This year, my 2026 resolution is to read a lot more books, especially from different genres. I don’t want to limit myself to the same types of books I’ve always read. For some background, I’ve mostly been into fiction such as young adult, dystopian, fanfiction, and a lot of romance. But now that I’m turning 25, I feel like it’s time to branch out and try some more “serious” books or different genres.
The thing is, I’m honestly intimidated by non-fiction. Books like Atomic Habits (a book I have heard a lot about), as well as psychology and philosophy, all seem interesting but overwhelming. I really want to give them a try, but I have no idea where to start.
I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations you all have! How did you make the jump to non-fiction or more challenging genres? Are there any specific books you’d suggest for someone new to these topics? Thank you so much in advance for your help!
by Severe_Struggle_7520
3 Comments
Hey! I made a similar jump a few years back and honestly Atomic Habits is actually a pretty solid starting point – it’s way more digestible than you’d think and reads almost like a really good blog post that got expanded into a book
For psychology I’d suggest “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Kahneman but fair warning it can get a bit dense in some chapters so don’t feel bad about skipping around. Philosophy wise maybe start with “The Midnight Library” since it’s got philosophical themes but still feels like fiction, then work your way up to something like “Man’s Search for Meaning”
The trick is just not putting pressure on yourself to finish everything – some non-fiction books are meant to be reference material anyway
If psychological thrillers with buried secrets, tension, and slow-burning suspense are your thing, check out The Secerts We Buried – Sparrow Creek, it’s a New Thriller, a new Author
Could i suggest maybe reading a few shorter books to get used to a different writing style in small doses? I’m sure you can find a list online of books under 100 or 200 pages but here are a few of the top of my head:
Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
A Portrait of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
If you like romance, you’ll like Jane Austen. I spent most of Pride and Prejudice waiting for the main romance to get off my page so i could watch Lizzie’s parents banter but i’m in the minority here i aknowledge.
Also, i know it’s really praised at the moment but i have to say: i am not a fan of Atomic Habits. Here is a 2 minute summary:
>If you want to incorporate, say, yoga into your routine, add it on after something that you already do regularly eg brushing your teeth (“habitstacking”). Try to make it more appealing for yourself by removing friction – clear your floorspace, lay out a mat and your water bottle the night before.
Good, solid advice. But he repeats these two points for several hundred pages, strung together by uninteresting anecdotes. This book would have been better off as an short essay, or a series of witty tweets.
That said, my main advice (not that i am in anyway qualified to give advice to you, but this is reddit) is just to read what genuinely interests you. Do not go and read books based on what you think you **should** read only to not enjoy them. This especially stands for non-fiction because writing is a means of communicating information and if you don’t really give a shit about the topic of information communicated, you will not enjoy the book. My favourite nf genre is medical history, my friend’s is about computing or engineering etc.