Book recommendations for a slow reader?
Book recommendations for a slow reader?
Hello everyone, I hope you are doing fine.
I am posting here hoping to get some ideas of what to read. Let me be more specific:
I don't read much, perhaps one book per year. That is something I am trying to change.
I remember reading 1984 in the past and finishing it in few hours, it got me hooked. I have Fahrenheit 451 also in my list.
During this summer, I have read a couple of books about geopolitics (around 300 pages), because it is a topic that interests me. But many times I read late at night, and the content takes some effort to actually follow and understand.
So, my intention is to find something lighter in complexity, more fantastic. Perhaps war novel. I am also interested in chess, programming, nature, photography or history.
Any suggestion is welcome, thanks for your time!
In the same category as 1984: Brave New World and Animal Farm may interest you too, to say the least.
From Bradbury: Martian Chronicles. To me, it's classic science fiction at its best and even though I loved his Fahrenheit, I much prefer his Chronicles.
Science fiction: like already suggested by gramie: Flowers for Algernon. A true gem.
If you want something more 'technological', Asimov's Robots shorts stories and/or novels (for the novels, start with The Caves of steel). You may also be considering his Foundation series (much, much better than Apple's adaptation if you have watched it, Asimove was inspired to write Foundation after reading Gibbon's The Fall of the Roman Empire the novel(s) describe the fall of a galactic empire and how a bright scientist/historian tries to devise a way to preserve knowledge and to shorten the chaos period that must follow the collapse). One of my personal favorite SF author is P.K. Dick (the guy that has inspired almost all cyberpunk blockbusters and so, so many other writers), give a shot at his Ubik or even at Waiting for last year. They're not long and not difficult read at all, and rather fun. Talking fun, maybe try Frederic Brown's Martians go home. I have not read it in years so I have no idea how it holds but I have very found memories of it.
Fantastic/Horror stories, it's easy to recommend Stephen King: he is easy to read while being a great story teller.
War novels? Not a novel but the 'father' of all stories written in the West: Homer's Iliad (contains a lot of violence and some very descriptive scenes, beware) and the Odyssey (Odysseus attempts at getting back after that war, in the Iliad, despite Gods doing their best to prevent him). You have some excellent translation in English but beware it's poetry written in verses.
Nature... still not a novel but have you considered reading journals written by naturalists or even Thoreau's journal?
Don't be afraid ti share what you did not like in the books you have already read, it may help trigger more accurate suggestions.
I almost forgot: welcome :)
Thank you so much for such a dedicated answer. I am saving your recommendations. Actually, I had to read some parts of The Iliad during high school, and it's a reading I remember with joy. I have been thinking of reading the full thing, but I am scared of getting lazy or overwhelmed and spoiling the book. Same thing happens with Don Quixote. That's why I am trying to build a habit with small steps.
What I don't like of what I have read, is probably the complexity of the texts. Possibly more academic than narrative. My fault for the poor choices. I didn't feel engaged and that made me think that I don't like reading, but I wasn't convinced so I asked AI for easy books about geopolitics. And, although they are not the lightest reading, I enjoyed. So here I go again, trying to get myself into the loop of reading.