Middlemarch!! I read this my first semester of college and it helped me reorient my life. My English teacher referred to it as possibly the best English novel ever written. The first 100ish pages are tough, and then it’s phenomenal.
Ohhh, my friend Jeff recently told me I must read that! Okay, I'll try to get to that one soon. It's good to know that it may start slow but it's well worth reading. Thank you, Victoria! :-)
Middlemarch is on my list to read. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I have read 6 books on this list. To me, as a female, the Brontë Sisters should be on a list of top 30. The same could be said for John Steinbeck. I probably couldn’t choose 30. Nice job doing this as it does take time and thought to produce your heart on paper. Sometimes I get upset when I realize I don’t have a copy of all of the books that came from the library, so a master list of all the books read is on my todo list. And then there are the ones in the kindle. Now in my 60’s, I wish for them all to be in print and on a bookshelf.
I'm a bit of an outlier because I only read physical books, so my house is overflowing with books. haha 🤓 I also don't borrow library books because I take extensive notes in all the books I read. That drives up my reading cost but also makes it nice because I can quickly review my notes or re-read anything whenever I want.
I had to get on my laptop to respond because I had a lot to say, haha!
First of all, I LOVE to see Red Rising. It is a book I recommend to people who say they used to love to read but don't anymore. If that series doesn't suck you in, nothing will. Also, I almost never see anyone mention Blake Crouch's Pines series--truly unputdownabble.
Really enjoyed this list, especially because it doesn’t just rank books, it shows what each one gave you as a reader. I also liked the shift in your intro from nonfiction-first thinking to seeing fiction as one of the best ways to understand people more deeply. The mix here feels thoughtful too: classics, thrillers, sci-fi, and literary fiction all in one place. Middlemarch might be one worth adding at some point, for the same reason you highlighted Austen and Hugo: it has that rare ability to make moral complexity feel intensely human.
Regarding Pride and Prejudice (which I just finished reading tonight), I’d also like to add the theme of transformation to your list, because I think both Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s transformations were important in bringing them together in the end.
It was only after I closed the book and thought about how both Darcy & Elizabeth had changed (and learned from their circumstances) from the beginning of the book to the end that I thought about it. I also thought her indictments of the social/financial predicament for women regarding marriage, as well as issues with entail were clear and remarkable.
Great, thanks! I recently picked up a copy of Confederacy of Dunces, and I'm excited to dive into it! Your comment will help me prioritize that one to ensure I get to it soon.
Okay…there are a lot of books on your list that would be on my list. Here are a few you did not mention which would be on mine: “The Shadow of the Wind”- G R Zafon; anything by Frederick Backman (careful; he writes differently than anything you mention); Michael J Sullivan’s “The Legends of the First Empire”- (I loved the Ryria books as well, but First Empire was fantastic)
I read it 20 years ago and it is still the book I tell everybody about. You have probably read it, but if you have not Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief” is incredible.
If you like Stephen King you may enjoy 11-22-63 about a man who time travels to prevent the JFK assassination. It's a love story and a history lesson. I would also add The Golem and the Jinni, a tale of two mythical beings but really it's about freedom and captivity.
I have found very few people who name The Dead Zone as one of their favorites, but I am right there with you. And I have read 90% of King’s books. Other faves of his 11/22/63, The Stand, The Shining, and The Dark Tower series as a whole (although some of the books are individually less interesting).
You might want to try John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, starting with Every Dead Thing. It is a mystery/detective series, but it has supernatural underpinnings that I think are really interesting. And his writing is excellent.
I have probably read 75% of King's books and if you want a deep dive, my favorite of his are the The Dark Tower series. The first book is a little slow but it's the shortest. Just keep going until you get to the fourth book and then you'll be hooked!
You're way further along than I am! King is my favorite novelist, and I've read 26 of his books, but that means I still have another ~40 or so left! haha
I read The Dark Tower series many years ago and enjoyed it okay, but it wasn't my favorite. I know that series is the pinnacle for many of my fellow King fans, but it didn't hit as hard for me. My favorites from him are Misery, The Green Mile, IT, The Shining, and The Dead Zone.
The reason The Dark Tower hits for so many is the interconnection to all his early books prior to him finishing the last Dark Tower book. Characters and references to most of his books come up throughout the Dark Tower series. The Stand is my fave with many references and characters from many of his books involved. Duma Key is my fave stand alone novel of his.
Sandi - I just wanted to circle back on this thread because I just finished "11/22/63" and loved it! Thanks for the rec! :-) Awesome book and another testament to how great of a writer King is. I don't usually enjoy time travel stories, but he hooked me with that one.
I read mostly nonfiction. But I just read The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler. I highly recommend this book. One of the most compassionate books I have read! Amazing author!
I read this fiction and wanted to have lunch with the author. He is amazing! This book touched my heart. The characters are so real! I hope you read this gem! Thank you for your list!
I have many favorite fiction and nonfiction reads, but for time's sake, I'll give you two to begin with. For fiction, I'd go with Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and for nonfiction, although there are too many to chose from, I'll go with Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson.
Awesome, thanks Matt! One of my good friends recently recommended Children of Time. Now that it’s come up twice as such a strong recommendation, I guess I really need to check it out! That’s always a good sign.
And you clearly have great taste. That Leonardo biography is fantastic.
That's great, Bobby! I'm looking forward to seeing your NF favorites list so I can compare notes. I'll let you know how many of them I've read as well. Thank you!
So, I’m late to the dance; as one of your commenters said, old stuff pops up on Substack looking like new stuff. But I’m always happy to talk books!
Nice list; as others mentioned, unpretentious. I’ve read 7 of the 30, not counting Little Women, as that was more than 50 years ago. Statute of limitations has run out 😝. But, I finished a novel today, and the next one I’m picking up is The Master and Margarita! So we’re at least partly on the same wavelength. Several others on your list are in my TBR pile.
Of the seven I’ve read, I heartily approve of six. But I’ll have to take issue with Gone Girl, a putrid castration fantasy with no likable characters, badly written, and silly to boot. Not just my opinion; my wife agrees (we listened to it together).
Recommendations:
Thriller: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Mainstream: Bleak House by Charles Dickens, All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Science fiction: Dune by Frank Herbert and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Fantasy (non-Terry Pratchett division): The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson, Curioddity by Paul Jenkins, Declare by Tim Powers
Fantasy (Terry Pratchett division): Discworld (all 41 books!!), plus Nation and Dodger
Historical fiction: The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
I have mixed opinions. Overall, I love that series with three caveats:
(1) Each sequel in the main trilogy is progressively worse than the one before it. Book #1 was fantastic, but "Catching Fire" left me wanting a bit more, and "Mockingjay" was the weakest of the series.
(2) Collins is one of the best in the world at writing cliff-hangers, but really struggles with payoffs. She doesn't finish books well. In one or two of the books, I remember seeing that I only had 5-10 pages left and thinking, "How the hell is she going to wrap up this book in 5 pages?!?" Then I'd reach the end and realize she didn't really wrap it up. The ending was either unsatisfying or too rushed.
(3) I was pretty bummed when I heard that the plot of "The Hunger Games" was essentially ripped off from an earlier Japanese horror novel ("Battle Royale"). I read "Battle Royale" after I learned that, and it's amazing how much Collins took from that book, with no attribution back to Koushun Takami. Collins' writing is better, but the idea was stolen. (Collins denies that, but it's impossible to read the two books and think she independently came up with this idea.)
Those are three BIG caveats, but overall, I really enjoyed "The Hunger Games." It was one of the books that made me rediscover my love of fiction, so I'm thankful to Collins for that.
(Enough of me blabbering on... what did you think of the series???)
Thanks for the great list. I HIGHLY recommend “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell. It won several awards, including the Arthur C. Clark. Incredibly thought-provoking.
Middlemarch!! I read this my first semester of college and it helped me reorient my life. My English teacher referred to it as possibly the best English novel ever written. The first 100ish pages are tough, and then it’s phenomenal.
Ohhh, my friend Jeff recently told me I must read that! Okay, I'll try to get to that one soon. It's good to know that it may start slow but it's well worth reading. Thank you, Victoria! :-)
Middlemarch is on my list to read. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I have read 6 books on this list. To me, as a female, the Brontë Sisters should be on a list of top 30. The same could be said for John Steinbeck. I probably couldn’t choose 30. Nice job doing this as it does take time and thought to produce your heart on paper. Sometimes I get upset when I realize I don’t have a copy of all of the books that came from the library, so a master list of all the books read is on my todo list. And then there are the ones in the kindle. Now in my 60’s, I wish for them all to be in print and on a bookshelf.
Great recs, Patty! I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and East of Eden, but I read them more than ten years ago, so I didn't include them here.
The Brontë Sisters are on the Top 200 list I'm working through (https://leaderandlearner.substack.com/p/the-uber-list-of-the-top-200-books), so I'll definitely read them soon.
I'm a bit of an outlier because I only read physical books, so my house is overflowing with books. haha 🤓 I also don't borrow library books because I take extensive notes in all the books I read. That drives up my reading cost but also makes it nice because I can quickly review my notes or re-read anything whenever I want.
Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!
Seconding Steinbeck!! East of Eden floored me. And ditto… my TBR is in my notes app and goes on forever
Same here. My TBR list seemingly grows by the hour. ;-)
I had to get on my laptop to respond because I had a lot to say, haha!
First of all, I LOVE to see Red Rising. It is a book I recommend to people who say they used to love to read but don't anymore. If that series doesn't suck you in, nothing will. Also, I almost never see anyone mention Blake Crouch's Pines series--truly unputdownabble.
I actually made my own list earlier this year: https://substack.com/home/post/p-158963774?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web. curious if you've read any of my favorites!
Yes, "Red Rising" is incredible! I'm glad to hear you love it too.
I just saved your list so I can check it out soon. Thanks Chelsey!
Really enjoyed this list, especially because it doesn’t just rank books, it shows what each one gave you as a reader. I also liked the shift in your intro from nonfiction-first thinking to seeing fiction as one of the best ways to understand people more deeply. The mix here feels thoughtful too: classics, thrillers, sci-fi, and literary fiction all in one place. Middlemarch might be one worth adding at some point, for the same reason you highlighted Austen and Hugo: it has that rare ability to make moral complexity feel intensely human.
Thank you for your kind words, John. That means a lot, and I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
It sounds like I really need to read Middlemarch! I will prioritize that one and be sure to get to it soon. I appreciate the rec!
Regarding Pride and Prejudice (which I just finished reading tonight), I’d also like to add the theme of transformation to your list, because I think both Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s transformations were important in bringing them together in the end.
Good point, Barbara!
It was only after I closed the book and thought about how both Darcy & Elizabeth had changed (and learned from their circumstances) from the beginning of the book to the end that I thought about it. I also thought her indictments of the social/financial predicament for women regarding marriage, as well as issues with entail were clear and remarkable.
A really fun list of accessible books. Unpretentious and I appreciate that!
Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!
Confederacy of Dunces. Tale of Two Cities. Treasure Island. Catch-22.
Great, thanks! I recently picked up a copy of Confederacy of Dunces, and I'm excited to dive into it! Your comment will help me prioritize that one to ensure I get to it soon.
Okay…there are a lot of books on your list that would be on my list. Here are a few you did not mention which would be on mine: “The Shadow of the Wind”- G R Zafon; anything by Frederick Backman (careful; he writes differently than anything you mention); Michael J Sullivan’s “The Legends of the First Empire”- (I loved the Ryria books as well, but First Empire was fantastic)
Great, thank you, James! I appreciate the recs. I keep seeing The Shadow of the Wind around but haven’t picked it up yet.
I read it 20 years ago and it is still the book I tell everybody about. You have probably read it, but if you have not Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief” is incredible.
Ohhh, great pick, James! Such a fascinating (and unique) book.
If you like Stephen King you may enjoy 11-22-63 about a man who time travels to prevent the JFK assassination. It's a love story and a history lesson. I would also add The Golem and the Jinni, a tale of two mythical beings but really it's about freedom and captivity.
Ohhh, I keep wanting to read 11/22/63, but I haven’t gotten to it yet! Thanks for the reminder! I’ll prioritize that one.
And thanks for the other recs too! I appreciate it, Sandi. 😃
11-22-63 is fantastic. I think it’s King’s best story. It’s even now a series on Hulu. Of course the book is better but still.
Jim - circling back...
I just finished "11/22/63" and loved it! Thanks for pushing me to read it! :-)
I have found very few people who name The Dead Zone as one of their favorites, but I am right there with you. And I have read 90% of King’s books. Other faves of his 11/22/63, The Stand, The Shining, and The Dark Tower series as a whole (although some of the books are individually less interesting).
You might want to try John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, starting with Every Dead Thing. It is a mystery/detective series, but it has supernatural underpinnings that I think are really interesting. And his writing is excellent.
Thanks Melise! I just added it to my TBR list. I appreciate the rec!
I checked out the Hulu series a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm excited to read the book! King is my fave.
I have probably read 75% of King's books and if you want a deep dive, my favorite of his are the The Dark Tower series. The first book is a little slow but it's the shortest. Just keep going until you get to the fourth book and then you'll be hooked!
You're way further along than I am! King is my favorite novelist, and I've read 26 of his books, but that means I still have another ~40 or so left! haha
I read The Dark Tower series many years ago and enjoyed it okay, but it wasn't my favorite. I know that series is the pinnacle for many of my fellow King fans, but it didn't hit as hard for me. My favorites from him are Misery, The Green Mile, IT, The Shining, and The Dead Zone.
The reason The Dark Tower hits for so many is the interconnection to all his early books prior to him finishing the last Dark Tower book. Characters and references to most of his books come up throughout the Dark Tower series. The Stand is my fave with many references and characters from many of his books involved. Duma Key is my fave stand alone novel of his.
Sandi - I just wanted to circle back on this thread because I just finished "11/22/63" and loved it! Thanks for the rec! :-) Awesome book and another testament to how great of a writer King is. I don't usually enjoy time travel stories, but he hooked me with that one.
I read mostly nonfiction. But I just read The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler. I highly recommend this book. One of the most compassionate books I have read! Amazing author!
Awesome, thanks for the rec! I just added it to my Goodreads TBR list, thanks to you. :-)
I also read mostly NF and absolutely love it. Stay tuned for my top NF list, which I'll be posting soon.
Thank you for reading, Ann!
I read this fiction and wanted to have lunch with the author. He is amazing! This book touched my heart. The characters are so real! I hope you read this gem! Thank you for your list!
That is high praise indeed! ❤️
This is such a great and inspiring list, even though I have only read two of them. This will give me an excuse to read more fiction.
I too am mostly a nonfiction guy, Matt! I'll be publishing my NF favorites list soon. :-) I'm glad you found this list inspiring.
What are your favorite fiction & nonfiction reads? What should I check out next?
Say Nothing is amazing.
Agreed! I really enjoyed that book. Keefe has a new book coming out this April, and I'm excited for it!
I have many favorite fiction and nonfiction reads, but for time's sake, I'll give you two to begin with. For fiction, I'd go with Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and for nonfiction, although there are too many to chose from, I'll go with Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson.
Awesome, thanks Matt! One of my good friends recently recommended Children of Time. Now that it’s come up twice as such a strong recommendation, I guess I really need to check it out! That’s always a good sign.
And you clearly have great taste. That Leonardo biography is fantastic.
That's great, Bobby! I'm looking forward to seeing your NF favorites list so I can compare notes. I'll let you know how many of them I've read as well. Thank you!
Hi Bobby:
So, I’m late to the dance; as one of your commenters said, old stuff pops up on Substack looking like new stuff. But I’m always happy to talk books!
Nice list; as others mentioned, unpretentious. I’ve read 7 of the 30, not counting Little Women, as that was more than 50 years ago. Statute of limitations has run out 😝. But, I finished a novel today, and the next one I’m picking up is The Master and Margarita! So we’re at least partly on the same wavelength. Several others on your list are in my TBR pile.
Of the seven I’ve read, I heartily approve of six. But I’ll have to take issue with Gone Girl, a putrid castration fantasy with no likable characters, badly written, and silly to boot. Not just my opinion; my wife agrees (we listened to it together).
Recommendations:
Thriller: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Mainstream: Bleak House by Charles Dickens, All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Science fiction: Dune by Frank Herbert and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Fantasy (non-Terry Pratchett division): The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson, Curioddity by Paul Jenkins, Declare by Tim Powers
Fantasy (Terry Pratchett division): Discworld (all 41 books!!), plus Nation and Dodger
Historical fiction: The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
Unclassifiable: Kraken by China Miéville.
Happy reading!
Thanks Mark! Glad you enjoyed the post.
I recently picked up a copy of “I Am Pilgrim,” but haven’t started it yet. I’m happy to hear it holds up!
Thanks for all of the great recs! I appreciate it.
The Night Circus
I keep hearing good things about that book! I’ll have to check it out.
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. It’s the first book that I reread immediately after finishing it.
Oh wow, that’s high praise! Thanks for the rec!
Dying to know your opinion on the Hunger Games books honestly
I have mixed opinions. Overall, I love that series with three caveats:
(1) Each sequel in the main trilogy is progressively worse than the one before it. Book #1 was fantastic, but "Catching Fire" left me wanting a bit more, and "Mockingjay" was the weakest of the series.
(2) Collins is one of the best in the world at writing cliff-hangers, but really struggles with payoffs. She doesn't finish books well. In one or two of the books, I remember seeing that I only had 5-10 pages left and thinking, "How the hell is she going to wrap up this book in 5 pages?!?" Then I'd reach the end and realize she didn't really wrap it up. The ending was either unsatisfying or too rushed.
(3) I was pretty bummed when I heard that the plot of "The Hunger Games" was essentially ripped off from an earlier Japanese horror novel ("Battle Royale"). I read "Battle Royale" after I learned that, and it's amazing how much Collins took from that book, with no attribution back to Koushun Takami. Collins' writing is better, but the idea was stolen. (Collins denies that, but it's impossible to read the two books and think she independently came up with this idea.)
Those are three BIG caveats, but overall, I really enjoyed "The Hunger Games." It was one of the books that made me rediscover my love of fiction, so I'm thankful to Collins for that.
(Enough of me blabbering on... what did you think of the series???)
Somerset Maugham- Of Human Bondage- a great read
I still haven't read that one. Thanks for the rec, Susan! :-) I'll check it out.
Thanks for the great list. I HIGHLY recommend “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell. It won several awards, including the Arthur C. Clark. Incredibly thought-provoking.
Sweet, thanks Joey! I just looked it up and it sounds like an awesome read. I added it to my TBR list. Thank you!!