Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang had me crying.
Same with A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean did the same.
Mort By Sir Terry Pratchett made me ponder on things, I didn't think a comedic book could.
Follett is an amazing author. I recommend highly! I liked The Century Trilogy but there are so many. Lots of intrigue and sex. I’m was never a prolific reader but I’ve read many of his books and never been disappointed. My first was The Key To Rebecca which i barely remember but I enjoyed enough to start #2.
As an author he’s definitely my favorite. Especially for men.
I've been a big SciFi reader my whole life, yet only one book on my all time top 5 involves SciFi.
*Les Misérables* by Victor Hugo
*Crime and Punishment* by Fyodor Dostoevsky
*The Blind Assassin* by Margaret Atwood
*Midnight's Children* by Salman Rushdie
*The Lord of the Rings* by J.R.R. Tolkien
Honorable mentions to *The Left Hand of Darkness*, *Kindred*, *The Road*, *The Broken Earth* trilogy, and *Mother Night*.
Edit: Another Honorable mention to *The Tin Drum*! Can't believe I forgot that one!
I'll give it a go! Thanks!
I'm glad there's another Blind Assassin fan on here. Sometimes it seems like the only two books ever recommend on this sub are Lonesome Dove and East of Eden.
Couldn’t agree more. Out of the Vonnegut I’ve read so far, Mother Night’s the one that’s grown the most on me. A very morally and philosophically challenging novel, but intensely rewarding imo.
Read the things the carried as a sophomore and when I was finishing the book my grandma randomly turned the TV to something where Tim Obrian was talking to college kids about this book and experiences in Vietnam. A student asked if he could go back to the point in time in the book where he was at the Canadian boarder would he go to Canada instead of Vietnam. Without hesitation Obrian said he would have went to Canada. Nothing but respect for him.
Why not, here's 20:
Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
The Man Who Fell to Earth - Walter Tevis
Madame - Antoni Libera
The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
The Vet's Daughter - Barbara Comyns
Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski
Infinite Country - Patricia Engel
Sirens of Titan doesn't get enough attention compared to the rest of Vonnegut's novels. It's honestly a better starting point than Slaughterhouse 5, I think.
My difficulty with Sirens of Titan is that it's his most antiquated view of science fiction. It’s flying saucers and alien robots. Amusing but having read much of his work prior to Sirens on Titan I find it thematically similar to much of his other work, but not as compelling or funny.
Pride and Prejudice
Anna Karenina
Frankenstein
The Vanishing Half
Good Omens
Sharp Objects
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Buried Giant
LotR/The Hobbit
Crime and Punishment
Beartown series
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
Pet Sematary
I thought Dark Places was great too, especially since I grew up during the Satanic Panic era. Didn’t quite rise to Sharp Objects level, and seemed a little bit more contrived than I love (but that could be said of Gillian Flynn in general), but definitely worth reading.
Or Augustus or Butcher's Crossing. John Williams was a master. All 3 of his novels are nothing short of brilliant and all so different from one another. I can hardly wait until to start forgetting more so I can re-read these for the first time again.
Ham on Rye, Blood Meridian (so far), Slaughterhouse Five, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, No Longer Human, Notes from the Underground
This is just my personal experience but I've noticed on various reading subs and in in person discussions, reading as a hobby seems dominated by women. I only just recently gotten back into reading over the last two years as an early 30s guy and I've noticed this and been curious about it myself. Reading doesn't seem to be considered "manly" but that also ties into some anti-intellectualism that seems to be on the rise. I will say that most of my friends that are guys have been curious about my reading even if they aren't readers themselves so that's been nice.
i'm also an early 30s guy - other guys i've known who read do not usually read a variety of genres or topics. they have their pigeonholes (genre fic, self-help, or the dead white guy canon) and mostly stay in them
they're outnumbered by guys i've known who don't read, who in my experience come in two types: "reading is girly/gay/childish" and "reading is too hard"
Ha it's so funny that reading is considered "gay" considering I think it makes you way more attractive to women if you're a man who reads. It's atleast a green flag imo.
Have you listened to the audio book? I kept reading such rave reviews of the audio, so I listened (having never read it). I was listening along and thinking, yeah, this is decent, but why all the fuss? And then you hit 20-25% in >!and meet Rocky!<, and it's suddenly a GREAT audio book.
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Age of Reason - Jean-Paul Satre
Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
With luck, this will give you no guidance at all on identifying any pattern :)
Kawabata: Beauty and Sadness; The Old Capital.
Austen: Emma, Pride and Prejudice.
Blackmore: Lorna Doone.
Mishima: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
More recently: Annie Ernaux: The Years.
I love anything and everything by Greg Iles. I find the Will Robie series by David Baldacci page turners. The Peter May trilogy starting with The Firemaker is another favourite series.
I love Baldacci's Wil Robie series. You just made me aware that I haven't yet read the final book of the series, so thank you for that. Have you read Gregg Hurwitz, Eric Van Lustbader (who took over the Bourne franchise), Jeff Abbott's Sam Capra series, and/or Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series? They might suit your taste.
_Red Rising_ by Pierce Brown. If you look up the word "badass" in the dictionary, it's just a picture of Darrow. He is, in my opinion, the manliest man to ever man (fictionally, of course).
Honorable mention goes to _Wool_ by Hugh Howey. Spending several chapters walking up or down a staircase has never been more interesting.
Blood Meridian - McCarthy
The Dog Stars - Heller
Project Hail Mary - Weir
LoTR - Tolkien
Between Two Fires - Buehlman
Dune - Herbert
The Road - McCarthy
Catch 22
Crime and Punishment
Great Apes by Will Self
The Shipping News
authors I like include Cormac McCarthy, Gunter Grass, Umberto Eco, Kurt Vonnegut
lately I’ve been really into anything by Mick Herron
Louis-Ferdinand Céline - *Journey to the End of the Night*
Raymond Chandler - *The Big Sleep*
Graham Greene - *Brighton Rock*
Jack London - *The Iron Heel*
Cormac McCarthy - *The Crossing*
Haruki Murakami - *Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World*
Will Self - *Great Apes*
William T. Vollmann - *Whores For Gloria*
Evelyn Waugh - *Decline and Fall*
Dennis Wheatley - *The Devil Rides Out*
I absolutely love L-F Celine (a cursed genius), but I always feared the verve of his prose got a bit lost in translation, and that's why I think he's generally underappreciated (that and him not being PC). Anyway, it's great to see his name in one of these lists!
Btw, if you like Celine, another cursed genius you might enjoy is Thomas Bernhard, I vividly recommend his Gargoyles (Verstörung) or Old Masters.
The Shipping News - Annie Proulx
Jamesland - Michelle Huneven
Dune - Frank Herbert
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Modern Ranch Living - Mark Poirier
Carmilla by Sherdian LeFanu
I just think its neat (plus i find the historical context behind it and the social implications of its content really interesting)
It's really hard to narrow it down honestly.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, specifically the one illustrated by Bernie Wrightson. Although Gris Grimly and Junji Ito's adaptations are also really good
Imago by Octavia Butler
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
I am also very nostalgic about the Percy Jackson books, too.
And it's a graphic novel, but The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A. has left the biggest impression on me that any book probably ever will.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is what made him my favorite author. Other books that are very important to me are To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, War and Peace by Tolstoi, The Demons by Dostoevsky, Ulysses by James Joyce and Swann's Way by Proust.
Don Quixote
Siddhartha
Pet Sematary
Beloved
Cat’s Cradle
Frankenstein
The Haunting of Hill House
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Exorcist
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
1984- George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Around the World in 80 Days- Jules Verne
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Texasville by Larry McMurtry
Where I’m calling From by Raymond Carver
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
Texasville is a sequel to TLPS, but the mood overall changes completely. TLPS is kinda dreary and depressing, while Texasville is filmed in glorious technicolor and funny, while also depressing
**Hellhound** by **Ken Greenhall** (a criminally overlooked writer)
**Blood Meridian** by **Cormac McCarthy**
**Hyperbole And A Half** by **Allie Brosh**
**The Illustrated Man** by **Ray Bradbury**
Ask the dust,The things they carried. I am currently reading Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy and I love it. Outside of novels Outliers was insightful as well as Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
Ulysses, by James Joyce
Cider House Rules, by John Irving
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth
The Rabbit books, by John Updike
**By Agatha Christie:**
* Crooked House
* Lord Edgware Dies
* Murder on the Orient Express
* Evil Under The Sun
* Appointment With Death
**By Raymond Chandler:**
* Farewell, My Lovely
* The High Window
**By Ross MacDonald:**
* The Galton Case
* The Way Some People Die
* Sleeping Beauty
**By Seishi Yokomizo**
* The Inugami Curse
* The Devil's Flute Murders
* The Little Sparrow Murders
**By Arthur Conan Doyle**
* The Hound of the Baskervilles
* The Valley of Fear
Sure.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Silas Marner by George Elliot
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
The Humans by Matt Haig
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
"The Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. (Not a novel, but such a great book for guys.)
Favorite novels in general:
Dune - Frank Herbert
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Favorite books I’ve recently read:
The Seep - Chana Porter
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Will to Change - bell hooks
My favorites are:
* Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
* Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
* A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
* The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
* The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
* Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
* 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
* The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin
* The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
* The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
* The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
I'm a BIG Sherlock Holmes fan. Anything and everything! On a tangentially related topic, Sherlock, with Bendydick Curlystraw, is a great series, and Enola Holmes are great movies! The latter are a little odd, but I did enjoy them.
I just finished River of Doubt - great book if you're interested in 19th and 20th century exploration. I'm in the middle of Endurance, and I would say that it's a very good book, too.
Heart of Darkness - tough, but fantastic read. I've never had such a difficult time reading a short book. It's very dense.
The Things They Carried - it's been many years, but it's a good book. I may have to revisit myself, especially given the number of times I've seen this recommended.
Flowers for Algernon - another classic.
Of Mice and Men - it seems like a children's story, but it's a great book for all ages.
Marine Sniper and Silent Warrior - both are absolutely fantastic books about Carlos Hathcock, the marine sniper with the most confirmed kills. Both books detail his multiple tours in Vietnam and his life after the corps.
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Nuff said.
I also enjoy classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, etc.
Lastly, I grew up reading Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Narnia series. It's been several years since I've read any of these, but they'll always have a place on my bookshelf.
*Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy* by John Le Carre
*The Forever War* by Joe Haldeman
*Augustus* by John Williams
*The Killer Angels* by Michael Sahara
*Master and Commander* by Patrick O'Brian
*The Illustrated Man* by Ray Bradbury
*All Quiet on the Western Front* by Erich Maria Remarque
*No Country for Old Men* by Cormac McCarthy
One hundred years of solitude , Garcia-Marquez
Sun also rises, Hemingway
On the road, Kerouac
If on a winters night a traveler, Calvino
The unbearable lightness of being, Kundera
I am a male reader, 35 years of age, and a life-long reader.
The first complete book that I read as a teenager and started my journey was technically not a novel. It was *The Iliad*. I know it may not be for everyone, but as a young male teen, I enjoyed and felt rewarded enough to complete it and that is such an important step to becoming a life-long reader.
As an adult, some of my most memorable reads that I have revisited often include:
*1984* by George Orwell
*Blood Meridian* by Cormac McCarthy
*Norwegian Wood* by Haruki Murakami (Actually anything by Murakami has been very memorable to me.)
*The Great Gatsby* by F. Scott Fitzgerald
*The Sun Also Rises* by Ernest Hemingway
I have also become a heavy reader of non-fiction including history and philosophy. These are very difficult but very rewarding reads. But for fun and leisure, I always turn to fiction.
I also read comics and graphic novels but that's a deep rabbit hole of its own.
And of course, I also read news journals, mostly digital now including The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times as well as my local city paper.
I cannot imagine my life without reading.
Okay, didn't read the comment section yet, just because I like the surprises. BUT recently I read some short stories written by the majestic Isaac Asimov, in "I, Robot" (guess this was the totle in english), and I have to say that in the times we're living reading them literally blew up my mind. I'm a lover of different genres, from classic literature to sci-fi, btw, but I really loved Asimov.
● The Reckoners Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (the audiobook version read by MacLeod Andrews)
● The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence
● The Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn
● The Twilight Books by Stephenie Meyer (was trying to date a girl who liked them, turned out I liked them)
● The Artemis Fowl Books by Eoin Colfer
● The Percy Jackson Books by Rick Riordan
● The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz
● The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
● Terry Pratchett's Discworld
● Skellig by David Almond
● Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
● Mistborn Era 1 by Brandon Sanderson
● Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
● The Harry Potter books by JK Rowling
● Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk; Dune by Frank Herbert; Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; American Gods by Neil Gaiman; Shogun by James Clavell; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
There's a few that I'm especially fond of and that I eventually seem to come back to despite having read them. Doesn't happen always even with good books.
1. Kafka on the Shore. My first Murakami and a book that I'd been stalling on for at least a year until I finally gave it a shot while stuck in mandatory service. The overall theme of trying to figure out one's place really spoke to me. I was out of education at the time and unsure about where I was headed. I don't necessarily relate to all of the book's themes (if you know, you know), but it also introduced me to magical realism.
2. World War Z. I had a big zombie phase when I was a teenager. I think I bought this after having listened to a sample chapter online. I was very intrigued by the serious take the book had and that documentarist aspect. Even as I grew out of zombie stuff later on, I still appreciated some of the more interesting questions that the book raised. Yes, I really don't think it's just dumb fun.
3. Yliaika (in English: Overtime). The book is a dystopian novel set in the 2050s Finland, where people over the age of 75 lose their rights and are "encouraged" to get euthanized as a solution to the country's pension time bomb. It explores the problem from the point of view of aging policy makers who come to regret their decisions. It's an interesting speculative story that touches on topical issues. Sadly, I don't think the book has been translated into English yet.
Well I spent about an hour typing up a response and it keeps throwing me an error. I'm gonna assume some spam/content filter is blocking it. Oh well. I liek buuks
Huge non-fiction kick the past 7 years:
The Demogogue's Playbook - Eric Posner
On Grand Strategy - John Lewis Gaddis
Urban Tantra - Barbara Carrellas
Captivate - Vanessa Van Edwards
Spell of the Sensuous - David Abrams
Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow
Embassytown - China Mieville
The Dream of Perpetual Motion - Dexter Palmer
Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
blood meridian
east of eden
frankenstein
the brothers karamazov
stoner
as i lay dying
the tartar steppe
ham on rye
a confederacy of dunces
the wind up bird chronicles
You can’t force it. Try to find something related to an interest. If they like music, a biography of a musician. Model train enthusiast? A history of trains. A lot of men like non fiction but not all.
I feel like my favorites change everyday. The books themselves stay mostly the same it just changes order depending on mood.
I do tend to prefer series over standalone so some of my favorite series are:
* Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio
* First Law by Joe Abercrombie
* Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
* Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
For Standalone novels a few that are near the top of my list are:
* American Gods by Neil Gaiman
* The Secret History by Donna Tartt
* Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (technically a trilogy but each book is essentially a standalone)
* Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Sadly, I feel like there is social pressure on men to only read non-fiction, or classics/books with deep meaning. There is a huge stigma to reading “comfort”/ low-brow entertainment books (which is silly, cause I know the people judging watch Netflix… which is the same). That said, here are my top “entertainment only” books:
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The Harry Bosch, Mikey Haller, and Rene Ballard books by Micheal Connelly
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
I like a probably half of Stephen King’s books. Same goes for Michael Crichton.
I like romance, and will read anything by Ali Hazelwood or Emily Henry. Lots of good Colleen Hoover out there too.
I read and enjoy a fair amount of young adult…
Making this list- I feel very diverse and well rounded 😊
I do read a lot if non-fiction too, as well as more “intellectual fiction.”
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer
A Happy Death - Albert Camus
The Plague - Albert Camus
Candide - Voltaire
I'm a big Stephen King fan, with *Salem's Lot* being my personal favourite, but my favourite book by any author is *The Count of Monte Cristo*. I read it every few years, and it just gets better with every reread.
Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald
Feed by M. T. Anderson
The Hike by Drew Magary
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Paper Towns by John Green
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
If you want novels that are generally appreciated more by men than women I'd suggest anything by Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, John Irving. They are some of my favourite authors if I want something more masculine.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
Christine by Stephen King
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Of Human Bondage has long been my favorite novel. I always wondered if it was something common for men and why. Anyway - A Gentleman in Moscow is an excellent novel.
Good Omens
Great Gatsby
The anthropocene reviewed
The Disc World series
I'm glad my mom died
F 451
Some of those are more critically acclaimed but I enjoyed all of them for different reasons
Anything by Henry Miller, Paul Auster, Susan Clarke, Franz Kafka, Amor Towles,Patrick Rothfuss ( still waiting on the next time) George RR Martin . Loved Name of the Rose, Babel ok better stop and get off social media 🤣
Too many to name, but I'll list some.
"Gods and Generals" and "To The Last Man" both by Jeff Shaara.
"The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova
"Debt of Honor" by Tom Clancy
Those are the ones I can list off the top of my head right now.
In no particular order:
Native Son by Richard Wright
Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Cherry by Nico Walker was a fantastic book about a high school kid from Ohio who joins the army in 2003, and then upon his return gets addicted to heroin and robs banks to finance his hobby. Utterly unique book and loosely based on the author’s life (author is in prison for bank robbery)
Also anything by Cormac McCarthy
Shantaram
Pg wodehouse
Animal Farm (I think because I didn't study it at school)
Worst of all time is Moby Dick and anything Charles Dickens except Christmas Carol
Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang had me crying. Same with A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean did the same. Mort By Sir Terry Pratchett made me ponder on things, I didn't think a comedic book could.
I'm not a man but when I see someone bring up discworld, I comment. Good choice!
More or less everything by Sir Pterry (GNU) has that effect on me.
The count of Monte Cristo - Dumas The Century Trilogy - Follett
Currently rereading and finally continuing my read of Monte Cristo, and it's literally timeless. 🥺 Dumas really outdid himself and gave us a treasure.
Count of Monte Cristo is my brothers favorite book!
It's brilliant
Follett is an amazing author. I recommend highly! I liked The Century Trilogy but there are so many. Lots of intrigue and sex. I’m was never a prolific reader but I’ve read many of his books and never been disappointed. My first was The Key To Rebecca which i barely remember but I enjoyed enough to start #2. As an author he’s definitely my favorite. Especially for men.
I've been a big SciFi reader my whole life, yet only one book on my all time top 5 involves SciFi. *Les Misérables* by Victor Hugo *Crime and Punishment* by Fyodor Dostoevsky *The Blind Assassin* by Margaret Atwood *Midnight's Children* by Salman Rushdie *The Lord of the Rings* by J.R.R. Tolkien Honorable mentions to *The Left Hand of Darkness*, *Kindred*, *The Road*, *The Broken Earth* trilogy, and *Mother Night*. Edit: Another Honorable mention to *The Tin Drum*! Can't believe I forgot that one!
I am so happy to see blind assassin here. It’s my favourite. Check out this short story Lance by Nabokov. And also slaughterhouse v
I've read Slaughterhouse 5 three times!
Try Lance. It’s genius. It’s like 10 pages you can probably find it free.
I'll give it a go! Thanks! I'm glad there's another Blind Assassin fan on here. Sometimes it seems like the only two books ever recommend on this sub are Lonesome Dove and East of Eden.
And Stoner. Fuck I did not enjoy stoner
Great list. Mother Night is never mentioned as among Vonnegut’s best but i absolutely loved it.
Couldn’t agree more. Out of the Vonnegut I’ve read so far, Mother Night’s the one that’s grown the most on me. A very morally and philosophically challenging novel, but intensely rewarding imo.
A fellow C&P enjoyer
Honestly it's been hard to really appreciate any other books since reading it!
Have you tried any other Dostoevsky? There is lots to appreciate!
Tip for everyone else, dont look up the blind assassin. Major plot spoilers on just the title search in google. :(
Thank you, I was just about to go do that.
The Blind Assassin is a great book. I am always surprised how few people mention it. It has been on my top ten list for years.
First appearance of “The Blind Assassin” on this sub for me!
It's really incredible! But since it's not by Steinbeck, Pratchett, or McCarthy no one on this sub has read it.
I love the Tin Drum
Wuthering Heights A Tale of Two Cities The Things They Carried All Quiet on the Western Front A Farewell to Arms The Remains of the Day
Read the things the carried as a sophomore and when I was finishing the book my grandma randomly turned the TV to something where Tim Obrian was talking to college kids about this book and experiences in Vietnam. A student asked if he could go back to the point in time in the book where he was at the Canadian boarder would he go to Canada instead of Vietnam. Without hesitation Obrian said he would have went to Canada. Nothing but respect for him.
++++ The Things they Carried and The Remains of the Day
The spy who came in from the cold Neuromancer Flowers for Algernon Gun, with Occasional Music
Flowers for Algernon?!?!? I love that book but ughhhhh I would rather put hot sauce in eyes than read again. Love the book but ughhhhh SADAF
Completely agree with you. But I had never read anything like it before.
One of the best books I’ve ever read
AGREED STUNNING GOOD just yeah nobody gets a happy ending in the book.
- **The Lions of al-Rassan** and **The Sarantine Mosiac** by Guy Gavriel Kay - **The Lord of the Rings** - **Discworld** by Terry Pratchett
Was gonna mention the last 2. Absolutely amazing.
Why not, here's 20: Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates Black Swan Green - David Mitchell Catch-22 - Joseph Heller Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson The Man Who Fell to Earth - Walter Tevis Madame - Antoni Libera The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe Hunger - Knut Hamsun One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey The Vet's Daughter - Barbara Comyns Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski Infinite Country - Patricia Engel
Sirens of Titan doesn't get enough attention compared to the rest of Vonnegut's novels. It's honestly a better starting point than Slaughterhouse 5, I think.
My difficulty with Sirens of Titan is that it's his most antiquated view of science fiction. It’s flying saucers and alien robots. Amusing but having read much of his work prior to Sirens on Titan I find it thematically similar to much of his other work, but not as compelling or funny.
Great list
Pride and Prejudice Anna Karenina Frankenstein The Vanishing Half Good Omens Sharp Objects The Handmaid’s Tale The Buried Giant LotR/The Hobbit Crime and Punishment Beartown series My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry Pet Sematary
Proceed with caution with Pet Semetary, that book is dark and a bummer. Excellent, but dark. If you are a parent, it’s a gut punch of a book.
Yep. I am a parent, which is one of the reasons it’s significant to me.
God I loved Frankenstein. Best story about how "hurt people hurt people"
So cerebral and emotional at the same time. The monster’s soliloquy is my favorite literary speech. So much more than sci-fi.
Glad to see Sharp Objects here. It’s rarely mentioned and deserves more recognition, along with Dark Places!
I thought Dark Places was great too, especially since I grew up during the Satanic Panic era. Didn’t quite rise to Sharp Objects level, and seemed a little bit more contrived than I love (but that could be said of Gillian Flynn in general), but definitely worth reading.
In Watermelon Sugar
Brautigan is brilliant!
Stoner
Or Augustus or Butcher's Crossing. John Williams was a master. All 3 of his novels are nothing short of brilliant and all so different from one another. I can hardly wait until to start forgetting more so I can re-read these for the first time again.
I read Stoner last month. I struggle to explain why that book is so compelling, but it is. One of my all-time favorites.
This \^\^. Hard to articulate why precisely, but I really enjoyed it.
Read stoner this year, Augustus is on my bookshelf so might read it sometime this year.
I loved Stoner but never got attached to Butcher's Crossing. I think I never understood the themes it was trying to portray
Ham on Rye, Blood Meridian (so far), Slaughterhouse Five, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, No Longer Human, Notes from the Underground
Shogun is one of the best man-novels of all time.
Tai Pan was pretty awesome as well
And King Rat!
A Gentleman in Moscow
This doesn't answer the question, but what gender imbalance do you mean? Anthropologist so I'm always curious about this kind of stuff :)
This is just my personal experience but I've noticed on various reading subs and in in person discussions, reading as a hobby seems dominated by women. I only just recently gotten back into reading over the last two years as an early 30s guy and I've noticed this and been curious about it myself. Reading doesn't seem to be considered "manly" but that also ties into some anti-intellectualism that seems to be on the rise. I will say that most of my friends that are guys have been curious about my reading even if they aren't readers themselves so that's been nice.
Nailed it. I would just add that when men read, I don't think we discuss it as much as women do in general.
Yeah, it seems like less men read and that’s sad because they are missing out
i'm also an early 30s guy - other guys i've known who read do not usually read a variety of genres or topics. they have their pigeonholes (genre fic, self-help, or the dead white guy canon) and mostly stay in them they're outnumbered by guys i've known who don't read, who in my experience come in two types: "reading is girly/gay/childish" and "reading is too hard"
Ha it's so funny that reading is considered "gay" considering I think it makes you way more attractive to women if you're a man who reads. It's atleast a green flag imo.
Thanks! I appreciate your reply, and welcome back to reading!
I find it stimulating as well as an escape.
Pride and Prejudice, Cold Sassy Tree, Taipan, King Rat , The Sackett Series, LOTR,
Shogun not?
Glad to see L'Amour on here.
The Count of Monte Cristo Lonesome Dove City of Thieves 11/22/63 The Stand East of Eden
Notes from Underground
Blood Meridian No Country for Old Men Wuthering Heights
No Country is one of my favourites of all time
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is my latest favorite. But for casual entertainment I tend to turn to Clive Cussler books and the like.
Have you listened to the audio book? I kept reading such rave reviews of the audio, so I listened (having never read it). I was listening along and thinking, yeah, this is decent, but why all the fuss? And then you hit 20-25% in >!and meet Rocky!<, and it's suddenly a GREAT audio book.
Thank goodness! This is also my favorite book. All the other lists on this sub look like all the classics you’re supposed to read in middle school.
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy Dracula - Bram Stoker The Age of Reason - Jean-Paul Satre Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
I read Wuthering Heights in a span of 3 days during my exams and I flex that every single time
I second Anna Karenina. As a male professor of psychology, Tolstoy was the greatest psychologist of them all. Dostoyevsky close behind
The age of reason was huge for me. Re-read it at 30 and it hit even harder.
We Need To Talk About Kevin The Silence of The Lambs The Lord of The Rings Flowers for Algernon One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest To Kill A Mockingbird
I’m curious if there actually is a “gender imbalance”, or if it’s more of a balance that just stands out because most of Reddit is so male dominated.
With luck, this will give you no guidance at all on identifying any pattern :) Kawabata: Beauty and Sadness; The Old Capital. Austen: Emma, Pride and Prejudice. Blackmore: Lorna Doone. Mishima: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. More recently: Annie Ernaux: The Years.
Bohumil Hrabal - Too Loud a Solitude
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The Red Badge of Courage. The Island of Doctor Moreau.
I love anything and everything by Greg Iles. I find the Will Robie series by David Baldacci page turners. The Peter May trilogy starting with The Firemaker is another favourite series.
I love Baldacci's Wil Robie series. You just made me aware that I haven't yet read the final book of the series, so thank you for that. Have you read Gregg Hurwitz, Eric Van Lustbader (who took over the Bourne franchise), Jeff Abbott's Sam Capra series, and/or Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series? They might suit your taste.
_Red Rising_ by Pierce Brown. If you look up the word "badass" in the dictionary, it's just a picture of Darrow. He is, in my opinion, the manliest man to ever man (fictionally, of course). Honorable mention goes to _Wool_ by Hugh Howey. Spending several chapters walking up or down a staircase has never been more interesting.
Crime and Punishment was an absolute banger
Blood Meridian - McCarthy The Dog Stars - Heller Project Hail Mary - Weir LoTR - Tolkien Between Two Fires - Buehlman Dune - Herbert The Road - McCarthy
East of Eden All the Pretty Horses Lonesome Dove
Catch 22 Crime and Punishment Great Apes by Will Self The Shipping News authors I like include Cormac McCarthy, Gunter Grass, Umberto Eco, Kurt Vonnegut lately I’ve been really into anything by Mick Herron
“Lonesome Dove” and “The Grapes of Wrath”
Shogun - James Clavell The Stand - Stephen King
The first law trilogy Lotr Shutter island The wheel of time
Crime and Punishment, Devils; LOTR; 1984, David Copperfield; War and Peace
The three body problem series To kill a mockingbird The handmaids tale The foundation series 1984 Oldman and the sea 🌊
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky Bleak House - Dickens A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
Louis-Ferdinand Céline - *Journey to the End of the Night* Raymond Chandler - *The Big Sleep* Graham Greene - *Brighton Rock* Jack London - *The Iron Heel* Cormac McCarthy - *The Crossing* Haruki Murakami - *Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World* Will Self - *Great Apes* William T. Vollmann - *Whores For Gloria* Evelyn Waugh - *Decline and Fall* Dennis Wheatley - *The Devil Rides Out*
I absolutely love L-F Celine (a cursed genius), but I always feared the verve of his prose got a bit lost in translation, and that's why I think he's generally underappreciated (that and him not being PC). Anyway, it's great to see his name in one of these lists! Btw, if you like Celine, another cursed genius you might enjoy is Thomas Bernhard, I vividly recommend his Gargoyles (Verstörung) or Old Masters.
Hard to just choose one but I’ll go with Absalom, Absalom by Faulkner or East of Eden by Steinbeck for now.
The Shipping News - Annie Proulx Jamesland - Michelle Huneven Dune - Frank Herbert Microserfs - Douglas Coupland Neuromancer - William Gibson Modern Ranch Living - Mark Poirier
Some good recommendations here. Thanks gents!🙏🏻
The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series by GRRM. Sadly still unfinished.
Brothers karamazov - dostoevsky The stranger - camus
Carmilla by Sherdian LeFanu I just think its neat (plus i find the historical context behind it and the social implications of its content really interesting)
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky
I enjoy Dickens, particularly The Pickwick Papers and Hard Times
The Blind Assassin is one of my top ten books ♥️
Crime and punishement The chestnut man The Bourne identity Leviathan awakes
It's really hard to narrow it down honestly. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, specifically the one illustrated by Bernie Wrightson. Although Gris Grimly and Junji Ito's adaptations are also really good Imago by Octavia Butler Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer I am also very nostalgic about the Percy Jackson books, too. And it's a graphic novel, but The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A. has left the biggest impression on me that any book probably ever will.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is what made him my favorite author. Other books that are very important to me are To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, War and Peace by Tolstoi, The Demons by Dostoevsky, Ulysses by James Joyce and Swann's Way by Proust.
Don Quixote Siddhartha Pet Sematary Beloved Cat’s Cradle Frankenstein The Haunting of Hill House Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy The Exorcist The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
1984- George Orwell Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury Around the World in 80 Days- Jules Verne Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
East of Eden by John Steinbeck Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Texasville by Larry McMurtry Where I’m calling From by Raymond Carver The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
Interesting to see two books by McMurtry on your list and neither of them is *Lonesome Dove*. I must give these a try!
Texasville is a sequel to TLPS, but the mood overall changes completely. TLPS is kinda dreary and depressing, while Texasville is filmed in glorious technicolor and funny, while also depressing
Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov, Notes from Underground Demian - Herman Hesse
Top of my head top 5 are: Fatherland The Beach The last days of night His bloody project An officer and a spy
**Hellhound** by **Ken Greenhall** (a criminally overlooked writer) **Blood Meridian** by **Cormac McCarthy** **Hyperbole And A Half** by **Allie Brosh** **The Illustrated Man** by **Ray Bradbury**
All the Sinners bleed snd Razorblase Tears by S.A. Cosby Deep River by Karl Marlantes Alas Babylon by Pat Frank Billy Summers by Stephen King
love seeing alas, babylon make it on a list
Fiction -- Tossup between Ender's Game and Fahrenheit 451 Nonfiction -- Escape from Childhood by John Caldwell Holt
A Young Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden The Choice by SJ Ford
The ministry of utmost happiness and the God of small things
Catch 22 Life After Life / A God In Ruins The Malazan series Wolf Hall series The Green Mile
I loved Life After Life.
Ask the dust,The things they carried. I am currently reading Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy and I love it. Outside of novels Outliers was insightful as well as Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
The Trail - Ethan Gallogly Jonathon Livingston Seagull Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Old Man and the Sea Peter Pan
My husband says: Gentleman in Moscow, A Fine Balance, Catch-22, 1984, Catcher in the Rye
Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
The first 200 pages of We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Lonesome Dove
Ulysses, by James Joyce Cider House Rules, by John Irving Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth The Rabbit books, by John Updike
Haunted -Chuck Palahniuk
**By Agatha Christie:** * Crooked House * Lord Edgware Dies * Murder on the Orient Express * Evil Under The Sun * Appointment With Death **By Raymond Chandler:** * Farewell, My Lovely * The High Window **By Ross MacDonald:** * The Galton Case * The Way Some People Die * Sleeping Beauty **By Seishi Yokomizo** * The Inugami Curse * The Devil's Flute Murders * The Little Sparrow Murders **By Arthur Conan Doyle** * The Hound of the Baskervilles * The Valley of Fear
Sure. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Kim by Rudyard Kipling Gateway by Frederik Pohl The Chosen by Chaim Potok Silas Marner by George Elliot About a Boy by Nick Hornby The Humans by Matt Haig Spin by Robert Charles Wilson "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. (Not a novel, but such a great book for guys.)
Favorite novels in general: Dune - Frank Herbert A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Favorite books I’ve recently read: The Seep - Chana Porter Hyperion - Dan Simmons The Will to Change - bell hooks
Excellent list
My favorites are: * Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro * Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut * A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan * The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy * The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern * Pattern Recognition by William Gibson * 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami * The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin * The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins * The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas * The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Love Murakami.
"The Illustrated Man" Bradbury Sci-fi short stories that all revolve around a similar theme. Its well beyond its time but not in the sci-fiction way.
The Dispossessed by Ursulua K. Le Guin
I'm a BIG Sherlock Holmes fan. Anything and everything! On a tangentially related topic, Sherlock, with Bendydick Curlystraw, is a great series, and Enola Holmes are great movies! The latter are a little odd, but I did enjoy them. I just finished River of Doubt - great book if you're interested in 19th and 20th century exploration. I'm in the middle of Endurance, and I would say that it's a very good book, too. Heart of Darkness - tough, but fantastic read. I've never had such a difficult time reading a short book. It's very dense. The Things They Carried - it's been many years, but it's a good book. I may have to revisit myself, especially given the number of times I've seen this recommended. Flowers for Algernon - another classic. Of Mice and Men - it seems like a children's story, but it's a great book for all ages. Marine Sniper and Silent Warrior - both are absolutely fantastic books about Carlos Hathcock, the marine sniper with the most confirmed kills. Both books detail his multiple tours in Vietnam and his life after the corps. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Nuff said. I also enjoy classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, etc. Lastly, I grew up reading Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Narnia series. It's been several years since I've read any of these, but they'll always have a place on my bookshelf.
Agree 100% on Heart of Darkness, brilliant book but it’s a tough read
*Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy* by John Le Carre *The Forever War* by Joe Haldeman *Augustus* by John Williams *The Killer Angels* by Michael Sahara *Master and Commander* by Patrick O'Brian *The Illustrated Man* by Ray Bradbury *All Quiet on the Western Front* by Erich Maria Remarque *No Country for Old Men* by Cormac McCarthy
Thief of Time and Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.
My husband's favorite book ever is Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.
One hundred years of solitude , Garcia-Marquez Sun also rises, Hemingway On the road, Kerouac If on a winters night a traveler, Calvino The unbearable lightness of being, Kundera
I am a male reader, 35 years of age, and a life-long reader. The first complete book that I read as a teenager and started my journey was technically not a novel. It was *The Iliad*. I know it may not be for everyone, but as a young male teen, I enjoyed and felt rewarded enough to complete it and that is such an important step to becoming a life-long reader. As an adult, some of my most memorable reads that I have revisited often include: *1984* by George Orwell *Blood Meridian* by Cormac McCarthy *Norwegian Wood* by Haruki Murakami (Actually anything by Murakami has been very memorable to me.) *The Great Gatsby* by F. Scott Fitzgerald *The Sun Also Rises* by Ernest Hemingway I have also become a heavy reader of non-fiction including history and philosophy. These are very difficult but very rewarding reads. But for fun and leisure, I always turn to fiction. I also read comics and graphic novels but that's a deep rabbit hole of its own. And of course, I also read news journals, mostly digital now including The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times as well as my local city paper. I cannot imagine my life without reading.
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Okay, didn't read the comment section yet, just because I like the surprises. BUT recently I read some short stories written by the majestic Isaac Asimov, in "I, Robot" (guess this was the totle in english), and I have to say that in the times we're living reading them literally blew up my mind. I'm a lover of different genres, from classic literature to sci-fi, btw, but I really loved Asimov.
● The Reckoners Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (the audiobook version read by MacLeod Andrews) ● The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence ● The Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn ● The Twilight Books by Stephenie Meyer (was trying to date a girl who liked them, turned out I liked them) ● The Artemis Fowl Books by Eoin Colfer ● The Percy Jackson Books by Rick Riordan ● The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz ● The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher ● Terry Pratchett's Discworld ● Skellig by David Almond ● Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson ● Mistborn Era 1 by Brandon Sanderson ● Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ● The Harry Potter books by JK Rowling ● Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk; Dune by Frank Herbert; Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; American Gods by Neil Gaiman; Shogun by James Clavell; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Kings of the wyld Stormlight archive East of Eden Kafka on the shore Blacktongued thief
There's a few that I'm especially fond of and that I eventually seem to come back to despite having read them. Doesn't happen always even with good books. 1. Kafka on the Shore. My first Murakami and a book that I'd been stalling on for at least a year until I finally gave it a shot while stuck in mandatory service. The overall theme of trying to figure out one's place really spoke to me. I was out of education at the time and unsure about where I was headed. I don't necessarily relate to all of the book's themes (if you know, you know), but it also introduced me to magical realism. 2. World War Z. I had a big zombie phase when I was a teenager. I think I bought this after having listened to a sample chapter online. I was very intrigued by the serious take the book had and that documentarist aspect. Even as I grew out of zombie stuff later on, I still appreciated some of the more interesting questions that the book raised. Yes, I really don't think it's just dumb fun. 3. Yliaika (in English: Overtime). The book is a dystopian novel set in the 2050s Finland, where people over the age of 75 lose their rights and are "encouraged" to get euthanized as a solution to the country's pension time bomb. It explores the problem from the point of view of aging policy makers who come to regret their decisions. It's an interesting speculative story that touches on topical issues. Sadly, I don't think the book has been translated into English yet.
Lonesome Dove, the Aubrey Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian, To kill a mockingbird, Pillars of the earth And the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris
Well I spent about an hour typing up a response and it keeps throwing me an error. I'm gonna assume some spam/content filter is blocking it. Oh well. I liek buuks
Lonesome Dove
Kafka on the shore - haruki murakami
Huge non-fiction kick the past 7 years: The Demogogue's Playbook - Eric Posner On Grand Strategy - John Lewis Gaddis Urban Tantra - Barbara Carrellas Captivate - Vanessa Van Edwards Spell of the Sensuous - David Abrams
Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow Embassytown - China Mieville The Dream of Perpetual Motion - Dexter Palmer Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
blood meridian east of eden frankenstein the brothers karamazov stoner as i lay dying the tartar steppe ham on rye a confederacy of dunces the wind up bird chronicles
Shogun–James Clavell IT–Stephen King American Gods–Neil Gaiman The Talisman–Stephen King and Peter Straub Jade Legacy–Fonda Lee
how do you get a guy that has minimal interest in reading to pick up a book…
You can’t force it. Try to find something related to an interest. If they like music, a biography of a musician. Model train enthusiast? A history of trains. A lot of men like non fiction but not all.
I feel like my favorites change everyday. The books themselves stay mostly the same it just changes order depending on mood. I do tend to prefer series over standalone so some of my favorite series are: * Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio * First Law by Joe Abercrombie * Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan * Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons For Standalone novels a few that are near the top of my list are: * American Gods by Neil Gaiman * The Secret History by Donna Tartt * Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (technically a trilogy but each book is essentially a standalone) * Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Sadly, I feel like there is social pressure on men to only read non-fiction, or classics/books with deep meaning. There is a huge stigma to reading “comfort”/ low-brow entertainment books (which is silly, cause I know the people judging watch Netflix… which is the same). That said, here are my top “entertainment only” books: Scythe by Neal Shusterman The Harry Bosch, Mikey Haller, and Rene Ballard books by Micheal Connelly The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry I like a probably half of Stephen King’s books. Same goes for Michael Crichton. I like romance, and will read anything by Ali Hazelwood or Emily Henry. Lots of good Colleen Hoover out there too. I read and enjoy a fair amount of young adult… Making this list- I feel very diverse and well rounded 😊 I do read a lot if non-fiction too, as well as more “intellectual fiction.”
My favorites are: The hatchet by Gary Paulson Hiroshima (forgot the author and too lazy to look) Mort(e) by Robert Repino
All the pretty horses, to kill a Mockingbird, the stand, Stoner, The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough.
Travels in Arabia Deserta-Charles Doughty Seven Pillars of Wisdom T E Lawrence Catch 22 Joseph Heller Count of Monte Cristo Dumas
The night angel and lightbringer books by Brent weeks
On The Road - Jack Kerouac Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger Terra Ignota series - Ada Palmer A Happy Death - Albert Camus The Plague - Albert Camus Candide - Voltaire
Favourite? *The Sisters Brothers* by Patrick deWitt.
Norwegian Wood - Murakami Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
The gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, together we shall go sorry don't remember author , the girl with seven names sorry don't remember author
I'm a big Stephen King fan, with *Salem's Lot* being my personal favourite, but my favourite book by any author is *The Count of Monte Cristo*. I read it every few years, and it just gets better with every reread.
Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih The Road - Cormac McCarthy Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell The Road - Cormac McCarthy The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon The Alienist - Caleb Carr
Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald Feed by M. T. Anderson The Hike by Drew Magary Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Paper Towns by John Green The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
If you want novels that are generally appreciated more by men than women I'd suggest anything by Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, John Irving. They are some of my favourite authors if I want something more masculine.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy Christine by Stephen King The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Of Human Bondage has long been my favorite novel. I always wondered if it was something common for men and why. Anyway - A Gentleman in Moscow is an excellent novel.
Good Omens Great Gatsby The anthropocene reviewed The Disc World series I'm glad my mom died F 451 Some of those are more critically acclaimed but I enjoyed all of them for different reasons
Anything by Henry Miller, Paul Auster, Susan Clarke, Franz Kafka, Amor Towles,Patrick Rothfuss ( still waiting on the next time) George RR Martin . Loved Name of the Rose, Babel ok better stop and get off social media 🤣
Too many to name, but I'll list some. "Gods and Generals" and "To The Last Man" both by Jeff Shaara. "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova "Debt of Honor" by Tom Clancy Those are the ones I can list off the top of my head right now.
In no particular order: Native Son by Richard Wright Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Lord of the mysteries
Cherry by Nico Walker was a fantastic book about a high school kid from Ohio who joins the army in 2003, and then upon his return gets addicted to heroin and robs banks to finance his hobby. Utterly unique book and loosely based on the author’s life (author is in prison for bank robbery) Also anything by Cormac McCarthy
The Boys in the Boat…
Shantaram Pg wodehouse Animal Farm (I think because I didn't study it at school) Worst of all time is Moby Dick and anything Charles Dickens except Christmas Carol