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.
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.
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.
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?
I would start with The Color of Magic, I’m currently reading them in chronological order of release, but certain books cover certain main characters. Small Gods is probably another great place to start. But if you want a more instructive set of reading directions:
Most people prefer sub series.
I’ll check the link that you shared. Thank you very much.
You’re welcome! It’s a fun world and as others have stated, “Guards! Guards!” Is a great jumping in point as well.
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.
The bundle. I’m gonna try what you suggested and try with a VPN.
Oh thanks for the heads up!
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.
It is very rare to see that fans have dubbed something, so knowing that fans have dubbed it “The Sanderlanche” is giving it a feeling that this author and his books must be too good and worth checking it out. Anyway, thank you very much for a detailed answer.
He engages with his fan base a lot. So yeah, there are lots of jokes and things like that. It’s fun to get involved with everything, but you don’t need to in order to just enjoy his books.
By the way, most people suggest starting with the Mistborn series. “The Final Empire” is the first book, and it’s really fun. A good introduction to Sanderson. They’re still big books, but not quite the commitment of “The Way of Kings,” which is the first Stormlight book. Whatever you start with, I hope you enjoy it!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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 ;-)).
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.
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 :-)
For you, I’d suggest ‘I, Robot,’ by Isaac Asimov.
It’s a short story collection with a bunch of logic puzzles. the writing is clear and easy to follow and the conundrums are engaging.
Asimov is so, so good. I first got into him by reading his collection of short stories Robot Dreams. It’s really approachable, and because it’s all short stories there’s no long term commitment or sense of letdown if you decide to stop reading halfway through the book.
Sally was particularly interesting (though not the best story in the book). I was working at a self driving car startup when I read it, and it was amazing that in 1954 Asimov predicted robotaxis that we were trying to build.
I’m sure he’s happy somewhere, knowing people are still enjoying his writing.
If we’re doing short stories, I have two recommendations:
- Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others.
- Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House.
I’ve only read Ted Chiang’s exhalation, but one of the stories was the biggest thinker I’ve seen, and another was an emotional gut punch (in a good way)
The ratio of lasting impact to content length of his short stories is insane. He has no business having such compelling works being readable in a lunch break.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It and its sequel Children of Ruin both explore what it means to be a person and makes you feel empathy for “the other”, beings that get more and more alien as the story moves on. Compared to most of what others mention here it is rather new. But it will become a cult classic, I am certain of that.
That’s a great series. I recommended the first book to everyone I know after reading it. For another amazing story of compassion that circles around from everything from horror, to Kant, to AI intelligence, to religious extremism before it gets there, read The Hyperion Cantos.
Currently half way through the last of the 4 (Rise of Endymion) … fantastic series!
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?
Pretty much anything in the “Known Space” series by Larry Niven (et al - there are works by some other authors in that space).
I have two fantastic recommendations that are pretty short reads.
Enders Game is fantastic Sci fi and quite cut throat. Great Story. Far better than the marginal movie that came out based on it.
The Martian. Sci fi, but more realistic and the author must have researched the hell out of things to put this book together. The movie they made was actually pretty good, but the book outshines it by leaps and bounds. The internal monolog of the main character is outstanding in the book and it just can’t happen through the movie.
As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of Enders Game. The movie, though, was absolutely devastating. It’s the only time I left a cinema angry.
Yeah. They really blew that one. Still not as bad as live action DragonBall or ATLA, though.
Oh hey, I’m reading The Martian right now! Also loved Project Hail Mary by the same author, Andy Weir. It’s a bit more fantastical and just a great read.
I haven’t read Hail Mary yet, but I’ll have to check it out now. How far along with you on the Martian? You enjoying it?
Project Hail Mary used to come up on r/books from time to time and was polarizing. Lots of folks loved it. Lots thought it wasn’t good.
If you loved the Martian I think you’ll like PHM. I did.
Not the one you’re asking, but I’ve read both The Martian and Project Hail Mary. You absolutely gotta try PHM if you liked the martian. They’re both incredible books, but if I had to rank them, it’d be real close, but Hail Mary would come out on top.
Thanks!
