Doesn’t have to be fantasy or anything, just putting it out there. May even want to branch out. I just finished another stormlight archive book (3), and want to take a break from that to read something that might be mentally beneficial or is an example of “good” writing that people talk about.
Looking to branch out and for something to make me think and is enjoyable, and might be a classic. Not insanely focused on literary devices like Phantom Tollbooth or anything, but where it is actually… well… present and has good prose. What are some good options?
by OrganicDroid
5 Comments
Either of the two books by Abraham Verghese -*Cutting For Stone* and *Covenant Of Water*. Beautiful writing by a masterful storyteller (both are lengthy family sagas.
Anything by Jesmyn Ward, known for her poetic prose and largely Southern settings.
As a fellow Sci-Fi reader who enjoys branching out, I’d recommend both Brave New World and Island, both by Aldous Huxley. I found both very enjoyable, the writing quality is better than the generic Sci-Fi pulp writing of the 50/60s, and both leave you wondering what the future holds. Also, both complement each other on their outlooks upon the world.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
and
We’ve Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
Echo, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks
*Lonesome Dove* is the greatest western of all time and has many of the same tropes as most fantasy novels, just set in the wild west with guns instead a fantasy planet with magic. The heroes gather their team and go on an adventure in strange and foreign lands, with adventures along the way.
*Shogun* has all the fish out of water tropes of a new person being exposed to a secret world of magic, it’s just a British sailor being exposed to 1600s era Japanese culture.
They are both wonderfully written, hugely influential, and most importantly, wildly entertaining. And as a person who reads a lot of fantasy and sci fi books, they are two of my favorites ever.