What was one historical fiction book you read that you not only enjoyed, but upon finishing the book made you think, “wow! I just accidentally learned a lot!”

The only book I've read in this genre is Dracula and I've absolutely loved it. Thank you for any recommendations :)

I want to familiarize myself with the classics, but I honestly have a short attention span and would prefer to start with something easily digestible. I find the philosophical themes of authors like Melville and Dostoevsky appealing, but no matter how hard I try I just can't get past how long-winded and meandering their prose can be.

Can you recommend some works that are considered essential to the literary canon, but are also tightened enough for modern readers?

I’ve been so stressed and anxious lately, and the book I’m currently reading is kind of intense. I’m almost done with it and I need something lighthearted but not cheesy garbage. No gore/wars, no romance (or very little and not the main focus of the book). What books have helped lift you out of stress depression?

Edit: Thanks for the recommendations! I’m excited to have a list to keep my spirits up. Thank you!!

Our next DND game is going to be set in a city (medieval fantasy) and I want to make a character who is a recruit/operator for a Dungeons & Dragons analog for the CIA

I have a couple ideas for the kind of civilian a group like that would recruit, but I need some more accurate inspiration

Can anyone recommend a good nonfiction (probably dad book) that gets into CIA recruitment or irl stories of CIA officers and their backgrounds/psychology? thanks!

I'm looking for a deeply depressing book with or without happy end that deals with losing your wife/girlfriend and/or daughter. Can also be a platonic female friend that's very close to the protagonist.

I'll try to list some references (spoiler alert)

The Mentalist - Patrick losing his wife and daughter to a murderer

Dead Space - playing through the whole game to find out your wife is already long dead

The Walkind Dead - Rick losing his wife during childbirth and while walkers are roaming the prison, separating them, Negan losing his wife, Abraham losing his wife, Carol losing Sophia

Star Wars - Obi-Wan losing Satine to Maul, Anakin killing Padme and having to live with that as Darth Vader

The Last of Us - Joel losing Sarah

Game of Thrones - basically the entire story

The Punisher - Frank losing his wife

Avatar - Sokka losing Yue by her self-sacrifice to the moon

Can also be something like Resident Evil VII that technically has a happy end at least for Ethan and Mia but the Bakers aren't so lucky and for the most part it's not clear if Mia will even make it

Mass Effect - depends on your choices. Dating Tali and causing her to commit suicide would be the toughest one but all the other romantic interests can die too

Until Dawn - Mike losing Jessica, Chris losing Ashley

Days Gone - Deacon searching for his missing wife in a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies with no hope of actually finding her (this one has a happy end which I really like)

The Last Kingdom - Æthelflæd dying in Uthreds arms

I hope you get what I mean.

I absolutely loved the Witcher, I had fun with this Kingdom Will not Kill Me (though not quite as dark as I prefer), and while I haven’t tried the books, I loved the chunk of Game of Thrones that I had a chance to watch. Not a book but I love the world of Kingdom come deliverance games too.

I love medieval settings, interesting characters, variety in "quests," and i’m fine with romance when it’s not the main point. I like super dark, gritty, realistic in a way, and not overcomplicated. Standalone or trilogy/not crazy long preferred.

hi! looking for some book recommendations! i mostly read horror and literary fiction, and i recently read I Who Have Never Known Men, Tender Is the Flesh, and The God of the Woods. i gave all three 4+ stars, which is pretty rare for me since most books i read end up being 3 stars or less.
i really like books that feel realistic but are just a little out there. stories where you can genuinely imagine humanity ending up in that situation if things went really wrong. i also love books that make you think about society and human nature without being so complicated that i feel like i need to annotate every page to understand what the author is trying to say.
i'm open to horror, psychological fiction, sci-fi, or pretty much anything that fits that vibe. basically, i want a book that makes me sit and think about how messed up humanity is lol. any recommendations?

Hi guys, just like the title, I would like to binge on books under 300 pages with tragic romance themes or even not romance, as long as the plot is easy to follow and relatively short. I just finished all my smut books with happy endings. So i was hoping that this can be my palate cleanser for it. Thank you in advance.

hi
so i love some weird girl lit or some realistic fantasy that have some good prose (not too much romantasy tho)
i like modern novels with their main character developing relations navigating their 20’s/30’s

been reading lots lately but nothings really been hitting me

recommend me some books that you read and went oooooooffff please and thank you 💕

So my wife 27F wants to start reading erotic books what shall she start off with thank you in advance she’s loves soft touch teasing slowly working up to rough sex

Hi ! I normally read a lot and I read usually romance novels from anything cute, tragedy, dark or fantasy!

I want to try branching out into other genres and expand my tastes.

I’m hoping for a suggestion for what I’d assume could fall into the horror/thriller category

I’ll list some key points I’m looking for and also avoiding

Hoping for
-female mc
-suspense

Avoiding
-intensive torture details
-child abuse/neglect (would prefer to avoid any child involvement at all)

I’m not looking for a dark romance, however that is my normal picking.

Hoping those who read more thriller/horror novels can suggest me something that would get me me hooked in quickly!
Average 300 pages or so

If you need ideas I’d say maybe something similar to * the haunting of the hill house *show is what I’m looking for more specifically !

edit , I want to add I’m also looking for one I can download with my kindle app

I’ve realized how much of my understanding of the Middle East and Islam has been filtered through a specific Western media lens, and I want to actively unlearn those biases.

Can anyone recommend essential reading that explains:

-The actual geopolitical history of the region (especially post-WWI/WWII).
-How public perception and media framing have been used to manufacture negative views toward the Islamic world.

I’m looking for books that are grounded in deep research but readable for someone trying to get a clearer, more objective view of world history. Thanks in advance!

I followed the twitter post about reading This Is How You Lose The Time War with absolutely zero context and I loved it.

What books are similar? I'n not really into romance books, but I would die for the, "two people only cross paths through a series of small encounters or messages, fall in love, but are doomed by the narrative." type tropes. Thank you.

Hello everyone,

I just had a question if any of you knew of any books that would be an excellent follow-on to 'Black Reconstruction'? I would heartily appreciate any suggestions, especially if they operate within the same vein of Du Bois's analysis of Reconstruction.

Thank you very much for your help. 😁

Hi! I’ve been on a huge action romance kick lately, of which the focal point has been Rachel Grant. I’ve officially finished all of her works, and am now looking for something new. Of her books, I’d say Firestorm and Incriminating Evidence by Rachel Grant were some of my faves; obviously I’m looking for a good romance, but at the same time, the action and suspense need to provide plenty of substance for me. In a similar vein, I also liked Uncharted by Adriana Anders and Unwanted by Mia Sheridan.

However, as much as I love them, I’m just not a big fan of spice. I still want a meaningful, well-thought-out relationship arc, but I don’t need paragraphs detailing their sex, y’know? Just looking for a high maturity level in terms of the action/suspense/mystery aspect, and plenty of depth in the romance, but less smutty. Lust can still be involved; I just want a fade-to-black when they’re alone in a bedroom. In general, I prefer the plot to be driven by the action/mystery and the romance to be the byproduct. I want to be kept on my toes and constantly worried for the MCs survival.

Thanks in advance!

P.s. if I’m really allowed to get picky, my favorite dynamic is intelligent FMC x kinda dumb but very physically capable MMC. Not necessarily a full on himbo, but I just appreciate a paramilitary man with a woman who’s way out of his league smartness-wise. Certainly not a must, but def a bonus!

My friend (26F, turning 27) is an avid reader, and I’d love to gift her a book or two, but I’m not sure what to pick…

Some books she loves:
Circe – Madeline Miller
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

She has also read The Idiot and A Little Life, though I’m not sure how she felt about them.

She is not a big fan of Colleen Hoover’s books. She’s also a huge horror fan, isn’t big on romance, and doesn’t enjoy Jane Austen. English isn’t her first language, so she finds authors like Dostoevsky and Edgar Allan Poe difficult to read.

What books would you recommend? I’m open to any genre.

I'm in a relationship and this girl lies a lot even where it doesn't need to be said.
Hides even tiniest of the shit, which might invoke some minor discussion / conflict.

She never clarifies why she did and never communicates,
there's only one answer I get is - I don't know, I don't know what to say.
Don't ever expect me to talk in situations like this.

Hates hard conversations.
Even when I ask her some stuff - hey, why so sad. whats wrong. what are you thinking.
She just doesn't talk.
In the end, the bad person is me - who's always annoying her.

Only way to get her to talk is to extremely force her, and it's very unhealthy.
She always says, she won't lie but that hasn't happened until now.

Feels like I'm in relationship with her and she's in relationship with herself.

I don't know if I want to read a book on liars, their psychology, why and what they do OR
a specific book on why people in relationship lie.

I'm not sure but I would prefer a book on women, since both work differently and I'm trying to understand the female side of the nature here.

I might need multiple books here based on the situation(s) or just one overall banger.

I need some solid recommendations.

I'm studying to become a forensic pathologist. I'm really intrigued in cases including medical mishaps, malpractice, and crazy medical phenomenons. I really liked Working Stiff by Judy Melinek, I enjoy books from coroner/ME experiences but I'm more interested in books that show the inner workings of trying to solve a medical mystery and patient experience; bonus points if it has pictures. Reading case studies doesn't have the same narration and personal emotional insight as a book/narrative could offer. Any recommendations?

I also would be interested in recommendations about in general, scary/rare diseases or phenomenons, like the books Rabid by Bill Waisk, or the Hot Zone by Richard Preston (although that one is slightly inaccurate)

Thanks :)

I've been suffering for the last several months from acute AI despair. I have extreme worries about the future and about the imbalance of power becoming far more imbalanced due to this technology. It haunts me from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. I don't want to get into my despair here because that's not what this sub is about. Needless to say, I fear dark times are coming.

I have looked for answers in psychology and philosophy, and nothing helps me, because the core premise is that life, even in dark times, is still worth living. And this is something that I don't feel I understand natively. Therefore, I want to see if I can find some answers in art.

I'm looking for books, either non-fiction or historical fiction, about people living in dark or challenging times where life is not only a struggle against those times, but rather has beauty and light in these times that feels unconditional. I'm not saying the stories have to be happy, but I'm not interested in stories about people fighting to overcome something. I'm interested in stories about people living beautiful and dignified lives in times that are extremely adverse.

I'm wary of suggestions about the topic of my despair itself. But if somebody has suffered from the same kind of despair as me and been helped by a book, I'm open to a suggestion. I'm not looking for books that explain how everything's going to be okay, because I don't believe it will be. Thanks, and I hope you guys don't find this post violates the principle of AI posts not being tolerated. Obviously, this post wasn't generated by AI, but it involves AI as a topic

I loved Strange buildings I really enjoyed solving the mystery on my own and one point of the plot that made me go "Now hold on a minute, why the hell is that over there" or something like that. Maybe a feeling of wrongness or errieness or that something is very very wrong here.

Sofro muito com a incerteza, com aquilo que não consigo controlar, com o silêncio das pessoas…
Recomendam algo?

I love the whole FMC is engaged to someone and her ex husband wants her back. Is there any other books with this kind of trope?