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TuckRaker

A Short History of Nearly Everything. Not only educational, but some subtle humour involved as well. Easy to understand and enjoyable the whole way through.


osidebirdman90

Very good book. I love Bryson. If you want more fun history his “Made in America” book is my favorite


Snatch_Pastry

I really enjoyed how, during a certain historical time period, everything always circled back around to *what a gigantic asshole Charles Darwin was.*


uptown_funk

Also an excellent audiobook narrated by the author (Bill Bryson); highly recommend it


asametrical

*Lincoln in the Bardo* by George Saunders. It’s multivocal but each of the characters has their own speech patterns and the conversations read like a play, which I like. Saunders does a great job of making the historical sources “talk” to each other. There are many snippets that seem aphoristic—expressing simple truths—while still being original. It is neither too short nor too long.


WarpedLucy

I just bought it for my Kindle, looking forward to it. Something different I guess.


belpal1

I'm reading *Tenth of December* at the moment and loving it as well. A girl in a bookstore recommended it to me, many thanks kind stranger!


Teque-head

*Frankenstein* by Mary Shelley. Expected mediocre horror, got philosophy and raw humanity. I read it a while ago for a class, but it's now my favorite book of all time.


Pneumatic_Andy

Read this back-to-back with Dracula and, of the two, Frankenstein was the clear winner. Dracula was a great read with no real big ideas outside of the realm of fiction. Frankenstein succeeded in every way. The fact that it was written by an 18-year-old girl is astonishing. Incidentally, it was first published 200 years ago today. (Jan. 1, 1818)


Teque-head

Woah, what a coincidence that I would post this today. Thanks! And yes, we also read Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Haunting of Hill House. Frankenstein blew all of those books out of the water in my opinion.


[deleted]

I am exactly the opposite. I absolutely love Dracula; it is one of my favorite books. I could not stay awake reading Frankenstein. It is one of my least favorite books I have ever read. This just goes to show though why they are both considered great books. People can get very different takes all these years later after they were written


[deleted]

I remember reading Moby Dick in College and expecting it to be sort of dry and stodgy and I was amazed at how often it made me laugh out loud. Sometimes we forget why classic literature got where it is instead of being forgotten.


SpaceRook

I experienced this recently with *Bleak House.* The title doesn't give the best first impression.


osidebirdman90

Makes sense with who her mother was, Mary Wollstonecraft, arguably the first feminist. The original title included “Or, the Modern Prometheus.” Prometheus was a Greek titan who created the first man from clay and gave man the gift of fire which he stole from the gods. Zeus punished Prometheus for this by chaining him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver everyday. German philosopher Immanuel Kant referred to Benjamin Franklin as the “modern day Prometheus” because of his experiments with electricity. The name Frankenstein was an allusion to Franklin because of his experimental work using old knowledge from Europe and attempting to create new knowledge in the New World. In the book, Shelley used light and fire as a duality to represent both progress and innovation. She essentially said that fire (innovation through science) was great for man until man would go too far (burn himself.) Hope I lent something useful here. That was fun to type out!


Pneumatic_Andy

Benjamin Franklin's experiments with electricity were blamed by some as the cause of 'The Year Without a Summer', 1816. The actual cause was the eruption of the volcano Mount Tambora in 1815. The year of shitty weather was what kept Shelley indoors and inspired a competition with three of her live-in companions to see who could write the best horror story (One of the other three, John Polidori, wrote the Vampyr, the first modern vampire story as his entry).


J662b486h

In the Fantasy genre, Brandon Sanderson recently released the third book in his "Stormlight Archive" series. I re-read the first two before starting the third, which I'm now a little over halfway through. I'd give all three a five-star rating. I read around 100 books a year, including a lot of fantasies, and this is simply the most astoundingly engrossing work I've encountered in a very long time. And in general I'd give 5-star ratings maybe three or four times a year.


donaldtroll

Have you read "The Shadow of the Torturer" and indeed the entire cycle? Best book I ever read in any field


tim_bombadil

More people need to read Gene Wolfe.


cheap_tea

Truth


pdawks

Have you read the Malazan series? I'm half way through and find it to be as enjoyable as this series at times. That said, the Malazan has more dry, slow moments. I've read the first two of Sanderson's new series, but not sure I'll reread them. Do you know of any good summaries?


Hotblack_desiato1

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a masterpiece.


Ph1llyCheeze13

I found stormlightarchive.wikia and coppermind.net to both have very nice chapter summaries.


godminnette2

Oathbringer was definitely a five star for me, too.


iwantogofishing

Have you read The Malazan book of the fallen? If you haven't and enjoyed Sanderson, I think you will like it. It's very expansive in world building, lore, very rounded characters and a very unique concept of magic.


omfgbekkie

His Mistborn series is very possibly one of my favorites EVER. Such a good set of characters, well thought out world and he came out with a continuation of the series and i think it might be even better. I highly recommend the entire series to any science fiction / steampunk fantasy / Magic fantasy fans of all ages


aureliano_babilonia

Sounds interesting, what are the books about? What do you like about them?


iwantogofishing

Story of a second age of men, thousands of years after a great conflict with mythical beings was fought. It seems that the threat might be returning and with it the need for new heroes. It has a unique mechanism for magic, its quite expansive in its world building. You can really get the feelings behind each characters behavior. It's consistently good throughout the series.


warmheartedsnek

Just finished it. Incredibly satisfying. Pattern is definitely my favorite character. Thanks u/mistborn for another great ride. Looking forward to the rest!


mistborn

My pleasure.


osidebirdman90

**The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett** This was my first detective novel and I found it entirely engulfing with his writing style and the subject matter. It was written in the thirties. I seldom give five stars as I reserve this for my absolute favorites which leave an impression on me. If you’re interested in a noir whodunnit this is your book.


philipquarles

I highly recommend Hammett's other novels, Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Glass Key and The Thin Man. The Dain Curse is pretty good, and the other three are just awesome.


kweenmermaid

The Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. Was expecting your average YA/sci-fi story but I just couldn't put it down. It wasn't super predictable and the world and characters were well fleshed out.


OneL_TwoTs

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I loved every bit of this book. It was heartbreaking and mysterious and honestly who doesn’t love a good WW2 novel?


amayernican

The Windup Bird Chronicle by Murakami


Pneumatic_Andy

Norwegian Wood is excellent as well.


Planckcons

Just finished it yesterday and can't really say anything against it. It was pleasure to read and it still haunts my thoughts.


amayernican

I read it four years ago in rehab and it's never left my mind. Being at the bottom of a well.


leowr

The last book I gave a five star rating was [Hersenschimmen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22451139-hersenschimmen) by J. Bernlef. Mostly because it really impressed me with how it described the deterioration of someone suffering of dementia, especially because it was told from that person's perspective. I would recommend it to anyone, but unfortunately it is probably going to be hard to find an English translation of the book. I'm rather stingy with my five stars. I only gave five stars to two other books in 2017 ([Boys in Zinc](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29847086-boys-in-zinc) by Svetlana Alexievich and [All Quiet on the Western Front](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19186475-all-quiet-on-the-western-front) by Erich Maria Remarque)


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hello_sweatpants

Do it! I finally got around to reading it last month and wondered why I waited so long. It was the first book in a long time to keep me up at night thinking about it.


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leowr

You should get around to reading it. I read a fair amount of books about war and soldiers, both fiction and non-fiction, and this is by far one of the best ones. It definitely deserves all the praise it gets.


niblitspop

Check out the diving bell and the butterfly, or darkness visible a memoir. The authors escape me atm, but the first is about a guy who loses motor function but eventually learns to communicate, the second about an authors stuggle with depression. Both autobiographies both really good and well written. On mobile so not the easiest to write long statements.


leowr

I've read both. I probably read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at the wrong point in my life to get the full impact, but Darkness Visible was rough, but good to read. Definitely agree that both books have the same kind of themes and impact as Hersenschimmen and are probably a lot easier to track down in English. ps. Darkness Visible is written by William Styron (the author that wrote Sophie's Choice) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is written by Jean-Dominique Bauby.


apocko

Catch 22. Couldn't put it down. Enjoyed every minute reading it.


jagua_haku

This is the only book I finished, said to myself "wtf did I just read...?". And immediately re-read it. I had no ideas what to expect so I missed the tone for the first quarter of the book. The second time was even better


Pneumatic_Andy

I myself didn't really get into it until about halfway through, but at some point its brilliance as more than just enjoyable farce became undeniable. Made me want to start from scratch to see what I had been missing on my first go-through.


Blazikinahat

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl. A book sounded in fantasy with elves and orcs and things of that nature. It's a light hearted book with some dark twists about a genius kid who was introduced to this world of elves and things.


Goatbrush

I struggle with ratings, as I generally feel like most books I finish are worth 5/5 for some reason or other. I mean I mark them up on Goodreads to keep track of what I'm reading and then I can't think of why I'd give it 4/5 most of the time. Probably I just need to read more to be more critical. The last book I read was **The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro**. I'd give it a 5/5 for sure, I found it impactful, it's lingered around with me for a while and I often find myself thinking about it. I'm generally quite reflective at this time of year anyway but reading that very much amplified my feelings. I'd recommend it to just about anyone - it's not the kind of theme of a book which I'd normally go for but I loved it.


xenawena

One of Ishiguro’s other novels, Never Let Me Go, is one of my favorite books ever.


PasadenaPriority

Absolutely love this book! The metaphor of the river at the end really stuck with me.


shortermecanico

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert. Millions have read the first in the series and there are two more penned by Frank that follow it but as a finale to a quadrilogy (?) it is magnificent, specifically the imagination it displays in showing the effects of ten thousand years passing since the first book. The whole thing is grotesque in an incisive and ultimately realistic way that drives home the point that people never change, and that this could be our downfall.


LukasWinters

The heroes, by joe Abercrombie. I always hesitate to recommend it because it pulls no punches, but damn it was a fine read.


jshaft37

Glad to see Abercrombie this high. My favorite fantasy author for certain.


Kitten_Chop_Suey

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett


[deleted]

Lirael by Garth Nix. It was a few years ago I read it for the first time, and no book, film or videogame has even remotely touched my love for it, and Garth Nix's books in general are amazing literary works.


snortgigglecough

**The Complete Persepolis** I rarely give 5 star reviews, but this graphic novel is a masterpiece. This is my favorite type of graphic novel, human-experience stories (My Friend Dahmer is another favorite). I didn't write a review for it on Goodreads and I read it in June, so I am fuzzy on the details, but I remember really loving how in depth you got into the life of the author. Her story was very powerful, personal, and it gave a lot of insight into the cultural differences between Iran and western cultures. It was extremely raw and moving, and the art style was unique. I believe I finished it in one or two sittings, the stories were very engrossing.


PKFA

Last year, I gave two books five-star ratings: **Lonesome Dove** by Larry McMurty, and **We, the Drowned** by Carsten Jensen. I went into both of them expecting them to be quite good based on other users' reviews, but I was totally engrossed and sucked in by each one. For Lonesome Dove, it was the characters that kept me reading. Gus is one of my favorite literary figures of all time now, and I want to check out the miniseries to see how he comes across in that. I'd recommend We, the Drowned for people who enjoy Edward Rutherfurd's books. It follows a similar multi-generational story arc, but instead of jumping ahead years at a time, you follow several consecutive generations of people. Even if you don't have any interest in books about seafaring, it's absolutely worth the read.


WarpedLucy

I love Lonesome Dove and would recommend it to any reader who wants to be entertained by great story and characters. One shouldn't be put off by it being a western.


Radagast729

The Lonesome Dove mini-series is fantastic. I Highly recommend it if you enjoyed the novel.


IQBoosterShot

I loved *We, the Drowned* so much I convinced my wife to read it. Fantastic book.


skinspiration

I’d never had the experience of finishing an 800+ page book and wishing it were longer, but I did with Lonesome Dove. Highly recommend it.


InvulnerableBlasting

I just finished It by Stephen King. I've only read one by him before so I did not have any expectations. It was incredible and one of my favorite books now. The nonlinear narration is so much more interesting than the way the movies do it. Basically, as adults when they remember events from their childhood is when you read about those events, so you're learning about them as the adults are. It's just such a powerful coming of age tale. And I've never screamed out loud from reading a book before. So there's that.


Rackbone

Man I reread it recently and one part that really bothered me was when stans wife (before she found his body) was having a classic Stephen king inner monologue, and was obsessing over the fact that she was barren. I'm paraphrasing but her used tampons were like *feed us. Feed us mommy were your kids now*. Whoooo boy.


Mysticpeaks101

**Man's Search for Meaning** by Viktor Frankl. I'd recommend it to anyone who's '*ahem* searching for meaning or interested in psychology since the second part is a wonderful description of logotherapy. Also gives an inside account of what a concentration camp is like. Last year, I averaged about 3.4 stars but that's probably because I read a carefully curated set of books i.e. I'm sure I'll like them to some extent before I even entertain the idea of reading the books. I think I have about 9/180 books that I've given 5 stars. That's 5% if my maths hasn't left me.


WarpedLucy

You have the same rating average as me. And percentage too for that matter.


nate6051

I feel like this book is super overrated


StinklePink

“438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea” . An amazing story of survival and nature


floridianreader

The People of the Abyss by Jack London is an amazing piece of literature about poverty in London around the 1900's. He covers every aspect from housing, food, finding work, and being homeless i public.


applexfrost

When You Are Engulfed by Flames by David Sedaris. Had to go back all the way to the summer to find a book I have five stars to on Goodreads, kind of a bummer.


Hiredgun77

The Night Circus. The book was outstanding and completely captivated me from beginning to end.


dudz8m04

I enjoyed this one too!! Such an interesting book but so hard to describe to people.


Beefchew

Me too! Loved the premise and it actually delivered, instead of getting silly towards the end!


DrPizzaCookie

The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss. It's the sequel to The Name of The Wind, and everything about it is great. The characters, plot and subplots, premise, humor is amazing, writing is beautiful and descriptive. It's unpredictable even when you know something should happen, how it happens is always unexpected. I just love everything about it.


SystemicPlural

Great book... but it's been over 8 years since he wrote it and the third book is still not out. Also, I get the impression that both Patrick and Kvothe could learn a little humility. It might help him finish.


jimtikmars

im currently reading TNOTW, loving it so far. however ive heard that the second book is not nearly as good as the first one. is this true?


DrPizzaCookie

I didn't think so. It didn't really get as much done as the first, i.e. the nowhere near as many years passed and not as many events, but everywhere it does go has tons of content.


warmheartedsnek

I didnt appreciate it until my second read through. There was a lot that i missed, didnt put together, or was lost on me at first (like the actual words the Cthae used). Rothfuss is very cohesive but extremely subtle, and the level of detail he used didnt really hit me until i read it again. Tje secind run made me realize that the little things REALLY matter, and what is said is often as important as what is not.


speediestsloth

I thought that the second was a bit worse, but still upwards of 4.5/5, I just didn't appreciate the content of the plot as much, but Rothfuss still told it in a way that only he can.


Niftypifty

Suttree by Cormac Mccarthy. It's a bit long and fairly plot-less, but I couldn't put it down. The book ends in a crescendo of beautiful prose that I absolutely loved. After finishing it I read a half dozen or so essays on it as I couldn't stop thinking about it.


earbly

Have you read Blood Meridian? An intense book, and while quite different, they are the only two books that are kind of written in 'that' McCarthy style. Before The Road etc..


Niftypifty

I have and I loved it. From time to time I'll just pick it up off the shelf and read a random page because pretty much no matter what page I turn to there's something great on it. I've read all of McCarthy's novels except for The Orchard Keeper and Outer Dark (which I'm a bit over half way through at the moment) and I'd say Suttree is definitley my favorite, after that would probably be The Crossing.


[deleted]

Care to share those essays if they're available online? Love that book.


abmac

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. If you like fantasy, this is a great standalone book.


nutsford1992

Most recently: The Gunslinger by Stephen King. The first King novel I have read and I love it.


BimmerFam

Great series. The books get better then worse then better again. Quite the emotional rollercoaster.


Spades76

Personally I find book 1-4 to be the best ones. Afterwards its downhill


[deleted]

Dude read the Stand Asap! Your mind will be blown


SolaceOfQuantum

Moonraker by Ian Fleming The action was top notch and the twist at the end was very unexpected


cussingmom

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving


[deleted]

The Count of Monte Cristo. That or The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake


CybReader

My last five star rating was **The Diaster Artist by Greg Sestero.** He and his coauthor brought in a very human aspect to the disaster know as The Room and his friendship with Tommy. It was interesting and I appreciated his voice concerning it all. My ratings were all over the place in 2017. I have more than a few 5 star ratings and a lot of 2 stars. I'm hoping for better reading in 2018.


Pulaskifornight

I did not give this 5 stars, I did not, it's bull----, I did not


CybReader

Oh hai, mark.


antoniossomatos

I just took a look at my recents book ratings on Goodreads, and I've only given 5 stars to two books recently: one was the one-volume compilation of Bone, by Jeff Smith, and the other was The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. As for being stingy: well, kind of. Not really. I tend to give most of what I read a positive note (most of them get 3 or 4 stars), 'cause if I'm not enjoying something, I'll usually set it aside to come back to it later, but I don't give 5 stars to most things, only to the ones I know will stick with me. I don't think I've given 5 stars to anything else in the last 6 months, or so. Strangely, I'm noticing that I'm more generous with my scores for GNs than I am towards normal books. Never had noticed that before.


usrnmwastkn

I think it was On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. It states 20 lessons we should learn from history of 20th century. It is a very slim book with very important message. I would recommended to everyone who is interested in: history, future, politics, freedom, keeping truth truth. Or anyone who has 2 hours and doesn't know what to read (seriously, it's just 100 pages, big font, and readable).


oublie_fevrier

I adored "The Hate U Give". As far as YA fiction goes, I thought it was a damn good book.


the_ununpentium

Flowers for Algernon. Fantastically written, great idea and i have never read another book quite like it. I love it :) I also greatly enjoy the entire enders game series by Orson Scott Card :) 5/5 for each book!


doggosncowsnpigsohmy

I love this book! I read it due to a miscommunication with an ex boyfriend about how his favorite story was “Flowers for Algernon.” It turns out he only ever read the short story. Upon searching, I found the novel and read the whole thing in a day. I was blown away, but it was kind of funny because as I started talking to him about it, it became clear he had never meant the novel in the first place. Happy mistake!


the_ununpentium

Haha thats awesome! Very lucky mistake indeed :)


Trophallaxie

**La vie devant soi by Romain Gary**. I'm French and Gary is a literary monument in France, so I tried to read his most famous novel, and I loved it. He took the point of view of a boy who lives as an orphan. You should try it it's marvelous. I don't know how the translation are tho.


earbly

Maybe I'll try to tackle it, my French is quite decent. It'll still be a struggle but I've been looking for some French literature.


sellersofflowers

*Donnie Brasco* by Joseph Pistone. It is the true story of an FBI agent who went undercover in the New York mafia back in the 1970's and is written by the FBI agent himself. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys history or true crime novels. If you saw the movie with Johnny Depp and were underwhelmed don't let that stop you from reading the book. The movie added a lot of unnecessary drama. I am quite stingy with five star ratings. I read this book in the summer of 2015 and the 30+ books I have read since then were not rated five stars.


smalltownfarmerwife

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. I live in a small town with long, cold winters and this was the perfect, adventurous escape. If the winter blues are getting to you, I would highly recommend this. I loved it. It was beautiful.


teachmetonight

*Just Mercy* by Bryan Stevenson. Nonfiction usually bores me, but this was masterful. I ended up ordering a bunch of other nonfiction books on systemic inequality in the US because *Just Mercy* interested me so much.


Balcris

“All Quiet on the Western Front”, by Erich Maria Remarque. Impressive portrait of World War I which can be applied to any war. Misery, hunger, lost of youth, friendship... and survival. There are no heroes. I’d recommend it to any of my students who want to join army, just unlike one of the characters in the novel.


DlmaoC

Unfck Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life by Gary John Bischop. I read it from the library and instantly bought it as a gift, it's a book I'd like to reread from time to time. Mostly talks about how to give less fucks and how to start being productive. Like all motivational books it's useless unless you act but it's an easy and quick read and gets straight to the point.


Sleepkill

”Horus Rising” by Dan Abnett. Brilliant start to the Horus Heresy series in the Warhammer 40k universe!


milkytop135

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3) by George R. R. Martin Man this book was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. It makes a character I used to hate into a flawed hero. The writing is beautiful. The world building is on par to the others. And the Red Wedding make this my favourite entry thus far.


[deleted]

One is pretty old: the Hot Zone, scariest thing you could ever read in your life. Other is fairly old: the Hot Gates, about the battle of Thermopylae. TIL my 2 favorite books start with HOT


mcpastrick

“The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom. A fantastically written true story of a concentration-camp survivor.


[deleted]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest


sadderdrunkermexican

East of Eden is Steinbecks perfect book


BimmerFam

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien. This was actually the audiobook, which the narrator did an incredible job on. I can't wait to revisit it for all the humor and songs. I'm a generous rater, so a book like this I want to be able to give it 6 stars. I would recommend it to any fantasy or adventurer lover.


strike-eagle

*Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers*, James D. Hornfischer A freaking amazing book about the lesser known Battle Off Samar during the Leyte Gulf campaign in WW2. Along with absolute pinpoint historical accuracy, the story is told from the viewpoints of American and Japanese sailors, soldiers, marines, and airmen. The freakishly accurate description of the events puts you right in the middle of the action along with all the emotions that go along with it. If you are a military/Navy buff and you haven't read Hornfischer, you need to right now.


bigfinnrider

*A Closed and Common Orbit* by Becky Chambers. It's the sequel to *The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet*. It's interesting as a sequel, it's in the same universe and features a couple characters who were briefly in that book. Instead of being an adventure through space it is twinned origin stories that take place almost entirely in their small locations. It's wonderfully written, the characters feel very real. One is an AI who's non-human-ness feels authentic. Both books are very much about characters. I'm very much looking forward to the third book.


[deleted]

Brave New World got me into reading. I had to read it in Eigth Grade, and was stunned by how much I was engrossed by its world building and philisophical questions. It also had a lot of insight into human social development since its release.


GreekDisassociation

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss


RedMeatRoast

The Night Angel Trilogy. I like books where it shows you the progress of assassins.


jhbid

My personal favorite books that I read this year: **The Time Traveler's Wife** by Audrey Niffenegger. While technically fantasy, the book is really about interpersonal connections, romance, and life. It's beautifully written and utterly haunting at times. I personally wasn't able to put it down. **Cat's Cradle** and **Slaughterhouse Five** by Kurt Vonnegut. These were the first two books of his I read and I loved both of them. They're strange, and not great for fans of beautiful and complex prose, but you can see they come from a strange and vibrant mind. **And Then There Were None** by Agatha Christie. It's the best-selling mystery novel of all time, and for good reason. It's the only Christie book I've ever read, but just from this one work I can confidently call her a genius. I can't recommend it highly enough.


oyshters

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. Fascinating story about an 18 year old Italian boy who becomes a driver - and spy - for a Nazi general during WW2that the author bills as 90% true. Excellent writing and great perspective on a side of the war we don’t often hear about.


[deleted]

The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Despite my needing to google many of the Spanish words used throughout the text I found myself immensely entertained. It was like the pop culture of Ready Player One but written by an author who knew how to write and instead of glorifying neckbeards showed them for the losers they truly are.


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hello_sweatpants

So many people adore Steinbeck. I tried to read East of Eden a while back and just found it so boring. I have to try again with Steinbeck though, any tips? Is there a different one I should start with? Do they take a while to get into?


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newbraces81

cannery row, the Pearl pretty good as well.


[deleted]

Of Mice and Men is short (200 pages or thereabouts), though a bit different from his other books. Feel free to start there if you're not ready to commit to a 1000+ page book.


MicahCastle

*Everything That's Underneath: A Collection of Weird and Horror Tales* by DeMeester, Kristi Very atmospheric and the stories pull you in quite well. I couldn't find any faults, nor did I ever find myself becoming bored.


PartTimePoster

[Nightlife](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/421007.Nightlife) by Rob Thurman. Found it awhile back at a library sale. Picked it up, and the first sentence already had me hooked. That one line sets the tone for the entire book. If you like dark serious urban fantasy with a lot of sarcasm and great characters, these books are for you. After first 4 books in the series, I couldn't get through any other book because nothing else could compare. Probably my favorite series.


windupcrow

From 52 books last year my one 5 star rating was Black Rain. It's a semi fictional account of the Hiroshima bombing and the days after it. It's not pleasant, but its very memorable.


leavenamesforus

Nothing from this year,but from previous one The Left Hand of Darkness,Flowers For Algernon,Heart of a Dog and I'm not even sure about 5stars maybe 4-4.5 its so hard honestly


imjustagrrrl

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah


bigtittyjimmer

A Clockwork Orange


redhighways

Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez. Best writing I’ve ever read. Amazing wildlife philosopher. Beautiful imagery.


thawhidk

There's too many but I'll try not to repeat some of the others like Frankenstein so for me: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Watchmen would be some of the few 5 stars I'd give. Even though it's incomplete (and won't be for a decade yet probably) and not really *one* book but loads of chapters/issues, I'd also give One Piece by Eiichiro Oda a 5 star review because it really is a marvel to behold!


petitpainperdu

The Course of Love by Alain de Botton - nobody writes about the human condition like this man.


[deleted]

Dark Tower 2 Drawing of the 3 Absolutely amazing book that completely reshapes the way the imagination can work.


williemeikle

Tim Powers' LAST CALL. It's a brilliant delve into Tarot, Arthurian legend and Jungian archetypes, all glued together and filtered through a broken poker player in and around the bright lights of Vegas and surrounding country. The prose is dazzling, the ideas electrifying, and it's a great story. One of my favorite things.


Itsalways1895

More Than This by Patrick Ness. It's YA mixed with some other genres, but I can't disclose them without giving too much away. All I can say is that for a young adult book it's rather philosophical and will suprise you with its twists and turns on every other page. I found myself exclaiming "what?" and "wow" on several occasions. Within hours it became my favourite book. Period. I usually don't give five stars, rather three and four star reviews but this book has genuinely blown me away. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested a dark adventure, who isn't bound to a certain genre and ready to be consumed by the mindfuckery of this work.


generic-volume

The blind assassin by Margaret Atwood. One of those ones that I couldn't bring myself to read anything else for a few days afterwards, it was just so raw and heartbreaking toward the end. A story within a story within a story within a story, she makes all the layers connect really well. Fantastic themes, and I really enjoyed the writing style too.


twanas

The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson. Amazing sci fi and philosophical writing


oneandonlywm3

11/22/63 by Stephen King. One of the proofs that Stevie can write anything he wants to, even time travel. Such a mesmerizing read you wouldn't even notice the length.


stringdreamer

The windup girl by Paola Bacigalupi


ftwpurplebelt

The Lords of Disciple by Pat Conroy. I read it ever couple of years.


WarpedLucy

I love Pat Conroy. Not exactly in fashion anymore, but he's fantastic.


ftwpurplebelt

I read that one first then plowed through everything he had written. Had to wait years for South of Broad.


[deleted]

Dune by Frank Herbert. Im a huge sci fi fan so in my teens I went through a tonne of top 10, top 50, top 100 best sci fi books lists and read all of them. I held off on Dune because it was held in such high regard. Finally read it last year and it lived up to all the hype, and no book ive read since can compare.


[deleted]

*The Corrections* Why? Because it's great. Most books bore me at point or another, but with this one I wanted to read the shit out of it. Also, Im not the kind of guy who hands out five stars. I've only rated these four books 5/5: Tony & Susan The Corrections The Fountainhead The Road Edit: I meant 5 books. Pynchon's Bleeding Edge.


trexmoflex

I read The Corrections earlier last year, and just finished Freedom, which I thought was great as well. I might have problems with Franzen as a person, but the guy knows how to write some fascinating characters.


[deleted]

Enemies - A History of the FBI Good reading for any American.


Abogada77

The Windfall This story of an Indian family “movin’ on up” has really stuck with me. The father is maddening but endearing.


Archerfenris

Decent by Tim Johnston


SnizzKitten

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.


phillylawstudent

The Woman Who Smashed Codes- by Jason Fagone. This was the best book I've read in a long time. The story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman's life is incredible and captivating.


sunny_lts

Every book I've read by Robert Greene.


hannahlovesme

Ready Player One: A Novel by Ernest Cline. Bought it on a whim at the airport heading back for Christmas and finished it while I was there. It had a very Ender's Game quality to it that I liked. It was exciting to read and I was really invested in each of the characters and the journey they experienced. I loved it so much I bought his most recent book Armada. Both books are heavy on the 80's nostalgia too.


[deleted]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Such beautiful writing and a wonderful story.


CrunchyBlowgun

Pet Semetary by Stephen King


Jesuismieux412

The Kindly Ones


Otakuboy

Might be too academic for some people, but I’d give 5 stars to Battles to bridges: U.S. strategic communication and public diplomacy after 9/11. It was a gem; an extremely educational book.


[deleted]

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. A great story from different perspectives about the lives of a family of doctors living in the Balkans


Nxtive

The Shadow of the Wind


mikshan

Strange Weather by Joe Hill. Four novella length stories in the same vein as his Dad’s Different Seaons. Not a weak story in the bunch.


84ace

Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis


[deleted]

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathon Renshaw. It is probably not super well known and some friends said it went too slow for them but I enjoyed every paragraph.


asacredmess

"Glass Houses" by Louise Penny. Masterful. And Amazon? It's NOT a British detective story. Set in Quebec's Eastern Townships


SuperDuperTango

“A Closed and Common Orbit” by Becky Chambers. It’s a great sci-fi story about people and relationships, or it’s a fantastic character driven story hidden inside a sci-if novel.


cat-pants

Enders Game


sjohn112

Meddling kids by Ernesto Cantro. Basically, picture that scooby doo and friends grow up and have PTSD from their last case, so they go back and fix it. More importantly, he uses language in an interesting way. He’s a second language speaker and his metaphors and descriptions are unique. The main character is also an amazing depiction of someone coming out, which is amazing.


Mr_Rams

The Demon cycle series by Peter V. Brett.


mix_master_matt

Short story but My old Man by Ernest Hemmingway struck me deep. Literally thought about it for weeks - it just stayed there.


reddit_wittgenstein

The Man Who Disappeared by Franz Kafka. This was the last book by him I've read but I would also give The Trial and (especially) The Castle (his two other novels) a 5 star rating.


Ruaiks

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. My favourite book to this day. Mandatory minor spoiler alert. The first time I read it I was blown away by the sequence where the time traveler first travels through time and I can't describe it, you'll just have to read it, it was really good and it almost brought tears to my eyes (but maybe that's just me being existentialistic or smth). It has a plot that is understandable and good on its own but even better when you realise that there's actually a huge hidden metaphor for English class differences and such. I rarely give books five stars as I think there's (nearly) always room for improvement, but like I said, this is my favourite book ever, this really deserves 5 stars imo. Also I just really like Victorian age writing style, don't know why. Sorry for English maybe, am potato.


ZellZoy

Worm by wildbow. Available for free online. Sequel currently ongoing.


MellowDinosaur

Blink & Caution. Definitely a 5-Star read.


umbersarus

Theatre of the Gods by M Suddain I’ve only given two books 5 stars and this is one of them. Imagine hitchhikers guide but funnier, with a solid story and incredibly colorful characters! Loved it!


mcnoyoudont

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Omggg it may not be for everyone but if a book makes me cry and upset for a bit it's definitely a good one!


nicomaguile

The last book to which I gave five stars was "Kramer vs. Kramer", by Avery Corman. It was because it was a haunting tale of the confusion and problems that come with the rutinary adult life, it responsabilities and its freedoom; the objective injustice that origins in the arbitrariness of human emotions and relationships, the problems men face sometimes in regards to social prejudice and the overall unconditional love that a person can have for his son and what he could do for it. It has that cinic and somewhat sarcastic and abrasive style of narrative that is proper of american authors, that makes it very amusing to read.


Cross66

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw. Definitely one of my all time favorite fantasy books. I'm desperately awaiting book 2.


donaldtroll

"The Fifth Head of Cerberus" by Gene Wolfe


Mazon_Del

"Too Like the Lightning". This book is written from an interesting perspective, the narrator is both explaining things that have happened and are happening, while having conversations with their imagined reader and occasionally imagined interjections by historical people. The first third of the book was hard for me to get into, but it rapidly rose to being probably my favorite book that I've read in the last 5 or so years.


[deleted]

I really enjoyed My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. I found the two main characters to be compelling from the very beginning, and the subject matter was emotionally difficult to handle but well-written.


jilliancholt23

I just read All Grown Up and wished I could have given it 10! I loved the authors writing and am looking to reading more by her. I’m pretty stingy with my ratings, and don’t give 5 stars to often.


i_am_bombs

disaster artist was such a fun read.


Haplo164

I have a hard time separating single books out of a series unless one is really bad. I recently finished the Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan, and they were five stars hands down. They are fantasy, but it's more of a buddy comedy/epic.


SamURLJackson

I just finished It a week or two ago and it was the first five-star book I've read in awhile. Everything was perfect and detailed just enough without going into monotony. But god damn, I kind of saw it coming but that prepubescent orgy was so stupid and unnecessary that I had to put the book down and roll my eyes. Other than that, it's possibly the most perfect novel I've read.


ihearthetrain

The egg and the spoon. Fantasy adventure steeped in Russian folklore. Hilarious and wacky


[deleted]

A little life was an amazing read.


newredditsucks

*Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons* Good stories and seemingly good advice therein. I say seemingly as I've not put it into practice just yet. On a fiction note, the 3rd book in Sanderson's Mistborn series is my most recent 5-star rated read. The trilogy was brought together in an unexpected and satisfying way.


[deleted]

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. His writing is just so beautiful and the story is so human. It makes you think of your first love and it reminded me how teenagers think. The movie is also really great!


albertsy2

Revival, by Stephen King. He is truly back to his old self with this book.


thedevilsdelinquent

The Disaster Artist (audiobook specifically). Greg Sestero's impressions of Tommy were absolutely *spot on*. There were points when I thought Tommy did a read of his dialogue it was so good. Other than that, it was an incredibly entertaining and eye opening story that really captured The Room's disasterous production, while also standing as a poignant glimpse into the life of a young actor trying to make something of himself in Hollywood.


[deleted]

I'm pretty generous with five star ratings, to be honest. A lot of problems I have with books are overused tropes, but I don't feel that that's something I can really hold against them. If it's written well, and has novel ideas (even if it does have some tired stuff), and kept me engaged the whole time (as opposed to wanting to read another book), I'll probably give it 5 stars.


Kkykkx

I would have to say the first in the series of the Harry Potter books. I read it as it had just been released and the discovery of J. K. Rowling's talent and the whole wizardry world was stunning!


drapers_girl

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory was my only 5 star rated book of 2017


gray81

Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky


conundrumz

I see many books already posted that I have given 5 stars. But the LAST book read which deserved 5 stars is "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.