Sorry, it’s kind of a long list but I loved every single one of them. I especially enjoy first contact with aliens.
The Sparrow,
Inverted World,
Canticle of Leibowitz,
Book of the New Sun,
Anathem,
Embassytown,
Le Guin’s books,
Octavia Butler’s books,
Ted Chiang’s books,
The Three Body Problem trilogy,
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books,
Becky Chamber’s books,
Solaris,
Roadside Picnic,
Kurt Vonnegut’s books,
A Fire Upon the Deep
by WorkFew661
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Read Project Hail Mary yet? Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.
Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. I’d say he’s most similar to Tchaikovsky in general vibe.
Also Peter F. Hamilton is worth checking out, another sci-fi writer in that sort of sphere but I’ve only read the first book in the Night’s Dawn trilogy so I’m not sure which of his books is best to begin with.
XX by Rian Hughes is a trip. *Big* sci-fi book with wild formatting: lots of WordArt style font experiments, newspaper articles, embedded short stories, archival documents, transcripts, a literal soundtrack you can listen to on bandcamp, and a ton more. And it’s, in part, a first contact story. It’s got a lot going on and not everything works but it’s a pretty fun and unique read.
Greg Bear’s Forge of God
A good first contact book is “The Book of Strange New Things” by Michel Faber. Based on your likes I think you’d like it.
You might enjoy the Culture series by Iain M Banks, can be read in any order but my 2 favourites are the Player of Games and Use of Weapons.
The Expanse by James S A Corey is an epic series
For something a bit different from your list the Bobbiverse by Dennis E Taylor, we are Legion (we are Bob) is the first one. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, gonna be a movie soon but the book is excellent
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Moonbound by Robin Sloan
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
*This is the Way the World Ends* – James Morrow
*Everything Matters!* – Ron Currie, Jr