Whats the most engaging book you’ve read recently you couldn’t put down.
I started this year reading like crazy and i officially hit my slump. I mostly read sci-fi but looking to mix it up (no spice please). Interested in any hidden gems or books you think are up-and-coming.
Honestly? It’s currently Anthony Seldon’s new book “Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister.” As an American, I had no idea who Liz Truss was before she became prime minister, and while I certainly followed the head of lettuce jokes and the media heckling/speculation that she wasn’t going to last much longer, I didn’t really get why.
Reading Seldon’s book is a real page turner, showing her rise to power and her almost immediate making blunders that laid the path for her imminent resignation. It’s a horror movie where you want to scream “turn around”; it’s Shakespearean in tragic flaws leading to the inevitable downfall; and it’s knowing what’s coming while simultaneously not wanting to wait to see what happens next page after page, chapter after chapter.
And it’s the bizarre nature of Truss still arguing/believing that she was the victim of a cabal or deep state conspiracy, when Seldon clearly lays out how the blame rests solely on her head and her hand-picked team (aka also her head, really).
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{{ The Woman in Me by Britney Spears }}
{{ Dora: A Headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch }}
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Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar. Contemporary fiction that was published earlier this year. Really funny and original with interesting characters and amazing prose (Akbar is a poet). Probably my top book this year and can’t stop thinking about it.
71Crickets on
I recently read Run On Red (Noelle Ihli) and enjoyed it. It is on the shorter side, under 300 pages, and takes place in one night, so it moves along nicely.
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So many recs! Too many! When I’m in a slump, I go through awards lists (the Hugo, the Nebula, World Fantasy Award, National Book Award, etc) and start reading the winners. The award websites have lists of past winners so that’s easy. Doing this takes a lot of the exhaustive research out of this process. Good luck!
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Dungeon Crawler Carl
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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
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I LOVED The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. It is character-focused and reading it was like immersing myself in a warm hug. It was exactly the kind of book my sad, anxious soul needed.
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A Walk in the Woods and A Brief History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
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Hypertension by Dan Simmons or Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
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The lost symbol -Dan Brown
Honestly? It’s currently Anthony Seldon’s new book “Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister.” As an American, I had no idea who Liz Truss was before she became prime minister, and while I certainly followed the head of lettuce jokes and the media heckling/speculation that she wasn’t going to last much longer, I didn’t really get why.
Reading Seldon’s book is a real page turner, showing her rise to power and her almost immediate making blunders that laid the path for her imminent resignation. It’s a horror movie where you want to scream “turn around”; it’s Shakespearean in tragic flaws leading to the inevitable downfall; and it’s knowing what’s coming while simultaneously not wanting to wait to see what happens next page after page, chapter after chapter.
And it’s the bizarre nature of Truss still arguing/believing that she was the victim of a cabal or deep state conspiracy, when Seldon clearly lays out how the blame rests solely on her head and her hand-picked team (aka also her head, really).
{{ The Woman in Me by Britney Spears }}
{{ Dora: A Headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch }}
Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar. Contemporary fiction that was published earlier this year. Really funny and original with interesting characters and amazing prose (Akbar is a poet). Probably my top book this year and can’t stop thinking about it.
I recently read Run On Red (Noelle Ihli) and enjoyed it. It is on the shorter side, under 300 pages, and takes place in one night, so it moves along nicely.
So many recs! Too many! When I’m in a slump, I go through awards lists (the Hugo, the Nebula, World Fantasy Award, National Book Award, etc) and start reading the winners. The award websites have lists of past winners so that’s easy. Doing this takes a lot of the exhaustive research out of this process. Good luck!
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I LOVED The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. It is character-focused and reading it was like immersing myself in a warm hug. It was exactly the kind of book my sad, anxious soul needed.
A Walk in the Woods and A Brief History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
Hypertension by Dan Simmons or Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer