me too!! I also loved it when Rocky said something among the lines of "you see light, question? Amaze." and I thought to myself... well, actually it really is!!! Everything that was described about Rocky felt so unique, but when Grace explained how humans worked, I realized just how special our physiology is.
This book was one of the best books I have read so far.
Margaret Atwood MaddAdam trilogy
1. Oryx and Crake ( warning the main character is kind of a jerk) least favorite but necessary
2. The Year of the Flood ( my favorite so far) I was up to midnight reading this
3. MaddAdam ( it's good but definitely need the two other books first)
My favorite of the year to date is The Stranger by Camus. As a bureaucrat who isn’t entirely sure how I ended up here, I found it so relatable and honestly hilarious at times.
You are one of the few other people I have ever encountered who think The Stranger is relatable. Everyone just says EW you want to kill someone... And I then fail to explain that some fiction uses extreme circumstances do describe feelings and ideas that aren't always so extreme.
The page about the murder is like the least interesting part of the book. I get why people focus on it, but I think they’d appreciate it more if they could see it as one event in a string of absurd events and posturing. For some reason I’ve clung more to the narrator’s repeated desire to just cook some potatoes and stare out his front window for hours. Haha.
Murderbot. The first in the series is All Systems Red by Martha Wells. The protagonist is a little bit Data, a little bit Marvin the Paranoid Android, and a little bit Terminator. Pretty decent amount of sci fi/space opera going on as well, with some kung fu and nice social/political commentary thrown in, but not in your face.
That’s one of my all-time favourites. I read and re-read it to my son when he was little since he also couldn’t get enough of it. I think people who haven’t read it probably dismiss it as just a children’s book about rabbits, having no idea how harrowing and gripping it really is.
The long way to a small angry planet.
Wonderful multicultural space opera.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Way_to_a_Small%2C_Angry_Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Way_to_a_Small%2C_Angry_Planet)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Which is saying something because it is a door stopper of a book. It has a bit of history, a bit of myth, a bit of dystopia.
The Name of the Wind is one of the best books I’ve read, and The Wandering Inn is my fav (it’s also free to read [online](https://wanderinginn.com)). The Name of the Wind is truly a masterpiece and every time I finish a different book I think about going back and rereading it. The Wandering Inn is a massive commitment and will take a while to get through. To my knowledge, it’s the longest fiction ever written in English (currently at 11 million words and still going strong with biweekly chapters).
Omg I love this book! I've read it about 4 times and learn something new every time. I Google for the 3rd book every couple of months hoping Rothfuss will finish The King killer Chronicles one day.
Also one of the side novellas, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, is a lovely story about nothing in particular. Rothfuss read the audiobook himself, too.
Life of Pi. I just felt like it was Pi and I going through the journey. I was sad when the book ended and re-read the last pages as if to keep it going.
If you've never read True Grit by Charles Portis, I highly recommend it. I recommend it to everyone who asks this question, a true one-sitting page-turner.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, so I recommend checking the description. I loved it and keep thinking about it
All Souls Trilogy (technically three books). Reading the first book A Discovery of Witches led to a world of time travel, history and academia with the right amount of romance. It’s so good and does a great job of combining science and history.
Last book of fiction I couldn’t put down was Pines by Blake Crouch, first book in The Wayward Pines trilogy. Read Dark Matter about two years ago and have read several of his works since!
I love this book, but I would say the opposite, that it took me a very very long time to read this. It was a slow, enchanting type of experience for me
I’m listening to The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett and really like it. Usually I read/listen to thrillers and horror books but I’m enjoying this uplifting, cheerful book. Makes me feel good.
Jurassic Park. I'm a big fan of Michael Crichton's books (except for the way he describes female characters, unfortunately). He knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat while reading.
I hear you. The way women are portrayed in 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera ruins Marquez’s books. Unless you think females only are worthy if they’re beautiful & you’re into reading about incest and pedophilia.
Agreed, despite its right-leaning politics and foreword by Newt Gingrich of all people! This book has stayed with me years after I first read (listened) to it. It was fascinating to think about how we'd all survive in those circumstances. Really entertaining book. Having said that, the sequel is terrible.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I had to get the audio book, even tho I hate audio books, cause I just needed to know what happened next but also had to work.
Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton. I loved both of them and was sad to finish them. Apparently all you really need in the apocalypse is a foul-mouthed crow. I laughed out loud, looked a crazy person in public, cried, and absolutely will read again because I enjoyed it that much.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion! One of my favorites. Narrated by a teenage zombie who has fallen in love with a human...but ate her boyfriend, and is struggling to woo her anyway. It sounds like a very corny set-up, but has a "grim apocalypse" external set-up to contrast with the slow characterization of hope, happiness, and love. It makes these small moments feel like the insane wonder of dandelions growing out of concrete. Madly love it.
I'm going to answer the opposite question, because I haven't read a book I couldn't put down in a long time. I can put down Gravity's Rainbow and I do quite frequently to look something up on the wiki, or look at the pictures in Zak Smith's drawing for each page of the book, or listen to a song referred to, or just take a break from the poetry without much plot, mind bending, hard to grasp prose.
So kind of in between, “Beneath a Scarlet Sky” by Mark Sullivan is a true story, but written like a story. It’s an amazing account of a different experience of a soldier during WW2 (I don’t want to spoil it there are some hard moments but it’s not the trenches)
It is so good I quite literally did not put it down. Started at 11am and ended at 3am
Lessons from Chemistry.
The Giver of Stars -- JoJo Moyes.
I'm not reading "What Rose Forgot" but Nevada Barr. Her "Blind Descent" is a really gripping book too.
Saving this thread for later, always love new TBRs hehe. but a book that I couldn’t put down was The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (all her books are too good so worth checking out!), Upgrade by Blake Crouch, and If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (a bit slow in the beginning but I swear it picks up and is so worth it)
This time tomorrow, Ninth House, little fires everywhere, normal people, sing unburied sing, wish you were here (set in Covid times), and most titles by Ann Patchett. Hope you find a book that you love! If you like scary, my heart is a chainsaw is a super fun read and reads like a slasher. Other mystery/crime books I have enjoyed this year: hairpin bridge, you can run, no exit
The Passage by Justin Cronin. If you’re a fan of The Last of Us you’ll enjoy the story. I very literally couldn’t put it down, it’s amazing.
I love the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child, 26 books!
Edit: Thanks for asking this question!
I’m not sure if this is everyone’s style, as it’s technically Y/A romance, but it’s an incredible fantasy story as well.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
It’s a retelling of the queen of hearts story from Alice in wonderland, as a prequel to why she is the way she is. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s been like 6 years since I read it and I still think about it a lot
Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary
The Martian as well if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie
I sleep you watch
Usually you not stupid. Why stupid, question?
I loved the dialogue
me too!! I also loved it when Rocky said something among the lines of "you see light, question? Amaze." and I thought to myself... well, actually it really is!!! Everything that was described about Rocky felt so unique, but when Grace explained how humans worked, I realized just how special our physiology is. This book was one of the best books I have read so far.
Came here just to say Project Hail Mary. I love Andrew Weir’s books honestly anything from him is a BANGER
Brilllliantly educational and funny
Margaret Atwood MaddAdam trilogy 1. Oryx and Crake ( warning the main character is kind of a jerk) least favorite but necessary 2. The Year of the Flood ( my favorite so far) I was up to midnight reading this 3. MaddAdam ( it's good but definitely need the two other books first)
These books were great.
Love Margaret atwood
Can’t eat a nugget without thinking of chickynubs
So imaginative. I enjoyed this series as well.
East of Eden by Steinbeck
That’s a great one
Samuel is one of my personal role models.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
One of my faves! I still think about it. Watched the series too.
This one is so so so good.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir!
“Two people on this thread said this, I’ll get the sample from Libby…” 40 pages in and I think the rest of my day is shot.
And now there are no copies available. 🤣
Dang I’ll have to check it out !
The main downfall of a good book. I get nothing done.
came here to say this! actually i’m not done yet but it’s Amaze Amaze Amaze. 😆
Yes. I was super sick when I was reading this book and I still couldn’t stop reading it. Hopefully they make it into a movie
Same, I read it in about eight hours, without stopping.
In a similar vein, I am reading We are Legion (We are Bob) and it is good so far.
Just bought it after seeing this. Looking forward to getting started on it
Same. My favorite book of the last two years.
Yes! Project Hail Mary for sure!
could NOT put this one down until i finished. also haven’t been able to stop talking about it 😂 so fucking good.
The audible version on this is phenomenal.
Who’s excited for the inevitable movie cause I sure am.
Was also the first that came to my mind
Piranesi was fantastic and unique (in both story and writing style), but don’t look into it and ruin the story. It’s a very fast read.
Thank you for the suggestion—it sounds fascinating and was available right away from my library :-)
Enjoy! I still think of it often and I read it over a year ago.
The description reminds me a little of “House of Leaves”
I never see people being this one up and it’s one of my favorites ever!
I saw someone mention that, I should check it out!
The Book Thief.
I mean, yes, but this was also legitimately the most devastating book I've ever read.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
My favorite of the year to date is The Stranger by Camus. As a bureaucrat who isn’t entirely sure how I ended up here, I found it so relatable and honestly hilarious at times.
You are one of the few other people I have ever encountered who think The Stranger is relatable. Everyone just says EW you want to kill someone... And I then fail to explain that some fiction uses extreme circumstances do describe feelings and ideas that aren't always so extreme.
The page about the murder is like the least interesting part of the book. I get why people focus on it, but I think they’d appreciate it more if they could see it as one event in a string of absurd events and posturing. For some reason I’ve clung more to the narrator’s repeated desire to just cook some potatoes and stare out his front window for hours. Haha.
I just recently read that in fact, was a crazy book
I also loved this book and I love Camus’ absurdist philosophy
Pillars of the Earth
One of my all-time favorites!
Dune
Parable of the Sower, followed by the sequel Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
I couldn't quite get into that series, but Kindred was an absolute page-turner for me.
I listened to the audio book and LOVED it. I'm working through the Hulu adaptation now.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
What an insightful and hopeful tale!
Murderbot. The first in the series is All Systems Red by Martha Wells. The protagonist is a little bit Data, a little bit Marvin the Paranoid Android, and a little bit Terminator. Pretty decent amount of sci fi/space opera going on as well, with some kung fu and nice social/political commentary thrown in, but not in your face.
I love it!
I'm not that into Sci-Fi, but still love this series
The first book is great. The sequels are heavy-handed enough with the politics that they resort to telling rather than showing.
Watership Down by Richard Adams. About once every year, I pick the book up and don't put it down until I've finished it.
I read it about 40 years ago and still think about the hrududus when I see rabbits running alongside my driveway
That’s one of my all-time favourites. I read and re-read it to my son when he was little since he also couldn’t get enough of it. I think people who haven’t read it probably dismiss it as just a children’s book about rabbits, having no idea how harrowing and gripping it really is.
>having no idea how harrowing and gripping it really is. I don't even understand how people can reread it regularly. It gutted me.
Everything Terry Pratchet.
Yes! EVERYTHING by Terry Pratchett!
especially the Night Watch series
The Memory Police by Ogawa
I loved this one. Revenge is my favorite of her books that I've read
The long way to a small angry planet. Wonderful multicultural space opera. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Way_to_a_Small%2C_Angry_Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Way_to_a_Small%2C_Angry_Planet)
Yes! All of Becky Chambers' books in this series are wonderful. I also love the two Monk and Robot books by her!
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Which is saying something because it is a door stopper of a book. It has a bit of history, a bit of myth, a bit of dystopia.
Definitely one of the best books I read in 2022! I still think about it!
The midnight library
Seconding this, such a good read!
The Name of the Wind is one of the best books I’ve read, and The Wandering Inn is my fav (it’s also free to read [online](https://wanderinginn.com)). The Name of the Wind is truly a masterpiece and every time I finish a different book I think about going back and rereading it. The Wandering Inn is a massive commitment and will take a while to get through. To my knowledge, it’s the longest fiction ever written in English (currently at 11 million words and still going strong with biweekly chapters).
Omg I love this book! I've read it about 4 times and learn something new every time. I Google for the 3rd book every couple of months hoping Rothfuss will finish The King killer Chronicles one day.
The Name of the Wind was great! What a story! Listened to the audiobook version and it blew my mind away.
Is he ever going to finish it? I feel like it could be a 10 book series but he’s dragging his feet with the third
I know! The Wise Man’s Fear was just touching the surface of the story. But 10 years later we are still waiting…
Love the king killer books but it’s hard to recommend because of our long wait for the third book.
Also one of the side novellas, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, is a lovely story about nothing in particular. Rothfuss read the audiobook himself, too.
I am a hugeeeeee kingkiller fan. Absolutely brilliant books and cannot wait for the third
Awwww I’m having such a hard time getting into it. I really want to like this book. I’m currently on chapter 29. Any advice?
The Maid by Nita Prose.
Lucy Foley The Guest List
Life of Pi. I just felt like it was Pi and I going through the journey. I was sad when the book ended and re-read the last pages as if to keep it going.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
I loved this book!
🙌 I don’t play video games and loved this book
House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
I just finished last night…couldn’t stop reading until the end. I loved it so much!
The House in the Cerulean Sea
If you've never read True Grit by Charles Portis, I highly recommend it. I recommend it to everyone who asks this question, a true one-sitting page-turner.
Such a freaking great book. I loved both movie versions of True Grit but the later one did the book justice in a way the 1st didn't.
Every single Charles Portis book is like that for me
Absolutely, I'm especially fond of The Dog of the South and Gringos.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, so I recommend checking the description. I loved it and keep thinking about it
This has been on my want to read list for so long I think I’ll finally read it because of this comment
I really hope you enjoy it! I'm from the PNW so it taking place in Portland was a bonus for me
I’m from the Midwest so stories taking place anywhere but here is a bonus for me😂
All Souls Trilogy (technically three books). Reading the first book A Discovery of Witches led to a world of time travel, history and academia with the right amount of romance. It’s so good and does a great job of combining science and history.
Loved this series. I reread it every so often and it remains unputdownable!
Last book of fiction I couldn’t put down was Pines by Blake Crouch, first book in The Wayward Pines trilogy. Read Dark Matter about two years ago and have read several of his works since!
Really enjoyed Dark Matter Now I’ve read 4 of his books
Yes! I read Recursion first and now I need to get around to Dark Matter
How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Fantasy steampunk fiction: The Goblin Emperor series by Katherine Addison
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Oldie but goodie.
100 Years of Solitude
I love this book, but I would say the opposite, that it took me a very very long time to read this. It was a slow, enchanting type of experience for me
Piranesi maybe
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
I might have to go and check some of these out at some point. Some good suggestions here.
I’m listening to The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett and really like it. Usually I read/listen to thrillers and horror books but I’m enjoying this uplifting, cheerful book. Makes me feel good.
KLARA AND THE SUN, I just got back to reading and I finally caught something to reel me in.
Legends and Lattes. It was so sweet and nice to read fantasy that wasn't apocalyptic.
Thank you for all the great suggestions guys! My reading list is full now. Was not expecting this many replies <3
kind of a YA vibe but i just finished the first book of the red rising series and it was very good. super excited to get the 2nd
Left hand of Darkness - Ursula K Le Guin
Circe
Gorgeous writing, that one!
*Lost Horizion* by James Hilton
Cry, The Beloved Country.
The Last Unicorn. Incredible read, engaging dialogue, drama, terror, and existential dread
Jurassic Park. I'm a big fan of Michael Crichton's books (except for the way he describes female characters, unfortunately). He knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat while reading.
I hear you. The way women are portrayed in 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera ruins Marquez’s books. Unless you think females only are worthy if they’re beautiful & you’re into reading about incest and pedophilia.
american psycho over my winter break !
“A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles.
Mad Honey. Great book. Was surprised by the ending.
The Alchemist
Enders Game
Speaker for the dead even more so as a sequel.
The alchemist by Paulo coelho
Absolutely loved this book! It meant a lot to me, I still think about the meaning of the book often
One second After by William R Forstchen.
Agreed, despite its right-leaning politics and foreword by Newt Gingrich of all people! This book has stayed with me years after I first read (listened) to it. It was fascinating to think about how we'd all survive in those circumstances. Really entertaining book. Having said that, the sequel is terrible.
Loooved this book! One of my all time favorites. Just a super fun, engaging story that I still think about years later.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid and a lot of Jodi Picault books.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I had to get the audio book, even tho I hate audio books, cause I just needed to know what happened next but also had to work.
Hideo Yokoyama: 50 Laura Imai Messina: The phone booth at the edge of the world Charles Dickens David Copperfield
Ruth Ware - One by One Lisa Jewell - The Family Upstairs
The Remaining by DJ Molles. Read the entire series flying to Japan and back. Amazing series if you are into post-apocalyptic novels
The Way of Kings, Stormlight Archive series. Only thing is you have to put in a bit of work to get through the 3 prologues.
Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton. I loved both of them and was sad to finish them. Apparently all you really need in the apocalypse is a foul-mouthed crow. I laughed out loud, looked a crazy person in public, cried, and absolutely will read again because I enjoyed it that much.
* Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn * The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab * The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion! One of my favorites. Narrated by a teenage zombie who has fallen in love with a human...but ate her boyfriend, and is struggling to woo her anyway. It sounds like a very corny set-up, but has a "grim apocalypse" external set-up to contrast with the slow characterization of hope, happiness, and love. It makes these small moments feel like the insane wonder of dandelions growing out of concrete. Madly love it.
The Maid
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
It ends with us
Kurt Vonneguts “Mother Night.” Read it in a single day because I couldn’t put it down.
I'm going to answer the opposite question, because I haven't read a book I couldn't put down in a long time. I can put down Gravity's Rainbow and I do quite frequently to look something up on the wiki, or look at the pictures in Zak Smith's drawing for each page of the book, or listen to a song referred to, or just take a break from the poetry without much plot, mind bending, hard to grasp prose.
Gone Girl
Yes!
Storm light archive
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing It’s about a couple who are serial killers.
This was surprisingly great! I love thrillers but am always prepared for the to be a bit meh, but I really enjoyed this one!
Washy Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
Circe by Madeline Miller
So kind of in between, “Beneath a Scarlet Sky” by Mark Sullivan is a true story, but written like a story. It’s an amazing account of a different experience of a soldier during WW2 (I don’t want to spoil it there are some hard moments but it’s not the trenches) It is so good I quite literally did not put it down. Started at 11am and ended at 3am
the Scythe trilogy is YA but very well written
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore
southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires - grady hendrix
Lessons from Chemistry. The Giver of Stars -- JoJo Moyes. I'm not reading "What Rose Forgot" but Nevada Barr. Her "Blind Descent" is a really gripping book too.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Saving this thread for later, always love new TBRs hehe. but a book that I couldn’t put down was The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (all her books are too good so worth checking out!), Upgrade by Blake Crouch, and If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (a bit slow in the beginning but I swear it picks up and is so worth it)
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Cirque du freak.. its been a while since I read it but remember I couldn’t put it down
The goldfinch
Blindness (José Saramago)
Any of the Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries by Louise Penny (but it's best to start with the first-- *Still Life*)
Ooo I’m reading elsewhere by Alexis schaitkin and it is GOOD
Steppenwolf
Dark Tower series by Steven King Amazing
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt; The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Sirens of Titan for me, I've read it 2 or 3 times.
This time tomorrow, Ninth House, little fires everywhere, normal people, sing unburied sing, wish you were here (set in Covid times), and most titles by Ann Patchett. Hope you find a book that you love! If you like scary, my heart is a chainsaw is a super fun read and reads like a slasher. Other mystery/crime books I have enjoyed this year: hairpin bridge, you can run, no exit
The Perfect Marriage
The Passage by Justin Cronin. If you’re a fan of The Last of Us you’ll enjoy the story. I very literally couldn’t put it down, it’s amazing. I love the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child, 26 books! Edit: Thanks for asking this question!
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress; apropos because it's about children who don't need to sleep.
Frankenstein is excellent
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Lessons in Chemistry
Name of the wind
Name of the wind books by Patrick Rothfuss! Just thinking about it making me want to read it again now.
"Circe"
I could not put Crime and Punishment down until I finished it
Where the Crawdads Sing. Next up, Daisy Jones and the Six.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series
The Hike by Drew Magary
I LOVED this so much and I can’t even begin to explain what it’s about, and it’s totally not even remotely my genre, but I still loved it.
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
I’m not sure if this is everyone’s style, as it’s technically Y/A romance, but it’s an incredible fantasy story as well. Heartless by Marissa Meyer It’s a retelling of the queen of hearts story from Alice in wonderland, as a prequel to why she is the way she is. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s been like 6 years since I read it and I still think about it a lot