r/suggestmeabook

After barely reading anything last year, I’ve somehow had the best reading year of my life so far. Song of Achilles and Piranesi back to back has genuinely broken my brain.

Already have Circe by Madeline Miller on my list — but what else would you recommend if these two are your favourites? Looking for that same transportive, emotionally devastating feeling. Any genre welcome. 🙏​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

So far I've read:

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour

Terry Dactyl by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

-all of which I liked to some extent. MBS is an author I already knew and loved.

I can look up lists myself, of course, but I'm curious what other people have read and enjoyed? Has anyone read Delphi by Clare Pollard and recommend it?

Hello!

Hoping to find some great books with Appalachian setting. I would prefer something kind of spooky, preferably supernatural, but am totally open to stories that are not.

Also open to non-fic. Collection of ghost/cryptids/folk stories would be awesome. ​I'm very open to general non-fic as well though I'd prefer if it wasn't centered around the Civil War.

I have already read and loved Demon Copperhead. I have Rocket Boys on my TBR, and I'm not interested in reading Hillbilly Elegy.

Thank you so much in advance!

Just finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six. Anything equally as gripping you’d recommend? Thanks in advance :)

Not too cheesy please.

I’ve just finished the silent patient and I absolutely loved it.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for similar books with a good twist or an unreliable narrator? I love psychological thrillers so anything that’s a bit creepy is also very welcome!

i'm interested in knowing what people read when they feel lonely. Can also be about solitude. But tell me what you personally like to read when you feel this way.

Just finished Playground and I can't stop thinking about one particular thing it does.

The novel follows Todd, who builds an early social platform into a multi-billion dollar company. Powers traces his worldview with genuine empathy — in Todd's universe, code produces output, clean code produces clean products, and cause leads to effect. From inside that logic, the state really does look like pure noise.

What got me is how clearly Powers shows why that worldview forms. Todd is a rich white kid who went to private school and never had a meaningful interaction with public services. The state was always invisible to him. So he builds despite it — or so he believes.

The irony Powers builds into the novel without ever stating it outright: Playground only becomes a billion-dollar platform because millions can access it. That access requires the internet, which started as a US government defence project. The electricity, the supply chains, the stable legal systems — all of it is state-produced or state-enabled.

He contrasts Todd with Rafi, his Black friend who got into the same private school on merit but never had the option of treating the state as abstract. Same era, same country — entirely different relationship to public systems.

Has anyone else read Playground and picked up on this thread? And more broadly — does anyone else think fiction is doing a better job right now of explaining tech ideology than most non-fiction is? Please recommend more books that help me understand the world better!

What are some books that changed your perspective on life in a good way? Not self help, but novels that made you see life from a new angle. Any length is fine.

Title says it all.

I just want a good story with a woman sorting herself out and finding a happy ending that doesn't involve a dude. Really, any romantic relationship, but especially with dudes. You know, like a "be your own hero" type of thing.

I’m looking for a novel that is similar to The Affair (TV series). In particular, I’m looking for a novel about an affair where there is a lot of betrayal, sneaking around, and sexuality.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations for historical fiction books similar in style to Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories and The Warlord Chronicles.

I’ve already tried reading Conqueror by Conn Iggulden. While I thought the first book was good, I ended up dropping the series after the second one. I can’t quite explain why—it just didn’t hold my interest the same way. Because of that, I’d prefer not to get recommendations for that series, other books by the same author, or anything very similar in style to his work.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, first time posting here. I love books set in the UK that give a taste of (I presume 😂), UK culture. Anything that matches the vibes of The Casual Vacancy without an author's nasty politics? Thanks in advance!

I read a lot of MG and YA fiction due to work, but I’ve been struggling to get out of a reading slump! I want to read more for myself, not just for my job. I keep coming across books that blow my mind but then I can’t seem to shake them and that makes it really difficult to find my next read.

The last four books that have lived in my head rent free have been: The Book Censor’s Library, Our Wives Under The Sea, I’ll Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself, and the Wayfarer’s Series.

Any suggestions? Again, I’m pretty open to most genres (though I do frequently gravitate toward speculative fiction and queer stories)

Looking for some books about extraterrestrial encounters. After watching Project Hail Mary I realized I haven’t really read any book about the subject.

Main interest would be the interactions between humans and the aliens.

Thank you in advance : )

there's this situation with my son where I didn't feel that his teacher was giving him an equitable shot. And in asking for help, a bunch of my friends have made it clear to me that I'm assuming a bunch of things about his teacher. bad judgments really, and unrealistic expectations. and honestly, it's exhausting to make those kind of judgments. especially since I noticed that I've been doing it all the time and in more situations than just this one. really looking to and ready to grow. religious and spiritual texts, from any religion, also welcome.

Women’s book club with age range from 30s-60s. Want to do something a little different but not too adventurous. It’s been a while since I read these but I loved both

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

and

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Which would be a better pick for discussion? I worry that some might not “get” Klara and the Sun. Both of these are outside the wheelhouse of usual picks.

Basically what the title says^

Just trying to understand what makes it YOUR perfect family saga book and what do you prefer for the book to have for it to be considered a favorite. I also just need recs!

I've been feeling extremely depressed. I've been having problems at work, which is usually my happy place, to the point where I walk into work I just want to cry. I've been filling my free time with Pokopia to distract myself, but I've bad the storyline and decorating isn't as distracting as I'd like it to be. I've been reading a lot this year and think that finding something I can get lost in can get me out of my head where I an thinking too hard about things, but I'm not sure what to read.

I've been reading a lot of WW1/WW2 historical fiction lately (absolutely loved The Rose Code and Alice Network, and the last one I read was The Things We Cannot Say) but I'm kind of bored of war stories right now. I also like fantasy, but more fairies and elves and magic. A lot of fantasy lately seems to be assassin, spice, vampires, and werewolves which really aren't my cup of tea. I don't mind if they are included, but I don't like them to be the center of the story. I have read a few discworld books and they were ok, but didn't really hit that "omg I can't put it down" feeling I'm looking for right now.

I loved The Midnight Library, but I'm looking for something a little less heavy. I want something light and distracting, not something that makes me think about my depression.

I don't like spice. Mild romance is fine, but one of the things fueling my depression right now is my non-existent love life so romance is not on the top of my list.

I tend to read a lot of "kids" books. I'm a teacher, and I make my kids do silent reading after lunch. because of this, I have a big classroom library but try to preread the books to make sure they are appropriate for my kids. I usually do this during silent reading time, because I try to participate as well as a model. So if things in my list look "young", that would be why!

Books I've loved in the past to give ideas of what I do like(not including what I've already mentioned):

- Good Girls Guide to Murder (the 3rd book shouldn't exist, the first 2 were fantastic)

- Warriorcats (really easy for me these days, but I do love them)

- The Mysterious Benedict Society

-Hunger Games (and every book in that world)

-Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning (a bit spicy for me, but the story was good enough to look past it)

-Beneath Devils Bridge

-Spinning Silver

-Winterborne Home

-Realm of Lore and Lies

-The Witchs Tree

-Matilda

-The Magic Factory

-The Book Thief

-Nevermore

-Percy Jackson

Sorry that this is all over the place. I love reading but I feel like there isn't really a clear preference for genre, etc for me. Any ideas are appreciated! I mostly read on my kindle unless I'm reading at school. I have libby and kindle unlimited so I would prefer things that are available there.

Hello!

Another recommendations post.

Some context: I have always been an avid reader. But after high school, studying history at a very crunchy, left wing university (as much as such a thing exists) for both undergrad and grad school, haven't really been reading fiction for the past decade or so. I have historically read a lot of dense social history, political theory, anthropology, etc. Something about turning 30 made me really want to start reading fiction again.

Since October 2025, I've read the following books, largely science fiction. I guess I'm looking for recommendations in the vein of those same texts.

What I've been reading:

April

Blue Mars (KSR)

March

Green Mars (KSR)

Red Mars (KSR)

Railsea (Mieville)

A Scanner Darkly (PKD)

February

Always Coming Home (LeGuin)

Perdido Street Station (Mieville)

January 26

The City and The City (Mieville)

Aurora (KSR)

Man in the High Castle (PKD)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

Worker Student Action Committees, France May 1968 (Fredy Perlman and Roger Gregoire)

Dune (Frank Herbert)

December 25

Deaths End (Cixin Liu)

Left Hand of Darkness (LeGuin)

Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson)

The Dispossessed (LeGuin)

Embassytown (Mieville)

The Situation Room (Stephanopoulos -- grandmas Christmas gift lol)

The Lathe of Heaven (LeGuin)

The Trial (Kafka)

The Ministry for the Future (Kim Stanley Robinson)

October / November 25

The 3 Body Problem

Dark Forest

Of these, LeGuin is definitely my favorite, and I have The Word for World is Forest and Searoad on deck, as well as Mieville's King Rat. I'm less interested in hard sci fi (though not opposed), and more the sociological and ethical speculative fiction side of things. Obviously I need to read Butler, NK Jemison, but looking for all recommendations in the lefty vein of things.

Thanks!