I, 35M, have never been much into reading. I just never found that one book that I thought was fantastic. Everything felt OK at best.
How can I ask you for advice when I don’t even know what I like myself? I don’t know. I think a fantasy or mythological theme would work best. Something fast paced and with a non sad ending. I’m open to pretty much everything, though.
Maybe by listing what books I have read and what I found displeasing about them you can suggest me a book or two to try? Give me some feedback!
Books I remember reading:
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Circe - I like the mythological theme, I think this was the book I enjoyed the most. I found it a bit bland, like the story pretty much lead to nothing of interest.
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The Hobbit - I love the lord of the rings movies (never tried the books), I thought maybe I’d enjoy this book. I didn’t enjoy the plot, don’t really wanna spoil why.
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Da Vinci Code - I thought it was fine, I guess I enjoy plots with some mystery.
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Angels and Demons - honestly felt like the same book, I don’t know if I even finished it
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Digital Fortress - as a software developer, i thought the theme would pull me in but it didn’t. It actually felt like the same book again and I have tried reading it three times without success.
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100 years of solitude - I read this a long time ago so I don’t really remember why I didn’t enjoy it. I remember it being a slog with long and very detailed descriptions of situations that didn’t feel to matter at all.
Thanks!
Hm. Some fantasy stories / books I really enjoyed and recommend are:
Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Just awesome. The pacing is gentle but a lot higher compared to The Hobbit or The Lord Of The Rings. One of the best fantasy stories I know, I read all the books multiple times. Warning: Don’t watch the movie. Just don’t.
The Idhún’s Memories by Laura Gallego. I’ve read them a long time ago, so I don’t know if I’d still enjoy them that much, but I’ve great memories.
I didn’t read The Name Of The Wind yet, but it was recommended to me multiple times as THE best book.
If you don’t mind science-fiction, I also would recommend Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovski.
Side note: Fantasy is quite a heavy genre if you’re not really into reading yet. Often the good books are large, which makes it harder to finish in a reasonable time. General tipp: try to read one hour a day. This creates a habit and you will soon read a lot faster, which makes it a lot easier to just grind through a book as if it was nothing. Also try different genres, maybe one doesn’t sound appealing, but you would enjoy it anyway.
The name of the wind is absolutely one of the best fantasy books ever written, the only thing is that the author is not likely to finish the series anytime soon. The second book in the triology came out in 2011 and still has no date for the third to be released :/