June 2026
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    Looking for book recommendations, I've pulled some of my favorite books to give you an idea of my taste. Please don't recommend other books by any authors here, I've already read them. Any genre, just looking for really good writing!

    438 days an extraordinary true story of survival at sea

    Miracle in the Andes – Nando Perrado

    Endurance: Shacktleton’s Incredible voyage

    Covenant of water

    Middlesex

    Klara and the Sun

    Every Man Dies Alone (Hans Fallada)

    Lonesome Dove

    Station Eleven

    Knockemstiff

    East of Eden (just in case you haven’t read it, this is my fave Steinbeck book)

    Hyperion

    The Pale Faced Lie

    The Copenhagen Trilogy

    Dark Tower Series

    Boy Swallows Universe

    Circe

    My Dark Vanessa

    The Girl With All The Gifts

    The Road

    Piranesi

    The Corrections

    My Brilliant Friend

    by MostlyPrettyHappy

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    8 Comments

    1. TheHellscapeChoseMe on

      Books I always recommend are:

      **Girl Woman Other** by Bernardine Evaristo
      **Nothing to See Here** by Kevin Wilson
      **Educated** by Tara Westover
      **My Sister the Serial Killer** by O.Braithwaite

      Others I have enjoyed recently:
      **What Strange Paradise** by Omar El Akkad
      **Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead** by Emily Austin
      **The Other Valley** by Scott Alexander Howard

    2. – Will and testament by Vigdis Hjorth – lots of crossover with the Copenhagen trilogy. Also has the multigenerational family saga issues of some of your other picks. *Trigger warning for talking about csa*
      *-* the ice palace by Tarjei Vesaas. Young friendship dynamics of my brilliant friend. Some of the weirdness of place of piranesi.
      – if you loved station eleven because of the putting on plays in challenging contexts element – enter ghost by Isabella Hammid / glorious exploits by Ferdina Lennon. I suspect given your list your life enter ghost more, although I loved both
      – then if you like enter ghost, minor detail by Adania Shibli is fantastic and gut wrenching in the way a lot of books on your list are
      – probably the least similar to your favourites that I’ve read, but the hours by Michael Cunningham is fantastic and has both the emotional intensity, interwoven stories and beautiful prose that you seem to enjoy.
      – human acts by Han Kang. Interwoven stories about a student uprising and massacre in the 80s in South Korea. Harrowing but full of humanity
      – I haven’t read it, but have heard great things about a marriage at sea, and it seems to have a lot of crossover with the nonfiction on your list (edit to add, just realised this is called Maurice and Maralyn : an extraordinary true story of shipwreck, survival and love in Australia and the UK. It’s by Sophie elmhirst)

    3. I love a lot of your favourites too, and I really think you’d like David Mitchell; Bone Clocks, and Cloud Atlas are good places to start.

      Also;

      Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel

      Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

      Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

      Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro

      Nickel Boys, and Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

      The Terror by Dan Simmons

      True Grit by Charles Portis

      My Antonia by Willa Cather

      Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke

      The Great When by Alan Moore

      We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

    4. MaximalistVegan on

      I like some of the same books you like.

      Have you read anything else by Emily St. John Mandel aside from Station Eleven? Her other books are really good too. If you like Station Eleven you may like Margarett Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy.

      Speaking of Margaret Atwood, if you liked My Brilliant Friend you might like Cat’s Eye.

      You may like Flashlight by Susan Choi (I read it this year and loved it now I’m reading everything by her)

      Back to speculative fiction, you may like Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin

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