Hi everyone, my girlfriend and I have been trying to find books to read at the same time. We’ve had a lot of fun with it …but imagine trying to decide on a place for dinner except now it’s a multiweek commitment. So, I’m hoping you all will have some good suggestions that we can both enjoy.
She mostly reads sci-fi/fantasy (think Fourth Wing) but is willing to branch out. I’ll read pretty much anything as long as it’s not overly YA or romance-heavy.
Any genre is fine but we’re looking for standalone books/novels. Primarily fiction but open to nonfiction stories too.
A few books we’ve read so far and liked:
– Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
– Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
– The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
– Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
– Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
by optimal_apple
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The Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory. Contemporary realism with a touch of supernatural. It’s about a family of psychics from the viewpoint of a young boy and is frequently hilarious. Here’s the blurb:
“Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it’s not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed, but her mind—Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night tragedy leaves the family shattered.
Decades later, the Telemachuses are not so amazing. Irene is a single mom whose ear for truth makes it hard to hold down a job, much less hold together a relationship. Frankie’s in serious debt to his dad’s old mob associates. Buddy has completely withdrawn into himself and inexplicably begun digging a hole in the backyard. To make matters worse, the CIA has come knocking, looking to see if there’s any magic left in the Telemachus clan. And there is: Irene’s son Matty has just had his first out-of-body experience. But he hasn’t told anyone, even though his newfound talent might just be what his family needs to save themselves—if it doesn’t tear them apart in the process.
Harnessing the imaginative powers that have made him a master storyteller, Daryl Gregory delivers a stunning, laugh-out-loud new novel about a family of gifted dreamers and the invisible forces that bind us all.”
A few books you might enjoy reading together could be:
The Invisible life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab, Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, The Martian by Andy Weir, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“To Live” by Yu Hua
“The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakova
My and my partner read books together quite often, here are a few we both enjoyed!
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (there’s also a prequel, bookshops and Bonedust which we plan on reading together this month)
Anything Brandon Sanderson. He has a few standalones like Warbreaker and Elantris but the Mistborn series is my favourite by him
The long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers, it’s part of a series but I believe all the books are about different characters.
Seconding Project Hail Mary or anything by Andy Weir.
My partner and I also both liked Sign Here by Claudia Lux. It’s a bit of dark humor about a guy who works in Hell and is trying for a promotion. But it has a nice, meaningful story behind it.
Golden Urchin Madeline Brent
A long one, but Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is so good and was a favorite of mine that then became a favorite of my husband’s (which says a lot because he doesn’t usually make time for reading).