Hi all! I’ve began writing a lot more in recent years, however I’ve never read a book start to finish (I know), a big part of that has been attention, another part perhaps just not finding the right book to break me in.
I’d love some suggestions on light and/or illustrated novels and general easy to read books, preferably with first-person & present tense settings (but open to anything!)
I enjoy fiction, fantasy realism, sci-fi, gritty, mythological, but again open to a lot more
I don’t enjoy crime drama/detective, smut/romance, and preferably not something I’d have seen movies about I.e the hunger games
Sorry if this seems picky, just want to give as much info as I can, thanks!
by ThrowRA-505
7 Comments
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card was a movie, but with luck you haven’t seen it.
You should just read things you like. Two things come to mind:
1. Pick a movie or tv show you like that’s based on a book or series. Start there!
2. Try manga or comics. Plenty of reading and pictures too. There’s some great Marvel/DC comics of course and Manga like Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball etc.
EDIT: just saw you said not something you’ve seen movies about but honestly if you liked the movies then you’d probably LOVE the books. Way better
You might enjoy **Red Rising by Pierce Brown**, a fast-paced, twisty, dystopian sci-fi/fantasy revenge story. It’s in first person, has great characters, rich world building, and an epic story.
If you want a really fun fantasy series, which to me has great anime vibes, check out **Unsouled** by Will Wight, the first book in the Cradle series. The audiobooks are really great as well, if you’re into that, and breathe life into the characters and world, narrated by Travis Baldree.
**The Devils** by Joe Abercrombie is a fun, dark, fantasy novel filled with great characters, action, and dark humor. A team of supernatural ‘baddies’ set off on a top secret mission across ‘alternate-history-medieval-fantasy-Europe’.
**Piranesi** by Susanna Clarke is a beautifully written, short, weird, compelling little fantasy/magical realism novel, that will stick with you. It starts off a little abstract, but stick with it and the story soon comes together into something easy to understand, and half the fun at the start is trying to solve the mystery of what’s going on along with the main character.
**Jitterbug Perfume** by Tom Robbins is a wild ride of a novel…funny, whimsical, mildly philosophical… with a fair bit of adventure and magic/mysticism to go along with it. If you enjoy his unique style, all of his other books are worth checking out as well. I’d recommend starting with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Still Life With Woodpecker.
Murderbot diaries series! Very short, zero romance, first person narration
Retread Shop by T. Jackson King ~ it’s a short SciFi & is fast, fun reading.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham ~ it’s quite a departure from his usual “lawyer” books. Short & interesting.
You might like the Dungeon Crawler Carl series! They look humongous but they are fast-paced, easy reads.
Project Hail Mary
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Ender’s Game
Rendezvous with Rama
Neverwhere