Have you really enjoyed reading a work that qualifies and want to recommend it to others? This is the prime spot to help people out with those recommendations.
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New Release:
New for 2024/2025 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: This is the first work you’ve read by this author.
The gathering, by C.J. Tudor
Nuclear war: a scenario, by Annie Jacobsen
Plays With Words:
Written in a stylistically unconventional way. HARD MODE: Fits the definition of Experimental Literature.
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
- Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
I asked this question a few months back and had a ton of replies. I’ll leave a link to the thread and highlight my two favourite books so far.
Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky “Evolutionary storytelling”. It tells the story of an entire civilization as it grows and evolves from nothing, whilst simultaneously telling a story that takes place over a much more conventional timescale. Very good book IMO, with two slightly-less-strong sequals
Idaho Winter - Tony Burgess What a bizarre book this was. I don’t know if it’s a good book, but it was weird and kept me entertained so that’s good enough for me.
Spoiler for what made it weird
The author gets dragged into the story at one point and becomes a character in the book by accident
Removed by mod
Local to You:
The author lives in or writes about a location local to you (city, state, province, territory, etc.). HARD MODE: The author has spent a significant amount of time there, but wasn’t born there.
ALT - Translated
Not originally in your native tongue. HARD MODE: Has been translated into at least ten other languages. This Wikipedia page is a good place to start for widely translated works.
“100 Years of Solitude” Gabriel García Márquez (this works for HARD MODE) “Love in the Time of Cholera” Gabriel García Márquez
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
- The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
- What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
- Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
- Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice Leblanc
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
One Less:
A book that’s been on your TBR list for a long time. HARD MODE: Overlaps with at least one other bingo square theme.
Minority Author:
Minority or LGBTQIA+ author. A minority can be any member of a generally underrepresented population where you live. HARD MODE: Minority and LGBTQIA+.
- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
- The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
- Jade City by Fonda Lee
Anything by Roxanne Gay and Nikki Giovanni will work for HARD MODE.
It’s a Holiday:
Takes place during a specific holiday, which is significant to the plot. HARD MODE: Not Christmas, a fictional variation of Christmas, or other winter festival.
- Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
- Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
- Walpurgisnacht by Gustav Meyrink, Mike Mitchell
- A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Water, Water Everywhere
The title refers to some form or body of water. HARD MODE: Not liquid water.
- On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
- Midnight Riot (The original UK title of this is River’s of London) by Ben Aaronovitch
Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie:
A light, popcorn-worthy read that’s not real deep (see also “beach read” and “airport novel”). HARD MODE: You actually read it while on a vacation/staycation.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
- The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley
Among the Stars:
Features space, astronomy, or stardom. HARD MODE: The title references the theme, too.
Mr Palomar by Italo Calvino.
Also qualifies for hard mode (the character is named after an observatory).
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
- Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf (movie stars count)
It’s About Time:
The passage or manipulation of time is a major theme or plot driver. HARD MODE: Backward in time, not forward.
Won’t fit the hard mode, but Charles Sheffield’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow was an interesting read. The first third wasn’t really my thing, but after that the book goes way far into the future.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
Older Than You Are
Published before your birthdate. HARD MODE: Published before 1924.
- Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
- Ulysses by James Joyce
This category is a bit tougher to recommend because the qualification depends on your age, but these are all over 100 years old and I’ve enjoyed all of them.
- Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
- King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
- A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Stranger in a Strange Land:
The primary PoV is dropped into a completely unfamiliar situation or location. HARD MODE: Not portal fiction or isekai.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
- A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Mashup:
A combination of two or more genres or non-fiction topics. HARD MODE: Unusual combo, like fantasy thriller.
Have read and enjoyed:
- Iron Truth by S.A. Tholin - space opera with horror elements
- Leech by Hiron Ennes - gothic sci-fantasy horror, set in some kind of post-apocalypse
- The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison - fantasy of manners mystery
- The Mister Trophy by Frank Tuttle - fantasy mystery
- The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope - historical fantasy
- Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones - fantasy mystery
- Priest of Bones by Peter McLean - fantasy organized crime
- When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger - cyberpunk mystery
