I have always been a reader, stopped for a while when I had my second child. Started reading again mostly romance and I just can’t do it anymore. I’m sick of reading about people falling in love lol. I’ve also read a lot of thriller fiction and some non fiction true crime. I’ve stopped reading those in hopes to reduce my anxiety. What other genres do you think I should explore? My all time favourite book is a thousand splendid suns, but it was heart wrenching. I’m looking to find a genre that does cause me anxiety but isn’t boring or predictable. I’m seriously in a slump I have started and stopped so many books this month.
by blahblah048
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You could try comedy, or something along those lines The tricky part of course is to find a book where the humor works for you. I might recommend The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde which is pretty witty although it’s quite old, and that style of writing can be hit or miss for some.
Have you tried science fiction/fantasy? Let your anxiety be set in far off worlds rather than this one.
Try some educative and fun non-fiction (the best fit in this category would be Short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson). Also, travelogues. Just go find a book about the place you’ve always wanted to visit, you can’t miss!
Here are a few of my recent 5-star titles in no particular order:
The Big Picture –Sean Carroll
The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds –Caroline Van Hemert
Thinking, Fast and Slow –Danny Kahneman
I Contain Multitudes –Ed Yong
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going –Vaclav Smil
Enlightenment Now –Steve Pinker
The Hacking of the American Mind –Robert Lustig
The End of the World is Just the Beginning –Peter Zeihan
Pale Blue Dot –Carl Sagan
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time –Dava Sobel
The Uninhabitable Earth –David Wallace-Wells
Justice For Animals –Martha Nussbaum
This is Vegan Propaganda –Ed Winters
Psych: The Story of the Human Mind –Paul Bloom
Never Split the Difference –Chris Voss
You could try some sci-fi and horror type stuff that could freak you out but not bleed into everyday life.
Sci-fi
Anything by Neal Stephenson
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Horror (keep ot supernatural less serial killer)
Southern Book Clubs Guide to Vampire Slaying by Grady Hendrix
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Devil’s Creek by Todd Kiesling
Ilona Andrews Innkeeper Chronicles –A magic Inn, space werewolves and vampires, a lot of really unique aliens, mystery, romance, action, a fun and humorous series
The Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells – lighthearted sci fi
Funny or lighthearted horror like Horrorstor or My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, or A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher.
Personally, I’m an urban fantasy fiend. I’m not huge on romance but not adverse to it. I just don’t like it being the main focus.
Ilona Andrews is really good for that. Both the Kate Daniels series and the Innkeeper Chronicles series don’t focus on romance.
The Leveling Up series by K.F. Breene is again an urban fantasy that doesn’t focus on romance. It’s funny with original and kooky characters.
I also have just started exploring the autobiography and self development genre. I listened to the audiobook As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. Carey Elwes voices it himself, and it’s predictable, but hearing stories about a movie I’ve loved since childhood was very nostalgic at the same time.
I’m also trying to get through Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price. Both to understand myself a little better but a bigger population of people than statistics know. I say “trying” because it’s not a subject I can focus on for long lengths of time. My brain literally will not absorb more. It’s been about 2 months, and I’ve done some physical reading from my local library, but I can only have that out for so long. So now I’m trying audio. I think it’s going to be the same situation and will need to borrow it a third time. But I’ll get there.