I have never read a book recreationally and I love fiction.
Which book would you recommend me as my first ever book?
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View original on kbin.socialWhich book would you recommend me as my first ever book?
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You could also try Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's hilarious and easy to read (at least for me)
And for those confused about the numerous books and parallel storylines, there's this neat chart
Do you know why Terry said to skip the first 2? Personally the only one I've read is the colour of magic and I loved it as an introduction to the world and can't wait to read more (I read new books very slowly 9/10 unless my adhd decides to hyperfocus on them like it thankfully did with Dune)
No idea, but tbh I'd always bounce off Color of Magic when I tried to get into it from there. I haven't read the Rincewind novels yet so I can't compare them to others, but for me Guards! Guards! was a much better intro.
Like any artist, as he improved his craft, he grew embarrassed about his early work, and felt it wasn't up to the quality of the later books. There are also some inconsistencies; most notably, Death is actively trying to claim Rincewind, when in later books He just facilitates the process of crossing over.
Notably, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic both directly parody contemporary fantasy, and if you're familiar with the books he's making fun of, it's pretty obvious. Equal Rites is where he went more into the allegory, satire, and social commentary which people tend to associate with Discworld.
Good link
Second Terry Pratchett books!
They started my love for books as a young teenager! Going to the library, looking for a discworld novel I didn't know, yet... those were the times!
I'd second all the recommendations here, but I'd also want to know what reading level you'd be interested in, and also why you haven't ever read a book for fun before? It would be helpful to know to be able to point to books that would avoid whatever your sticking points may have been. As far as introductory fun books I'd recommend:
I second The Hobbit if you have interest in fantasy! It was still one of the best reading experiences I've ever had.
Definitely check out the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
Seconded. It's funny, light, and pretty short, so a good way to ease OP into the world of books.
I would recommend any of the Neil Gaiman books, very readable and fascinating. For shorter reads go with Good Omens, Coraline, Neverwhere, Stardust and for a longer read American Gods (my fav).
If you like horror Stephen King is incredibly easy to get into.
Oh yeah, Good Omens is great!
Neverwhere was really fun; I read it a long time ago but still think about it from time to time.
If you can access it the BBC created a neverwhere radio play with James McAvoy and Natalie Dormer. I think it's available on audible if it's not on the BBC (or you can't access it there).
In /r/fantasy, someone recently read Mistborn as their first book and loved it! I would recommend this one. Brandon Sanderson is very approachable, and he doesn't employ tropes like deliberately leaving the reader utterly confused at the same time as the main character (only a little, in manageable doses), or having a huge number of plotlines that intersect at very confusing times in confusing ways, or etc.
Which isn't to say the plot is straightforward! There's lots of twists and turns, and you'll be amazed where the series ends up :) Very suspenseful and engaging trilogy.
this is really interesting, thank you for the recommendation!
What kind of fiction do you like? As a sci fi nerd Ender’s Game is the book that made me love reading.
For a lot of people it was Harry Potter or Hunger Games more recently.
Honestly if there’s a movie you love that was adapted from a book give the book a go. You know you like the story - it’s just a more detailed take.
yeah i love all kinds of movies like harry potter, hunger games, lotr, and some sci-fi stuff. i loved harry potter growing up so i feel that the books would be too childish for me now.
I loved David Eddings as an easy read with a good story. It was my start into reading fantasy. Feist's Magician is another brilliant book and the beginning of a long adventure.
Magician was going to be my recommendation. I've got 2 people into reading that weren't readers by giving them this book.
Really good story that you can't put down.
Feist commands a significant portion of my bookshelf. He is brilliant. I rate him as my favourite fantasy author, with the late Ian M. Banks as my top science fiction author.
Magician is really good yeah :) I remember lying outside in the garden a summer reading through the series :)
I just read them alongside my daughter, having previously skipped them in favor of the movies. I’d actually say they’re a perfect entree into reading for pleasure, and while hardly Faulkner or James Joyce, they’re sophisticated enough that you won’t feel silly, and the writing subtly grows with the characters (and the original audience), so the last book is longer and denser than the first, though again, it’s not trying to make you dance with the prose or analyze the book in order to glean any enjoyment.
Jo Rowling is who she is, as a writer and a person, and I won’t judge if you find a way to read them for free, but she really did assemble something magical with that original run of books.
The Harry Potter books are a bit kiddish but that’s largely motivated by Harry being a young character. They tend to mature as you read through them and a good trait of kiddish books is they’re easily digestible. If you want to try something similar feeling to Harry Potter but new to you check out The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - it’s the first Percy Jackson book. You can read the 5 book series or there’s so many spin offs now you can spend a long time in that universe
Golden Compass (His Dark Materials trilogy) or Sabriel (Nix's Old Kingdom series) are both good ones to start with imo.
“Wool” by Hugh Howey. If you like it there are many more and AppleTV+ just made a TV series (Silo) that is doing quite well.
@Awhiskeydrunker
@s804
So you're going to throw them into some of the most extreme-yet-plausible dystopian futures right off the bat, eh?
I couldn't put it down 10 years ago, but I also couldn't sleep. Highly recommend.
Just finished this series, it was fantastic.
Andy Weir's The Martian or Project Hail Mary are both amazing books that are real easy reads! Though I would actually recommend the audio book version of the latter.
I loved Project Hail Mary! Another good one is Recursion by Blake Crouch.
@s804 I'd recommend Terry Pratchett books, and more specifically Guards! Guards!.
If you're more into hard fantasy, Brandon Sanderson wrote very enjoyable books, you should check his Mistborn book (which expands in to a trilogy).
If you want some easy to read SF, Asimov's Foundation is still a blast, and so is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Plus they can be read as one shots, but they have sequels in case you enjoyed them enough.
Excellent suggestions, Guards! Guards! was what finally let me break into the Pratchett universe too, such a good and fun book to read. Mistborn series is one of my favorites, easy and pleasant to read but with a wild and engaging fantasy story.
I'd maybe recommend the Robot series before Foundation for SF fans, they are generally shorter stories and easier to follow. Foundation was pretty hard for me to follow and truly enjoy due to its weird no-protagonist structure.
Ah ah, I read Pratchett in the publication order and loved it, but after about two decades recommending it to everyone I know it's way easier to get people in by starting with the Nightwatch cycle. :D
Yes, the Robots short stories are indeed a nice addition, and probably easier to get into than Foundation! I did not enjoy the Robots full-fledged novels as much, though.
Still in SF, and keeping with the short stories idea, I'd also recommend The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.
Mistborn second series just wrapped up recently. Eagerly awaiting the third series so we can get on with Stormlight part 2 (where the two series merges into one. there is only one book left in Stormlight part 1, and release is expected next year i think).
Since you mentioned Hunger Games and liking SciFi I thought of an easy and entertaining read you might enjoy, which is Red Rising by Pierce Brown: https://www.goodreads.com/series/117100-red-rising-saga
I'd go with Slaughterhouse Five or Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut is funny, witty, and satirical. But despite being funny and easy to read, his novels also often deal with weighty topics like free will and the search for meaning and purpose.
Love me some vonnegut. Cats cradle is so good. Mother Night probably my fav.
anything by Brandon Sanderson, especially his Cosmere stuff. Light reads despite density, story gets complex under the hood once you realize what's going on in the greater Cosmere universe glimpsed through the various book series.
World War Z the original novel by Max Brooks is very easy to get into as it tells the story through a series of short stories.
It has no relation to the movie, which was already filmed before buying the rights to the name.
oo so it is different to the movie, i see. i love zombie stuff so this sounds perfect to be honest, thanks!
Mistborn book one, or Unsouled (cradle book one). Either of these should be a fun, enjoyable read
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
I would say the Rabbit novels by John Updike.
James Clavell - Shogun
There are a ton of fantastic suggestions, but I'd like to add a non-fiction one, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (honestly, anything by him is excellent, though I found Issac's Storm kinda meh).
I know you love fiction, but its an excellent read, and almost feels like fiction.
Do you like time travel stories at all? I recently read 11/22/63 by Stephen King and absolutely loved it. Outside of that, I highly recommend The Stand, although it is a big undertaking. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles books were great to me, although I stopped after Memnoch The Devil and didn't keep up after that. Oh! And the Jurassic Park novel is great too, and is very interesting even if you've watched the movie. Lastly, I really enjoyed the Thomas Harris Hannibal Lecter series (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal).
For Stephen King and a first time leisure reader, I'd personally suggest the Skeleton Crew anthology of short stories. IMO short stories are actually King's forte and that anthology has severally really good ones. The Mist is a classic (though the movie did the ending better and King himself admits it). The Jaunt is a super short one that I always really liked. There's also one I can't remember the title of about an oil slick on a lake that always stuck with me.
On the topic of short stories, Assimov also has great ones. Try Nightfall as a starting point.
George Orwell 1984. This would be the book if I have to choose only one book to read in my entire life. Also, not bad as the first one. Can't say it's recreational, though.
That's a really broad question. The types of stories you're interested would go a long way. If you like mysteries I can write an essay and a half of some of my favorites of different styles.
If you like other types of stories I can also make suggestions, but a little direction would go a long way.
Actually, bored at work, so let's write the essay. If I misspelled a name, sorry. This is off the top of my head.
Light, shorter, on the wacky side:
-continued
Dark, more substantial, more explicit
Victorian Era
I'll stop there for now. Having to split the comment seems like a good indication it was too long.
I would suggest some books that aren't too long. The ones that got me to read more were:
Regarding Name of Wind, it might be worth mentioning that it's supposed to be a trilogy, and that the last book might never be published...
7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a pretty fun read. I'm about halfway through
His Majesty's Dragon, the first book in the Temeraire series, is a really fun fantasy take on the Napoleonic wars with dragons.
I fell out of reading for pleasure for years, and got back into it through comics. I've just woken up so I can't think of any ideal specific recommendations right now
These three basically got me into reading in my teens, still quite like them.
wholeheartedly recommend the expanse book/series. its not the most complex of books, but like the TV show, it's easy to pick up, read when you want, has a sci-fi action thriller vibe and has a strong, solid plot. it's the book that got me right back into recreational reading, and haven't stopped since :)
Legends & Lattes probably is a good book to get into reading. At least, if you are okay with low-stakes cozy fanatasy and maybe like RPG games.