I've been dying to sink my teeth into a good book, but for these past months I've been dipping into (and promptly back out of) books that just haven't grabbed me. I'm terribly, awfully, obnoxiously picky about what I read. I hate the feeling of wasting time on a book, so I'm hoping someone here will have a good suggestion based on what I like.
What I'm mainly looking for is a book with a protagonist who feels real. Someone with depth and complexity! I want to understand why people around them like or hate them, and what makes them tick. If they're likeable, great! If they're not, also great! As long as I can believe in them. The books I've tried lately have protagonists that are just so flat and lifeless. If I'm inhabiting a protagonist for a whole book, I need to find them interesting!
I'm open to any genre (romance usually isn't a hit with me but I'm still willing to try it). I particularly love horror (the gorier, scarier and weirder the better!), thriller and mystery books. Sci-fi and fantasy too, but I'm not likely to stick with it if I have to wade through inordinate amounts of world building and exposition. I love when a book is steeped in allegory, particularly when it's written by an author belonging to a marginalised group as it can be a really engaging and effective way to understand perspectives that aren't your own. I also really like stories that are dark and challenging while still having elements of kindness, love and hope to them.
Books I've really enjoyed in the past are:
– The Haar, David Sodergren
– Piranesi, Suzanna Clark
– Model Home, Rivers Solomon
– Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
– Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield
– Annihilation, Jeff Vandermeer
– Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin
– Notes on an Execution, Danya Kukafka
– Dark Matter, Michelle Paver
– Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Eric LaRocca
– She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan
– Witch Hat Atelier, Kamome Shirahama (a manga series not a book series I know, but it still counts)
Ultimately, I want to read something that makes me GET the protagonist and surrounding characters by putting them into scary, thrilling, bizarre and challenging scenarios and exploring how they navigate them.
by macaroon-raccoon