Help me get back into Reading! *Book Recommendations please

[Diana]

I use to be a very avid reader, but during the last few months I found it extremely difficult to focus, read at all, or even pick which book to read.
If anyone has a book that has helped them jump back into reading again, your suggestions would be very helpful!
All genres are welcome!

[Jan]

Hmmm. I sympathise, Diana. In such a situation I found I eased my way back by going to rereads of some of my past fav books.

But if you want some suggestions.......

The Martian . Totally readable and entertaining.

La Belle Sauvage A new shiny from a well respected author. A meaty, gripping read that's getting lots of great reviews.

Just a couple of possibilities. Good luck!

[Melanie, the neutral party]

You might find re-reading a book you know you'll love, but haven't read in a long time can jump start you. Or consider switching formats, try an audiobook if you're used to print/ print if you're used to audio.

[Cheryl]

Or try children's books. Or try something that was made into a movie (so long as you haven't seen the movie yet [or haven't for many years]).

Or, for new SF, try The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

[Trike]

Based on your Read bookshelf and ratings, I’d recommend Wild Seed by Octavia Butler.

[Travis]

Have you checked out the Tortall Series by Tamora Pierce, starting with Alanna: The First Adventure? There's a buddy read going on now, and I think it could be a perfect way to get back into reading: fast-paced, relatively short, great characters.

[Kristin B.]

I've read a lot this year and one of my favorites was A Man Called Ove. It's not SFF, but it was very lovely to read.

Something that I have found that helps me get into the mood to read is to go to the Goodreads page of a book I like and look at the popular quotes on the right hand side. I remember all the little passages that make me fall in love with a story.

[Cheryl]

Oh, Kristin, good idea.

[Chris]

You could read the group's monthly selections. We have two every month, plus two "Monthly Bookshelf Rereads." Even if you don't like every book chosen, you can gripe in good company. :)

[Don]

"The Ocean at the end of the lane"
"The power of one"
"Red Country"
"Lonesome Dove"
"Trustee from the tool room"
"The Count of Monte Cristo"
"True Grit"
"Lonesone Gods"
"Centennial "
"The Help"
"Children of the Earth and Sky"

[Don]

as Trike mentioned Octavia Butler, I'll second it. Octavia Butler is a Badass

[Faith]

Since you liked The Zookeeper's Wife you might also like All the Light We Cannot See. In the fantasy area, I liked City of Stairs.

[Sam]

Here are some that I have either read and loved this year or are just all time favorites! I tried to do a few different genres!

An Ember in the Ashes

Red Rising

Red Queen

The Paper Magician

Uprooted

Daughter of the Forest

The Blood of Flowers (audiobook recommended!)

A Thousand Splendid Suns

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden
Resistance in Afghanistan

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

The Summer Before the War

[John]

There are so many good books out there to recommend. Depends on your tastes. One of my all time favorites is The Count of Monte Cristo It's a long book but so worth it. But, a good book to get you back into reading would be Time and Again It's another one of my favorites. Has a bit of everything in it.

[Beste]

Wow @Sam thats something really similar to what I would have recommend.

[Sam]

Haha thanks! I try to keep it diverse and have read some really good books the last 2 years.

[Sam]

John wrote: "There are so many good books out there to recommend. Depends on your tastes. One of my all time favorites is The Count of Monte Cristo It's a long book but so worth it. But, a good book..."

Seconded! If someone asks what my favorite book is, this is my go to. I don't recommend it often because it's so long.

[John]

Sam wrote: "John wrote: "There are so many good books out there to recommend. Depends on your tastes. One of my all time favorites is The Count of Monte Cristo It's a long book but so worth it. But..."

Yeah, I always hesitate to recommend it because of the length. I know when I read it, I was hoping it never ended or there was a followup, it was that good. Never felt like 1000 pages.

[Sam]

The true mark of a great book!

[Norton]

I thought Arcadia by Iain Pears was excellent. It's a mix of since fiction and fantasy.

[Hank]

Sam wrote: "John wrote: "There are so many good books out there to recommend. Depends on your tastes. One of my all time favorites is The Count of Monte Cristo It's a long book but so worth it. But..."

Not to beat this suggestion to death but right now it is only 67 cents for kindle. 1200 page book for less than a dollar, that is some seriesly good story/money ratio.

[Anupriya]

Diana wrote: "I use to be a very avid reader, but during the last few months I found it extremely difficult to focus, read at all, or even pick which book to read.
If anyone has a book that has helped them jump..."

This happens to me every few years (especially if I've been watching too much TV). I find that reading short story collections is a great way to jump back into reading! They don't require the time or attention commitment of a full-length book, and they're a good way to find new authors to read too. Here's a few sci-fi/fantasy collections that I like (and often go back to) -
The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction
Robot Dreams
Any from this series -The New Hugo Winners 1983-1985
The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy

I don't read much short fiction from other genres these days, but I've loved reading collections by Jeffrey Archer (drama/thriller/crime) and P G Wodehouse (humor) in the past, though both are pretty dated by this point :D I'm sure there's good short fiction anthologies in every genre out there, if you can find them!

Hope you escape the funk soon!

[Chris]

Hank wrote: "Not to beat this suggestion to death but right now it is only 67 cents for kindle. 1200 page book for less than a dollar, that is some seriesly good story/money ratio."

It's no longer copyright protected so you can get it for free. Project Gutenberg has an illustrated version with several file types: The Count of Monte Cristo at Project Gutenberg. After you have browsed that site for ye olde ebooks, you can look at LibriVox.org for free audiobooks.

[Kristin B.]

As Anupriya mentioned, short is sometimes good for easing back into things. That reminded me how much I adored Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life.

It's a lovely collection by a librarian to the books she loves. It did a really amazing job of reminding my why I love reading.

[Karin]

Aha, the nefarious reading slump! I hate those! But sometimes changing what I read helps, or reading shorter books.

Based on our books in common and what you have liked there and what you have marked to read, you might try The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and if you like audiobooks I highly recommend that audiobook. It's short and even I found it funny.

A book you might like on that list that you have as to read is Big Little Lies--most people thought I wouldn't like it (you and I sometimes love the same books and are sometimes nearly opposite, so I'm taking that into consideration) since many people who loved some of the same books you do that I wasn't as fond of, also liked this one.

[Karin]

Kristin B. wrote: "As Anupriya mentioned, short is sometimes good for easing back into things. That reminded me how much I adored [book:Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Lette..."

I have this one in my library books pile here at home to read this winter.