I’ll start first: (bear in mind I usually listen to audiobooks)

  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir |A guy finds himself stranded in space aboard an international space vessel where he has to remember who he is.
  • The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater |A true story about how hanging with the wrong crowd can have life-altering consequences
  • The Animorphs series by KJ Applegate |Young adult series in which a group of kids find an alien, get the powers to morph shape into animals, as well as uncover an alien takeover conspiracy (Plus, detailed depictions of how grotesque those transformations are!)
  • Saga by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples (Comic, ongoing) |Following the story of Hazel, a baby born from an ex-soldier and an enemy combatant, Saga shows how gowing up and raising a kid in a wartorn universe can have highs and lows.

Edit: added pipes for better separation

  • ettyblatant@lemmy.world
    1·
    8 hours ago

    I’m about 75% through The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It is also a movie. I really enjoy how he writes his characters, and the book is legitimately scary and creepy. I have to set it down sometimes.

    On the scary/creepy note, another amazing book and movie is Birdbox by Josh Malerman. That book legitimately terrified me.

  • Michal@programming.dev
    4·
    19 hours ago

    ‘The first Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ was pretty good.

    Besides that, ‘The Waiting’ by Michael Connelly, but he’s my favorite author, so I’ll recommend almost each of his books.

  • omxxi@feddit.orgEnglish
    2·
    17 hours ago

    Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Michael Shermer

  • Azal@pawb.social
    5·
    22 hours ago

    Just finished World War Z again. It hits so much different post-pandemic.

    For those that see “zombie book” or worse, just saw the movie, the book is written as an ‘after the infestation’ chronicle interviewing people from across the world and society, exploring the beginning moments, the panics, long term survival, and the cleanup. I view it as a modern “War of the Worlds” in that book shows what society react view from the “all-threat”, which at that era was worried about a larger more powerful enemy coming in vs in 2006 the societal fear of an “all-threat” was infestation whether societal to plague and the reactions of the people in it.

    • turmacar@lemmy.world
      2·
      20 hours ago

      The author took inspiration from a WW2 book using actual accounts before, during, and after the war.

      It (WWZ) really is fantastic. And the audiobook version with an all star cast is as well.

  • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
    1·
    16 hours ago

    I enjoyed the trilogy “Remembrance of Earth’s Past”, on which 3 Body Problem is based.

    Also, The Power Broker has been quite nice.

  • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    13·
    2 days ago

    Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson. An epic fantasy.

    I loved it and just started the second book.

  • KammicRelief@lemmy.world
    13·
    2 days ago

    The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles. My first time reading an ancient classic, and it’s much less scary than I thought. In fact I’m quite enjoying it, and might read The Iliad (Homer’s other epic poem) next. The humanness of the characters (well, the human ones!) is very relatable, even though it’s 2700 years old. I don’t know why I expected it to be crusty and boring. Maybe I assumed it’d be like the Bible.

    The intro explains a lot of stuff about the original Greek poem and how it was written in dactylic hexameterwhich bards back then used to be able to improvise in, which is amazing to me. Reminds me of 8 Mile or something. 😅

    • B1naryB0t@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      1·
      1 day ago

      If you read a modern bible translation from the perspective of christian mythology just as we treat Greek mythology a lot of the stories are actually fantastic reads

      • KammicRelief@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        interesting… it’s been a while since I’ve tried (as a kid in the 80s probably). Can you recommend a translation (and book/story)?

        • turmacar@lemmy.world
          1·
          19 hours ago

          A lot of the Old Testament this. Any translation that uses more readable language is nice. The King James version etc get too much credit for sounding religiousy.

          Genesis through Deuteronomy or so are what a lot of Protestant churches at least focus on. The New Testament is Jesus’ life and then a bunch of letters to various early churches about how the Religion should work.

          A lot of “the rest” are the kind of fables they’re talking about. Ruth, Esther, Job, Samuel, etc. The ones named after people/mythological figures, depending on your point of view/beliefs.

  • LockheedTheDragon@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 days ago

    The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood.

    I’ll just steal the description from Amazon "Billie Scott is an artist.

    Her debut gallery exhibition opens in a few months.

    Within a fortnight she’ll be completely blind.

    Zoe Thorogood’s first graphic novel is a story about what it’s like to get something you want, have it immediately taken away from you and then how you put it all back together again. Set in a world of people down on their luck from Middlesbrough to London, it’s a graphic novel that speaks of post-austerity Britain and the problems facing those left behind."

    The art is great, the characters feel real, and the issues with it are minor. I read it for a book club and loved reading this and discussing it