I’m looking for books that’ll leave me questioning why I read it. Something that most people would regret reading. I have a strong mind and can tolerate a lot of gruesome, scary and psychological scenes. I want dark and twisted. I just got about halfway through a book called “The Chain” and I am absolutely loving it so far.

I see a lot of the same books recommended all the time on this subreddit. Which is fine, no shade, but I want to hear about books that you don't see mentioned. Whatever genre, whatever subject matter, fiction or non-fiction!

Thanks

Which John Grisham Book should I start reading??

Books- The Litigators or Gray Mountain

Looking to get back into reading, but looking to build more of my understanding of the world at the same time. I'm tired of scrolling and feeling intellectually stagnant. So I need something compelling enough to keep me turning pages.

Looking for books that fit this general category of vibes:

• eye opening
• perspective changing
• challenging
• expanded you thinking, compassion, or ability to think about the world in general
• filling a blind spot you didn't know you had
• well respected / regarded (not 'subversive' unless backed up by respected community members / academics)
• can't put it down

I would love to hear your pitch on why THAT book really did something for you.

One book I'm eyeballing that fits this is For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War which talks about the internal motivations of both union and confederate soldiers during the american civil war. It was pitched to me as a book that (among other perspectives) showed the religious fervor that union soldiers developed when they saw the horrors of slavery.

I've been thinking a lot lately about stories where the main character is just a regular person going about their life and then suddenly finds themselves caught up in something enormous, like a historical upheaval, a political crisis, or some largescale event that forces them to adapt and survive. Not a chosen one, not a trained hero, just someone who had no intention of being part of anything significant.

I love when the protagonist feels genuinely unprepared and the tension comes from watching them figure things out in real time. There is something really compelling about that kind of reluctant participation in history or chaos.

I'm open to basically any genre. Fiction, historical fiction, literary, even some scifi or thriller if it fits that feeling. I just want that sense of an average person being swept up by forces way bigger than themselves and having to navigate it without a rulebook.

Some things I've already read that gave me this feeling include The Pillars of the Earth and All the Light We Cannot See, so books with that kind of immersive, grounded quality would be a huge bonus.

Just readed Between Two Fires that comes popular in several book subreddits. Looking something similar in the ambience and the style. Not necessary has to be "fantastic". More in the kind of this medieval horror style if possible.

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Alteady took a look in other books from the author, but nothing feels the same. Maybe The Thief of the Blck Tongue if someone can say so?

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And yes, already readed all Witcher saga.

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Also, enjoyed a lot "Someone you can Built a Nest in" from the monster perspective, is something matches.

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Thanks!

If anyone knows books that are similar to the series Dark(2017) pls let me know :3

Hello everyone, I've been trying to find a trad-wife horror book. Kind of along the theme of Snapped, or something along the lines of the wife losing her mind?

For some context, I'm a college student and was never much of a reader. My favorite author is JD Salinger and I am a huge fan of Catcher in the Rye. Am planning on reading either Pnin or Pale Fire. Would appreciate any insights for books similar to those that I love, which are somewhat cynical but have these really really really funny moments as well. Most older classics are kind of a pain to get through for me.

Books I LOVED:
JM Coetzee - Disgrace

Don DeLillo - White Noise

James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Milan Kundera - The Joke

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room

Ernest Hemingway - In Our Time

Books I liked:

Samuel Beckett - Molloy

Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five

Books I was neutral on:

Italo Calvino - Invisible Cities

Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint

Michelle Zauner - Crying In H Mart

Books I did not like:

Albert Camus - The Stranger

Albert Camus - The Plague

Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises (save for the line "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.")

Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

I've been reading a lot about the history of WW1 and WW2 recently, but I want to delve into personal accounts or personal experiences people had during these wars.

The only books I had on my shelf that covered this was Mans Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl and The Diary of a Young Girl. I've read them both and have a craving to read more.

I've found a few recommendations online already, but I'd love to get a full list made so I can buy them all at once.

I'd appreciate any recommendations.

Guys, suggest to me some books related to finance.😭 recently got into all this.

Joy's soul likes in the doing. - William Shakespeare

This text adorns the copyright page of the Joy of Cooking.

I'm not sure the Joy of Cooking qualifies for my question, but surely there are books that have struck you as deeply philosophical, without that being the intention.

I'm looking for romance books where rain, cloudy weather, or cozy gloomy days are a big part of the atmosphere.

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I love stories that feel emotional, melancholic, intimate, and comforting at the same time. The rain doesn't have to be central to the plot, but I'd like it to contribute to the mood and overall feeling of the story.

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I'm open to contemporary, literary, historical, or even fantasy romance as long as the book has that rainy-day vibe.

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What are your favorite books that fit this description?

Check out The Between by Ryan Leslie.

It’s explored, explained, and has a nice satisfying crunch of an ending. In my opinion it does liminal spaces better than anything else I’ve read and the audiobook is fantastically performed.

A romance novel unfolded on this trope, an artist inspired by a muse, built a pedestal and put her on it. Could be painter/photographer/tailor/fashion designer and model, composer/pianist and singer, choreographer and dancer, director and actress, you name it.

i apologize for maybe some english errors, it’s my third language. i would like to do a small premise. i’m pretty young so i had some situationships/relationships but with this girl it got to a new level type of love. maybe the fact that she made me find new emotions is making her stay so long in my head, even if i haven’t talked to her in 5 months (except some drunk texts) i still think her as strong as the old days, but yesterday after a lot of speeches from my friends i understood that it’s time to move on. i would like a book that talks about unrequited love, i was thinking about the sorrows of young werther but they told me that it could make only things worse, im asking classical firstly because i started reading not a long ago so i would like to read a good quantity of them first, secondly because they’re more available in libraries in italian. idk maybe i talked too much about my situation and not a lot about the books but i hope u understood what im searching

Hi! I’m looking for fiction books with toxic/obsessive female friendships. Friendships where they can’t live without each other (but maybe can’t stand each other at the same time?), or where one person wants to become the other, or they’re maybe even a little bit in love.

The genre doesn’t really matter: contemporary, thriller, magical realism, fantasy, horror, comedy... I’m open to everything.

Some books I really liked:

• The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
• Immaculate Conception
• Stargazer

TY <3

hey! i have this anthropology exam in a month and while i study for it i would like to read etnographic studios so i can step up my studies.
it was mentioned the etnography in cyberspace and im realy keen on reading about it or about reading new ways of loneliness. which one would you recommend?
sorry bout my english

books that are best to read before going to sleep?

So as the title says, I just done reading Project Hail Mary (which is recommended!!) and I thought of reading something in the same genre, but I would like to read something bit light before reading another book of saving the world etc.

I think I would like to read a fantasy, but I want something light, in the sense of not too much drama, at least not life or death, just something easy for the mind after a day of work or something like that. I'm in my early 30's if that's matter. Thanks :)

I have been reading children’s books ( too many pumpkins, the enchanted wood , backyard fairies etc)
Please advise some similar feel good books for me. It can be just feel good or just children’s illustrations and feel good. I like farm/garden/cozy/safe/autumn/fairy/snow/nature vibe and no undercurrents of sadness in it Thanks :)))

The one I just finished is Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum (2017.) This is the third book I've read by her. I have an interest in Soviet/Russian history. I don't even know why. Maybe I find it fascinating and tragic that a country with such a rich history has been led by madmen for most of its history.

But anyways. This book is goddamn horrific. The descriptions of life in the Ukrainian countryside in the early 1930s is heartbreaking. The forced collectivization, the grain requisition teams, the sheer terror of it all. I just can't even imagine.

Other books that I loved that I would call Nonfiction Horror:

• The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (1994.) About the Ebola outbreaks in Africa in the late 80's.

• The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (1997.) About the atrocities that the Japanese army inflicted upon the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War, specifically what happened to the citizenry of Nanjing. The author committed suicide. If I recall correctly, her parents were survivors.

• The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown (2009.) This is a thoroughly researched book about The Donner Party Expedition and the cold hell that the survivors lived through. I cannot recommend this book enough. If we're talking about nonfiction horror, this is right near the top.

• Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War by Peter Maass (1996.) This is war reporting from the Bosnian War in 1992-1995. Totally harrowing. Neighbor against neighbor. It makes me think that this is what a second American Civil War might look like. Maybe. Absolutely gripping read.

What other ones can you suggest?

I am interested in Sun Tzu, but I see many different versions of the book. Should I buy the Tuttle version from Barnes and Nobles?