(English is my 2nd language, pls excuse any mistakes.)
I want to start reading again. What I always loved are stories written by people who experienced hell on earth first hand. **All Quiet on the Western Front** or **Das Boot** are books I was fascinated by years ago. They used so many words I didn‘t know, that it really motivated me to learn!
But it doesn‘t have to be war-related! Topics I‘m interested in are
– first colony on another planet (I‘ve read **The Martian** already and liked it)
– insane expeditions (how the hell did people discover Hawai or other islands?!)
– extreme poverty or famine
– deep sea
You get the idea. It shouldn‘t be too slow. If it‘s scifi it should be as realistic as possible.
I hope someone could help me out, bc I have no one who‘s interested in the same stuff as me and the Bing Chat AI isn‘t able to recommend the kind of books I‘m looking for.
Thank you in advance!
by myrelic
21 Comments
Angelas Ashes. Where the Crawdads Sing. Boys in the Boat, (poverty). Astoria.
These are some non-fiction recommendations that I’ve enjoyed.
A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols about an around the world yacht race is a crazy read!
The Wager by David Grann. A shipwreck, mutiny, and murder.
River of Doubt by Candace Millard. Recounts Theodore Roosevelt’s exploration of a tributary of the Amazon River.
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. He was on Robert Scott’s ill fated expedition to the South Pole.
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King (haven’t read this yet)
I’m sure you’ll get a ton of recommendations here.
The Terror by Dan Simmons.
It’s about British explorers who were trying to find a passage to Asia/India through the arctic, so they wouldn’t have to sail all the way around the America’s.
The two ships were “lost at sea”. That said, maybe 10 years ago they actually found the ships.
This is a fictional book based on real world events with some fictional elements to it, but it’s a fantastic read.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China was one of the harshest realities I read about.
More great books:
Angela’s ashes
Pachinko
A thousand splendid suns
The kite runner
Pachinko
I would suggest ‘Into Thin Air’ by Jon Krakauer. I couldn’t put this book down – it was gripping, suspenseful, and informative at the same time. Probably my favourite non-fiction read of 2023.
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody. It starts with crushing poverty, then she becomes a civil rights activist and freedom rider and things get a whole different kind of harsh
Endurance, by Lansing, about one of Shackleton’s expeditions
Down and out in Paris and London – George Orwell, written about his experiences of being ”in between jobs”, and living first as a kitchen worker in paris and later as a beggar in London.
Slaughterhouse five – Kurt Vonnegut, about the Dresden firestorm.
Under Pressure: Living Life and Avoiding Death on a Nuclear Submarine by Richard Humphreys is FANTASTIC
You want a book about harsh living conditions? Hell on earth you say?
Fall of the Guardians by Vanessa White.
Synopsys:
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors when a “difficult” teen gets sent away? Based on real-life events from the early 1990’s, this book tells the harrowing story of Vanessa, who at age 13, was one of those kids. She was ripped away from everything she knew and sent away to an abusive military boarding school for girls run by a religious cult that promised to fix these so-called “troubled teens”.
Like most Troubled Teen Industry survivors, Vanessa and her surrogate four-year-old little sister, Jess, experienced unspeakable horrors no human should ever have to endure. But unlike most, they were able to do things no one else could. Along her way, Vanessa found family. She was the catalyst for the formation of the Guardians, a special unit in her program tasked with making the girls human again. With the help of her family and friends, Vanessa came of age while making a real difference to hundreds of other girls in an impossible situation, that is, until it all came crashing down, as the Guardians fell.
Find out what it took for them to survive their time in this cult, their successes and failures, how they finally escaped, and what came next, including a 2022 update on what happened to the girls and staff she wrote about over the ensuing years and a number of response letters from some of the others she wrote about.
This powerful and heart-wrenching book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been or known a “difficult” teen, anyone who attended a Troubled Teen program, and especially for any parent that has sent away a difficult child or is thinking that sending their child away is the best or only option.
ISBN: 9781800167025
The Raft by Robert Trumbull.
The Third Man Factor by John Geiger.
I am currently reading [The Hunger Angel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13165142-the-hunger-angel) by Hertha Müller, it has plenty of harsh living conditions.
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell, nonfiction.
About British mining communities in the North of England in the 1920s and 30s.
Also, his book Down and Out in Paris and London.
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
It’s non fiction but reads like a novel, depicting life in Mumbai’s biggest slum: behind the Beautifuls Forever by Katherine Boo
I don’t think anyone has said the Revenant yet- definitely a worthy read about revenge in the harshest of climate and times.
La Sociedad de la Nieve / Society of the Snow by Pablo Vierci
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (focuses on a woman’s journey through war-torn Leningrad)
Out of the Goby by Weijian Shan – Author was forced into hard labor as a child and young adult during China’s cultural revolution and tells how he went on to create a happy success of his life.
Arabian Sands: it’s a memoir detailing expeditions through the most barren part of Arabia and the people who live among it.
American Dirt, Then She Was Gone and The Nothing Man are my suggestions!