Previous post: Turning 30. Turn me into a book reader from doom scroller.
Yesterday I sent a question here asking for recommendations for my first ever book.
I was honestly not expecting so many thoughtful replies, but so many lovely people in this sub showed up with amazing suggestions. My reading list went from zero to… slightly overwhelming (in a good way haha).
I compiled all the recommendations into one list, so if anyone else is looking for a good book to start with, here you go.
Thank you again to everyone who took the time to help a first time reader out. You made this whole “starting to read at 30” thing feel a lot less intimidating tbh. Love this energy!
Just ordered Into Thin Air.
| Book / Series | Author | Recommended by |
|---|---|---|
| The Martian | Andy Weir | 4 |
| Into Thin Air | Jon Krakauer | 4 |
| Guards! Guards! | Terry Pratchett | 3 |
| Discworld (general) | Terry Pratchett | 3 |
| Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | 3 |
| All Systems Red / Murderbot Diaries | Martha Wells | 3 |
| And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie | 2 |
| Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | 2 |
| Jurassic Park | Michael Crichton | 2 |
| Dark Matter | Blake Crouch | 2 |
| Dungeon Crawler Carl | Matt Dinniman | 2 |
| Project Hail Mary | Andy Weir | 2 |
| A Secret History | Donna Tartt | 2 |
| Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan | 2 |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | 2 |
| Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | 2 |
| Remarkably Bright Creatures | Shelby Van Pelt | 1 |
| Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | Gabrielle Zevin | 1 |
| This Is How You Lose the Time War | Gladstone & El-Mohtar | 1 |
| Parable of the Sower | Octavia Butler | 1 |
| In Cold Blood | Truman Capote | 1 |
| The Devil in the White City | Erik Larson | 1 |
| Killers of the Flower Moon | David Grann | 1 |
| I’ll Be Gone in the Dark | Michelle McNamara | 1 |
| The Stranger Beside Me | Ann Rule | 1 |
| Green River, Running Red | Ann Rule | 1 |
| The Forever Witness | Edward Humes | 1 |
| The Devil at His Elbow | Valerie Bauerlein | 1 |
| Endurance | Alfred Lansing | 1 |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | 1 |
| The Sun Also Rises | Ernest Hemingway | 1 |
| The Outsiders | S.E. Hinton | 1 |
| What Alice Forgot | Liane Moriarty | 1 |
| The Husband’s Secret | Liane Moriarty | 1 |
| Big Little Lies | Liane Moriarty | 1 |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | 1 |
| The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | 1 |
| 1984 | George Orwell | 1 |
| A Short Stay in Hell | Steven L. Peck | 1 |
| Mistborn | Brandon Sanderson | 1 |
| The Nightingale | Kristin Hannah | 1 |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | 1 |
| Red Rising | Pierce Brown | 1 |
| Shogun | James Clavell | 1 |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell | 1 |
| The Pearl | John Steinbeck | 1 |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | 1 |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams | 1 |
| Maus | Art Spiegelman | 1 |
| Barefoot Gen | Keiji Nakazawa | 1 |
| The Hot Zone | Richard Preston | 1 |
| Collapse | Jared Diamond | 1 |
| True Grit | Charles Portis | 1 |
| Deacon King Kong | James McBride | 1 |
| Bronx Is Burning | Jonathan Mahler | 1 |
| Good Omens | Pratchett & Gaiman | 1 |
| The Bee Sting | Paul Murray | 1 |
| A Man Called Ove | Fredrik Backman | 1 |
| Anxious People | Fredrik Backman | 1 |
| East of Eden | John Steinbeck | 1 |
| Fourth Wing | Rebecca Yarros | 1 |
| Recursion | Blake Crouch | 1 |
| The Shining | Stephen King | 1 |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | 1 |
| Kafka on the Shore | Haruki Murakami | 1 |
| 11/22/63 | Stephen King | 1 |
| Butter | Asako Yuzuki | 1 |
| The Jungle | Upton Sinclair | 1 |
| Neapolitan Novels | Elena Ferrante | 1 |
| All My Friends Are Superheroes | Andrew Kaufman | 1 |
| Cosmicomics | Italo Calvino | 1 |
| The Teachings of Don Juan | Carlos Castaneda | 1 |
| The Richest Man in Babylon | George Clason | 1 |
| Culture Shock | Cesar R. Frausto | 1 |
| Cloud Cuckoo Land | Anthony Doerr | 1 |
by Professor_Pink007