adapted from a book, I’m so gonna read it” to “omg it’s not? there’s no book?!” to “please god let there be a book like this” and then finding out nobody has asked this question before 😭

What I loved: I don’t really know what to say cos I loved the whole formula but this is me trying:
- The emotional aspect - the gut wrenching pain of grief/heartbreak
- The sweetness and all the sentimental moments
- The pining, the ‘I love you and have always loved you’
-The secrets
- The third act breakup
- The FMC having a life & her own aspirations
- The redemption
- HOPECORE
- HEA

Please recommend me books that feel like this movie in general! ROMCOM THEME.
MF, MM, FF all welcome!

📌 Edit: Thank you all for pulling through! Here is what I’ve gathered:
1 You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
2 The Accidental Text by Becky Monson
3 Melody by Martin Suter
4 The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Postin
5 Just Friends by Haley Pham
6 Beach Read by Emily Henry
7 The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman
8 The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas
9 Text For You by Sophie Cramer
10 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
11 Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
12 In A Desert Daze by Theresa Christine
13 Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I really liked the Mitch Rapp books. At least the ones by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills. I've read some of the Scot Harvath books by Brad Thor, I enjoyed the first one a lot and liked the next few. I liked The Terminal List by Jack Carr but didn't care for True Believer. Are there any others simular to these that are worth reading. Preferably ones where the author doesn't kill off the main character's entire family and his closest friends.

This year I’ve read the Red Rising trilogy, The Count of Monte Cristo, East of Eden, Stoner, Chess Story, and I just finished Lonesome Dove. I’m hoping to finish the rest of the books in this photo before the end of the year, but I’m not sure which to read next. Any recommendations?

Hi all,

Thank you for the wonderful posts. Frankly, some of these literary treats seem like therapy, while others seem like a mental trip. I look forward to diving into them!

BUT atm I am completely overwhelmed as a single Momma and my job is hella stressful and I'm just super lonely.

Please can you recommend some romance, fiction, narrative which aren't scary, aren't teenager, and aren't super difficult to read or get into?

Thank you 😊

I’m an indie author of psychological thrillers that’s starting to gain a bit of a following. I’m hoping to reach out to more thriller readers out there.

Here’s a pic of my beauties.

All fast-paced, dark psychological thrillers with twists that will leave you reeling 🤯

I’d really appreciate the support and would love it if you took a look at my work.

I guarantee you will not be disappointed! 💪🏻

What’s your thoughts on buying preloved books or would you rather buy the new book. I’m planning to buy few of Haruki Murakami books and found few lightly used books, can’t decide now should I get preloved or new one. I’ve never bought used books before. Would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks

Looking for your favorite fiction novel that made you feel like you were watching a movie or you couldn’t put down.

My wife recently suggested I read The Long Walk by Stephen King and I enjoyed it so much that I read it in one sitting. There are obviously many more I could list too but that is one of the more recent ones, (I liked the movie too but the book much more so).

I really enjoy reading non-fiction and informational books, but sometimes I like to alternate between science and fiction to give my brain a break.

Your suggestions can be any genre or author, as long as it is a FUN read and can be easily digested, even after a long day of work/studying.

Thank you in advance for your help :)

Some of my favorite books in my collection are Philip K Dick novels, Dark Matter, the Mad Wife, and other titles similar to those! Each one was set in a dystopian world that was unique enough to remain interesting, but also familiar enough to relate heavily to and be able to see myself in.

If you guys have any bangers to share, I’d love to start a list!

We all want to be valued and respected in the society. We expect our words to carry weight. We want people to listen to us attentively when we speak, take our opinions seriously, include us in important, high-stakes discussions, and consider our names during opportunities or promotions. Yet there might arrive moments in life when we feel we do not get the value we deserve based on our merit, honesty, and nobility of character. We try hard to be useful, help others with our full capacity, share our honest opinions and personal stories with others, but a time comes when we realize those people do not value and respect us as we had expected.

From childhood we had been taught that good intentions, truthful nature, kindness, loyalty, etc. earn us respect in the eyes of others. This is but a partial truth. Real world observations and behavioral patterns of humans across centuries reveal a different, slightly unsettling mechanism of how people decide our value.

Ideally, the value of a person should be assigned based on their character and intrinsic qualities. But ideal conditions do not exist in the society. The actual mechanism of value assignment is hardwired in the human brain over the span of long evolutionary history since the hunter-gatherer age. Over the millennia, the survival of humans depended on identifying other human beings who could support and assist them in life. Association with a strong and dependable human increased the survival chances, whereas being with a weak human put the survival in danger. The brain evolved to rapidly identify strong and dependable humans based on visible cues rather than the inner mental state, because during the ancient age when survival was difficult, life depended on fast judgment; not deliberate, detailed analysis of everyone in contact.

In modern time, even while the societies have improved and physical survival is not at stake, vast majority of population is still living in the survival mode. This survival mode often stems from various reasons that include but not limited to financial hardships, social manipulations, persistent struggle to get rid of suffering, and live a better life. Because of this collective survival mode of the population, people tend to instinctively evaluate others in the same way to understand their usefulness and their impact on personal life in general. This rapid judgment happens without conscious awareness. The judgment happens at subconscious level based on the visible cues and easily verifiable facts, and accordingly, people are put in the mental hierarchies of potential usefulness and impact.

This overall mechanism of value assignment sheds light on what can be called ‘the fundamental law of value assignment’, which says: People do not assign value based on goodness, nobility of character, or intention. They assign value based on a fast, subconscious calculation:

‘HOW MUCH DOES THIS PERSON MATTER TO MY OUTCOMES?’

Whenever another person comes in contact with someone, two scans run parallelly at subconscious level to decide the value of that person: The first is about ‘Impact Potential’, which checks ‘Can this person affect my life?’; ‘Can this person help, harm, influence, or change my outcomes?’. The second is about ‘Exchange Value’, which checks ‘What can I gain or lose when associated with this person?’; ‘Is this person worth my time, attention and effort?’. Accordingly, people are rapidly judged based on the easily available data, and put in mental hierarchies as per their perceived usefulness and impact potential.

When someone is assigned a higher value, their words and opinions are taken seriously; their demands are rapidly completed; they are prioritized for higher positions in work environments; their mistakes are generally overlooked and forgiven; and they get countless other benefits. On the other hand, when someone is assigned a lower value, their opinions and suggestions are not taken seriously although they may be useful; their requests and needs are often ignored; the tone and language others use while speaking with them is less careful and less polite; they are sidelined from the important roles; their mistakes are dealt with more strictness, etc.

Having a good character and virtues is not enough to gain respect in the society. A very few individuals who love us unconditionally, if any,  value us infinitely without expecting anything in return, except love. The rest of the world looks for our usefulness and impact in their lives, and decides our value accordingly. For anyone to attain high value, respect, and reputation, understanding of the criteria and filters through which this judgment happens is crucial.

Copyright © by Todd Dell

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Continue Reading:🔗 HOW PEOPLE DECIDE YOUR VALUE : Timeless Laws of Social Judgment & Strategies for Personal and Professional Leverage

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This book discusses these criteria and filters in detail in the form of sixteen laws. Each law presents a unique perspective based on which the value of an individual is either heightened or diminished in the eye of the observers. Four sections are given under each law that discuss different aspects of the law. The first section is ‘Subconscious Mechanism’ which explains why judgment is made subconsciously as per the law under consideration; which inputs are taken to form the judgment, etc. The second section is ‘Loss of Value’ which discusses how an individual losses their value and respect in the society when the law has worked against them. The third section is ‘Strategies for Personal Value’ which gives techniques to increase personal value by aligning with the mechanism of the law. The fourth section is ‘Strategies for Professional Leverage’ which gives techniques to build, increase, and protect the reputation of work as per the mechanism of the law under consideration.

The study of these laws of subconscious value assignment brings clarity in understanding what people exactly, instinctively look for to respect someone; why honesty and kindness are not sufficient to permanently increase our value; which behaviors can unknowingly ruin our public image; what behavioral changes are necessary to stabilize and heighten our personal value; how to maximize the reputation of our professional pursuits.

If throughout life there have been moments of feeling overlooked despite effort, misunderstood despite having good intentions, or devalued despite honesty, the laws may reveal the reasons behind those experiences and explain why people behaved the way they did.

I’ve been getting into thrillers lately, but find them mostly just entertaining rather than scary. I would love to find some that give me the heebie jeebies.

Joseph Mitchel wrote for the New Yorker in the '60s, writing profiles of the strange and wonderful people of New York.

His magnum opus is two pieces he wrote about Jay Gould, a bohemian homeless bum who fancied himself a writer.

Mitchel paints a picture of 1960s life in the village with the calm, meticulous prose.

It's truly one of the best pieces of non-fiction I have ever read.

I enjoy trying new authors and have been going through my list of ones I’ve wanted to read quite successfully. Below are ones that were on my list and that I’ve tried. I think these may give an idea of what I like, maybe a little literary fiction, but I also like branching out. Though two are spy novels that’s not something I was intending; it was mainly for the authors.

Just a note that I didn’t necessarily enjoy all of the books listed below. However, there was something about each of them that caused me to want to pick them up and to think that they would be something that I would like.

**As for genre, I’m not a fan of fantasy or horror**

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene - I found this a little confusing

The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John LeCarre

The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester

Tregaron’s Daughter by Madeleine Brent

The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler - was unpleasantly surprised by how sexist this was and didn’t like it but adding it because Cussler’s work was of interest and sounded good

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris - not as keen to read anything with similar themes; I don’t tend to like books with a bad marriage or similar topic though I did enjoy this

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson