Book Recommendation Bonanza
Version #1
Well, folks, I asked, and you certainly answered! The following is a list of book recommendations from myself, our readers, and many fellow writers. Highly recommend taking a look. Any pick is sure to be a winner. I’ll be playing around with this list and sending out new recommendations on a sporadic basis. If I didn’t include your submission in this list, I’ll do my best to get it in a future version.
Enjoy and happy browsing!
Non-Fiction
Enlightenment Now: The case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress – Stephen Pinker
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created – Charles C. Mann
Yes, please — Amy Poehler
Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Fear of Death — Irvin D Yalom
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and The Teachings of Plants
The Denial of Death — Ernest Becker
Outliers — Malcolm Gladwell
The Mind’s I — Dennet and Hoftstadter
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick — Philip K. Dick
A People’s History of the United States — Howard Zinn
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — Oliver Sacks
48 Laws of Power — Robert Greene
Mastery — Robert Greene
Less is More — Jason Hickel
The Art of the Common Place — Wendell Berry
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans — A.J. Baime
Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing
Running with Sherman: The Donkey Heart of a Hero — Christopher McDougall
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster — Jon Krakauer
All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated — Neil Bernstein
A Sea of Words — Dean King
Harbors and High Seas — Dean King
Histories — Herodotus
The Undiscovered Self — Carl Jung
Psychology of the Unconscious — Carl Jung
Social Interest — Alfred Adler
Understanding Human Nature — Alfred Adler
Philosophy
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
Discourses — Epictetus
Enchiridion — Epictetus
Letters From a Stoic — Seneca
The World as Will and Representation — Arthur Schopenhauer
The Republic — Plato
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason — Michel Foucault
On the Suffering of the World — Arthur Schopenhauer
Introduction to Metaphysics — Martin Heidegger
Being and Time — Martin Heidegger
Basic Writings — Martin Heidegger
Fear and Trembling — Soren Kierkegaard
The Sickness unto Death — Soren Kierkegaard
The Concept of Anxiety — Soren Kierkegaard
Works of Love — Soren Kierkegaard
Phenomenology of Spirit — Hegel
Fragments — Heraclitus
The Book — Alan Watts
Out of Your Mind — Alan Watts
Become What You Are — Alan Watts
The Way of Tao — Alan Watts
The Way of Zen — Alan Watts
Incerto Series — Nicolas Nassim Taleb
A History of Western Philosophy — Bertrand Russell
Ethics — Baruch Spinoza
Beyond Good and Evil — Friedrich Nietzche
Thus Spok Zarathustra — Friedrich Nietzche
The Will to Power — Friedrich Nietzche
Being and Nothingness — Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism is a Humanism — Jean-Paul Sartre
Nausea — Jean-Paul Sartre
The Human Condition — Hannah Arendt
The Origins of Totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt
The Sublime Object of Ideology — Slavoj Zizek
The Fragile Absolute — Slavoj Zizek
Memoirs and Biographies
Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Anne Dillard
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life – William Finnegan
Way of the Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman
Can't Hurt Me – David Goggins
Never Finished – David Goggins
When Breath Becomes Air — Paul Kalanithi
Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humilliation
Rat Girl — Kristin Hersh
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? — Roz Chast
Why Fish Don’t Exist — Lulu Miller
The Autobiography of Malcolm X — Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King — Martin Luther King
Team of Rivals — Doris Kearns Goodwin
William Tecumseh Sherman — James Lee McDonough
Franklin Douglass: Prophet of Freedom — David W. Blight
Self-Development
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
The Creative Act; A Way of Being – Rick Rubin.
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind — Joseph Murphy
Anything you want – Derek Sivers
New Happy – Stephanie Harrison
Steal like an Artist – Austin Kleon
Feel Good Productivity – Ali Abdaal
Conversations on Love — Philippa Perry, et al.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The Comfort Crisis — Michael Easter
Scarcity Brain — Michael Easter
Living an Examined Life — James Hollis
The Dark Side of Light Chasers — Debbie Ford
True Fit — Jim Beqai
Break the Wheel — Jay Acnuzo
The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron
The Third Door: The Mindset of Success — Alex Banayan
Stolen Focus — Johann Hari
Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense — Rory Sutherland
Michael Pollan — How to Change Your Mind
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
The Authentic Swing — Steven Pressfield
Fiction
East of Eden — John Steinbeck
The Father’s Tale — Michael D. O’Brien
100 Days of Sunlight — Abbie Emmons
Daniel Deronda — George Elliot
Middle March — George Elliot
The Slave — Isaac Bashevis Singer
Horacio Hornblower — C.S. Forester
The Witch Elm — Tana French
The Sound of Building Coffins — Louis Maistros
No One is Here Except All of Us
Resurrection — Leo Tolstoy
Naive. Super — Erlend Loe
I Am Pilgrim — Terry Hayes
The Covenant — James A. Michener
Aubrey-Maturin — Patrick O’Brian
Rebecca — Daphne Du Maurier
Anna Karennina — Leo Tolstoy
Hunger — Knut Hansen
War and Peace — Leo Tolstoy
Martin Eden – Jack London
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
The Ocean and the Stars – Mark Helprin
Odd Thomas — Dean Koontz
We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
The Last Green Valley – Mark T. Sullivan
A Prayer for Owen Meany — John Irving
A Tiny Ending — Joanna Cannon
The Last One — Alexandra Oliva
The Caine Mutiny — Herman Wouk
The Monkey Wrench Gang — Edward Abbey
The Entire Sky – Joe Wilkins
The Walking Drum – Louis L’amour
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Forbidden Child – Gwen Newell
The Idiot — Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
A Country Doctor’s Notebook — Mikhail Bu6lgakov
Crime and Punishment — Fyodor Dostoevsky
Witch of Portobello — Paulo Coehlo
The Revolutionist — Robert Littell
If We Were Villains — M.L. Rio
Winne The Pooh — A.A Milne
Crossing to Safety — Wallace Earle Stegner
Crooked Little Vein — Warren Ellis
A Wild Sheep Chase — Haruki Murakami
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
Ask the Dust — John Fante
Greta & Valdin — Rebecca K Reilly
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Mountain King — Anders de la Motte
White Noise — Don DeLillo
The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western — Richard Brautigan
Fight Club — Chuck Palahniuk
The Magic Toyshop — Angela Carter
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Arthur Conan Doyle
Wide Sargasso Sea — Jean Rhys
The Bookseller of Inverness — S.G MacLean
A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles
Notes From Underground — Fydor Dostoevsky
Stoner — John Williams
Butcher’s Crossing — John Williams
The Chronoliths — Robert Charles Wilson
Bridge of Years — Robert Charles Wilson
The Little Prince — Antoine de Santi Exupery
Night Over Water — Ken Follett
Fantasy
The Crystal Cave – Mary Stewart
The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
Spin the Dawn — Elizabeth Lim
Unravel the Dusk — Elizabeth Lim
Twin Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Cursed Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Burning Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
The Night CIrcus — Erin Morgensten
Malazan Book of the Fallen Series – Steven Erikson
Rivers of London — Ben Aaronovitch
The Last Continent — Terry Pratchett
Wheel of Time Series — Robert Jordan
Red Queen Series — Victoria Aveyard
Sword of Truth Series — Terry Goodkind
A Song of Ice and Fire — George R.R. Martin
The City of Lost Fortunes — Bryan Camp
Gather The Fortunes — Bryan Camp
The Mists of Avalon — Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Compleat Enchanter — L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt
The Compleat Werewolf — Anthony Boucher
The Dragonbone Chair — Tad Williams
The Stormlight Archives — Brandon Sanderson
The Will of the Many — James Islington
Swordheart — T Kingfisher
The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
Neverwhere — Neil Gaiman
The Ten Thousand Doors of January — Alix E. Harrow
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — V.E. Schwab
Science Fiction
Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ada’s Children – Larry Hogue
Paradox – Michael Woudenberg
Integration – Michael Woudenberg
The Power — Naomi Alderman
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — Becky Chambers
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
The Kraken Wakes – John Wyndham
Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
Perelanda – C.S. Lewis
The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
That Hideous Strength – C.S. Lewis
The Flicker Men — Tom Kosmatka
Oryx and Crake — Margaret Atwood
Red Rising — Pierce Brown
Exhalation: Stories — Ted Chiang
Artemis — Andy Weir
Seveneves — Neal Stephenson
Permutation City — Greg Egan
Special thanks to: Viam Zackary Henson D.L.Stone Utkarsha Srivastava Enrique Betancourt. Ryan Williams Tommy Blanchard SillySmartAtoms Michael Woudenberg John Brown Albert Cory K. Alexandra Lisa Cothron CB Mason Over_by_art_Minnesota Alina Pitt Jamisa J Jenn- jscreative Sakshi Deora Cate Gander Claudia Faith The Ignorant Ninja Kimberly Anne Gloria Liu Chronically Altered Sara Sousi Thomas Smithson Boomer Baby Issa A. James Garside TBC Susan Ridings Beniamin Lowen Behold Micheal Rainwater Sandra Stephens Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen Philip Hofmacher Ian Simbotin The Autistic Rebel ~ MrJoe Harshini Noora Ahmad Irshaad Jonathan Blees scarlett parker Abd Sid Vimal Patel Kate Brennan Alexis Learner Tomas Milkamanavičius Vila Mundi Allison Riney Get Busy Living dimidimzz William Ezell Miss.Mysterious Scatterbrain Chris Fawthrop Alma Murray The Bookworm Writer's Madness Melanie Pienaar Tell The Story Samantha Westcott Victoria Guthrie Compute DSKlausler Charlie Lentine Substack von Leonie NadineB Nick Winney Lorna Smart Roopin Patel Julia Perrodin John Mitchell Taylor Cecelia Brook Adam Rockwell Fabienne Mannherz
Thanks so much for doing this, Nur. So many amazing recommendations!
Thank you for gathering these wonderful reads into one place and for including mine as well! 💕