I hate fiction books. For some reason, because it’s make belief I feel like it’s a waste of time. I’m a toxic self help reader. Please refer me a fiction book, some topics I may like are;
– coming of age
– or anything similar to the above, or just anything in general!
by EconomyMeringue4536
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A year of rest and relaxation
Would you mind sharing more about the toxic self help category? I’m not sure if these will interest you. I’m generally a non fiction / self help person too and really liked them.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (2017) by Gail Honeyman
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead: A Novel (2021) by Emily Austin
Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) by Octavia E. Butler
Try Shadow Woman by Thomas Perry. Great character and action. He’s one of my favorite.
I’m more inclined to read nonfiction as well (I love self-help) but I’ve been intentionally expanding my fiction repertoire. I’ve found that a memoirs are a really enjoyable stepping stone from nonfic to fiction. Might work for you, too!
Classic novels. The classics got the title for a reason, and are generally beloved by all. Anything both me and my mom love has to be good, even though she mostly just reads the bible and I’m a real fantasy nerd. Arguably the same thing, but you get my point.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I thought there were more, but these are the only ones we both like. Wow.
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
(the memoir spirit within it animates it well)
From the wiki:
The book was an immense success. It was also released in an Armed Services Edition, the size of a mass-market paperback, to fit in a uniform pocket. One Marine wrote to Smith, “I can’t explain the emotional reaction that took place in this dead heart of mine… A surge of confidence has swept through me, and I feel that maybe a fellow has a fighting chance in this world after all.”
If you read self-help, then you’ve been reading fiction this whole time and just didn’t realize it.
You might try Sheila Heti’s How Should A Person Be?
Maybe historically accurate fiction like James Michener’s The Covenant.
I read a lot of fiction, and I read a lot of nonfiction, but I’m the opposite of you because I read absolutely no self-help because I feel like it is a waste of my time. (Not that trying to improve yourself is a waste of time, but that is often not found in self-help books today).
However, during the pandemic, some of my friends did an online book club where we read “Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One” by Raphaelle Giordano. It’s fiction. I hated it, but it was partially because I felt like I was reading a self-help book, so perhaps up your alley.
*The Emperor of Ice-Cream* by Brian Moore is an intriguing coming-of-age novel about a teenage boy who becomes an air raid warden in Belfast during WW2. The novels explores themes of sectarian divides and a young man’s yearning to escape the stultifying surroundings of his childhood.
Maybe you would prefer a fiction book that is written in a format that isn’t typical for fiction, such as Daisy Jones and the Six?
Bastard Out of Carolina
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
From Amazon:
“Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.”
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a great coming of age story
*Private Owens: A George Owens Novel*
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s a quick, easy read for you to dip your toes into. You probably have an idea of what it’s about.
Or…
On the Beach by Nevil Shute. It’s a little longer than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s a very descriptive and emotional story about a nuclear apocalypse. It centers around Australia, untouched by the bombs, as the citizens live the remainder of their lives, waiting for the inevitable fallout to reach them.