Hi all!
I am a very avid reader (>150 books/year for the last 3 years; >50 for the decades before that) and lately, I’m finding myself burned out because everything feels like I’ve already read some iteration of the same story. I am open to all genres (except steamy romance, self-help and extreme gore in horror). My usual go-tos are mysteries, fantasy, and horror, but I also read romcoms, non-fiction (prefer history to biographies, but am open to both), sci-fi, etc. I’m looking for something that either defied genre, or stood out to you as something fresh. It can be new, old, I’m open to anything. For reference, some books that stuck out to me as upper echelon in terms of novelty over the past year or so are:
Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
by kristicuse
21 Comments
[The Timekeeper’s Conspiracy](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08769MR4D/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1696256504&sr=8-2)
Some books I read recently that felt unique in some ways (and what I found to be unique about them):
– The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck (the imagination/premise)
– No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (the way its told/the way it defies genres)
– The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (the way its told, almost felt like half fiction half non fiction)
– The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (the mythology/worldbuilding)
Derek Miller has some good books. I loved Finding your Way in the Dark.
Shit, Actually by Lindy West is fun if you like movies.
Here are a few of my 5-stars: Any crossover?
The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds –Caroline Van Hemert
The Big Picture –Sean Carrol
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
Daughter of the Beast
Galaxy of Thorns: Rise of the Empress
The traitors we are
I would suggest…..
Steve Berry’s series with Cotton Malone as main character…kind of like Dan Brown series but no religion…primarily history.
Joe Ide’s series with Isaiah Quintabi (IQ) as main character….he’s a non-licensed PI that has Sherlock Holmes skills.
Vicki Lane is a very unique NC writer that weaves mysteries of today with local historical stories…..very intriguing style of writing. I love this author.
Since you describe yourself as an avid reader, I’ll briefly name drop a number of authors that I typically recommend: Connie Willis, Robert Graves, Tim Powers, Julian May, Dan Simmons, and Octavia Butler. But for specific book recommendations. I’ll try to come up with some obscure finds that I enjoyed:
_The Infinity Concerto_ and _The Serpent Mage_ by Greg Bear. Bear usually writes sci-fi, but this detour into fantasy was pretty fun. I’ve also seen this published as one giant book, _Songs of Earth and Power_
_Merlin’s Godson_ and _Merlin’s Ring_ by H. Warner Munn. They’re a bit dated, but the breadth of the story makes for a wild ride.
_The Daughter of Time_ by Josephine Tey. Tey is a mystery writer, but in this story her detective is laid up in the hospital and takes up the question of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower to pass the time.
The Spear cuts through Water – Simon Jimenez was that fantasy book that was just operating at a higher level for me. I have his debut SF book as well and I know I will love it, I just haven’t circled around to the mood yet.
Percival Everett is a really original author. He’s written twenty- odd books and no two are alike. Start with Trees and see what you think.
James Hannaham is writing some great stuff. Not happy-happy, but I promise it’s not an iteration of something else you’ve read. I just finished Delicious Foods and definitely recommend.
Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt mysteries are not like other mysteries, and I’ve read a LOT of mysteries.
Have you read any of the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir? A wild, fun ride unlike anything else I’ve read.
George Saunders is a great, original writer, mostly short stories, but if you’re looking for a novel, Lincoln in the Bardo is amazing.
Both Ursula LeGuin and Joanna Russ have really interesting premises for sci-fi that I haven’t seen elsewhere. The vast majority of science fiction/fantasy is pretty repetitive but there are some other people doing interesting things today.
Susannah Clarke: Piranesi
Italo Calvino: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller
Whenever anyone wants something very different, my go-to suggestion is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It’s very weird I won’t lie, but very unique and I still enjoyed it.
Oh, hello fellow volume reader with similar issues as me 🙂
**Here are my suggestions:**
The Summer That Melted Everything
Nightbitch
The Push
My Murder
Shit Cassandra Saw
Bunny
Council of Dolls
Jitterbug Perfume
Still Life with Woodpecker
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe
Ella Minnow Pea
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
The Spellman Files
Cryptonomicon
Gravities Rainbow
Guncle
Nothing to See Here
The Painter
**And throwing in some nonfiction:**
Braiding Sweetgrass
Shrill
Animal Vegetable Miracle
The Comfort Book
**And, epics, that aren’t necessarily “different/weird” but so worth reading/absolute master pieces if you haven’t read yet:**
Lonesome Dove
Prince of Tides
The Brothers K (by David James Duncan)
*Vita Nostra* by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko
A young woman goes to school to learn how to become something.
Fantasy that starts familiar and takes a wild leap into the whaaaaa
The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith
I found Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk to be quite unique in the way it was written.
Bourne by Jeff Vandermeer
The Scar by China Mieville
AntKind by Charlie Kauffman
My favorite reads over the past year:
The River by Peter Heller (lovely prose, unexpected developments, very suspenseful)
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (loved this retelling, including the magical realism)
Woman of the Dead by Bernhard Aichner (badass female MC, plenty of twists)
Carnality by Lina Wolff (well-written, disturbing, loved the setting)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (lovely and amazing)
Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss (interesting account of living in Iceland)
I was NOT a fan of it because of the unique structure of the book (it is in my DNF pile), but House of Leaves is VERY unique. It’s a story within a story within a story, etc. Footnotes and asides galore. Strange structure for the book itself.
Very challenging read.
It’s polarizing. People love it or hate it. I was in the hate it camp, but my best friend thinks it is the best book she’s ever read.
Horror/mystery.
Circe…. surprised me how much I liked it because I don’t have a big interest in mythology. I listened to the audio and loved it.
The Helios Disaster was a really unique book that stuck with me.
When we cease to understand the world by Labatut.
I promise you won’t have read anything like it!
The Will of the many by Islington- go into this completely blind, but think Dune.
City of Thieves by Benioff.
The most unique history / biography I’ve ever read is [Benjamin Butler’s Book (Autobiography)](https://lintreader.com/book/butler-butlers-book-autobiography-a-0X6aeVVV). Butler does not have a good reputation so it’s interesting to hear his side. And comes with the nice surprise that he is an excellent writer and an extremely entertaining person.