I love the idea of reading and/or listening to audiobooks, but I haven't really figured out what to look for in a book. This ultimately means that I have more DNFs than I do books that I've completed.
I should preface this by saying that I have completed probably fewer than 30 books in my entire lifetime, and I've listened to probably another 5 audio books. I haven't been able to get into a groove with reading, but I really feel like I'm missing out.
What ends up happening is I either spend ages looking, not really knowing what I'm looking for, or I pick something that seems like it would be up my alley, and then end up not liking it. Every so often I strike gold, but it seems more by luck than judgement.
Even books and series that seem to be widely loved, I've struggled with. I didn't finish Project Hail Mary (which I didn't like right off the jump) and I stopped listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl after Book 4. While I quite liked DCC initially, I was worried after Book 1/2 that I was going to get tired of the formula (which is ultimately what happened).
In terms of books I've read and enjoyed, I really liked Hunger Games trilogy. I followed it up with Divergent which I completed, but didn't like anywhere near as much (I felt like the story was pretty good, but the writing wasn't).
Other notable completions are Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, and a book I read years ago called Man and Boy (by Tony Parsons).
I recently started listening to The Stand (after having my interest piqued when I saw someone else reading it). I really like the narration, but I think the writing is way, way too slow for me. I appreciate him writing an entire chapter about Fran's Mother's parlour, and thought it was an excellent way to tell us \*exactly\* who Fran's Mother was, but I'm 23 chapters in, and I still have FOURTY hours left. I don't know I have the stamina for it. I thought DCC4 was long, and that was 18h.
I \*love\* stories, and I love characters, but most of that enjoyment has come from movies, TV shows, and video games. I love Back to the Future, Baldur's Gate 3, and Grim Fandango. I also really like Ready Player One, but I watched the movie first, and now I feel like I won't enjoy the book as much because I know the story.
The only common theme I've been able to pluck out is that I like some sort of "unlikely protagonist". But that hasn't always guided me well. I also like the idea unconventional friendships, "found family" and stories where relationships is part of the appeal.
I'm hoping that people on this sub could:
\- Identify whatever themes you can from my comments that I could use as guidance to narrow down my searches.
\- Offer any book suggestions that jump out based on my comments.
Feel free to ask clarifying questions!
Thanks so much in advance for anyone who read this far and can help me out!
by AgentEves