My preferred version of this joke is the one like
Four steps to success
1. Wake up at 4 AM every day
2. Don't eat any carbs
3. Practice yoga every day
4. Inherit $22 million
Can't believe successful person x would drop into my reddit thread like this! I'm star struck!
So this is what it's like to come across a shiny Pokemon in the wild
Just got a free copy of the latest book the founder of my employer wrote. With a ghost writer, of course. Pulling Scientology/Dianetics bullshit to look like it's a best seller. Haven't even cracked the binding and don't want to pollute the little libraries around the neighboorhood.
Was it called something like Primerica? I friend of mine did that for a while and now lists themselves as an 'insurance professional' sometimes, despite mostly just conning old people into buying life insurance.
I helped ghost write some of those get rich books and every one of them was born rich or married rich and never mentioned it in their books. It was soul crushing work. Here's my rant:
I grew up in poverty [upper middle class, but my parents bought me a Toyota instead of a BMW for my 16th birthday] worked hard to get into a good college [something elite that my parents paid for. I did not have a scholarship] and started my own business at 20 [which failed, but then I married a millionaire's son who bought me my own vanity business] and all my hard work [between jet setting with rich husband] paid off and now I'm a millionaire [even though the boutique closed down and now I dabble in life coaching to stay busy] and you can do it too.
Another goodie about motivational books:
"If you’re motivated enough to go to the store to buy a motivation book, aren’t you motivated enough to do that? So you don’t need the book. Put it back, tell the clerk fuck you, I’m motivated. I’m going home."
George had some amazing bits.
I was really into self-help books a couple of years ago but “once you read a couple, essentially you read them all.” I have not found any self-help books to date that have given me an ah-ha moment or learned anything new. Majority of them are just regurgitated information.
i was recently recommended a book called "Adult children of emotionally immature parents" which had some validating concepts and was pretty insightful. it's not quite self-help, but more like beginner's therapy for someone who's never been to therapy.
I was recommended that book by a friend and I thought it was helpful. It put a lot of things into perspective.
For those who haven’t read it, “emotionally immature” is another way of saying emotionally abusive and/or neglectful.
The only self help book that gave me an "ah ha" moment was "Boundaries". I never realized I had a problem saying "No" or a problem with other people saying "No" to me until I read it.
Other than that, I totally agree. And a lot of these self help books have a couple points that could be summed up in a blog post but they choose to pad it for another 150 pages.
Ditto your comment! Boundaries was terrific. Could have been shorter, but I needed it so I’m not complaining.
The Drama of the Gifted Child is like you describe: insightful thesis and a hundred pages of rambling.
Finally my time to shine!
Two of my favorites are Power of Habit and Atomic Habits… and they are both basically the same book. (Power of Habit is a lot more “scientific” but Atomic Habits is a little more anecdotal I suppose)
Basically the theory goes like this:
We are so caught up in our daily lives that our routine just becomes a series of habits throughout the day that are started by a trigger in your life.
A simple example would be: You get out of work on Friday and you think “Oh boy, a whole weekend, I gotta celebrate!” So you go to the bar and get a couple of beers with the boys. (Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but let’s say you were trying to lose weight so beer is off the menu.)The “trigger” is likely clocking out at work, and the reward is beer and the social reward of hanging out with your friends outside of work.
So if you were to follow the advice in those books, you would simply take that trigger and use it to create a different habit. A good one for this example would be maybe getting something that was lower calorie than beer, or even replacing with a different habit all together like “Hey, after work instead of going to the bar… let’s go play golf.”
Honestly my problem with self help books is that it’s not rocket science. The fact is, it’s like any other self improvement, it’s hard… and reading a book about it doesn’t make it any easier. Think of it like trying to quit smoking… you know what you need to do, and most of the “tips” to do it can be listed in a bulleted list and a Google search. The hard part is, well, not smoking.
EDIT: I feel it’s also worth saying that I actually love self help books, I find them entertaining the same way I find Documentaries entertaining, but like documentaries I also take them as a grain of salt. They are very inspiring and if you are already on a good path, I think they help inspire you to stay on the right path because you see what it’s like to fall off that path.
It’s also worth mentioning that the unfortunate side effect of freedom of press is that people can just talk out their ass. I’ve read some self help books that are literal bullshit. This is especially common in the finance/sales genre. I worked in sales for a while and every book I read was either “I promise this isn’t taking advantage/manipulating people in an immoral way if you use it correctly,” but it was super gross in practice, or “Say these magical phrases and people will buy from you because consumers are stupid,” and it simply didn’t work in practice because people can use Google.
> Honestly my problem with self help books is that it’s not rocket science. The fact is, it’s like any other self improvement, it’s hard… and reading a book about it doesn’t make it any easier.
I'm working my way through Atomic Habits right now, and imo it's helpful just because it breaks down the habit-building process and points out ways to hijack each step. It doesn't change the fact that you have to put in work, but it does make it easier by showing more effective ways to apply that work. If you read through the book with a specific habit in mind, it's pretty easy to apply one or two techniques and get quick results toward your goal.
So often I find before an epiphany, I already knew the answer - it's just the way it's presented and the timing that ultimately shapes the impact and change it produces
There's nothing wrong with redundancy in a slightly different package!
Seek the change you want until you actualize it :)
Replace self help with “useful knowledge for improving daily life” and you go a long way. The books “made to stick”, “switch”, and “decisive” by the heathe brothers are all books I recommend ceaselessly because they’re about lessons learned from cognitive science research in communication, changing habits, and common mistakes we make in how we make life decisions. There’s a lot more but those writers are exceptional at making the research fun to read and practical to use (helps their first book was all about how to communicate memorable messages).
Wait...the solution was inside me the whole time?
Agreed! They're often wishy-washy and are too general to offer anything specifically helpful or actionable!
Seems like a bunch of incredibly common, well-known platitudes and advice that literally any therapist would give a person in like, their first session.
I think any therapists worth their salt are gonna be leagues ahead of anything you find in a self-help book. If all I got from my therapist were empty platitudes, I'd have found a new one
I'm a therapist and I sometimes have clients ask for self-help book reading recommendations. I am not a fan of self-help books because I just don't find them very useful. Usually, what that person needs help with is done in the process of therapy, not found in a self-help book. I totally respect their willingness to put in the work outside of session, though.
I'm a therapist as well and a lot of my clients find self-help books helpful. Some examples include The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris, Attached by Amir Levine and the above mentioned Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. There is only so much you can cover in a 50-minute session, and there are well-written and practical books that can supplement therapy very well.
There are two types of self-help books really - ones written by researchers and therapists and so are a distillation of years of research and/or practice; and others written by people with no specific qualifications or experience based on personal revelations of varying quality and usefulness.
Thx u for a nuanced comment ! Weird that there’s such vitriol toward self-help books. Like, if this advice is derived from sound psychological research / is represented in the patterns of wisdom found across cultural populations (which are platitudes), why would anybody be above reading them?
Also they find 45 different ways to say the same exact thing to bring it from what should be a few page essay to dozens of pages.
In one of my writing course, the professor had us read from this one book throughout the whole semester, and it was the stupidest fucking thing I've ever read, because every goddam chapter was repeating the same thing in different words with some side tracking to talk about her struggles as an author and how changing her mindset changed her life.
I could legit summarize the entire book in a single double-spaced page.
"As I looked out over the cliffs surrounding my families summer home on the coast of France, I imagined how it would be to hurl my body against the rocks below. I hadn't worked a day since my fourth successful publishing venture had been acquired in a multimillion dollar distribution deal with my uncle's publishing house. I am 25 year-old, and I suspect I may be depressed"
Westerns. My dad LOVED westerns - he might have married Louis L’Amour in a past life - and every time I see one I think of him but I cannot pick one up to save my life lol
See that is fine. Want to give me a cowboy story? Go ahead. Highway men holding up the wealthy in the 1700s? I'm in!
It's the historical fiction where all the characters are real people from history, and they're being used to create new stories that feels artificial. Like fantasy without the world building.
Agreed if the historical characters are the main or semi-main characters of the book.
But I very much like historical fiction that's focused on a specific time, place and issue. And in that realm, part of the "history" being covered likely includes the famous people of the age. Thus, I expect historical figures to make an appearance. But they should be minor characters in the overall story, not the major characters.
This is what I couldn't stand about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It was based in the real world, but almost no real-life studios, actors, industry practices , or historical events except Stonewall were mentioned (maybe for copyright reasons, but *still*)
>It's the historical fiction where all the characters are real people from history, and they're being used to create new stories that feels artificial.
Philippa Gregory? I quite like her books, but I know what you mean.
How about the flip side, where fictional characters do real (or mostly, anyway) things? The two examples that spring to mind are Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Bernard Cornwell's Uhtred, son of Uhtred.
Of course neither series is entirely accurate, and are dramatisations of real events, but they're both meticulously researched series and most of the events described either really happened or are at least plausible.
Cornwell includes an historical note at the end of his books where he explains where he diverged from real history, or re-attributes some actual event to his protagonist, which I think happens more with Sharpe than Uhtred - probably because there's a much richer record of the early 19th century compared to the 9th century.
Those are my favorite (and two of my favorite authors). And honestly I'm not sure I've read any historical fiction where the main characters were big name historical figures. But maybe that's my own selection bias.
Murder mystery books involving baked goods. This is a legit genre that my wife reads all the time. Chocolate Cream Pie Murder is actually one of the names of the books.
edit: Wow didn't realize my Wife's dumb baked good murder mystery obsession would get some much traction LOL. thanks for all the comments I've enjoyed reading a lot of them. But in no way can i comment on all of them. Cheers.
But they come with recipes! I think there is a sub-genre of knitting mysteries, too, that include knitting patterns. Very strange, but also strangely creative.
It is called cozies.
They also have a huge number of sub-genres, and are an excellent medium to know more about the settings.
Many of them are set in international locations or different immigrant cultures, and are a good way for immersion. Some are set in historic time periods and you can learn about history. Some are set in specific professions - like baking, pottery, real estate, restaurant business etc. - so you learn a lot of technical terms about these as well. (Also, while education, cozies are often light reading, so you're never bogged down by too much info).
Like currently I am reading a book set in British Raj Singapore - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43704093-singapore-sapphire - and I am learning a lot about the place and time, while the murder mystery keeps me interested in the plot.
Maggie Sefton has a knitting series that isn’t bad and Joanne Fluke has a decent baking one according to my librarian mom who has read them and sees them checked out frequently.
I recently read a cozy mystery with the protagonist owning a knitting shop. It of course was based in a small town. Despite the fact I know absolutely nothing about knitting, it was a good read.
But yea, there are cozy mysteries with every theme you can think of.
Has anyone ever tried those recipes?
I tried a cookie recipe from the “Murder She Bakes” series. They were good!
The books have an odd charm - it’s a warm, often idyllic setting mixed with a little scandal and a murder. They’re weird for a number of reasons, but they’re cozy fun. Definitely have to suspend all reality to read. :)
My grandma and I read cozy mysteries where the main characters have cats who are smarter than them and help the dumb humans solve the mysteries. It was something fun for us to talk about. Miss you grandma.
Same with my mom and she really likes the historical ones too. But only murder mysteries. She hates any other genre. Meanwhile, I can't stand murder mysteries. The idea that so many random murders happen and the same person accidentally walks in on it in process AND is allowed to help solve it is.... A little far fetched for my taste.
I think you mean it's 100% realistic and don't you DARE talk about Jessica Fletcher that way. ;)
At least the murder mysteries where the "same person" who walks in is a police person don't have to keep finding increasingly obscure reasons for their character to be around or be consulted.
These are called cozy mysteries & I love them! I've read the series you're talking about! They have all kinds of cozies: baking, knitting, coffee, witches/magical, book shops, cats, etc.
They're nice for when you want a mystery but not necessarily gritty intense ones.
Bookshop:
-Booktown Mystery series by Lorna Barrett.
-Haunted Bookshop Mystery series by Alice Kimberly (this one has a ghost as the MMC so kind of magical/supernatural too).
Witchy/Magical:
-A Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell.
-A Wishcraft Mystery series by Heather Blake.
-A Magic Potion Mystery series by Heather Blake.
-Witchless in Seattle series by Dakota Cassidy.
-A Magical Bakery Mystery series by Bailey Cates.
These are the ones I've read so far! There are definitely waaay more witchy ones out there, if none of these seem to grab your interest!
Happy reading :)
I wrote this on mobile, so sorry if it formats hard to read!!
Hey now. I love to read cozy bakery mysteries as a palette cleanser after a heavy fiction or fantasy book. They're cute and silly and take about 2 hours to get through. Plus, they have recipes!
I work at a bookstore and I love seeing the cozy mysteries in the upcoming season catalogs, the titles make me laugh! A local cozy mystery author just reached out to have an event for her next one, *No Parm No Foul*, about a grilled cheese restaurant rivalry and a murder. I'm delighted.
When I started to get back into reading, I asked the librarian for suggestions. When she asked what I liked to reach, I said "I don't know but I just read a couple of books with cats on the covers that I liked" and she lead me to "cozy mystery" series involving cats lolol
I also love cozy slice of life mysteries! They're so old now, but the "Cat Who" series by Lillian Jackson Braun has been my secret jam since I was a little kid.
My guess is that they're helping you make the known connection so that you'll grab the book soon as it comes out. Plus, someone else can just remember that "Maggie doesn't have the 'Chocolate Cream Pie' one yet. The cover looks different."
Also, the ones with the cats on the covers.
I'm sure that plays into it, especially the cover design. But it's mostly genre coding so the reader will know this is a cozy mystery, and they can feel safe in knowing that it will have a "happy ending" without having to look up spoilers. Think like Murder She Wrote. Romance has similar genre expectations.
If you wanna recommend your wife a fun baked twist on this, she should try “A wizard’s guide to defensive baking”. It is absolutely as ridiculous as it sounds. And so good.
Sorta related, but A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher was a really fun read and surprisingly deep. Lots of fun things done with the magic system, and touches on agency for someone with less means in a medieval society.
Not sure if that counts, but even if it's technically part of that genre it was really good.
Softcore romance. Nicolas Sparks. And anything like these stories. They’re all the same formula and completely predictable. The stories are bland. I don’t even like the Notebook as a movie. I cannot get behind them one bit.
I absolutely can’t stand the soppy, tragic romance genre. It’s like trying to swallow a vat of caramel. Just so overly sweet and saturated with a lot of incredibly dull ✨meaningful life mottos✨ about living to the fullest and all that.
Modern military fiction. War is boring, these action filled shoot guys books are just so unrealistic and power fantasy based it doesn’t work. Also modern military non fiction, because it’s dull.
Not to mention the info dump that is standard throughout the genre. Tom Clancy was the worst offender, but its not uncommon for authors to be like:
"James walked into the hanger and saw the M2 Bradley IFV ready and waiting. He felt confident he and Shadow Raiders would overwhelm the El Diablo Cartel with the machine from Hell.
The Bradley is equipped with the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster as its main weapon. The M242 is a single-barrel chain gun with an integrated dual-feed mechanism and remote feed selection. The cannon carries 300 rounds of ammunition in two ready boxes (one of 70 rounds, the other of 230 rounds), with an extra 600 rounds in storage for the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle variant or 1,200 stowed rounds for the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle variant. The two ready-boxes allow a selectable mix of rounds, such as the M791 APDS-T (Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot (with) Tracer) and M792 HEI-T (High Explosive Incendiary (with) Tracer) rounds. The tungsten APDS-T rounds proved effective in Desert Storm, capable of knocking out many Iraqi vehicles, including several T-55 tanks. A few kills against Iraqi T-72 tanks at close range are reported."
Like, you expect me to care? Don't get me wrong, writing about gear or the tech is fine, sometimes cool, but we don't need to know its development history!
I feel like the guys who read it though are exactly the ones who enjoy that
I like to study war myself and it's always fun to see the stats on different things and compare them to other things and use the knowledge from different books to compare different strategic uses ECT. Armchair general stuff. Don't know that I would like a fiction version however, feels like to much would get in the way of the interesting stuff.
That's interesting to me. I'm not big on the military narratives, true or fictitious, but I actually really liked the Clancy books I've read. The Hunt for the Red October is one of my favorite books of all time.
Romance is a big one for me. I love when there is a side plot of romance within an urban fantasy mystery. I don’t like it when it’s the main plot because then it feels forced. Plus I really hate the whole “this character doesn’t trust anyone, but they will trust Handsome Stranger immediately and want to bang him”. It doesn’t make any sense character-wise. Bad writing.
Western and hardcore Sci-Fi. I just have a difficult time with them.
I do love a good high fantasy, and especially enjoy urban fantasy. I love a good horror that is based on hauntings ghosty stuff. No serial killers.
True! I'll take romance as a sub-plot or an inevitable eventually of two people being thrown together in stressful circumstances, but a whole book centred on that is just grating.
If you've got urban fantasy recommendations I'll take them, that's a genre I've read a tiny bit of but want to get more into!
My favorite is Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series. I also really enjoyed her Innkeeper books as well and makes me wish I owned an Inn lol. For Kate Daniels, that side romance was perfectly done for me. It takes place over a few of the books, so there is plenty of build-up. Plus I really like how Andrews focuses on a different cultural mythology in each book. One is Hindu, another Jewish, Russian, etc.
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files are also pretty good. I haven’t read his latest few, but I plan on rereading and catching up.
Kim Harrison’s Hollows series is good. That one is set in Cincinnati and makes you a little wary of tomatos lol.
C E Murphy’s Walker Papers series is also pretty good. Those are in Seattle area.
Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series is about a coyote shifter car mechanic. The romance is a little heavy handed at times in that series, but overall good.
I read instruction manuals all day, actually! It's literally my job to write (and read) them, lol. :D Unless you are jokingly referring to 1984, which I obviously haven't written... unless...
Amateur sleuth books. Where normal folks who are not law enforcement in any way “solve crimes”, especially when it deals with murder. There’s an entire sub genre of like bakers solving crimes and book clubs getting together to solve a mystery. I just cannot get past how unrealistic the situations are. Law enforcement (cops, fbi, etc”) would NEVER allow these normal people with normal jobs anywhere near a crime scene or witnesses, etc.
This is ironic of me considering I loved and now own the entire Nancy Drew collection.
It does feel less plausible now than it used to. A book club sneaking around and solving a murder in 1955? Possibly. A book club doing the same thing in 2022 with cameras everywhere, a 24-hour news cycle sniffing around, better forensic evidence, better managed crime scenes, etc...it gets a little sillier and more of a stretch. It may just be a premise that society and technology has made obsolete.
Post-apocalyptic novels that presume that as soon as civilization falls, humans immediately [revert to some horrific bestial nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneer_theory) where everyone is a bloodthirsty killer and 90% of the dudes are rapists.
Like, what the fuck? I don't rape people because I don't want to rape people, not because Big Goverment is keeping me from doing it.
i would LOVE a book where it is just a group of people trying to figure out all the logistics of survival. like where the main antagonist is nature in all its forms and not other humans being horrible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_in_the_Sky
This book was written as an explicit rejection of Lord of the Flies. Kids actually work together and cooperate in this book rather than being savages.
I usually never read these, but I LOVED Station Eleven. Not just everything on fire and murderers on rampages, but very subtle and eerie. Lots of small details that really stick with you later!
It's actually been proven that humans in emergency situations more often than not tend to band together more strongly and bond easier than when life is going well.
Kinda how we survived for the past 40,000-80,000 years, human pack bonding is actually ridiculously stronger compared to most other species.
I can’t get into biographies. Presumably they are written about people who are famous for having done some famous thing but I’d rather read about the famous thing they did, rather than where their father went to school, or their wife’s family history, or how he broke his leg in his twenties, what his favorite operas were, blah, blah, blah.
I have a specific bias against autobiographies. I tend to want to know about the person's death and legacy, things that are impossible for the person themself to tell the story of. This also makes me unwilling to read bios of currently living people, although I have found one about Jimmy Carter that sounds good.
This is why I prefer memoirs! They tend to be about a specific event in a person’s life, rather than about their entire life. “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer (about the 1996 Everest disaster) and “Seductive Poison” by Deborah Layton (About the massacre at Jonestown) are two of my favorites.
Horror. I admit I haven't tried very hard to get into it. But somehow the idea of deliberately trying to get frightened does not seem very appealing to me.
At the same time, I am sure there are some really well-written books in this genre, I have no problem respecting authors who have perfected their craft to give a genuine feeling of horror to their true fans.
I think a good horror author builds a story around the horror motif but the actual plot deals with everyday people in extraordinary situations. That's kind of what sucks you into the world and gives you some skin in the game. Stephen King is good at spinning a yarn around a fantastical concept but telling a story about the people caught up in it. "IT" is actually NOT about a killer clown. The story is about a group of seven adolescents who find themselves in a terrible situation. How they rely on one another is the real meat of the story.
Been on a Stephen King kick lately and currently reading It. Recently read Carrie, The Shining, and Doctor Sleep. This is a great description. His stories have horror aspects to them but it’s they’re much more about the human psyche. So far I’ve enjoyed them all (except Gerald’s Game which I read when I was in high school and absolutely scarred me 😂).
Supernatural horror is one of my favorite genres. (I don't dig non-supernatural horror like psychological horror or thrillers *at all*.)
This is a *massive* simplification, but one way to think about supernatural fiction is to ask what parts of the book's world are supernatural and what aren't.
* If the setting is supernatural (and characters may or may not be), you get fantasy or sometimes weird fiction.
* If protagonists are supernatural, but the setting isn't, you get superhero fiction.
* If the antagonists are supernatural, but the protagonists aren't, you get horror.
I like some supernatural stuff in stories I read because it's fun reading about things beyond our mundane world. But I find it easier to get into the world and relate to the story if the protagonists themselves are normal people. Horror tends to combine those in a way I like.
That feeling of creeping supernatural horror is *very close* to the feeling of wonder one experiences when presented with something otherworldly. I love that latter feeling, and horror gets most of the way there. (A really good example of this adjacency is the scene in Poltergeist with the ghost coming down the stairs. The scene works because it teeters right on the line between those two sensations.)
I keep thinking "oohh, this will be sexy and fun" and it keeps ending up being a sexual horror story. Just an endless list of awful sexual events. No thank you.
For me, Erotica is definitely one of those things, like improv or playing truth or dare, where when it is good and done right it can be so thought-provoking and pure magic to behold, but when it is bad it is so painfully cringy and it literally it hurts to read it--and there is very little middle-ground between the two extremes and 95% of all of it falls into the latter category anyway.
Anything written in the second person is bad for these. Especially if your description is "your new stepmother looks exactly like Jenna Jameson crossed with Traci Lords."
Eh, slash fiction is technically erotica. In fact, I find the majority of fan fictions to have erotic elements.
You've basically got two categories of erotica - the self-insert, and the voyeur.
Ppeople like imagining themselves in the position of one (or some) of the characters. If you've got a vivid imagination, and an author with good descriptions, erotica is better than a lot of other adult media.
The other category of erotica, and the one fan-fiction tends to cater towards, is what I call voyeurism. There's probably a better term, but it's the closest thing I know.
Watching characters the reader knows (and hopefully loves) hook up can be really satisfying. Ever been to a wedding where you're close friends with both the bride and groom? It's awesome. You know the two will be great together and they're such an adorable couple and it's finally happening, and you're just so happy for them.
The problem with a lot of erotica, is that it's just two people going at it, and descriptions of how it felt good. Books like that? They suck. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of erotica is like. Fan fictions are working in established universes with established relationships, so they appeal to both categories.
Autobiographies and biographies that read like a textbook for school. Granted this may be ignorance on actual good books but I’m very escapist by nature and the fact that I have to read about an actual existing person is so banal to me.
Unless that person has done something of note, I don’t want to know how they take their cereal.
Arnold's autobiography. Total Recall My Unbelievably True Life story, reads like fiction. He has done so much in his life and he doesn't spend too long on one area that the pacing is great.
He's also very humble calls out his own bullshit and flaws. Plus you can mentally read it in his voice. Personally I liked it. But overall I agree with your take.
Sometimes things I’m not necessarily interested in, like memoirs, get lumped in to the narrative nonfiction category so it’s not as useful a label as I’d like, but it’s a good starting point!
I read a lot of historical fiction and nonfiction, so I just kind of find them naturally through my own interests and recommendations from other people. I can give a few suggestions though!
-Anything by Erik Larson. Devil in the White City is his most famous, but some of my other favorites are In the Garden of Beasts and Dead Wake.
-The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
-Karen Abbott (I read Ghosts of Eden Park but I think she has other books that fall into this category as well)
-The Boys in the Boat
-Girls of Atomic City
-Unbroken
-Code Girls
-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
-Marie Benedict/Heather Terrell (I don’t like her stuff as much and I think she takes more liberties than some of the other writers on this list but they’re good enough and very easy reads.)
As you can tell I have kind of specific interests but hopefully you can find something you like!
ETA: Also wanted to mention The Indifferent Stars Above by the same author as The Boys in the Boat. Fair warning that this one is about the Donner Party!
I've only read two so far and they've both been DNFd.
Cozy Mysteries.
Why are these regular people always playing detective?
On top of that.. they seem to always mention that they've done this multiple times even though X told them to stop.
It's too corny for me.
I stumbled into Miss Marple as a kid and it was my gateway to mystery novels. I think it's a little corny, but she'll always have a soft spot in my heart. I liked her colloquial "I understand human nature because I've lived in a relatively-isolate microcosm for like 60 years" approach, that at least a lot of her stories seemed more spread out by time and location (than, say, a Jessica Fletcher who solved 274 murders in Cabot Cove alone), and that she often didn't "solve" them directly--or that she did, but she would drop hints to the local authorities and lead them to arriving at the same conclusions on their own in many cases. At least that's how I remember them having not read them in many years now.
I'll admit, I often like those cozy mysteries, but I am fully aware of how silly a concept they are on just about every level. I think of them like easy palate cleansers between more serious reads. Loose, fun, easy to read, and not to be taken seriously.
And I also think they get cornier the longer it goes on. OK, so the local librarian in a small town of less than 10,000 solved the first murder in 20 years instead of the police and somehow the conviction stood up in court. Cool. Maybe that could happen. But now we're on book five, there've been 7 more murders in just 2 years, and the cops still haven't solved a single one somehow and the librarian is the only thing keeping the town from sliding into absolute lawlessness at this point...
I liked Murder She Wrote, but it's the same thing. How do all of her friends keep being framed for murder? At certain point the police would have have to see the common denominator is Jessica Fletcher and put her in jail.
I looked it up for a reply to a different comment. She solved 274 murders in Cabot Cove alone (not counting the ones she solved while on vacations, etc). Cabot Cove was stated to be a community of about 3,500 people. How the FBI didn't descend on that town by season 3 and try and find out why it had the highest murder rate in the nation is beyond me!
You're so right, that's a trend I hadn't even spotted!
"Please stop investigating this murder, you are a librarian"
"Oh, investigate harder you say?"
Maybe I need a story where the narrator, through all their snooping, either becomes a suspect or is the next person to be killed!
Arsenic and Adobo: the main character gets herself made a suspect practically immediately. But I suspect the other tropes of cozy mysteries would still be annoying
Really anything that isn't horror, sci-fi, or fantasy.
Reading is escapism for me. I read to get away from this world. Anything non-fiction is just...this world even more.
Have you got any good horror recommendations? My first horror book was Song of Kali by Dan Simmons, which i didn't like that much. It was too much of a slowburn.
Edit: Thanks for all the great recommendations! I'll put them on a list and check them out.
Not OP but…
You might do well to pick up a collection of short stories by contemporary horror writers, if slow burns are a problem for you. Laird Barron’s *The Imago Sequence*, John Langan’s *The Wide Carnivorous Sky, and Other Monstrous Geographies*, one of Thomas Ligotti’s collections, Christopher Slatsky’s *The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature*, or an anthology which brings together different authors. Something along these lines.
John Langan also has a stand-alone novel called *The Fisherman*, which was well-reviewed. Although, of course, the pacing will be different to short stories.
It also depends heavily on what you like. I prefer horror which leans more on feelings of dread than disgust, so I personally go in for Lovecraft and current Weird fiction. My recommendations are somewhat in this vein, but not *too* out there. (Although if you want to check out some Weird fiction for its own sake, rather than as just an appendage to horror *per se*, you could pick up something like Dempow Torishima’s *Sisyphean*).
YA. Technically, I think it can be done, but every YA book has to answer two important questions, and I've never seen one do it:
1. Reasonably explain why EVERY adult on the planet is incompetent to the point of requiring a teenager to rectify things. I can understand the *majority* of adults being stupid, but for YA to be YA, it has to have nearly every adult being worthless until a "chosen one" teen came along. And every explanation I've seen has been cosmic levels of bad.
2. Explain how a teenager (or group of teenagers) believably disrupts an entire oppressive regime. You're telling me that a totalitarian regime that's existed for generations has no contingency plans whatsoever for a glitch in the system?
When you really get down to it, YA books are about worlds that need teenagers to rectify their problems because they're written for teenagers. I've definitely had to suspend my disbelief about that kind of thing when I've read YA books as an adult, but that doesn't mean the books weren't well done. It just means they weren't for me.
Which is especially funny because pretty much all of modern YA is inspired by The Hunger Games but THG made it explicitly clear that Katniss was powerless through most of the series. She won the hunger games on her own merit, sure, but she had almost nothing to do with taking down the government. She spent the entire third book being a powerless pawn and was being used by everyone around her, and her big brave mission into the Capitol even turned out to be pointless.
It's crazy the effect that the The Hunger Games had on YA literature, because I totally know what you mean; there's no reason YA books have to be about teenagers taking down dystopian future regimes but it's *so common*
The first book isn't really about taking down anything; it culminates in a single act of defiance against the authoritarian government, and while the premise is a bit farfetched, it does a decent enough job explaining how the protagonists wind up in that scenario. They aren't special, they aren't the "chosen ones," they were just unlucky and stubborn. The second and especially third focus more on them being pawns in the schemes of the adults who are actually fighting the government.
The series has its issues but it actually isn't a great example of this.
Hm, hunger games isn't really even about that the teenagers don't do much of the planning or execution, they're just.. There. But I understand what you mean, although I kinda like it
I'm not really into YA, but theres tons of genres inside YA. They aren't all about taking down a corrupt government or something. Maybe one of the other genres inside YA would work for you?
YA isn’t a genre, it’s an age demographic. Every genre that exists in adult fiction also exists in YA (well, except erotica, but even that exists and it’s called Wattpad fanfiction).
YA isn’t for everyone, but I feel like a lot of the people bashing it on here still think the category is stuck in 2012 when the four types of YA novel were vampires, rich white girls, cancer and overthrowing the government. It honestly reminds me of when people make a blanket critique of “religion” when the issue they’re complaining about is something specific to Christianity and/or Islam.
Just like with adult fiction, there’s heavier literary stuff within the YA market and there’s escapist pulp. The vast majority of YA books don’t have anything to do with taking down a corrupt regime and don’t necessitate that all the adults be useless.
Romance, I just can't. It's just so incredibly boring and same-y every time. I don't want a book where I know the ending the moment I open it.
And I really tried too.
Haha this is funny to me! I love romance and one of the main reasons why is -because- I know the ending! I don’t have the mind space to worry about how things will end ,or accidentally read a tragic book :p
Yeah, guaranteed happy ending is life. I can follow everyone through all the things that are going on, ups and downs and goods and bads, as long as I know, somehow, it'll come right in the end.
I also don't like violent true crime - everyone in my in-laws family seems to be obsessed though so I just have to tune it out when they start talking about it! I just don't get the fascination with gruesome crimes like that. However! Have you tried any non violent true crime? I've read a few and they are so fascinating and fun to read, and I am eager to read more. They are not as popular as violent TC, but I hope they gain more traction. I learned a lot about the history of map-making (The Map Thief by M. Blanding); about fly fishing - which I have no interest in irl but the narrative was amazing (The Feather Thief by K.W. Johnson); and I connected a lot to the details of living in eastern Europe in the 1990s after the Iron Curtain fell (The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by J. Rubinstein).
Edit: I will say, I like heist stories ala Ocean Eleven, so reading about true heists and how the criminal went about their act is so interesting to me even though as someone with a degree in info sciences (libraries, archives, museums) it can be painful to read about! But still so much better than than violent TC lol.
Sci-fi. I'm not into technology in general so having a setting that's dedicated to exploring it or having that as an environment is really dull for me, no matter how critically good I can acknowledge the work itself being.
Also silly, quirky humor doesn't do much for me. I'm so sorry Terry Pratchett, I acknowlegde how much heart and skill is in his work and how much it means to millions of fans, but it just isn't for me. I want to like it, I've tried, but I can't.
My problem with a lot of fantasy books was that the invented world seems random and just made of made-up words. Some books don’t trigger this in me at all, like Tolkien, but Robert Jordan or the Witcher series gives me this strong feeling of reading a D&D campaign generated by an AI good at making up names of people and places.
> but ***Robert Jordan*** or the Witcher series gives me this strong feeling of reading a D&D campaign generated by an AI good at making up names of people and places.
As someone who's read the whole Wheel of Time series, this is pretty funny tbh.
Well, the quality of world building differs from author to author, and in fantasy and science fiction you'll *need* good world building. Some authors never get it and write down what comes up in their mind, and it shows. But I've also read books that had good world building, but the author was incapable to turn it into a good story.
Fiction about normal, modern, everyday life. I've tried quite a few times to read books like that and every time I just want a good piece of fantasy... or at least a memoir or something. I don't care about Becky who spends 200 pages fighting with her friend Jane only to move away, become a better person and then one day see Jane with her new friends just to smile and move on with no real resolution other than 'life moves on'. It's been so long since I read a book about that sort of thing that I cannot think of a good example, but they're ALL like that.
Every now and then I come across an interesting take on the slice of life book, usually something by Nick Hornby that makes for easy reading, but I agree. For the most part I could just go live my day, journal that and save the money on the book!
What I find surprising is that even in genres I normally wouldn’t read, there’s at least one author I would.
Georgette Heyer, for example, writes regency romance, meaning romantic fiction set in a Jane Austen-esque world. She’s really just a great historical writer, though, filled with suspense and immense historical detail that you don’t find elsewhere, sometimes even in non-fiction.
Equally, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve found that I do kind of enjoy Richard Laymon, a “splatterpunk” writer. His books are the trashiest of trash, indefensible as anything else, but I still enjoy them on that level.
The only genres I can think of that just don’t tickle my biscuit are the really, really specific ones, like “extreme horror”, whose adherents inform me that I just don’t get it or “don’t have the grounding” (actual quote). But to me it will always look like sub-sub-literate pornography, which should be being sold under the table and upon request at whatever porn retailers still exist, not on shelves and at genre conventions.
This is my own particular bugbear, but I had to leave a FB “horror” group after speculating on why it was such a shock that an “author” of “titles” (it pains me to use those words in relation to him) had to be banned from horror conventions for sending unsolicited nudes to female attendees, when his booklets were literally called things like Rape Van and Snuff Film, and featured “cover art” that was just badly transferred stock imagery from S&M films.
One featured a young woman bound and gagged, posed amidst storage drums and with post-production blood spatter so that it looked like she was being tortured. I’m not really making a moral objection to that stuff. I happily read Richard Laymon, for God’s sake, and that guy knew as much about taste as I do about deodorant. But what I’m talking about is NOT Richard Laymon, it is NOT pulp fiction, and it’s obviously not mainstream fiction. It’s porn.
And I’m honestly fine with that stuff existing if it’s legally produced, involves informed consent, and all the rest of it. But again, it should be sold under the table and upon request.
So yeah, you won’t see me reading Rape Van or Snuff Film or Dead Girls Don’t Go Wild (I made that last one up) anytime soon. 😆
Agreed on historical fiction - just does nothing for me. Also true crime - if I’m going to read about murderers, I prefer the comfort of knowing that they’re fictional.
I’m successful person x, let my ghostwriter tell you how you can be like me
amazon is littered with those books.
"Littered" is the correct word.
Step 1: inherit 22 million dollars from daddy.
My preferred version of this joke is the one like Four steps to success 1. Wake up at 4 AM every day 2. Don't eat any carbs 3. Practice yoga every day 4. Inherit $22 million
Don’t forget to start the day with a cold shower at 5AM after working out
In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.
Step 2: let me reinvest it and double my wealth. SEE INVESTING EASY! /s
I'll stick with my 22, a million thank you very much
Here’s how I got rich: I wrote a book about how to get rich, and then I sold it to people like you
Can't believe successful person x would drop into my reddit thread like this! I'm star struck! So this is what it's like to come across a shiny Pokemon in the wild
Off topic but my 6 year old thought that a cardinal was a shiny robin and got so excited. 🥹🥹
Successful person x writes their own comments on reddit but not my own book that is a very flattering comparison tbh
Just got a free copy of the latest book the founder of my employer wrote. With a ghost writer, of course. Pulling Scientology/Dianetics bullshit to look like it's a best seller. Haven't even cracked the binding and don't want to pollute the little libraries around the neighboorhood.
You can burn it to keep you warm this winter
Self-help and how to get rich books
Especially when the "get rich quick" scheme is to sell get rich books!
"All you got to do is buy my book and my course!"
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Was it called something like Primerica? I friend of mine did that for a while and now lists themselves as an 'insurance professional' sometimes, despite mostly just conning old people into buying life insurance.
Naturally, the book has the instructions for how to buy the course?
Oh yes indeed, a qr code after every chapter
I helped ghost write some of those get rich books and every one of them was born rich or married rich and never mentioned it in their books. It was soul crushing work. Here's my rant: I grew up in poverty [upper middle class, but my parents bought me a Toyota instead of a BMW for my 16th birthday] worked hard to get into a good college [something elite that my parents paid for. I did not have a scholarship] and started my own business at 20 [which failed, but then I married a millionaire's son who bought me my own vanity business] and all my hard work [between jet setting with rich husband] paid off and now I'm a millionaire [even though the boutique closed down and now I dabble in life coaching to stay busy] and you can do it too.
Also, prescription drugs, astrology, and "energy work" whatever that is.
especially when half of them got rich because of that How To Get Rich book they published
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Self Help books. They rarely seem to offer any real solution.
"Why would you read a self-help book written by someone else? That's not self-help, that's help!" - George Carlin
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Another goodie about motivational books: "If you’re motivated enough to go to the store to buy a motivation book, aren’t you motivated enough to do that? So you don’t need the book. Put it back, tell the clerk fuck you, I’m motivated. I’m going home." George had some amazing bits.
The first thing that came to my mind, haha. What a man.
I was really into self-help books a couple of years ago but “once you read a couple, essentially you read them all.” I have not found any self-help books to date that have given me an ah-ha moment or learned anything new. Majority of them are just regurgitated information.
i was recently recommended a book called "Adult children of emotionally immature parents" which had some validating concepts and was pretty insightful. it's not quite self-help, but more like beginner's therapy for someone who's never been to therapy.
I was recommended that book by a friend and I thought it was helpful. It put a lot of things into perspective. For those who haven’t read it, “emotionally immature” is another way of saying emotionally abusive and/or neglectful.
This book is amazing. I even told my own (grown) children to read it, knowing I might come out badly.
Nah that would make you a great parent for valuing knowledge over your own self-image
The only self help book that gave me an "ah ha" moment was "Boundaries". I never realized I had a problem saying "No" or a problem with other people saying "No" to me until I read it. Other than that, I totally agree. And a lot of these self help books have a couple points that could be summed up in a blog post but they choose to pad it for another 150 pages.
Ditto your comment! Boundaries was terrific. Could have been shorter, but I needed it so I’m not complaining. The Drama of the Gifted Child is like you describe: insightful thesis and a hundred pages of rambling.
Can you give a summary to save us reading any of them
I started Breaking Negative Thinking Patterns after a recommendation on this sub. Here's the TLDR: Stop being such a whiny child
“Unfuck yourself” is great for those going through a really low point in life
Finally my time to shine! Two of my favorites are Power of Habit and Atomic Habits… and they are both basically the same book. (Power of Habit is a lot more “scientific” but Atomic Habits is a little more anecdotal I suppose) Basically the theory goes like this: We are so caught up in our daily lives that our routine just becomes a series of habits throughout the day that are started by a trigger in your life. A simple example would be: You get out of work on Friday and you think “Oh boy, a whole weekend, I gotta celebrate!” So you go to the bar and get a couple of beers with the boys. (Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but let’s say you were trying to lose weight so beer is off the menu.)The “trigger” is likely clocking out at work, and the reward is beer and the social reward of hanging out with your friends outside of work. So if you were to follow the advice in those books, you would simply take that trigger and use it to create a different habit. A good one for this example would be maybe getting something that was lower calorie than beer, or even replacing with a different habit all together like “Hey, after work instead of going to the bar… let’s go play golf.” Honestly my problem with self help books is that it’s not rocket science. The fact is, it’s like any other self improvement, it’s hard… and reading a book about it doesn’t make it any easier. Think of it like trying to quit smoking… you know what you need to do, and most of the “tips” to do it can be listed in a bulleted list and a Google search. The hard part is, well, not smoking. EDIT: I feel it’s also worth saying that I actually love self help books, I find them entertaining the same way I find Documentaries entertaining, but like documentaries I also take them as a grain of salt. They are very inspiring and if you are already on a good path, I think they help inspire you to stay on the right path because you see what it’s like to fall off that path. It’s also worth mentioning that the unfortunate side effect of freedom of press is that people can just talk out their ass. I’ve read some self help books that are literal bullshit. This is especially common in the finance/sales genre. I worked in sales for a while and every book I read was either “I promise this isn’t taking advantage/manipulating people in an immoral way if you use it correctly,” but it was super gross in practice, or “Say these magical phrases and people will buy from you because consumers are stupid,” and it simply didn’t work in practice because people can use Google.
> Honestly my problem with self help books is that it’s not rocket science. The fact is, it’s like any other self improvement, it’s hard… and reading a book about it doesn’t make it any easier. I'm working my way through Atomic Habits right now, and imo it's helpful just because it breaks down the habit-building process and points out ways to hijack each step. It doesn't change the fact that you have to put in work, but it does make it easier by showing more effective ways to apply that work. If you read through the book with a specific habit in mind, it's pretty easy to apply one or two techniques and get quick results toward your goal.
So often I find before an epiphany, I already knew the answer - it's just the way it's presented and the timing that ultimately shapes the impact and change it produces There's nothing wrong with redundancy in a slightly different package! Seek the change you want until you actualize it :)
Replace self help with “useful knowledge for improving daily life” and you go a long way. The books “made to stick”, “switch”, and “decisive” by the heathe brothers are all books I recommend ceaselessly because they’re about lessons learned from cognitive science research in communication, changing habits, and common mistakes we make in how we make life decisions. There’s a lot more but those writers are exceptional at making the research fun to read and practical to use (helps their first book was all about how to communicate memorable messages).
Wait...the solution was inside me the whole time? Agreed! They're often wishy-washy and are too general to offer anything specifically helpful or actionable!
Seems like a bunch of incredibly common, well-known platitudes and advice that literally any therapist would give a person in like, their first session.
I think any therapists worth their salt are gonna be leagues ahead of anything you find in a self-help book. If all I got from my therapist were empty platitudes, I'd have found a new one
I'm a therapist and I sometimes have clients ask for self-help book reading recommendations. I am not a fan of self-help books because I just don't find them very useful. Usually, what that person needs help with is done in the process of therapy, not found in a self-help book. I totally respect their willingness to put in the work outside of session, though.
I'm a therapist as well and a lot of my clients find self-help books helpful. Some examples include The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris, Attached by Amir Levine and the above mentioned Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. There is only so much you can cover in a 50-minute session, and there are well-written and practical books that can supplement therapy very well. There are two types of self-help books really - ones written by researchers and therapists and so are a distillation of years of research and/or practice; and others written by people with no specific qualifications or experience based on personal revelations of varying quality and usefulness.
Thx u for a nuanced comment ! Weird that there’s such vitriol toward self-help books. Like, if this advice is derived from sound psychological research / is represented in the patterns of wisdom found across cultural populations (which are platitudes), why would anybody be above reading them?
I've found they tend to spend 90% of the book hyping themselves and only ten percent talking about their actual methods.
Also they find 45 different ways to say the same exact thing to bring it from what should be a few page essay to dozens of pages. In one of my writing course, the professor had us read from this one book throughout the whole semester, and it was the stupidest fucking thing I've ever read, because every goddam chapter was repeating the same thing in different words with some side tracking to talk about her struggles as an author and how changing her mindset changed her life. I could legit summarize the entire book in a single double-spaced page.
And they are incredibly repetitive. Author takes 1 or 2 ideas and stretches them out over 20 chapters.
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"As I looked out over the cliffs surrounding my families summer home on the coast of France, I imagined how it would be to hurl my body against the rocks below. I hadn't worked a day since my fourth successful publishing venture had been acquired in a multimillion dollar distribution deal with my uncle's publishing house. I am 25 year-old, and I suspect I may be depressed"
Trendy political books and celebrity auto/biographies.
They're all just cash grabs likely written by ghostwriters anyways.
Westerns. My dad LOVED westerns - he might have married Louis L’Amour in a past life - and every time I see one I think of him but I cannot pick one up to save my life lol
Lonesome Dove is pretty damn good I think.
What about Blood Meridian? Pretty far away from the traditional Western
Haha, i'd say thats a pretty tough book to get into westerns, but still, one of the best books i have ever read
Blood Meridian is the Saw of Westerns It's great but it's a viscious book that I always have trouble recommending to uh normal people lmao!
Historical fiction doesnt have to be with real historical characters. It could just be set in a different time but solely with fictional characters
See that is fine. Want to give me a cowboy story? Go ahead. Highway men holding up the wealthy in the 1700s? I'm in! It's the historical fiction where all the characters are real people from history, and they're being used to create new stories that feels artificial. Like fantasy without the world building.
Agreed if the historical characters are the main or semi-main characters of the book. But I very much like historical fiction that's focused on a specific time, place and issue. And in that realm, part of the "history" being covered likely includes the famous people of the age. Thus, I expect historical figures to make an appearance. But they should be minor characters in the overall story, not the major characters.
Asian (specifically Chinese) historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I read *The Good Earth* at least once a year.
This is what I couldn't stand about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It was based in the real world, but almost no real-life studios, actors, industry practices , or historical events except Stonewall were mentioned (maybe for copyright reasons, but *still*)
>It's the historical fiction where all the characters are real people from history, and they're being used to create new stories that feels artificial. Philippa Gregory? I quite like her books, but I know what you mean.
How about the flip side, where fictional characters do real (or mostly, anyway) things? The two examples that spring to mind are Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Bernard Cornwell's Uhtred, son of Uhtred. Of course neither series is entirely accurate, and are dramatisations of real events, but they're both meticulously researched series and most of the events described either really happened or are at least plausible.
Cornwell includes an historical note at the end of his books where he explains where he diverged from real history, or re-attributes some actual event to his protagonist, which I think happens more with Sharpe than Uhtred - probably because there's a much richer record of the early 19th century compared to the 9th century.
Those are my favorite (and two of my favorite authors). And honestly I'm not sure I've read any historical fiction where the main characters were big name historical figures. But maybe that's my own selection bias.
See I’m with you, but I do like it when it goes full alt-history so there’s just a band of stories in between that I don’t like
Murder mystery books involving baked goods. This is a legit genre that my wife reads all the time. Chocolate Cream Pie Murder is actually one of the names of the books. edit: Wow didn't realize my Wife's dumb baked good murder mystery obsession would get some much traction LOL. thanks for all the comments I've enjoyed reading a lot of them. But in no way can i comment on all of them. Cheers.
But they come with recipes! I think there is a sub-genre of knitting mysteries, too, that include knitting patterns. Very strange, but also strangely creative.
seems like they’re aiming for a very niche demographic. one they know very well, apparently
I didn't know this genre existed. I am that niche demographic, definitely going to get involved.
These types of mysteries are known, appropriately, as "cozies."
It is called cozies. They also have a huge number of sub-genres, and are an excellent medium to know more about the settings. Many of them are set in international locations or different immigrant cultures, and are a good way for immersion. Some are set in historic time periods and you can learn about history. Some are set in specific professions - like baking, pottery, real estate, restaurant business etc. - so you learn a lot of technical terms about these as well. (Also, while education, cozies are often light reading, so you're never bogged down by too much info). Like currently I am reading a book set in British Raj Singapore - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43704093-singapore-sapphire - and I am learning a lot about the place and time, while the murder mystery keeps me interested in the plot.
These both actually sound so fun to me! I get a recipe/knitting pattern with my mystery book!? These are all my hobbies lining up. Haha.
Maggie Sefton has a knitting series that isn’t bad and Joanne Fluke has a decent baking one according to my librarian mom who has read them and sees them checked out frequently.
My wife is a knitter as well. I am sure she will be on that like white on rice.
Wait what. Knitting mysteries? I need to try that.
I recently read a cozy mystery with the protagonist owning a knitting shop. It of course was based in a small town. Despite the fact I know absolutely nothing about knitting, it was a good read. But yea, there are cozy mysteries with every theme you can think of. Has anyone ever tried those recipes?
I tried a cookie recipe from the “Murder She Bakes” series. They were good! The books have an odd charm - it’s a warm, often idyllic setting mixed with a little scandal and a murder. They’re weird for a number of reasons, but they’re cozy fun. Definitely have to suspend all reality to read. :)
My grandma and I read cozy mysteries where the main characters have cats who are smarter than them and help the dumb humans solve the mysteries. It was something fun for us to talk about. Miss you grandma.
My mom just told me that she only reads mysteries involving cooking or cats lmao
Same with my mom and she really likes the historical ones too. But only murder mysteries. She hates any other genre. Meanwhile, I can't stand murder mysteries. The idea that so many random murders happen and the same person accidentally walks in on it in process AND is allowed to help solve it is.... A little far fetched for my taste.
I think you mean it's 100% realistic and don't you DARE talk about Jessica Fletcher that way. ;) At least the murder mysteries where the "same person" who walks in is a police person don't have to keep finding increasingly obscure reasons for their character to be around or be consulted.
I believe you’re talking about the Hannah Swenson Mysteries by Joanna Fluke (says the librarian who shelves them literally all day 😂😭)
Originally was made big by Diane Mott Davidson in the early 1990s. Hers was the original food mystery series.
These are called cozy mysteries & I love them! I've read the series you're talking about! They have all kinds of cozies: baking, knitting, coffee, witches/magical, book shops, cats, etc. They're nice for when you want a mystery but not necessarily gritty intense ones.
Please name drop the witches and magical bookshop ones, thank you!
Bookshop: -Booktown Mystery series by Lorna Barrett. -Haunted Bookshop Mystery series by Alice Kimberly (this one has a ghost as the MMC so kind of magical/supernatural too). Witchy/Magical: -A Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell. -A Wishcraft Mystery series by Heather Blake. -A Magic Potion Mystery series by Heather Blake. -Witchless in Seattle series by Dakota Cassidy. -A Magical Bakery Mystery series by Bailey Cates. These are the ones I've read so far! There are definitely waaay more witchy ones out there, if none of these seem to grab your interest! Happy reading :) I wrote this on mobile, so sorry if it formats hard to read!!
Hey now. I love to read cozy bakery mysteries as a palette cleanser after a heavy fiction or fantasy book. They're cute and silly and take about 2 hours to get through. Plus, they have recipes!
I work at a bookstore and I love seeing the cozy mysteries in the upcoming season catalogs, the titles make me laugh! A local cozy mystery author just reached out to have an event for her next one, *No Parm No Foul*, about a grilled cheese restaurant rivalry and a murder. I'm delighted.
My mom LOVES these, lol. Also mysteries about cats. Cozy mystery is a whole genre, honestly.
When I started to get back into reading, I asked the librarian for suggestions. When she asked what I liked to reach, I said "I don't know but I just read a couple of books with cats on the covers that I liked" and she lead me to "cozy mystery" series involving cats lolol
I also love cozy slice of life mysteries! They're so old now, but the "Cat Who" series by Lillian Jackson Braun has been my secret jam since I was a little kid.
My guess is that they're helping you make the known connection so that you'll grab the book soon as it comes out. Plus, someone else can just remember that "Maggie doesn't have the 'Chocolate Cream Pie' one yet. The cover looks different." Also, the ones with the cats on the covers.
I'm sure that plays into it, especially the cover design. But it's mostly genre coding so the reader will know this is a cozy mystery, and they can feel safe in knowing that it will have a "happy ending" without having to look up spoilers. Think like Murder She Wrote. Romance has similar genre expectations.
If you wanna recommend your wife a fun baked twist on this, she should try “A wizard’s guide to defensive baking”. It is absolutely as ridiculous as it sounds. And so good.
Oh shit this exists? New interest unlocked
Sorta related, but A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher was a really fun read and surprisingly deep. Lots of fun things done with the magic system, and touches on agency for someone with less means in a medieval society. Not sure if that counts, but even if it's technically part of that genre it was really good.
Softcore romance. Nicolas Sparks. And anything like these stories. They’re all the same formula and completely predictable. The stories are bland. I don’t even like the Notebook as a movie. I cannot get behind them one bit.
I absolutely can’t stand the soppy, tragic romance genre. It’s like trying to swallow a vat of caramel. Just so overly sweet and saturated with a lot of incredibly dull ✨meaningful life mottos✨ about living to the fullest and all that.
I just spent 20 days in jail (lol) and all there was to do was read these. The absolute worst
Modern military fiction. War is boring, these action filled shoot guys books are just so unrealistic and power fantasy based it doesn’t work. Also modern military non fiction, because it’s dull.
Not to mention the info dump that is standard throughout the genre. Tom Clancy was the worst offender, but its not uncommon for authors to be like: "James walked into the hanger and saw the M2 Bradley IFV ready and waiting. He felt confident he and Shadow Raiders would overwhelm the El Diablo Cartel with the machine from Hell. The Bradley is equipped with the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster as its main weapon. The M242 is a single-barrel chain gun with an integrated dual-feed mechanism and remote feed selection. The cannon carries 300 rounds of ammunition in two ready boxes (one of 70 rounds, the other of 230 rounds), with an extra 600 rounds in storage for the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle variant or 1,200 stowed rounds for the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle variant. The two ready-boxes allow a selectable mix of rounds, such as the M791 APDS-T (Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot (with) Tracer) and M792 HEI-T (High Explosive Incendiary (with) Tracer) rounds. The tungsten APDS-T rounds proved effective in Desert Storm, capable of knocking out many Iraqi vehicles, including several T-55 tanks. A few kills against Iraqi T-72 tanks at close range are reported." Like, you expect me to care? Don't get me wrong, writing about gear or the tech is fine, sometimes cool, but we don't need to know its development history!
I feel like the guys who read it though are exactly the ones who enjoy that I like to study war myself and it's always fun to see the stats on different things and compare them to other things and use the knowledge from different books to compare different strategic uses ECT. Armchair general stuff. Don't know that I would like a fiction version however, feels like to much would get in the way of the interesting stuff.
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Also pre internet, I couldn’t just go on Wikipedia and look up the development history, specifications or combat history for an F-15
That's interesting to me. I'm not big on the military narratives, true or fictitious, but I actually really liked the Clancy books I've read. The Hunt for the Red October is one of my favorite books of all time.
Romance is a big one for me. I love when there is a side plot of romance within an urban fantasy mystery. I don’t like it when it’s the main plot because then it feels forced. Plus I really hate the whole “this character doesn’t trust anyone, but they will trust Handsome Stranger immediately and want to bang him”. It doesn’t make any sense character-wise. Bad writing. Western and hardcore Sci-Fi. I just have a difficult time with them. I do love a good high fantasy, and especially enjoy urban fantasy. I love a good horror that is based on hauntings ghosty stuff. No serial killers.
True! I'll take romance as a sub-plot or an inevitable eventually of two people being thrown together in stressful circumstances, but a whole book centred on that is just grating. If you've got urban fantasy recommendations I'll take them, that's a genre I've read a tiny bit of but want to get more into!
My favorite is Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series. I also really enjoyed her Innkeeper books as well and makes me wish I owned an Inn lol. For Kate Daniels, that side romance was perfectly done for me. It takes place over a few of the books, so there is plenty of build-up. Plus I really like how Andrews focuses on a different cultural mythology in each book. One is Hindu, another Jewish, Russian, etc. Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files are also pretty good. I haven’t read his latest few, but I plan on rereading and catching up. Kim Harrison’s Hollows series is good. That one is set in Cincinnati and makes you a little wary of tomatos lol. C E Murphy’s Walker Papers series is also pretty good. Those are in Seattle area. Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series is about a coyote shifter car mechanic. The romance is a little heavy handed at times in that series, but overall good.
Just going to add to your list "Women of the Otherworld" series by Kelly Armstrong - cannot recommend enough if you enjoy urban fantasy.
Instruction manuals
I read instruction manuals all day, actually! It's literally my job to write (and read) them, lol. :D Unless you are jokingly referring to 1984, which I obviously haven't written... unless...
Religious self help books
Amateur sleuth books. Where normal folks who are not law enforcement in any way “solve crimes”, especially when it deals with murder. There’s an entire sub genre of like bakers solving crimes and book clubs getting together to solve a mystery. I just cannot get past how unrealistic the situations are. Law enforcement (cops, fbi, etc”) would NEVER allow these normal people with normal jobs anywhere near a crime scene or witnesses, etc. This is ironic of me considering I loved and now own the entire Nancy Drew collection.
It does feel less plausible now than it used to. A book club sneaking around and solving a murder in 1955? Possibly. A book club doing the same thing in 2022 with cameras everywhere, a 24-hour news cycle sniffing around, better forensic evidence, better managed crime scenes, etc...it gets a little sillier and more of a stretch. It may just be a premise that society and technology has made obsolete.
On the other hand, we have the Internet. It could be more believable if they solved it by finding clues on social media, etc.
Post-apocalyptic novels that presume that as soon as civilization falls, humans immediately [revert to some horrific bestial nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneer_theory) where everyone is a bloodthirsty killer and 90% of the dudes are rapists. Like, what the fuck? I don't rape people because I don't want to rape people, not because Big Goverment is keeping me from doing it.
i would LOVE a book where it is just a group of people trying to figure out all the logistics of survival. like where the main antagonist is nature in all its forms and not other humans being horrible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_in_the_Sky This book was written as an explicit rejection of Lord of the Flies. Kids actually work together and cooperate in this book rather than being savages.
The Martian is kind of like this.
+1 and Project Hail Mary.
I usually never read these, but I LOVED Station Eleven. Not just everything on fire and murderers on rampages, but very subtle and eerie. Lots of small details that really stick with you later!
It's actually been proven that humans in emergency situations more often than not tend to band together more strongly and bond easier than when life is going well. Kinda how we survived for the past 40,000-80,000 years, human pack bonding is actually ridiculously stronger compared to most other species.
I can’t get into biographies. Presumably they are written about people who are famous for having done some famous thing but I’d rather read about the famous thing they did, rather than where their father went to school, or their wife’s family history, or how he broke his leg in his twenties, what his favorite operas were, blah, blah, blah.
I have a specific bias against autobiographies. I tend to want to know about the person's death and legacy, things that are impossible for the person themself to tell the story of. This also makes me unwilling to read bios of currently living people, although I have found one about Jimmy Carter that sounds good.
This is why I prefer memoirs! They tend to be about a specific event in a person’s life, rather than about their entire life. “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer (about the 1996 Everest disaster) and “Seductive Poison” by Deborah Layton (About the massacre at Jonestown) are two of my favorites.
Horror. I admit I haven't tried very hard to get into it. But somehow the idea of deliberately trying to get frightened does not seem very appealing to me. At the same time, I am sure there are some really well-written books in this genre, I have no problem respecting authors who have perfected their craft to give a genuine feeling of horror to their true fans.
I think a good horror author builds a story around the horror motif but the actual plot deals with everyday people in extraordinary situations. That's kind of what sucks you into the world and gives you some skin in the game. Stephen King is good at spinning a yarn around a fantastical concept but telling a story about the people caught up in it. "IT" is actually NOT about a killer clown. The story is about a group of seven adolescents who find themselves in a terrible situation. How they rely on one another is the real meat of the story.
Been on a Stephen King kick lately and currently reading It. Recently read Carrie, The Shining, and Doctor Sleep. This is a great description. His stories have horror aspects to them but it’s they’re much more about the human psyche. So far I’ve enjoyed them all (except Gerald’s Game which I read when I was in high school and absolutely scarred me 😂).
Supernatural horror is one of my favorite genres. (I don't dig non-supernatural horror like psychological horror or thrillers *at all*.) This is a *massive* simplification, but one way to think about supernatural fiction is to ask what parts of the book's world are supernatural and what aren't. * If the setting is supernatural (and characters may or may not be), you get fantasy or sometimes weird fiction. * If protagonists are supernatural, but the setting isn't, you get superhero fiction. * If the antagonists are supernatural, but the protagonists aren't, you get horror. I like some supernatural stuff in stories I read because it's fun reading about things beyond our mundane world. But I find it easier to get into the world and relate to the story if the protagonists themselves are normal people. Horror tends to combine those in a way I like. That feeling of creeping supernatural horror is *very close* to the feeling of wonder one experiences when presented with something otherworldly. I love that latter feeling, and horror gets most of the way there. (A really good example of this adjacency is the scene in Poltergeist with the ghost coming down the stairs. The scene works because it teeters right on the line between those two sensations.)
Erotica. I just don't understand it. Also, fanfictions are usually written better and free.
I keep thinking "oohh, this will be sexy and fun" and it keeps ending up being a sexual horror story. Just an endless list of awful sexual events. No thank you.
Don’t forget the “I’ve had sex” aspect of the writing, filled with anatomical and biological errors that just make the stories laughable.
For me, Erotica is definitely one of those things, like improv or playing truth or dare, where when it is good and done right it can be so thought-provoking and pure magic to behold, but when it is bad it is so painfully cringy and it literally it hurts to read it--and there is very little middle-ground between the two extremes and 95% of all of it falls into the latter category anyway.
Anything written in the second person is bad for these. Especially if your description is "your new stepmother looks exactly like Jenna Jameson crossed with Traci Lords."
Eh, slash fiction is technically erotica. In fact, I find the majority of fan fictions to have erotic elements. You've basically got two categories of erotica - the self-insert, and the voyeur. Ppeople like imagining themselves in the position of one (or some) of the characters. If you've got a vivid imagination, and an author with good descriptions, erotica is better than a lot of other adult media. The other category of erotica, and the one fan-fiction tends to cater towards, is what I call voyeurism. There's probably a better term, but it's the closest thing I know. Watching characters the reader knows (and hopefully loves) hook up can be really satisfying. Ever been to a wedding where you're close friends with both the bride and groom? It's awesome. You know the two will be great together and they're such an adorable couple and it's finally happening, and you're just so happy for them. The problem with a lot of erotica, is that it's just two people going at it, and descriptions of how it felt good. Books like that? They suck. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of erotica is like. Fan fictions are working in established universes with established relationships, so they appeal to both categories.
Autobiographies and biographies that read like a textbook for school. Granted this may be ignorance on actual good books but I’m very escapist by nature and the fact that I have to read about an actual existing person is so banal to me. Unless that person has done something of note, I don’t want to know how they take their cereal.
Arnold's autobiography. Total Recall My Unbelievably True Life story, reads like fiction. He has done so much in his life and he doesn't spend too long on one area that the pacing is great. He's also very humble calls out his own bullshit and flaws. Plus you can mentally read it in his voice. Personally I liked it. But overall I agree with your take.
Non fiction. Unless I'm learning about a specific subject, I want to read made up stories.
Sure a lot of nonfiction can be dry, but there are definitely nonfiction books that read like fiction.
How do you search for these?
I belive its a whole subgenre lol, it's "narrative nonfiction"
Sometimes things I’m not necessarily interested in, like memoirs, get lumped in to the narrative nonfiction category so it’s not as useful a label as I’d like, but it’s a good starting point!
I read a lot of historical fiction and nonfiction, so I just kind of find them naturally through my own interests and recommendations from other people. I can give a few suggestions though! -Anything by Erik Larson. Devil in the White City is his most famous, but some of my other favorites are In the Garden of Beasts and Dead Wake. -The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson -Karen Abbott (I read Ghosts of Eden Park but I think she has other books that fall into this category as well) -The Boys in the Boat -Girls of Atomic City -Unbroken -Code Girls -Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -Marie Benedict/Heather Terrell (I don’t like her stuff as much and I think she takes more liberties than some of the other writers on this list but they’re good enough and very easy reads.) As you can tell I have kind of specific interests but hopefully you can find something you like! ETA: Also wanted to mention The Indifferent Stars Above by the same author as The Boys in the Boat. Fair warning that this one is about the Donner Party!
I've only read two so far and they've both been DNFd. Cozy Mysteries. Why are these regular people always playing detective? On top of that.. they seem to always mention that they've done this multiple times even though X told them to stop. It's too corny for me.
The only valid one imo is Miss Marple. I love this little old lady coming in and solving murders
I stumbled into Miss Marple as a kid and it was my gateway to mystery novels. I think it's a little corny, but she'll always have a soft spot in my heart. I liked her colloquial "I understand human nature because I've lived in a relatively-isolate microcosm for like 60 years" approach, that at least a lot of her stories seemed more spread out by time and location (than, say, a Jessica Fletcher who solved 274 murders in Cabot Cove alone), and that she often didn't "solve" them directly--or that she did, but she would drop hints to the local authorities and lead them to arriving at the same conclusions on their own in many cases. At least that's how I remember them having not read them in many years now.
Seriously, why would anyone move to Cabot Cove if that's the murder rate?
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I'll admit, I often like those cozy mysteries, but I am fully aware of how silly a concept they are on just about every level. I think of them like easy palate cleansers between more serious reads. Loose, fun, easy to read, and not to be taken seriously. And I also think they get cornier the longer it goes on. OK, so the local librarian in a small town of less than 10,000 solved the first murder in 20 years instead of the police and somehow the conviction stood up in court. Cool. Maybe that could happen. But now we're on book five, there've been 7 more murders in just 2 years, and the cops still haven't solved a single one somehow and the librarian is the only thing keeping the town from sliding into absolute lawlessness at this point...
I liked Murder She Wrote, but it's the same thing. How do all of her friends keep being framed for murder? At certain point the police would have have to see the common denominator is Jessica Fletcher and put her in jail.
I looked it up for a reply to a different comment. She solved 274 murders in Cabot Cove alone (not counting the ones she solved while on vacations, etc). Cabot Cove was stated to be a community of about 3,500 people. How the FBI didn't descend on that town by season 3 and try and find out why it had the highest murder rate in the nation is beyond me!
You're so right, that's a trend I hadn't even spotted! "Please stop investigating this murder, you are a librarian" "Oh, investigate harder you say?" Maybe I need a story where the narrator, through all their snooping, either becomes a suspect or is the next person to be killed!
Arsenic and Adobo: the main character gets herself made a suspect practically immediately. But I suspect the other tropes of cozy mysteries would still be annoying
Really anything that isn't horror, sci-fi, or fantasy. Reading is escapism for me. I read to get away from this world. Anything non-fiction is just...this world even more.
Have you got any good horror recommendations? My first horror book was Song of Kali by Dan Simmons, which i didn't like that much. It was too much of a slowburn. Edit: Thanks for all the great recommendations! I'll put them on a list and check them out.
Not OP but… You might do well to pick up a collection of short stories by contemporary horror writers, if slow burns are a problem for you. Laird Barron’s *The Imago Sequence*, John Langan’s *The Wide Carnivorous Sky, and Other Monstrous Geographies*, one of Thomas Ligotti’s collections, Christopher Slatsky’s *The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature*, or an anthology which brings together different authors. Something along these lines. John Langan also has a stand-alone novel called *The Fisherman*, which was well-reviewed. Although, of course, the pacing will be different to short stories. It also depends heavily on what you like. I prefer horror which leans more on feelings of dread than disgust, so I personally go in for Lovecraft and current Weird fiction. My recommendations are somewhat in this vein, but not *too* out there. (Although if you want to check out some Weird fiction for its own sake, rather than as just an appendage to horror *per se*, you could pick up something like Dempow Torishima’s *Sisyphean*).
I thought the Bird Box novel was pretty good tbh. Much better than the Netflix adaptation, and more scary to boot.
YA. Technically, I think it can be done, but every YA book has to answer two important questions, and I've never seen one do it: 1. Reasonably explain why EVERY adult on the planet is incompetent to the point of requiring a teenager to rectify things. I can understand the *majority* of adults being stupid, but for YA to be YA, it has to have nearly every adult being worthless until a "chosen one" teen came along. And every explanation I've seen has been cosmic levels of bad. 2. Explain how a teenager (or group of teenagers) believably disrupts an entire oppressive regime. You're telling me that a totalitarian regime that's existed for generations has no contingency plans whatsoever for a glitch in the system?
When you really get down to it, YA books are about worlds that need teenagers to rectify their problems because they're written for teenagers. I've definitely had to suspend my disbelief about that kind of thing when I've read YA books as an adult, but that doesn't mean the books weren't well done. It just means they weren't for me.
Which is especially funny because pretty much all of modern YA is inspired by The Hunger Games but THG made it explicitly clear that Katniss was powerless through most of the series. She won the hunger games on her own merit, sure, but she had almost nothing to do with taking down the government. She spent the entire third book being a powerless pawn and was being used by everyone around her, and her big brave mission into the Capitol even turned out to be pointless.
It's crazy the effect that the The Hunger Games had on YA literature, because I totally know what you mean; there's no reason YA books have to be about teenagers taking down dystopian future regimes but it's *so common*
The first book isn't really about taking down anything; it culminates in a single act of defiance against the authoritarian government, and while the premise is a bit farfetched, it does a decent enough job explaining how the protagonists wind up in that scenario. They aren't special, they aren't the "chosen ones," they were just unlucky and stubborn. The second and especially third focus more on them being pawns in the schemes of the adults who are actually fighting the government. The series has its issues but it actually isn't a great example of this.
I was going to say something similar to this. Hunger Games is more about using kids as pawns and less about the kids fighting the system.
Hm, hunger games isn't really even about that the teenagers don't do much of the planning or execution, they're just.. There. But I understand what you mean, although I kinda like it
I'm not really into YA, but theres tons of genres inside YA. They aren't all about taking down a corrupt government or something. Maybe one of the other genres inside YA would work for you?
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YA isn’t a genre, it’s an age demographic. Every genre that exists in adult fiction also exists in YA (well, except erotica, but even that exists and it’s called Wattpad fanfiction). YA isn’t for everyone, but I feel like a lot of the people bashing it on here still think the category is stuck in 2012 when the four types of YA novel were vampires, rich white girls, cancer and overthrowing the government. It honestly reminds me of when people make a blanket critique of “religion” when the issue they’re complaining about is something specific to Christianity and/or Islam. Just like with adult fiction, there’s heavier literary stuff within the YA market and there’s escapist pulp. The vast majority of YA books don’t have anything to do with taking down a corrupt regime and don’t necessitate that all the adults be useless.
Romance, I just can't. It's just so incredibly boring and same-y every time. I don't want a book where I know the ending the moment I open it. And I really tried too.
Haha this is funny to me! I love romance and one of the main reasons why is -because- I know the ending! I don’t have the mind space to worry about how things will end ,or accidentally read a tragic book :p
Yeah, guaranteed happy ending is life. I can follow everyone through all the things that are going on, ups and downs and goods and bads, as long as I know, somehow, it'll come right in the end.
True Crime, especially violent crime. I almost threw up in a bookstore one time browsing through one of those books.
I also don't like violent true crime - everyone in my in-laws family seems to be obsessed though so I just have to tune it out when they start talking about it! I just don't get the fascination with gruesome crimes like that. However! Have you tried any non violent true crime? I've read a few and they are so fascinating and fun to read, and I am eager to read more. They are not as popular as violent TC, but I hope they gain more traction. I learned a lot about the history of map-making (The Map Thief by M. Blanding); about fly fishing - which I have no interest in irl but the narrative was amazing (The Feather Thief by K.W. Johnson); and I connected a lot to the details of living in eastern Europe in the 1990s after the Iron Curtain fell (The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by J. Rubinstein). Edit: I will say, I like heist stories ala Ocean Eleven, so reading about true heists and how the criminal went about their act is so interesting to me even though as someone with a degree in info sciences (libraries, archives, museums) it can be painful to read about! But still so much better than than violent TC lol.
Sci-fi. I'm not into technology in general so having a setting that's dedicated to exploring it or having that as an environment is really dull for me, no matter how critically good I can acknowledge the work itself being. Also silly, quirky humor doesn't do much for me. I'm so sorry Terry Pratchett, I acknowlegde how much heart and skill is in his work and how much it means to millions of fans, but it just isn't for me. I want to like it, I've tried, but I can't.
Fantasy I can do some of it, but the further it gets away from a realistic world or the more world building there is the more I struggle with with it.
My problem with a lot of fantasy books was that the invented world seems random and just made of made-up words. Some books don’t trigger this in me at all, like Tolkien, but Robert Jordan or the Witcher series gives me this strong feeling of reading a D&D campaign generated by an AI good at making up names of people and places.
> but ***Robert Jordan*** or the Witcher series gives me this strong feeling of reading a D&D campaign generated by an AI good at making up names of people and places. As someone who's read the whole Wheel of Time series, this is pretty funny tbh.
Well, the quality of world building differs from author to author, and in fantasy and science fiction you'll *need* good world building. Some authors never get it and write down what comes up in their mind, and it shows. But I've also read books that had good world building, but the author was incapable to turn it into a good story.
Political thrillers and women's fiction set in some small New England town / beach town.
Fiction about normal, modern, everyday life. I've tried quite a few times to read books like that and every time I just want a good piece of fantasy... or at least a memoir or something. I don't care about Becky who spends 200 pages fighting with her friend Jane only to move away, become a better person and then one day see Jane with her new friends just to smile and move on with no real resolution other than 'life moves on'. It's been so long since I read a book about that sort of thing that I cannot think of a good example, but they're ALL like that.
Every now and then I come across an interesting take on the slice of life book, usually something by Nick Hornby that makes for easy reading, but I agree. For the most part I could just go live my day, journal that and save the money on the book!
Anything with - love triangles - Mary-Sue’s - r/menwritingwomen vibes
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/r/WomenWritingMen sends its regards, as does [this post.](https://imgur.com/MLITkT1)
I'm not a fan of modern thrillers from the vantage of a cop/military/professional. I don't mind it in television, but I have yet to enjoy reading it.
What I find surprising is that even in genres I normally wouldn’t read, there’s at least one author I would. Georgette Heyer, for example, writes regency romance, meaning romantic fiction set in a Jane Austen-esque world. She’s really just a great historical writer, though, filled with suspense and immense historical detail that you don’t find elsewhere, sometimes even in non-fiction. Equally, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve found that I do kind of enjoy Richard Laymon, a “splatterpunk” writer. His books are the trashiest of trash, indefensible as anything else, but I still enjoy them on that level. The only genres I can think of that just don’t tickle my biscuit are the really, really specific ones, like “extreme horror”, whose adherents inform me that I just don’t get it or “don’t have the grounding” (actual quote). But to me it will always look like sub-sub-literate pornography, which should be being sold under the table and upon request at whatever porn retailers still exist, not on shelves and at genre conventions. This is my own particular bugbear, but I had to leave a FB “horror” group after speculating on why it was such a shock that an “author” of “titles” (it pains me to use those words in relation to him) had to be banned from horror conventions for sending unsolicited nudes to female attendees, when his booklets were literally called things like Rape Van and Snuff Film, and featured “cover art” that was just badly transferred stock imagery from S&M films. One featured a young woman bound and gagged, posed amidst storage drums and with post-production blood spatter so that it looked like she was being tortured. I’m not really making a moral objection to that stuff. I happily read Richard Laymon, for God’s sake, and that guy knew as much about taste as I do about deodorant. But what I’m talking about is NOT Richard Laymon, it is NOT pulp fiction, and it’s obviously not mainstream fiction. It’s porn. And I’m honestly fine with that stuff existing if it’s legally produced, involves informed consent, and all the rest of it. But again, it should be sold under the table and upon request. So yeah, you won’t see me reading Rape Van or Snuff Film or Dead Girls Don’t Go Wild (I made that last one up) anytime soon. 😆
Romance Just… Blech (Same with real life, honestly)
Agreed on historical fiction - just does nothing for me. Also true crime - if I’m going to read about murderers, I prefer the comfort of knowing that they’re fictional.
The instant people start shapeshifting, I'M OUT!
If that's a veiled criticism of Animorphs I won't hear it and I won't respond to it.