Any fiction suggestions for a somewhat picky reader? The Expanse lasted me a long while but I’m finishing up the novellas now and need to start looking for something new. Not necessarily in the same genre.

I don’t have a lot of books under my belt as an adult, but some of my favorites have been Stoner by John Williams, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, East of Eden, Catch 22, Flowers for Algernon, and Harry Potter. Kind of all over the place I guess. 😅

I’ve also enjoyed John Williams’ other novels, Piranesi, The Things They Carried, House of Leaves, and Ender’s Game and the sequel.

Some books I didn’t really care for include Hitchhiker’s Guide (although I loved the first half), Lolita, Sharp Objects, Turtles All the Way Down, The Stand, The Road, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451.

I’m always overwhelmed trying to find something new, so thanks for any suggestions!

EDIT: Thank you all! It’ll be a bit daunting exploring all these new books but not nearly as daunting as if I had no guidance, so I really appreciate it!

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Me too. Can’t put my finger on why. It’s just like it’s trying to hard to be oddball and comes across as forced

        • Little_mouse@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          The first few books (and really most of them that feature Rincewind) are not the best examples of his work in my opinion. Honestly the series evolves from cheap parody to suprisingly deep commentaries on life and society. Most of the books are standalone, so you don’t need to read all of them to get the best bits.

          Might I suggest ‘going postal’ or ‘making money’ as good examples of his later work that are particularly stand alone.

          • cymor@midwest.social
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            10 months ago

            I found that using one of the guides that show the different series helped. Each one is a bit different even though they’re in the same world. I started with the Watch series, but the Death series or Going Postal series are my favorites.