So I’m a big fantasy reader and the only times I break out of that is Stephen king or haruki murakami. I want smaller books since fantasy is all big chonkers and I need something to break that up. What non fantasy book hooked you and got you into general fiction?
by rrreagster
4 Comments
Incredibly Bright Creatures. It’s not fantasy, but every 2-3 chapters are from the perspective of an octopus, which might be a good transition for you from the fantasy genre. Plus, it’s just a great book!
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a good one too. Parts of it are set in the future in a way that can feel like fantasy or science fiction, but it’s pretty grounded.
Well, there are smaller, standalone fantasy books you could try, like Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, or This is How You Lose the Time War, or Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, or even Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
If you want to transition smoothly from fantasy to “general” fiction, I’d recommend some magical realism picks, like The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells and The Shadow of the Wind.
Now, if you want zero fantasy elements, some recent favs of mine have been Eliza Clark’s Penance, Sheena Patel’s I’m a Fan, Emily R. Austin’s Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and anything by Sally Rooney. All these are compulsively readable and on the shorter side as well.
The Midnight Library (CW: suicide)