TLDR: Looking for a fiction book to ignite my imagination.
40F here, down the rabbit hole of books on self help, growth, psychology, philosophy, healing etc., as an effort to understand and heal my own trauma. I am exhausted & need a break from trying “to heal what’s broken,” and realized I don’t remember how to read for the enjoyment of reading, the imagination, the escape.
I “imagine” in literal terms- my brain can only conjure up images it has seen before. My imagination feels stunted or inaccessible.
Like when someone says imagine a bumbling brook and wild flowers, I don’t know what this is / haven’t seen so I cannot imagine. It’s just dark space or maybe a similar scene of a small river I’ve been to.
Looking for a book that will engulf me and help me ignite some cool shit in my imagination. Preferably not violent or scary, or w SA/ grooming/ narcissistic humans,but light suspense is fine I think … I don’t even know where to start. I enjoyed while you were breeding, and big little lies, some of Luanne moriarty, but hated others of hers. But none struck up my imagination. Guess I’m trying to heal this too fml.
how would I find a genre of books to read, my algorithms have been skewed… and the analysis paralysis of it all is overwhelming.
Thanks in advance. Appreciate the insight.
by avoidantlyanxious
3 Comments
Isaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer
So much of reading is both imagination and empathy – it expands your world and also gives you insight into yourself. I find that when I’m in a book rut or need a palate cleanser, I turn to books that I have loved in the past to awaken that sense of caring deeply for old friends and being invested in their lives. It is hard to get absorbed in a book if you don’t care about the characters.
If you don’t have old favorites, I love books where I am in awe of the author’s imagination (speculative fiction writers Seanan McGuire, Christopher Buehlman, Kelly Link, etc.) or thought-provoking books that make me wonder about human nature (the recent graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed or nonfiction that re-creates real lives in a vivid way, like a memoir or intimate history).
Try Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s three very different women in a small community, and the subtext is the doors that can open when you reimagine your life. Detailed description that isn’t over the top, well constructed characters, and a few twists and surprises that keep you thinking.