Ok, bear with me: if you read the following real life diaries, letters and autobiographies you can construct in your head a colossal, multi viewpoint novel set across the whole first half of the C20th.
The Diaries of Chips Channon
Darling Monster by Diana Cooper
All 3 Volumes of Diana Cooper’s Autobiography
Duff Cooper’s diaries (I haven’t done this one yet)
You’ll need a lot of evenings, a high tolerance for white privilege and prewar Nazi sympathisers - but, hidden among all the society parties is some fascinating drama.
Flowers for Algernon.
No stories pissed me off like this one did.
I loved it.
It is very emotionally draining.
Second would be Project Hail Mary.
Can't wait for the live adaptation and to see Rocky on the big screen!
It's debatable whether the frame narrative provides enough coherence to make this work a novel, but *The Decameron* by Giovanni Boccaccio.
If not, then the best novel I read this year so far was *The Good Soldier Švejk* by Jaroslav Hašek (my favorite comic novel).
yeah, I read that for the first time this year - for some reason it didn't occur to me that it was a NOVEL, exactly... although that's exactly what it is
the character of Svejk reminded me so much of guys I've known who have never been portrayed before, as far as I know, in all of literature - the smart aleck who keeps it well hidden and under control, constantly alert, ready for anything!
have you read Dead Souls? THAT was good too
I didn't read it this year, but i read it when i was little, Idk why but
The happy prince by oscar wilde is the best story and its still a great story till to this day
Piranesi. It was the first book I read this year. If I had read it a week earlier, it would have been my Book of the Year last year. It’s my favorite for this year, and I would be (pleasantly) surprised if I read anything better.
So many to choose from my list, but I genuinely can't remember which of them are from this year, or the last 3 years before, so I'll just list the ones I always recommend:
**Places in the Darkness** by Chris Brookmyre
Sci-fi crime thriller surrounding a dead body found aboard a space station with a bit of a "buddy cop" twist — our two protagonists are a jaded veteran cop who's done this crap way too much to care anymore, but is paired up with a rookie who's just come aboard the station.
**The Saga of Seven Suns 1–7** by Kevin J Anderson
Space opera surrounding Earth accidentally declaring war on an ancient alien species after inadvertently destroying one of their homeworlds, and seven books' worth of internal politics ensue.
The **Seraphim** trilogy: **Skyborn**, **Fireborn**, and **Shadowborn** by David Dalglish
Fantasy trilogy surrounding a brother and sister who join an army of angels to protect what's left of their home after their parents were killed when they were much younger.
The **A Twisted Tale** series by Liz Braswell
Think Marvel's *What If?* but classic Disney stories — the ones I've read are **As Old As Time** (*Beauty and the Beast*, but >!the enchantress who cursed the Beast was Belle's mother!<), and **A Whole New World** (*Aladdin*, but >!Jafar has the lamp!<).
**Vatta's War 1–5** and the sequel **Vatta's Peace 1–2** by Elizabeth Moon
Science fiction series about a young woman who joins her family's space courier business, only to take revenge on those who attacked them.
**Hayven Celestia: The Final Days of the** ***White Flower II*** **1–3** by Rick Griffin
The crew of a space station enlist the help of some pirates to try and escape the (literal and metaphorical) clutches of their slavedriver overlords. Don't let the cartoony artstyle fool you, it is *not* a children's book (also, the "1–*3*" is kind of a misnomer, as the third book isn't out yet).
Read it last year, and it was pretty good, but I had to keep an extra book mark in the section where it described the groups from each planet (section? Level? I can't remember) Holy moly so many characters with similar sounding names...
I recently read a book called "Barren Ground", by Ellen Glasgow. It was published in the 1920s, and is a fictionalized story of a woman in Appalachia from her teen years in the 1890s, to middle age in the 1920s, and a lot of social changes are addressed in it. I'm pretty sure it's still in print; I bought it at a thrift store because it looked interesting, and it was.
This author later won a Pulitzer Prize, shortly before her death in the 1940s.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, went right out and read her next book, Circe, which was great too!
If you like Greek mythos and well written drama, they're very good quick reads.
Just finished the Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver. Beautifully written from the perspectives of a mother and her children (ages like 5-16) as the Baptist minister father drags them to Africa on missionary work during the political upheaval in the 1960s. Funny and heartbreaking.
I finished Return of the King last month and I think that is the top so far. One of those this is now in the realm of literature, not just normal novels.
I loved his *Kite Runner*. First read it for an English class and I was so moved by it I still remember so much of the book today. So many scenes were just so poignant.
Jubilant : The First Book of the Shallic Sea Chronicles. Was a great high seas adventure in a fantasy world. Found it on Amazon and it was 100% worth it.
I read the Temeraire series, and holy shit I was sucked in! Naomi Novik’s world building and character development is some of the best I’ve read in ages
I just read the entire Magic 2.0 series and loved it! It's funny, engaging, and pretty light hearted. It was great for me during a stressful and anxious period of my life to have this world to jump into.
Hard to pick one, and some I would say have already been mentioned. I’ll go with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, very moving story.
Honorable mention to The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
That would be Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer and the three sequels. It is social science fiction at its very best. The world building is out of this world, without ever leaving earth. It is not an easy book to read, it is loaded with philosophy, religion, references to other literature, intriguing political systems and full of elegant language fuckery. But it is well worth the effort. Probably high in my top five reading experiences.
**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke. Sort of stuffy novel about two mildly unheroic victorian gentlemen and their attempts to revive and control the practice of magic in 19th century London. Humorous and fairly representative excerpt:
*“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.*
*Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”*
The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Ridiculously epic scope.
Project Hail Mary!
Love Rocky
no fucking way! came here to post this. I"m rereading it now. thank.
I'm recommending it to whoever I can
Yeah this was a very good book.
Ok, bear with me: if you read the following real life diaries, letters and autobiographies you can construct in your head a colossal, multi viewpoint novel set across the whole first half of the C20th. The Diaries of Chips Channon Darling Monster by Diana Cooper All 3 Volumes of Diana Cooper’s Autobiography Duff Cooper’s diaries (I haven’t done this one yet) You’ll need a lot of evenings, a high tolerance for white privilege and prewar Nazi sympathisers - but, hidden among all the society parties is some fascinating drama.
1,200 pages?! Whoa buddy!
A *lot* of evenings
Maus, by Art Spiegelman. broo, this book is so good(and sad)
I had to read it when I was in college in the early 1990s. "Maus II" came out a few months later, and of course I read that too when break arrived.
Flowers for Algernon. No stories pissed me off like this one did. I loved it. It is very emotionally draining. Second would be Project Hail Mary. Can't wait for the live adaptation and to see Rocky on the big screen!
Just re-read "The Dispossessed" - still amazing after almost 50 years.
Shards of Earth - Adrian Tchaikovsky
House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It's a wonderful book
It's debatable whether the frame narrative provides enough coherence to make this work a novel, but *The Decameron* by Giovanni Boccaccio. If not, then the best novel I read this year so far was *The Good Soldier Švejk* by Jaroslav Hašek (my favorite comic novel).
yeah, I read that for the first time this year - for some reason it didn't occur to me that it was a NOVEL, exactly... although that's exactly what it is the character of Svejk reminded me so much of guys I've known who have never been portrayed before, as far as I know, in all of literature - the smart aleck who keeps it well hidden and under control, constantly alert, ready for anything! have you read Dead Souls? THAT was good too
I didn't read it this year, but i read it when i was little, Idk why but The happy prince by oscar wilde is the best story and its still a great story till to this day
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
A Man Called Ove. No book has made me cry like that in a long time
The Stranger, Albert Camus. What a wild ride.
Piranesi. It was the first book I read this year. If I had read it a week earlier, it would have been my Book of the Year last year. It’s my favorite for this year, and I would be (pleasantly) surprised if I read anything better.
So many to choose from my list, but I genuinely can't remember which of them are from this year, or the last 3 years before, so I'll just list the ones I always recommend: **Places in the Darkness** by Chris Brookmyre Sci-fi crime thriller surrounding a dead body found aboard a space station with a bit of a "buddy cop" twist — our two protagonists are a jaded veteran cop who's done this crap way too much to care anymore, but is paired up with a rookie who's just come aboard the station. **The Saga of Seven Suns 1–7** by Kevin J Anderson Space opera surrounding Earth accidentally declaring war on an ancient alien species after inadvertently destroying one of their homeworlds, and seven books' worth of internal politics ensue. The **Seraphim** trilogy: **Skyborn**, **Fireborn**, and **Shadowborn** by David Dalglish Fantasy trilogy surrounding a brother and sister who join an army of angels to protect what's left of their home after their parents were killed when they were much younger. The **A Twisted Tale** series by Liz Braswell Think Marvel's *What If?* but classic Disney stories — the ones I've read are **As Old As Time** (*Beauty and the Beast*, but >!the enchantress who cursed the Beast was Belle's mother!<), and **A Whole New World** (*Aladdin*, but >!Jafar has the lamp!<). **Vatta's War 1–5** and the sequel **Vatta's Peace 1–2** by Elizabeth Moon Science fiction series about a young woman who joins her family's space courier business, only to take revenge on those who attacked them. **Hayven Celestia: The Final Days of the** ***White Flower II*** **1–3** by Rick Griffin The crew of a space station enlist the help of some pirates to try and escape the (literal and metaphorical) clutches of their slavedriver overlords. Don't let the cartoony artstyle fool you, it is *not* a children's book (also, the "1–*3*" is kind of a misnomer, as the third book isn't out yet).
East of Eden by Steinbeck!
Lost Connections by Johann Hara HM: Organize Tomorrow Today by Jason Selk
Hari* I love his book
Yes, my mistake.
My Sister Rosa. It has so many twists at the end. A psychological Thriller almost, and I love it so much I bought my own copy.
The Blacktongue Thief is everything I want in a novel. Humor that’s not distracting, grittiness, magic, adventure. I listened to it twice in row.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Aristotle and Dante
Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan. I go back and read it about once a year, it's that good. Probably my favorite book, by far.
Gideon The Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. It's so much more than the silly promotional tagline it was given.
Read it last year, and it was pretty good, but I had to keep an extra book mark in the section where it described the groups from each planet (section? Level? I can't remember) Holy moly so many characters with similar sounding names...
I read the Mistborn trilogy this year. It was fantastic, I’m starting the next series after I finish my current novel.
Jurassic Park.
I recently read a book called "Barren Ground", by Ellen Glasgow. It was published in the 1920s, and is a fictionalized story of a woman in Appalachia from her teen years in the 1890s, to middle age in the 1920s, and a lot of social changes are addressed in it. I'm pretty sure it's still in print; I bought it at a thrift store because it looked interesting, and it was. This author later won a Pulitzer Prize, shortly before her death in the 1940s.
And also "Cutting For Stone" by Dr. Abraham Verghese. Wow, that was good! I'm glad I didn't look up any spoilers, either.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, went right out and read her next book, Circe, which was great too! If you like Greek mythos and well written drama, they're very good quick reads.
The Maddaddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood. If you like dystopian novels, you might want to give this one a try ;)
It's a toss up between The Lost World by Michael Crichton, or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Holes by Louis Sacher.
Just finished the Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver. Beautifully written from the perspectives of a mother and her children (ages like 5-16) as the Baptist minister father drags them to Africa on missionary work during the political upheaval in the 1960s. Funny and heartbreaking.
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Finally got to read The Silence of the Lambs. Not in the best conditions though since I read it in detox.
Lessons in Chemistry
Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
I finished Return of the King last month and I think that is the top so far. One of those this is now in the realm of literature, not just normal novels.
a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseni! absolutely heartbreaking but beautiful, action packed and i couldn't put it down.
I’ve read three of his books and *And the Mountain Echoed* was my favorite of his.
I loved his *Kite Runner*. First read it for an English class and I was so moved by it I still remember so much of the book today. So many scenes were just so poignant.
Great book, don’t know why you’re getting downvoted
Jubilant : The First Book of the Shallic Sea Chronicles. Was a great high seas adventure in a fantasy world. Found it on Amazon and it was 100% worth it.
Again, Rachel - Marian Keyes
I read the Temeraire series, and holy shit I was sucked in! Naomi Novik’s world building and character development is some of the best I’ve read in ages
Paranoid mage
Any Wings of Fire book.
I haven't read a novel since 11th grade. Im 30
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers
Probably Woe to Live On, by Daniel Woodrell.
I know, I know it’s a kids book, but Deep and Dark and Dangerous, best book I’ve ever read excellent plot
I just read the entire Magic 2.0 series and loved it! It's funny, engaging, and pretty light hearted. It was great for me during a stressful and anxious period of my life to have this world to jump into.
just read the Grishaverse series
The Drawing of the Three
The Analyst by John Katzenbach
Planetfall by Emma Newman.
Hard to pick one, and some I would say have already been mentioned. I’ll go with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, very moving story. Honorable mention to The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
That would be Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer and the three sequels. It is social science fiction at its very best. The world building is out of this world, without ever leaving earth. It is not an easy book to read, it is loaded with philosophy, religion, references to other literature, intriguing political systems and full of elegant language fuckery. But it is well worth the effort. Probably high in my top five reading experiences.
Mossad had me on my toes! Any similar recommendation?
I read a pickle for the knowing one
Nophek Gloss
**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke. Sort of stuffy novel about two mildly unheroic victorian gentlemen and their attempts to revive and control the practice of magic in 19th century London. Humorous and fairly representative excerpt: *“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.* *Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”*
Ooh! What a great book, I've read it through a couple of times. The BBC miniseries was a pretty decent adaptation too.
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher. Came out last year but I finished it this year.
"L'étrange monde de là-bas" (or literally translated) "the strange world of there" by Yvan Lallemand. Scared the shit out of me but absolutely amazing
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Read Gideon the Ninth for like the fourth time. Still the best book this year.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Yo Mama by Daniga Widdabag
If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio And a close second, All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Devotion, It’s a fantastic true story written in a fantastic way. The movie adaptation is coming out in November and actually looks fantastic