I started reading last year, mostly productivity stuff, but now I’m really looking to jump into fiction to unwind after a long week of uni, studying, and work. I need something to help me relax during the weekends without feeling like I’m working.
I’d love some recommendations for books that are short enough to finish in a day but still hit hard and are totally worth it. No specific genre preferences right now. I’m open to whatever. Looking forward to seeing what you guys suggest. Thank you very much in advance.
Hyperion Cantos. All 4 books are great, even if the 3rd and 4th are quite different. But it’s a masterpiece. It’s kind of like the LOTR for sci-fi if you ask me.
Anything by Terry Pratchett (look for one of the “where to start” guides). Funny, a bit ridiculous, but always super intelligent with lots of good social commentary.
Ursula Le Guin has lots of bangers. Slow burning sci-fi with deep atmosphere and social philosophy. Any of her Hainish books are good for that. Earthsea series is beautiful. The Birthday Of The World is my favourite short stories book.
Neuromancer by William Gibson if you’re into cyberpunk.
UNSONG if you’re keen on religion-themed absurd fantasy. It’s amazing. Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman is also great on that front.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Fictional account of the dustbowl migration in the US. It will make you righteously angry, especially when you realise the same shit is still happening in other ways.
I have an ambitious offering i dont think anyone else will suggest.
ambitious but you also want something you can read a day at a time. Books are fairly small.
My favourite BIG STOMPY ROBOTS but in chronological order.
Battletech Novels.
Catch 22 Tom Jones Good Omens Double Whammy (Carl Hiassen)
Catch 22 is just about the funniest thing I’ve ever read. I don’t think you’ll finish it in a day, but it’s amazing.
Just read Terry Pratchett or Larry Niven. Also Lois McMaster Bujold is a writer that will make you laugh and often start look at the world around you differently.
Basically most Terry Pratchett books really. Some will take more than a day, but it’s like a mix of Lord of the Rings and Monty Python. Whimsical and silly with some good moments that make you think.
I’ll get these books because lots of people upvoted your comment, which makes me assume that they’re worth reading. Is there any specific order that I need to follow books of this specific author?
The discworld collection is currently on humble bundle for cheap if you have an e-reader.
Can you provide a link? Searching for Terry Pratchett or Discworld doesn’t give me any results.
Thanks. But it says unavailable in my area. 😕
The bundle or the claim website? You might be able to get around it with a VPN.
Oh thanks for the heads up!
Short book that hit hard:
- Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
- Never let me go, Kazuro Ishiguro
- The last unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
- 1984, George Orwell
- Prince of Thieves, Chuck Hogan
Never Let Me Go is the most “not for me” book I’ve ever read. I can see why people love it. And I respect what it’s doing. I just don’t want to play a long.
Nice, I like it very much when one can separate between personal fit and quality! :-)
For me the whole point of the book is to accept the story, while your own sense/mind tells you to not play along, which made me reflect about how much - dare I say everyone of us - plays along everyday… Besides this, I simply like Ishiguros writing style (non native English speaker here, so wonder what a native would think about it.)
Would love to get a list of books from you that you respect and like (or respect and don’t like ;-)).
When I was young, I read Diane Duane’s The Young Wizards series, and I remember I loved it. Also Artemis Fowl, Sherlock Holmes, and The Inheritance series (C. Paolini). As an adult, I’ve read the LotR series which I highly recommend. Also, The Expanse series, 1984, Chronicles of Narnia.
Short enough to finish in a day…hmm that’s tough. Maybe Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis? The Martian. Lots of short stories out there by Isaac Asimov!
I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but The Stormlight Archive books speak to me like no other books ever have. They’re a huge time investment, but they’re all about the journey, not the destination. 😉
What do you love most about The Stormlight Archive books?
I love the worldbuilding, mystery, and magic system, but I think it’s the characters that I love the most. I can identify with these characters so much more than any book I’ve read before. Their struggles, their thoughts and feelings, and their growth really speaks to me.
Also, the climax of Brando’s books are awesome. Fans have dubbed it “The Sanderlanche.” Something that B-Money is great at is delivering on promises. He is actually a writing professor at BYU (he’s uploaded a lot of his lectures to his YouTube channel), and one of his big things for writers is Plot, Promises, and Progress. It’s really exciting when you realize you’re in the Sanderlanche, because a bunch of awesome shit is about to go down.
And, most of his books are in the same universe (called the Cosmere), and so it’s cool when you recognize a character from one series when they show up in another series.
Brandon Sanderson writes amazingly rich fantasy stories an created wild lore heavy worlds in his books. But his books are also behemoths with thousands upon thousands of pages that require some serious time and commitment to read. Maybe not the best for beginners to start getting into fiction.
I’d recommend the Harry Potter books because they start easy and get more mature with each book. Also the story and lore is widely known and liked by a lot of people.
What’s the reading age for this series? I know it doesn’t always matter, but some novels it breaks my immersion when I become aware that the reading age is more teenage than adult
Definitely not written for kids. I’d say it’s in the “general audience” category. It’s fairly clean as far as content goes; so kids could read it. But it’s sheer length and number of characters demands the patience and commitment of an experienced reader (if that makes sense).
Cool, Sounds like it’s worth a shot
not everyone’s cup of tea
What? These books are very popular and well-liked. What is this qualification trying to say?
A lot of fantasy readers don’t like Sanderson. And so I wanted to acknowledge that. They soothe my soul, but your mileage may vary…
I’ve really enjoyed everything in the Cosmere, but Stormlight is a step above the rest. Last book in this era is out soon. I can’t wait.
I know! Have you been reading the chapters on Reactor Mag?
I have not. I can only do the audiobooks, especially for something this long. I’m going to have to go back and listen to the last 5 hours or so of RoW to refresh. It ended so powerfully in the epilogue that I need closure.
Stormlight hit hard in the ptsd feelings. I really love how the series handles mental illnesses and cycles of violence.
Yeah! The latest short novel (Dawnshard) also deals with disability in a great way. He really did his research (he had multiple disabled beta readers give feedback)
Anything by Brandon Sanderson is a pretty safe bet!
Way of Kings blew my mind when I first read it. I loved it so much. I read it again when the last book came out because I couldn’t remember everything that happened, and it’s still an amazing book on the second read. Unfortunately, each of the following books in the series is less enjoyable for me. I didn’t like the Rhythm of War at all. I know a lot of people love it, but it has become something I don’t appreciate at all. I don’t know if I’ll even finish the series, assuming Brandon ever finishes it himself.
How come?
One of the few series that I love for making me want to be a better person, then hate it because that’s hard, then love it all over again because it’s worth it.
The Martian by Andy Weir is a book you could finish in a day. I could recommend a ton of books that I can read in a day but not sure how long they take you. How pages do you read a day OP?
Someone else already suggested it, but I would second Terry Pratchett. Even though most of the books are standalone, I recommend start with the Colour of Magic and follow publication order.
And the entire collection is on sale right now.
$18 for all 39 books.
Pratchett himself did not recommend reading discworld in order. The first two books are by far the weakest of the series (although still very fun). There are guides that recommend starting points, like this:
I know there are several reading orders available depending on which stories you want to prioritize, but I like publication order because you can see him creating the world. As in you can usually see him writing some one liners that prompt some ideas which are fully explored in the next book, I don’t remember any specific things but it’s stuff like talking about Gods being as powerful as how many people believe in them right before small gods.
Yeah, that’s a reasonable thing to do, for sure, but in general for introducing a new person to the disc world, I usually pick a book that aligns more with their interests
Another vote for Pratchett! I’m an economics fan, and making money happened to be my introduction, but there are far more common onramps.
My personal suggestion for getting a feel of Pratchett’s writing these days is monstrous regiment - technically in the discworld series, but it’s very standalone, so you get the flavor of the writing with little of the need for additional context.
I have to ask, have you read Orconomics? It’s a parody of fantasy, gaming, and economics. I recommend it to anyone who likes Pratchett, and especially if you’re into the extremely specific niche of financial fantasy satire.
I have not and I’ve now purchased the book - thanks for the recommendation!
GNU Sir Terry
YES!! I started with Guards! Guards! and I am hooked!! They’re all so good.
As the librarian would say, “Ook.”
If you read the first story (The colour of Magic + The light fantastic) you will know the story of the librarian, he start as a human there hahahah.
Pretty much anything in the “Known Space” series by Larry Niven (et al - there are works by some other authors in that space).
A book that stuck with me for a long time was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It was a fairly quick read too, I’m a slow reader so definitely longer than a day but I think I read it over a short vacation.
I’m waist deep in The Dresden Files right now (just started Turn Coat, book 11 of like 20 and counting) and it very quickly became one of my favorite series I’ve ever read. Jim Butcher has woven a web of a story where every little detail is a foreshadow that often won’t pay off until two books later, it’s incredible.
Prior to this I read The Expanse and that one also comes highly recommended. It’s one of the most believable space operas I’ve ever read. I also hear the TV show is good, no idea, never watched it.
The Expanse TV show is superb. I’m halfway through the books now, and in some ways the TV show is much better, in other ways the books are better.
There’s enough subtlety and complexity that I’ve watched the entire series twice, and I wouldn’t be averse to watching it again.
The books will likely please you for one reason alone. The Laconia story line that the show didn’t make it to.
Also anybody that loves The Expanse should check out the Bobiverse.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide, you likely won’t be able to finish each of the 5 books in the trilogy in a day but it’s something you can read a hundred times and find a new witty joke somewhere, much like all the Discworld novels.
The Expanse is another that you could burn through a book a day but wow it’s a hell of a story and worth taking your time on each character’s perspective, Outlander is also a good one for the same reasons but those are 1k pagers
The Hitchhiker’s Guide, you likely won’t be able to finish each of the 5 books in the trilogy in a day but it’s something you can read a hundred times and find a new witty joke somewhere
After which you can listen to the radio show, watch the TV show, play the text adventure and maybe watch the movie depending on how much more you can take :-)
