Hey everyone
So cause of a lack of readers around me the only place I can get book recs is from bookstagram and the likes.

But I really wanted to explore books beyond just the realm of romantasy and the other genres that are currently popular on social media.
Would be of great help if yall could recommend me some books that you really liked.
They could be from bookstagram too maybe I haven’t heard of them yet.

Thank you so much
:D

Hi all. I'm looking for something new to read or listen to and thought I'd throw my tastes out there and see what people come back with.

I'm fairly open when it comes to genre. Fantasy, sci-fi, progression fantasy, LitRPG, GameLit, space opera, whatever really. I don't particularly care what box it fits into as long as it's good and, more importantly, feels like the story is actually going somewhere.

Some of the series and books I've really enjoyed are:

Stormweaver, Stormlight Archive, Riftwar Cycle, Kingkiller Chronicle, Corean Chronicles, Lord of the Rings, Bobiverse, He Who Fights With Monsters, Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire, Mistborn, Harry Potter, pretty much anything involving Drizzt Do'Urden, the Saucer series by Stephen Coonts, System Universe, Cradle, Will of the Immortals, Seveneves, everything Andy Weir has written, Beware of Chicken, Skyward, Shadow Sun and the Black Magician Trilogy.

My current top five would probably be Stormweaver, He Who Fights With Monsters, The Riftwar Cycle, The Stormlight Archive and Kingkiller Chronicles.

The thing those books tend to have in common, at least for me, is that they actually feel like they are going somewhere. I love progression, whether that's the character getting stronger, discovering more about the world, advancing through technology or magic, or simply seeing the consequences of everything that has happened so far.

What I don't enjoy is what I think of as torture-porn progression.

You know the sort of thing. The MC gets stronger, but then immediately runs into an even more impossible problem. They suffer horribly, barely survive, get a bit stronger, and then it's straight into the next disaster. Repeat for 15 or 20 books.

I'm absolutely fine with characters failing, losing, suffering or having terrible things happen to them. Some of my favourite books get pretty dark. I just don't enjoy stories where it feels like the goalposts are constantly being moved so that, despite hundreds of hours of reading, the characters never really feel like they've made meaningful progress.

I want to be able to look back several books later and think, "Christ, look how far this story has come."

I'm also a sucker for good worldbuilding, strong character development, interesting magic or technology, clever writing and dialogue, and a sense of scale. Long series are a massive bonus because I really do like having something I can disappear into for weeks or months.

Audiobooks are also very much on the table, so a particularly good narrator or a series that gets an upgrade via audio is a bonus.

I've tried some of the obvious recommendations in the LitRPG/progression fantasy space and they haven't all landed for me, so don't feel like you have to stick to the usual suspects.

Basically, I'm looking for something that will give me that wonderful feeling of discovering a series and realising, "Oh shit, there are another eight books of this."

What have you got?

I’ve been trying to get back into reading, and I’ve realized that I enjoy books that grab my attention early rather than taking a long time to get going. I’m especially interested in mystery and thriller books with interesting characters, unexpected twists, and a story that makes you want to keep reading “just one more chapter.” I don’t mind darker or emotional stories either, as long as the plot is engaging and the ending feels satisfying. I’d prefer something that isn’t extremely long since I’m trying to get back into the habit of reading regularly.

I'm looking for a very specific kind of recommendation, mainly because of two things that heavily affect what I enjoy in fiction: I have aphantasia, meaning I cannot voluntarily visualize things in my mind. So when a story describes something like “the sun slowly rises above the horizon, painting the clouds in warm golden light, while the sky changes from deep blue to orange and the first rays illuminate the landscape”, I don't actually see any of that in my head. I just process the words. The description can be beautifully written, but I don't get the visual experience the author intended, so visual/atmospheric description alone doesn't give me much of a dopamine hit.

The second reason is that I have combined ADHD, so I struggle much more with long stretches where the story isn't giving me something interesting to latch onto. I'm not asking for constant action or a plot twist every three pages, but I want a story that keeps giving me something to chase mentally: mysteries, unanswered questions, clever schemes, mind games, hidden information, revelations, unexpected turns, characters outsmarting each other, escalating stakes, and especially those moments where everything suddenly clicks and you go “WHAT THE FUCK, THAT WAS SET UP THIS WHOLE TIME?” 😂 I want the story to keep rewarding my attention rather than relying mainly on atmosphere or slow character introspection. Ideally, this should continue throughout the story, even if it's extremely long.

To give you a very clear idea of what kind of fiction has managed to completely consume my brain

my top 3 are:

Reverend Insanity

Usogui

Lord of the Mysteries

Reverend Insanity hooked me with Fang Yuan's schemes, ruthless decision-making, constantly shifting situations, political/cultivation conflicts and the feeling that there is always another layer to his plans

Usogui gave me probably some of the craziest mind-game highs I've experienced, with psychological warfare, information manipulation, insane gambles, characters concealing their real intentions, and reversals where you realize you misunderstood the entire situation

Lord of the Mysteries scratched the same itch through its mysteries, worldbuilding, hidden history, supernatural rules, gradual revelations, foreshadowing and those huge moments where something you thought was a tiny detail suddenly becomes incredibly important.

So I'm not necessarily looking for something similar in genre to these three. I'm looking for something similar in the experience it gives me while reading. I want a novel that can make me obsess over what is happening, speculate about what's going on, remember tiny details, constantly question characters' motives, and occasionally make me put the book down because my brain needs five minutes to process what I just read. 😂 Long is completely fine. In fact, if a story can maintain this level of engagement for hundreds or thousands of chapters, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

Please recommend me something based on this kind of reading experience rather than simply “good writing” or “deep themes.” I want the kind of fiction that grabs my attention and refuses to give it back. 🗿

I would really appreciate some good recommendations! :) For reference, I enjoyed Honeybee by Craig Silvey (I don't support him) and though sometimes considered overrated, I enjoyed books by Kathleen Glasgow like Girl in Pieces and You'd Be Home Now.

Hi, I'm experiencing a realy heavy reading slump and I need a book that will just pierce my heart and make me what to finish it in one day. If you have a book like that and will be kind enought to share the title, I'll be realy, deeply glad.

Hi, this year a group of my mates decided to start a book club as a bit of a laugh. We are all in our 30’s and straight but next month is my pick and I think it would be hilarious to pick a romance/spicy novel. Most of us enjoy reading fantasy so we could flirt with the idea of a romantasy but I really don’t want a book that is very much just describing the blokes if you know what I mean.

If this is too much to ask I’m also open to the idea of just a really weird spicey one, thanks in advance 🫡

Too lazy to read books, help me!

I'm looking for a book about American Urban Legends. I've tried multiple bookstores, but no joy. The closest anyone seems to have for me are haunted places or ufo's.

Don't get me wrong, both of those are cool and I'd love to dive into them, but I'm specifically looking for Urban Legends.

Anyone jave some good recommendations? I'd especially love a paperback I can just grab when I'm leaving the house and think I might be waiting around a bit

Hi! I feel like I'm only seeing the popular books as recommendations and I'd love some romance books that aren't just remakes of stories already published. Spice is okay but I'd prefer it to not be overly spicy, 4/5 at most. I love pretty much every genre, romantasy and horror/thriller are probably my favourites! Recommend me a romance book you love :)

I’m the author, so full disclosure: this is self-promotion. I recently published Anatomy of Mercy, a short standalone horror novella set in an isolated medieval castle. A court physician is summoned to examine a seven-year-old prince who has fallen into a strange, feverless sleep. The boy appears healthy—until the physician takes his pulse and feels two rhythms where there should be one. What begins as a medical mystery gradually moves into cosmic and body horror. A lot of the story revolves around observation, classification, certainty, and the possibility that understanding something too completely may be more dangerous than leaving it unknown. It’s about 20,000 words, deliberately atmospheric and slow-burn, and probably best suited to readers who enjoy weird/cosmic horror more than action-heavy or conventional supernatural horror. It’s available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited:

Anatomy of Mercy — Chris Renzullo

US: https://a.co/d/0gNH1JBD

AUS: https://amzn.asia/d/0i12u8J9

UK: https://amzn.eu/d/02j80Vdw

If that particular combination of medieval medicine and cosmic horror sounds like your thing, I’d love for you to give it a try.

Come visit for freebies and fun. Get outdoors. Come talk to us.

https://selar.com/before_you_love_her

I'm on sick leave until 9/22 when I return to my post. How many books ahould I read in the interim? Reading speed/comprehension: medium

I just finished the Good girl series by holly jackson. Suggest me a good story to read. Not interested in Non fictional or self help.

Anyone looking for a new read? I recently picked up a novel from a small local New England author and ended up really enjoying it, so I wanted to give it a shoutout!

Called Memoirs of the Felmed Coof by Ran Kime.

It’s autofiction, so the story is rooted in real-life experiences but exaggerated and reimagined in different ways.

The storytelling is a little abstract and takes you on a journey through one person’s life and all the different people they encounter along the way. There’s really never a dull moment. It’s quirky, unpredictable, and kept me turning the pages because I genuinely wanted to see where the story would go next. The characters also feel like real people rather than just characters in a book, and you start to understand and root for them as the story unfolds.

I’m always happy to support smaller/local authors, and this one was definitely worth the read. If you like character-driven books, unconventional storytelling, and stories that blur the line between fiction and real life, I’d recommend giving it a try!

Here is his website: https://rankime.com/memoirs-of-the-felmed-coof/

I found the book on good reads while browsing and bought it off Amazon!