General Discussion

I need deep book recommendations, please! Anything that kinda speaks to your soul and/or gets you thinking. I'm up for YA, Short Stories, Poetry, Classics, Magical Realism, and anything in between!

I subbed :)

Artemis Fowl. You have to remember stuff from the beginning of the book to make sense of the ending. Great series. :> My favorite books actually. The writer is absolutely great.

@Amura I never finished that series, actually. Is it really that good?

and for you Crimson:

The Time Traveler's Wife is...very poorly written, if you ask me. But the concept is really cool, which is the only reason I stuck with it. I would definitely read it if you're in need of something just to see the failings of what could have been a really cool concept?

Heartless by Marissa Meyer? Makes you think about fate and stuff, not too deep tho.

a book that i loved and felt did a good job realistically portraying its scenarios was Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe! would definitely recommend!

@Lumynox

Yesss. The way they kind of merge magic and technology is wonderful, and while you start out hating the main character, you do begin to like him in like...book 3. And like I said above, how they make you remember stuff from earlier on is just nifty as heck.

@Lumynox

I've read Heartless by Marissa Meyer, and I loved it. And thank you for your other recommendations, I'll have to check them out!

@Amura
Ooo I've heard of it but haven't really taken a closer look at it, so I'll have to look it up! Thank you <3

oh boy oh boy, I love artemis fowl...my dad and I read those books together. for my rec, Tales from Outer Suburbia and Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan. I love shaun tan, I'll talk about his work basically anywhere people let me, I feel it in my soul

theyre both collections of short stories, and they loosely tie into each other thematically, in as much as they deal with the confusing status quo of the anthropocene era. lots of people call it surrealism, but I call it more of...elevated realism. The logic of the worlds in his stories is self contained and of course, makes complete sense within itself; the first story in Tales from the Inner City starts with "Crocodiles live on the eighty-seventh floor.", which is kind of the tone setter in that it delivers with complete unflinching confidence that this world is fact. Inner City focuses on animals, with each story being themed around one in particular in one way or another, while Outer Suburbia tells more motley anecdotes, typically those based on a certain facet of life we consider normal, but with a twist; maybe one that reflects how absurd it is that we consider it normal in the first place. the themes of being lost, and of belonging, pop up in his works a LOT; The Lost Thing being the best example, as well as one of my favorite stories. That one's pretty much a straight up picture book, but it was made into a short film that you can find online if you want to see if his style works for you.

I think inner city is ultimately more symbolically dense, or maybe I just end up thinking about it more because I like animals a lot, and I really like the themes? I believe it does have more stories

tan has a lot of comments for both books on his website, if anything I said sounds interesting! I know it's a lot, I just love talking about these books

I'll assume that your are looking for fiction.

Isaac Asimov is always pretty good at making you have to think.
I would recommend nightfall as pretty much anyone who has read it would.
as well as his Powel and Donavan stories.

Something a bit more modern but still pretty fantastically written is Hugh Howey's wool series. The world that Hugh portrays excellently conveys the atmosphere of stuffiness and the urge to get out that he was aiming for.
I won't give spoilers but it is a dystopia about people living in a bunker.

If you've missed it somehow Ray Bradbury books are fantastic unless you were forced to read them in school.

Shakespeare is also really good if you aren't forced to read it. Although if you want the best experience for that watch the globe theater plays, thyy are really well done with great actors.

All of these are pretty dense options so if you want something lighter i would suggest the edge chronicles.
The world is so vibrant and wonderfully imagined by Paul Stewart and drawn incredibly by Chris riddle.
Over the course of the series it follows multiple characters and the world actively evolves and develops as well in a way rarely seen in long series.

Another light one is The leviathan series by Scott Westerfield is a fun romp in alternate history steampunk/biopunk WW1

There are a bunch more books i would suggest but these ones cover most fields

Hmm, let me see if I can remember some books that make you think.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is amazing. It's a fictional story about young German boys who're convinced by their teacher to sign up as soldiers in World war 1, and really shows how incredibly pointless war is. The served in WW1, and had to flee from Germany later when the Nazi Party deemed the book unpatriotic and banned it.

Forgive me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick is also pretty good. The MC is the kind of uncomfortably weird m'lady guy we've all met and whom we don't really want to talk to, but in this book you really can't help but feel terrible for him. It deals with some pretty heavy themes though, so thread carefully if you're sensitive to that.

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer: Takes place in a post apocalyptic hellscape where genetic engineering is needed to survive, and mutated people and animals roam the land. Also, there's a giant flying bear named Mord, and a shapeshifting sea anemone that made me cry. Its an amazing book about what makes people human, what it means to be a 'person', parental love, what forgiveness really is, and how far will you go to save someone you love. Its truly one of the best sci-fi books ever. (Warning though: body horror is prevalent throughout the book)

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle: If I made a list of books to be read whenever you feel alone, scared, or upset, this would be on it. Scifi classic, and it helped me so much when I was feeling hopeless. A real treasure of a book. Explores time and space in a relatively (hehe) scientific manner, and has some of the most memorable characters.

The Giver Series by Lois Lowry: Containing one of the most 'banned' books of all time, this trilogy explores concepts like what a utopian society would look like, but what would you have to sacrifice in oder to have a utopia? Can sadness be essential to be whole? What about pain? Honestly the last book, Son, still gives me chills when I think about it.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry: Written for a younger audience than The Giver, it shows the secret world of dream givers who absorb memories from inanimate objects, and give you dreams based on the memories. Very interesting concept, but deals with heavy subjects like rejection and child abuse, written so that children can understand them. An important book, I think.

The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis: A perfect example of pre-moon landing science fiction, this series is about a man named Ransom who is abducted from Earth, and placed on Mars, or 'Malacandra'. Its about his adventures there, but talks about things like sin, the depravity of the human soul (I know, sounds dumb but its actually really good), and illustrates space in the most beautiful way possible: a singing universe and an orchestra of planets.

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis: Honestly, this is one of those books you have to read twice to fully 'get'. Its hard to even write a summary on this one. Its a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche Greek myth, but from an outsiders perspective. Just read it. You won't regret it. The Ungit scene will stick with me for years.