TL;DR: I need to stop being a dummy and read again (after a prolonged hiatus). I have all of next week off, I want a book I can breeze through while smoking a cigar in the shade to get back into the flow of things.
Long Version: I stopped reading books about 16 years ago. Aside from the social distractions/ other struggles that can come around in your 20s/30s, I started bijg watching TV and movies. like 6-10 hours a day for a while, less and less over time, but still an astounding amount. Enough to kill (or turn off) the part of my brain that could be hassled to pick up a book.
This year I came to the long overdue conclusion that my relationship with alcohol could not continue (at least for now, and not in it's current state). That improvement in my life has me reviewing a lot of my other lifestyle choices, I am 3 months sober now and starting to find myself with more mental energy that I want to put towards healthier pursuits. I was raised reading about a book a week, I still believe it is a necessary part of adult life if you are able and want to stay mentally fit and not stagnate. I know I have putting it off long enough.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to have a beautiful healthy baby. Our son is a year and a half old now, and we were lucky enough to have his grandparents offer to take him for an entire week! My wife and I are getting away by ourselves for a whole week to decompress and emotionally unpack (first year=super hard, who would have thought). With all of that unfamiliar downtime, I want a good book that will keep me entertained while I smoke a cigar in the shade and decompress.
I would love some suggestions for a vacation read (thriller, historical fiction, crime, sci-fi) that I can sink my teeth into and try and jump back in where I left off far too long ago. I have only read 3 books from start to finish in the last 16 years: 2 from the Witcher series, and I read Of Mice and Men once a year because it's incredible (and short, and takes away some of the guilt of not reading).
Last book read before I stopped reading: Shutter Island (before the movie came out, read it start to finish overnight, I don't think I put it down for a second)
Hardest hitting: Fall on Your Knees (pure emotional devastation), Angela's Ashes, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Formative/ Favourite: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Things Fall Apart, Trainspotting, A Scanner Darkly, Great Expectations, everything Edgar Allan Poe
Could not get into: Shantaram, Life of Pi (please don't shoot), Jack Kerouac (I found it insufferable), Wuthering Heights (read as a punishment for missing an 8th grade assignment, cruel and unusual in my opinion)
**Please kind bookworms, if you've made it this far, give me your recommendations on a great book or two to help jump back in and help rediscover The Magic of Reading!**
by all-outta-ale