Hi! I’m picking up my phone way too often. Now that I have some more free time, I’d like to get into reading. I don’t think I’ve read a book since high school.
Suggestions to get hooked?
I think the genre I’m looking for might be speculative fiction/ sci-fi thriller. Maybe stuff like Jurassic Park or Westworld? I haven’t read either but enjoyed the shows/movies. I enjoy stories where technology or science drives the plot, especially when things go a little wrong.
A few things I’m looking for (not necessarily all in the same book):
– Something in the Jurassic Park / Westworld vibe
– Alternative history could be cool
– Some humor would be great
– I also like politics, but maybe nothing too depressing given the real world right now
Also, if you’re thinking “you’ve probably already read the obvious ones,” I can almost guarantee I haven’t 😂. I’m basically starting from scratch.
Gracias!
by areyes8989
7 Comments
The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey
# The Library at Mount Char by [Scott Hawkins](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8446300.Scott_Hawkins)
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
The Chinese government has been keeping a secret for forty years: they have found a species of animal no one believed even existed that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. Among them is Dr Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, a writer for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and an expert on reptiles. The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will marvel at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, that nothing can go wrong . . .
Leviathan James Byron Huggins
On an Icelandic Island, an illegal experiment intended to create the perfect biological weapon has transformed a once-innocent creature into the biblical Leviathan that once terrorized the world. Able to shatter steel and granite as easily as it can melt the strongest containment shields, Leviathan escapes from its pen and is loose in a vast underground chamber harboring soldiers and scientists.
The installation cannot allow Leviathan to reach the surface. For if Leviathan reaches the world, it could well be the end of the Earth. They must hold the line, here, and destroy it… even if they must detonate a last-chance nuclear failsafe built into the chamber itself. But, first, they must fight with every weapon at their disposal to discover if the beast can be killed at all.
It is a battle many will not survive.
As soldiers and scientists are vaporized by Leviathan’s hellish flame, or ripped apart by the dragon’s claws and fangs, a lone electrical engineer is forced to join the fight. And in the midst of what might well be the last battle for Mankind, Connor must find a way – any way – to save his family and kill this powerful, bloodthirsty Beast of Legend that has never been killed before.
Before it feasts upon the world.
Well, right off the bat you can go with Jurassic Park! It’s a solid read, but very different from the movies. One of the rare instances where I enjoy the movie more (book is still worth a read tho)
If you want philosophical sci fi with thought provoking themes:
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick bring up the ethics of advanced AI and what it would mean for humanity for robots to get to the point where they are indistinguishable from humans.
Enders Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card are about two cultures that are unable to communicate and understand one another, and end up going into a brutal war due to this. Then, when it’s far too late and the damage is done, they realize that the conflict wasn’t a battle for survival like they thought it was.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a story of a scientist who has to solve a world ending problem with the aid of a weird little friend. Great read and the movie is coming out soon.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. A fucking banger of a book, has one of the coolest entities in all of fiction: the shrike. Time shenanigans, interconnected characters, a slowly revealed mystery, 100/10 read
You might enjoy Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, especially the audiobooks narrated by Jeff Hays. A regular dude from Seattle and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, are pulled into a real life video game ‘dungeon’, when aliens bring about the end of human civilization on earth. Ridiculous premise, yes…but it’s dark, violent, funny, and gets surprisingly epic, with great characters and a lot of depth by book 7.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a fast-paced, epic sci-fi/fantasy novel, with great characters, rich world building, adventure, and a compelling sci-fi premise at the core. It’s a great story, and involves humans meddling with science similarly to something like Jurassic Park/Westworld.
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch is an intense, trippy, sci-fi thriller, featuring secret government agencies, murder, and alternate realities.
For something completely different, check out Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Creative, quirky, funny, slightly philosophical, it’s a really fun book. If you enjoy his style, all of his other books are worth checking out, but some good ones to check out next would be: Still Life With Woodpecker, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
If you’re OK with some funny, violent, dark fantasy, check out The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. A cast of highly-flawed bastards you’ll come to love, a crew of supernatural baddies, on a quest across alternate-history-medieval-fantasy Europe.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! By Douglas Adams.
So many movies these days are based on books. My suggestion as a good starting point would be to pick one of your favorite adaptations and read the book it came from.
The story and characters will be more familiar to you, making the read easier. Plus you will find new exciting details about your favorite stories that didn’t make it to the screen.