I have been in a reading slump for a long time and want to get back into it. I used to feel such deep feelings about a story that it could change my mood for the rest of the day, and sometimes long after. Please recommend a book that will engross and absolutely shatter my soul.
I’ll read absolutely any genre, fiction or non-fiction. Open to all suggestions!
by PublicConstruction55
26 Comments
One Thousand Splendid Suns or the Kite Runner! I cried for three days after the second one.
No need to go any futher than either Flowers for Algernon (short) or The Farseer Trilogy (longer).
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
Do not read A Little Life. Many will tell you to, but save yourself. It’s traumatic but to the point of farce. It’s unrealistic and the author has no compassion for her characters or readers. There’s probably snuff films less disturbing.
American War? Station 11?
Never Let Me Go
Do *not* read spoilers going into it
Flowers for algernon
Where the Red Fern Grows
Anything by Octavia Butler, particularly *Kindred*
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Fault in Our Stars.
– Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
– No One is Talking About This
Everything All at Once by Steph Catudal. It’s a memoir and it will rip your heart wide open (but in a good way).
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Nickel Boys
tess of the d’urbervilles or The Road
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala. It’s a beautifully written memoir about her family and the changes that unexpectedly transformed her life following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and Tsunami. I’m still thinking about this book one year after reading it.
I just finished The Lilac People by Milo Todd last night, and man. I was surprised by how much of a kick in the pants it was. Now, that’s fictional, but heavily based on real WWII events, per the author’s notes. If you want nonfiction, I cannot over-recommend One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad. I was absolutely devastated and honestly still cannot stop thinking about it.
Pachinko. I read it in January and am still thinking about it.
The school for good mothers maybe my cry and cry and cry
Long bright river
Jar of hearts
The divergent series
I don’t know how it ends but so far this fits the theme: The river is waiting by Wally Lamb
A Little Life.