I'm getting back into reading for the first time since I was a kid. My stamina and reading speed are low and slow. I'm looking for a relatively easy read to get back into.
Requirements:
- Fiction
Preferences:
- No Sci-Fi
- Easy To Read, Easy To Follow Stories
- Prefer a book that is not too long (250~300ish page max)
Other Media I Like:
- Zombie Apocalypse Shows (Z Nation, Walking Dead, iZombie)
- Post Apocalypse Survival Shows (Van Helsing TV Show)
- Fantasy/Magic/Sword & Sorcery Shows (A Discovery of Witches, Fate: The Winx Saga, Shadow and Bone, The Shannara Chronicles)
by PuzzledCompetition58
18 Comments
The “A discovery of witches” books are excellent.
World war Z
A game of thrones and the dunk & egg short stories.
Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Anything by T Kingfisher.
All of Terry Pratchett, start with Mort or Guards Guards and read in publication order.
When you lose your sci-fi prejudice, everything by Becky Chambers and Martha Wells.
The Hunger Games series.
Shadow and Bone is also a great book series (I haven’t seen the show).
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel?
The Uninteresting and Completely Unadventurous Tales of Fred the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toewes
World War Z is absolutely gripping! Don’t judge it by the movie! It’s told in a series of interviews after the zombie outbreak.
Fantasticland is about a group of young workers at a theme park in Florida who go all psycho on each other after a disaster. It’s good dumb fun.
Hide by Kiersten White is about someone tricked into thinking she’s going to be on a reality show in an abandoned theme park. It’s also gripping and has a great graphic novel adaptation if you’re into that.
T. Kingfisher has some good horror/fantasy novels if you want to browse through her works. She’s pretty prolific, hard to pick one, but maybe A Sorceress Comes to Call.
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill is an interesting take on fantasy horror.
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I’ve read the whole series (so far) at least 10 times. Fast read, fantastic characters and world building. Funny and emotional, extremely creative. Great stuff!
Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams
There’s a book on Royal Road called Arachnoextinction, it’s like a sci Fi channel comedy horror movie in book form (think shardnado, but… Slightly less absurd, slightly). It has camp, one liners, and is generally a good time. I know you said no sci Fi, but it’s not got space ships and I think it’ll fit your ask decently well.
Also it’s free.
T Kingfisher is easy. I liked What Moves the Dead and What Feasts at Night. They are novellas, so they’re short. I did not care for The Twisted Ones by her, though.
Maybe you’d do well with a volume of short stories, maybe one of Stephen King’s collections? That way each story would only be like a few pages of commitment at a time, you could set it aside often if needed.
Oh hey, didja know that, like *The Walking Dead*, *iZombie* was a comic book before it was a TV show? It was originally 28 issues collected into 4 trade paperbacks. An omnibus edition came out in 2015.
My favorite zombie book series is the As the World Dies series by Rhiannon Frater. *The First Days* is the first book.
John Dies At The End
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Mistborn
SFF is absolutely brilliant for novellas. Tor.com, https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/226505.Hugo_2026_Eligible_Novellas are very useful.
Going to second (third?) World war Z. The chapters are kind of mockumentary style interviews / articles from the zombie apocalypse. I think the style may lend itself nicely if you need to rebuild stamina.
I love Pratchett, but I’m going to go a different direction and suggest Good Omens instead of discworld unless you’re British. There are a lot of older British pop culture references in Discworld that, while not necessary to enjoy the book, might make it feel like a slog until you get back into reading.
You absolutely should read some discworld eventually. It’s a connected world of 40+ books, but each book works as a stand alone novel as well. You just may miss a little character development if you skip around.
Ready Player One is a good one, especially if you’re a millennial or Gen X. Fun pop culture references for the 80s.
If you feel up for a series, Rick Riordan has some great children’s fantasy novels. I read 15+ of his novels out loud to my children over the years. For contrast, I think I made it through 2 Harry Potter books. Magnus Chase might be a good place to start rather than Percy Jackson. It’s a trilogy.
Dreadful is a lot of fun. A Dark Wizard wakes up with amnesia after a spell gone wrong. It’s very charming.
And anything by Jason Pargin. He’s hilarious.
Honestly, I’d check into middle grade stuff. Yes, it’s meant for a younger audience, but you’re looking for shorter stuff that’s easy to read. Lots of good middle-grade fantasy.
Some suggestions:
* The Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan
* The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville (the last book is about 500 pages, but it’s WELL worth it. If you have a Kindle, it’s been split into like 4 or 5 shorter books)
* A Glory of Unicorns which is an anthology of unicorn-based short stories
* Warriors by Erin Hunter, at least the first arc or two (The Prophecies Begin and The New Prophecies)
* The Unicorns of Balinor by Mary Stanton
The Road by Cormac McCarthy very zombie-esque, easily readable and short. A father and son walk across a post apocalyptic United States trying to survive in the chaos in a nuclear winter.
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