My 2026 goal is to read more books, specifically more fiction, as I usually read non fiction and haven’t been able to really enjoy a fiction book in several years.
That said, the few fiction books I have enjoyed the past few years have definitely been more contemporary classics/books that have a message that applies to the current state of the world. Just to name a few, The Handmaid’s Tale, Lord of the Flies, 1984, Frankenstein, Dune, and Night.
In nonfiction I go for spiritual/self help, memoirs, and storytelling books like the 48 laws of power which I read more for the summarized historical accounts than the actual “laws.” Some I’ve enjoyed recently are Think Like a Monk, I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and An Era of Darkness.
All that said, I’d like to eventually build my creativity to a point where I can read more fantasy, but based on my interests I think right now I’d probably enjoy historical fiction, dystopian fiction, just more realistic stuff. I’d love some recommendations!
by WideEmployment2699
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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Given your request I would suggest 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It will scratch your itch for history/state of the world, but with a fantastical spin of fiction.
It is a long read, but well worth it. Even among King fans it is typically a top 5 of his works. It’s really quite something!
Into the wild would be a great read, it’s a nonfiction technically but reads like fiction. It may help make the transition from nonfiction to fiction easier.
W.G. Sebald is one of the greatest writers of the past fifty years – up there with Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez – and he did a lot of mixing fact and fiction around history (personal and political). Austerlitz is about a man trying to find his parents after discovering he was sent away from Nazi-occupied Europe to Wales, but it’s also about architecture and Europe and the Holocaust in general. The Rings of Saturn is purportedly a reflection about various historical events and buildings (which Austerlitz is as well), but it’s also half made up.
Do you have any ideas or awareness about why fiction doesn’t click for you?
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough.
Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris
Both are quite close to being non fiction
For military historical fiction, Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian and Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield