I started reading last year, mostly productivity stuff, but now I’m really looking to jump into fiction to unwind after a long week of uni, studying, and work. I need something to help me relax during the weekends without feeling like I’m working.
I’d love some recommendations for books that are short enough to finish in a day but still hit hard and are totally worth it. No specific genre preferences right now. I’m open to whatever. Looking forward to seeing what you guys suggest. Thank you very much in advance.
Cradle! Or better, the cradle series. It’s a sort of adventure story in a fantasy world.
“The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” is a hell of read, as well as “The Navidson Record”.
But “The Necronomicon” is my favorite fictional book, I think.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide, you likely won’t be able to finish each of the 5 books in the trilogy in a day but it’s something you can read a hundred times and find a new witty joke somewhere, much like all the Discworld novels.
The Expanse is another that you could burn through a book a day but wow it’s a hell of a story and worth taking your time on each character’s perspective, Outlander is also a good one for the same reasons but those are 1k pagers
Any early Alistair MacLean…
Guns of Navaronne
Where Eagles Dare
When Eight Bells Toll
Night Without End
Puppet on a String
Louis Lamour’s westerns are complete popcorn and fun to read
C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower books
When I was younger I binged a lot of Alistair MacLean. To continue the list with some of my other favourites:
The Satan Bug
The Golden Rendezvous
The Dark Crusader
The Last Frontier
Ice Station Zebra
Fair warning though: he’s quite formulaic and it is not recommended to finish one of his books then start another. Read a couple of books inbetween to give yourself a break.
I have two fantastic recommendations that are pretty short reads.
Enders Game is fantastic Sci fi and quite cut throat. Great Story. Far better than the marginal movie that came out based on it.
The Martian. Sci fi, but more realistic and the author must have researched the hell out of things to put this book together. The movie they made was actually pretty good, but the book outshines it by leaps and bounds. The internal monolog of the main character is outstanding in the book and it just can’t happen through the movie.
Oh hey, I’m reading The Martian right now! Also loved Project Hail Mary by the same author, Andy Weir. It’s a bit more fantastical and just a great read.
I haven’t read Hail Mary yet, but I’ll have to check it out now. How far along with you on the Martian? You enjoying it?
Not the one you’re asking, but I’ve read both The Martian and Project Hail Mary. You absolutely gotta try PHM if you liked the martian. They’re both incredible books, but if I had to rank them, it’d be real close, but Hail Mary would come out on top.
The Lathe of Heaven by LeGuin is pretty short, and great
Everything by LeGuin is fantastic. The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Fisherman of the Inland Sea. So many beautiful worlds and stories.
Raymond Chandler’s novels, esp The Lady in the Lake
The Pirx the Pilot stories, 8 in 2 volumes
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key
2nd the Hitchhiker’s Guide and they’re easy to rejoin
A A Fair’s novels are short and have odd western us lore in them, one has a great way to bet in Vegas, others name spots in Mexico, they were Gardner’s fun books that he liked to write more than other series.
The Handmaid’s Tale
We
Nightfall
The Terminal Experiment
Finish in a day isn’t a great requirement to put alongside “best ever”, as others have already covered. That aside, check out The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. You’ll be surprised by how fun it is to learn about medieval technology development and stone cathedral building techniques when it’s all wrapped up in a gripping narrative.
In this same category is Cathedral of the sea by Ildefonso Falcones. It is a great book and one of my favorites! Not a one day read for sure.
Love love love these books.
I second someone else suggestion: the murderbot diaries. It’s great.
Most of the books people here are recommending are fairly lengthy, but you can get through the first murderbot book in a dedicated evening.Someone else already suggested it, but I would second Terry Pratchett. Even though most of the books are standalone, I recommend start with the Colour of Magic and follow publication order.
GNU Sir Terry
YES!! I started with Guards! Guards! and I am hooked!! They’re all so good.
As the librarian would say, “Ook.”
If you read the first story (The colour of Magic + The light fantastic) you will know the story of the librarian, he start as a human there hahahah.
And the entire collection is on sale right now.
$18 for all 39 books.
Another vote for Pratchett! I’m an economics fan, and making money happened to be my introduction, but there are far more common onramps.
My personal suggestion for getting a feel of Pratchett’s writing these days is monstrous regiment - technically in the discworld series, but it’s very standalone, so you get the flavor of the writing with little of the need for additional context.
I have to ask, have you read Orconomics? It’s a parody of fantasy, gaming, and economics. I recommend it to anyone who likes Pratchett, and especially if you’re into the extremely specific niche of financial fantasy satire.
I have not and I’ve now purchased the book - thanks for the recommendation!
Basically most Terry Pratchett books really. Some will take more than a day, but it’s like a mix of Lord of the Rings and Monty Python. Whimsical and silly with some good moments that make you think.
The discworld collection is currently on humble bundle for cheap if you have an e-reader.
Oh thanks for the heads up!
I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but The Stormlight Archive books speak to me like no other books ever have. They’re a huge time investment, but they’re all about the journey, not the destination. 😉
What’s the reading age for this series? I know it doesn’t always matter, but some novels it breaks my immersion when I become aware that the reading age is more teenage than adult
Brandon Sanderson writes amazingly rich fantasy stories an created wild lore heavy worlds in his books. But his books are also behemoths with thousands upon thousands of pages that require some serious time and commitment to read. Maybe not the best for beginners to start getting into fiction.
I’d recommend the Harry Potter books because they start easy and get more mature with each book. Also the story and lore is widely known and liked by a lot of people.
I’ve really enjoyed everything in the Cosmere, but Stormlight is a step above the rest. Last book in this era is out soon. I can’t wait.
I know! Have you been reading the chapters on Reactor Mag?
I have not. I can only do the audiobooks, especially for something this long. I’m going to have to go back and listen to the last 5 hours or so of RoW to refresh. It ended so powerfully in the epilogue that I need closure.
Stormlight hit hard in the ptsd feelings. I really love how the series handles mental illnesses and cycles of violence.
Way of Kings blew my mind when I first read it. I loved it so much. I read it again when the last book came out because I couldn’t remember everything that happened, and it’s still an amazing book on the second read. Unfortunately, each of the following books in the series is less enjoyable for me. I didn’t like the Rhythm of War at all. I know a lot of people love it, but it has become something I don’t appreciate at all. I don’t know if I’ll even finish the series, assuming Brandon ever finishes it himself.
One of the few series that I love for making me want to be a better person, then hate it because that’s hard, then love it all over again because it’s worth it.
Anything by Brandon Sanderson is a pretty safe bet!
I reccomend hopping on !chat@literature.cafe
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It and its sequel Children of Ruin both explore what it means to be a person and makes you feel empathy for “the other”, beings that get more and more alien as the story moves on. Compared to most of what others mention here it is rather new. But it will become a cult classic, I am certain of that.
That’s a great series. I recommended the first book to everyone I know after reading it. For another amazing story of compassion that circles around from everything from horror, to Kant, to AI intelligence, to religious extremism before it gets there, read The Hyperion Cantos.
Currently half way through the last of the 4 (Rise of Endymion) … fantastic series!
