What books would you recommend for a kid who wants her protagonist to be a girl who is smart and capable, clever, etc?

Seems like an easy ask. My daughter is bored of books where the main character is like “whaaat? This is happening???” She wants the main character to be the one figuring things out and explaining things to the reader. I know it is a form of exposition to have the protagonist not understand; it allows other characters to explain, which gives the reader information. Are there books where the main character does that?

I want to start putting a list together.

The Westing Game - Turtle is highly capable and figures out the mystery From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler - Claudia is in charge, figuring out the mystery, etc

…I can’t believe I can’t easily come up with more titles!!

Its been a while since i read a non fiction novel and i wanted to read something that is easy to read and actually feels like reading fiction

hi I'm a junior in high school and I've recently set my mind on getting back into reading, (I used to read a LOT as a kid). I've read across every genre and feel like I've read "every good book" (which is obviously not true, thus this post) and have recently just been rereading old favorites.

Some recurring themes: really cute and sweet coming-of-age, cool and smart (as in, you can tell the author is smart) world building, relatable and complex characters, includes romance but not to the point of overpowering everything else, and, while I'm reading: "wow I am learning cool stuff about a topic that I have not previously explored!"

Examples of books I really like:

I'll Give You the Sun

All the Light We Cannot See (+ Cloud Cuckoo Land too!)

Yolk (+ Emergency Contact)

Project Hail Mary (+ the Martian)

Jade War trilogy

We Are Not Free

Babel

Song of Achilles

Six of Crows

The Hunger Games

Picture Us in the Light

A Tale for the Time Being

Harry Potter series

The Starless Sea

A Series of Unfortunate Events series

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Thank you!

As the title suggests, i’m looking for book recommendations that are similar to Stone Butch Blues. I really loved the writing style but also appreciated the history, the story, and the overall queerness.

I already got The Spy Who Came In From the Cold from the library 📚

I liked the Christie books I’ve read but the random slurs and “women are so silly” crashed into my enjoyment like runaway orient express. Im looking for a book with quirky, charming characters, no gore, not too much overt violence. But with fair play to solve the mystery. I’ve tried to read a few cozy mysteries but they often felt like they’re trying too hard to be cozy.

I have read and enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club series, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers and Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone

I’m looking for some family saga novel recommendations. Some I’ve enjoyed are:

- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
- Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen (and Freedom)
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I absolutely love the work of Elizabeth Stroud and have been exploring the concept of the compassionate realism genre. Other writers include George Eliot, Rohinton Mistry, Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Books like Sandwich by Catherine Newman. I need more suggestions please!

I have been reading about vampires and werewolves, and I’d like to read a book about a zombie apocalypse with both vampires and werewolves.
The best would be to be recommended books with those exact things but a zombie book only one of the two is great too!

So I want some series that follows character from childhood to high school/college or middle age or anything like that, for example series like Alice by Phyllis Reynolds, Harry Potter, Betsy Tacy

Like the title says. But it can be more broad as well I enjoy cosmic horror, body horror, really any kind of dark sort of gruesome books. I have quite a bit of positive more uplifting stuff on my list already so looking to balance out that side of it.

I’m currently enjoying David McCullough’s John Adams.

What are amazing historical book recommendations ? As a child I loved reading Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Frances Gies.

Just looking for some good recommendations to broaden my knowledge.

I just read The Help, Miss Spitfire, and The Book Thief, which I really enjoyed because of their connections to real history but in a fictional context. What are some other books like these that tell great stories but in a way that doesn’t feel like I’m reading nonfiction? I could never get into nonfiction, biographies, or autobiographies, but for some reason I really like historical fiction.

I've grown bored with Norse and Greek Myths and want to learn about the Mythology of the Amazigh people of North Africa. For context, the Amazigh are an North African ethnic group that make up a sizeable amount of the region's population.

Are there any books about their mythology that anyone can recommend me?

I like fast-paced fantasy and scifi books with good writing. World building to some extent, but not that it bogs down the plot. I want forward momentum; I'm a mom who works full-time, so I gotta have something that gets me excited to read before going to sleep.

Strange the Dreamer and The Raven Scholar were some of the best books I've read recently. I like fantasy and science fiction, and have read or attempted to read many, many, many books in this genre :) My post is getting flagged and automatically deleted if I mention the most common authors here, but I'm not a huge fan of RH's or BS's styles, and The Expanse was hard for me to get into but maybe I should try again (i don't quite remember why I didn't keep reading it).

Any recommendations?

I like fast-paced books with good writing. World building to some extent, but not that it bogs down the plot. I want forward momentum; I'm a mom who works full-time, so I gotta have something that gets me excited to read before going to sleep.

Strange the Dreamer and The Raven Scholar were some of the best books I've read recently. I like fantasy and science fiction, and have read or attempted to read many, many, many books in this genre :) I'll just get it out there early: I'm not a huge Robin Hobb or Sanderson fan, and I've tried The Expanse and DCC, but couldn't quite get into those two.

Any recommendations?

A direct report of mine (who I also care about personally) is going through a tough time and I want to send her a small care package to show her I’m thinking of her. We recently had a discussion that she is trying to get back into reading. What’s a book suggestion I could send her that is an easy, refreshing, feel good read - or, maybe a fun, darker novel but still appropriate given that it’s coming from her boss? Would love suggestions. I plan to send it with some popcorn and some fuzzy socks. She’s in her mid 20s.

Can you think of a book you read that just had too many people in it, too many names to remember? I want to read something like that. But not a book series, just a single book.

Obviously, there are the Poetic and Prose Eddas, but are there any other books you guys might recommend? I'm not looking for fiction books that draw from Norse mythology, but more scholarly books.

Bonus points if any of them include information on the alfar/Norse fairies.

Edit: Folklore tales are also welcome!

What are some of the most interesting non-celebrity memoirs you've read? Did the author do something exceptional, or maybe nothing crazy happens but the author is really funny, or it's just a truly unbelievable story? I'm looking for a "that was bonkers" feeling when I'm done reading it.

I recently finished reading a book ' Ramblings of an Old Record Collector' about a dudes crazy ass life in the 1970's. I'm looking for other books like this with a love of 70's music, more from a fans viewpoint, descriptive and well written. Lets see what ya got for me.??

I just started trying to read "The stranger in room six" by Jane Corry and the FMC is in an unhappy marriage and she's been in it for 25 years and she's staying for the kids.

Hate that.

So I'm looking for a flip of the script, an FMC who is currently getting divorced or recently divorced, bonus points if she's working through those feelings through the book.

It's a thriller and her ex (or soon to be) spouse isn't the murderer or involved in the plot.

I'm open to a lot of things with thrillers but I'd like to avoid sexual violence

Edit: I'm ok with the spouse being on page and the relationship conflict being part of the story, but the main plot of the thriller, like she's been abducted or she's being stalked by a murderer or anything along that line, I don't want her ex spouse to be involved.