Can you recommend some good books for someone in a slump after finishing all the Outlander books? :)
You want me to recommend books? 😍😍😍
Now, for me, recommendations kind of depend on what kind of thing you’re looking for as well as what some of your other tastes include – i.e. the Outlander series is a good starting point, but I’d need to know more of what you like to give a truly effective recommendation.
But, there are plenty of books that I can recommend generally, so…
Lenny’s Book Recommendations Masterlist
Highest recommendations are in all caps. Sorting by genre/category but in no particular order. Also including links to my reviews for the ones I have reviews for. If anyone ever feels like talking books, please, please, please don’t hesitate to drop by my inbox/chat me up. If you have questions, recommendations, etc. I am always ready to talk books.
*These are by no means the only books I recommend. If you send me a list of your 5-10 favorite books/series, I can probably give you a more specific list of recommendations (this is an open invitation to do exactly this; I love tailoring recommendations).
Update: Newest additions are bolded
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - intriguing narrative structure; does explore a teen’s suicide
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - teen girl’s struggles with school and friends after her rape
Young Adult Fantasy/Sci Fi/Dystopic Fiction
HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY by Suzanne Collins **cannot recommend highly enough** - dystopic young adult fiction at its bestHeartless by Marissa Meyer - Queen of Hearts origin storyThe Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (second book is the weakest but all the rest are fantastic; Winter is my favorite) - if you like reworked fairy talesThe Selection Series by Kiera Cass (mostly just the first and fourth books though) - a bit of a The Bachelor/reality dating show but with a dash of dystopiaGraceling Trilogy by Kristin Cashore - some humans with magical/superhuman abilities; fighting against an oppressive ruler; fantasy setting
HARRY POTTER SERIES by J.K. Rowling (cause duh) - wizard school shenanigans and defeating a dark wizard (if you aren’t already aware)The Circle of Magic Quartet by Tamora Pierce - fantasy; four children brought up learning specific magical skill sets based on unique, elementally linked abilities
A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES SERIES (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas *recommended to me by @bonnie-wee-swordsman/ @acotargaryen; fantasy (very sex positive); a human is brought into fae territory as war appears to be brewing and threatening her own human territory as well; as the series progresses, themes related to consent and agency grow stronger in ways that are ideal for YA audiences; Book 2 (A Court of Mist and Fury) is the best as far as both content and pacing
THRONE OF GLASS SERIES by Sarah J. Maas - I read them after first reading her ACOTAR series and didn’t expect to like it as much but then I actually enjoyed it more, haha. It’s a larger and longer story than ACOTAR but it pretty much just got better and better before having a final resolution that was infinitely satisfying. Dorian, the crown prince of Adarlan, and his best friend Chaol, the captain of his father’s guard, show up at the salt mines of Endover for one of the slaves who is supposed to be the rumored assassin Celaena Sardothian. Dorian wants her to be his fighter in a competition to select the King’s Champion. But Celaena is more than she appears – and she’s not the only one with secrets.
CRESCENT CITY SERIES by Sarah J. Maas - Okay, so only the first book, House of Earth and Blood has been released so far, but as with everything else Maas has written, it’s exciting and compelling (more pacing issues than her other series) with a promised larger picture I eagerly await. It’s going to be a while before Book 2 is ready and released though. Also, this one doesn’t really belong in the YA section (more graphic in a couple ways but most prominently with cursing) but I didn’t feel like it should be on its own away from the rest of Maas’ series. In House of Earth and Blood, half-human, half-fae Bryce Quinlan goes from having a promising future living with her best friend to losing everything in a single horrific night. Two years later, the authorities are investigating similar murders and the Archangel of the district wants Bryce to help his people stop the killings.
Red Queen Series by Victoria Aveyard - a bit of a cross between dystopic fiction and fantasy (so right in my genre sweet spot); Silvers rule over Reds but one Red girl threatens to upset that balance. The series has concluded now with some interesting twists in the last two books, King’s Cage and War Storm. Ultimately, I think the conclusion was satisfying if some of the twists themselves were disappointing.
The Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo - So there are actually several sub-series in Bardugo’s Grishaverse. Grisha are born with special abilities to manipulate the world around them and broken into different classes based on the nature of what they manipulate. Not all the kingdoms treat their Grisha the same way with some revering them and others hunting them down and executing them for witchcraft. The duology I HIGHLY recommend is SIX OF CROWS and CROOKED KINGDOM. These books tell the story of a band of thieves and con artists who are presented with the heist of a lifetime in exchange for wealth that will change their lives. But their individual secrets and motives could unravel a carefully orchestrated plan and get them all killed. I’ve also read the sub-series that started it all, the Grisha Trilogy, but they weren’t nearly as compelling (interesting to get a firmer grasp of the larger world building and pretty sure they’re going to come in handy for reading the King of Scars sub-series, but I haven’t started that one yet to know for sure).
An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir - Another series with mythologies and folktales are blended with a story of political revolution against an oppressive empire. In this case, Laia goes undercover with the Resistance to try and discover where her brother is being held prisoner (and hopefully she’ll find him before they kill him). Among the ruling classes, the time has come for a new Emperor to be chosen which means a brutal competition among the most promising young Martials of the prominent families to see who will sit on the throne and who will be the Emperor’s right hand. There’s still one more book that hasn’t come out in this series and the ending of book 3 was quite a cliffhanger.
Young Adult Historic Fiction
Mine Eyes Have Seen by Ann Rinaldi - John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry as experienced through one of his daughters
A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi - Salem witch trials through the eyes of a young woman who knows the accusers
Sisters of the Quantock Hills Quartet by Ruth Elwin Harris - four sisters (artistically inclined) deal with the trio of brothers they love as WW I impacts their lives
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES SERIES by L. M. Montgomery **not really historic fiction as it was contemporary, but SUCH an important book/series for young Lenny** - an eccentric and imaginative orphan girl is adopted by an elderly brother and sister on Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century
Time Travelers Quartet by Caroline B. Cooney - a teen girl stumbles through time to the Victorian era where she meets a young man and gets caught up in his family’s troubles
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene - a young Jewish girl encounters a young German POW during WW II
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse - a young girl’s reminiscences of family tragedy during the Dust Bowl; presented in poems, free verse
What We Talk About When We Talk About Clone Club by Gregory E. Pence - bioethics and philosophy in Orphan Black
The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport - the lives of the Romanov daughters with quite a bit about their mother as well; also a lot about the family’s life under house arrest and their ultimate deaths
Dead Wake by Erik Larson - the circumstances and events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania
The Pope and Mussolini by David I. Kertzer - the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church under Pius XI and Mussolini as he rose and took power of Italy
Zealot by Reza Aslan - an exploration of the life of the historic figure of Jesus of Nazareth (what history has recorded as opposed to the Bible’s understanding of the man)
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson - the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany as experienced by the American ambassador in Berlin and his family
QUIET by Susan Cain **an empowering MUST read for introverts** - exploring introversion, its many facets, and how business culture/society at large works for and against introverts
The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr - the search for and discovery of a lost Caravaggio painting
THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson - looking at serial killer H.H. Holmes and the development of the Chicago World’s Fair; both in action at the same time and in the same area
War is a Force that Gives us Meaning by Christ Hedges - a look at nationalistic wars in the 20th century and the patterns, similarities between them
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss - humor, punctuation, and history
INVISIBLE WOMEN: DATA BIAS IN A WORLD DESIGNED FOR MEN by Caroline Criado Perez - This book is an eye opener for all the things that we take for granted that exclude(d) or fail(ed) to account for women and how it impacts pretty much everything. Like would you think changing snow removal practices to take women into account would actually reduce hospitalization for accidents in the wintertime?
The Boleyn Trilogy by Laura Andersen - what if Anne Boleyn had given birth to Henry VIII’s son after having had Elizabeth? A novel centered on that son’s reign and the friends he and Elizabeth have in common
The Tudor Legacy Trilogy by Laura Andersen (a sequel trilogy to The Boleyn Trilogy) - what if Elizabeth I had had an heir? Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip II of Spain is falling apart but she has her daughter Anne Isabel as her heir
Science Fiction/Dystopic Fiction
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (LOVED the adaptation; definitely recommend checking it out along with the book) - looking at women’s lives when reproduction falls under state/government control. More recently, Atwood released a sequel of sorts THE TESTAMENTS which I actually enjoyed MORE than the original novel. Including more perspectives than the original, the reader sees Gilead – and those fighting against it – in new ways.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER/THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS by Octavia Butler - environmental disaster ensues and chaos reigns but Lauren finds and creates a functioning community amongst fleeing survivors sharing her new and developing religion with them
MADDADDAM TRILOGY by Margaret Atwood (I seriously need HBO to get their shit together and get moving on the adaptation of this trilogy) - the world has ended as we know it thanks to one possibly mad scientist but some of humanity survived along with the humanoid species that scientist engineered
THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST by Claire North - some people turn out to be capable of being reborn into their same life over and over; they can affect the world around them but largely agree altering things drastically should be avoided… but not everyone is willing to follow the rules
Lilith’s Brood (the Xenogenesis Trilogy) by Octavia Butler (not going to be to everyone’s taste, even for sci fi lovers, but I just LOVE Octavia Butler) -aliens save what’s survived of the human race but seek to adapt themselves so that they can continue a new race/species with the humans; those children face trials of their own as the generations continue to develop (really good series if you’re interested in gender identity/non-binary sexuality, etc.)
Fledgling by Octavia Butler - a young surviving alien whom humans mistake for a vampire must find her way after the rest of her family are destroyed but others of her kind consider her an abomination and want her destroyed too
Wild Seed by Octavia Butler - Set chronologically first among her Patternist series, Wild Seed is really the only one of the series that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was also more focused on character than plot and had a more battle-of-wits-and-wills feel to it than the others (I’m still finishing Patternmaster but it hasn’t sucked me in as quickly as this first book did).
The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett - science fiction lite; a virus wipes out nearly the whole of the human race leaving the survivors scattered across space (where population and government issues had forced many to colonize) fighting to find each other and decide what their collective future should be
THE KILLER ANGELS by Mike Sharra - the battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of some of the commanders on both sides
The Stargazer’s Sister by Carrie Brown - a novel about Caroline Herschel
The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert - a little girl escapes one of the trains headed to the death camps in WW II Poland but after the war is transported out of Poland (which is falling under Communist Russia’s thumb) and adopted by a family in Africa
Orhan’s Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian - deals with the Armenian genocide during WW I
Vanessa and her Sister by Priya Parmar - a novel about the Bloomsbury Group, specifically Virginia Woolf and her sister, Vanessa
Poldark Series by Winston Graham - the lives and trials of a mine owning family in Cornwall in the late 18th century; social/class issues a central theme
Silence by Shusaku Endo - a 17th centuryJesuit goes to Japan to investigate apostasy of a priest there and witnesses the plight of the local Christians **I had no idea until now that Silence movie I’ve seen advertised briefly was an adaptation of this book**
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré - Cold War espionage in England; there’s a mole giving valuable information to the Soviets and he must be found before too much is compromised
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy - a novel about the concentration camps in WW II and two children who try and manage to escape
North and South Trilogy by John Jakes - two young men bond at West Point and their families become fast friends but as tensions rise and war breaks out, they’re on opposite sides of the Civil War
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - Not gonna lie: I read the book after watching the adaptation on Netflix first (because I didn’t know it was a book until after watching it). But the book and the movie are actually significantly different in ways that suit each (if that makes any sense). The book takes an epistolary form as writer Juliet Ashton uncovers a story that wants telling on the island of Guernsey and how its residents survived occupation by Nazi forces during WWII.
The Golem and the Jinnie by Helene Wecker *recommended to me by @dingbatland - two mythical creatures rooted in different cultures find themselves unexpectedly in New York at the turn of the 20th century
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - a young woman is accused of murdering her employer and coworker in the mid-19th century and is convicted but there are many who doubt her guilt (inspired by a true case)
ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan **my favorite Ian McEwan novel and a fantastic movie adaptation** - perspective and appearances matter as a young girl’s accusation changes the lives of her sister and the young man she loves with fall out that carries the family through WW II
THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver - a missionary brings his wife and four girls to the Belgian Congo in 1959 and it changes the family forever; the story is told in first person narration through each of the girls’ perspectives and is unparalleled
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon - an autistic young man tries to make sense of an incident that happened and what it means for his important routines
WINTERNIGHT TRILOGY by Katherine Arden - Beginning with The Bear and the Nightingale, the Winternight Trilogy features Russian folktales woven into a story where the traditions of the rural outskirts of society clash with the power and will of the Church. Book 2, The Girl in the Tower and Book 3, The Winter of the Witch continue to raise the stakes as the Church’s representatives seek to root out and destroy those who still believe and ally themselves with more ancient beings and forces. You have to read all three for the full impact but The Winter of the Witch is so worth it (and the other two are mesmerizing anyway, so it’s no chore to read all three).
The Star-Touched Queen Series by Roshani Chokshi - the daughter of a raja is rumored to be cursed but there is one suitor who wants her and brings her to a realm she’s only heard of in stories; rooted in Indian mythology; Book 2, A Crown of Wishes follows the sister of the lead from Book 1 as she accompanies a young (and powerless) prince to the Otherworld to compete in the Tournament of Wishes
The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North - a young film maker’s life and death are told and examined by some of the people in her life: former lovers, friends, acquaintances, family
MOTHER NIGHT by Kurt Vonnegut - a politically indifferent playwright who ended up working for the Nazis writes his memoirs while on trial for the role he played in the regime
Room by Emma Donoghue - a young woman and her son escape the man who kidnapped the woman and kept her in isolation for years but then must adjust to the real world again; told from the young boy’s perspective
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - a young, poor African-American girl grows up in Depression Era Ohio; explores race relations, societal concepts of beauty, etc. (Morrison’s first novel)
A Mercy by Toni Morrison - explores the origins of slavery in early America (1692), namely through the women living and working on a farm in Virginia (a group including immigrants, natives, and Africans)
AFTER THE END by Clare Mackintosh - When a young couple must decide whether or not to continue treatment for their terminally ill son, they disagree. How do they decide what to do, who gets their way, and how does it change their lives? This book has a wonderfully unique narrative structure that tells both sides in an incredible way. It is a tear-jerker, no matter how you look at it.
Mystery/Crime/Thriller/Horror
The Yard by Alex Grecian - in the wake of Jack the Ripper, the new homicide division of Scotland Yard is under scrutiny but there also appears to be someone out to kill their detectives; interesting look at the early methods of both the detectives and forensic science
Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling (the second is my favorite cause I read revenge tragedies in one of my grad classes) - Cormoran Strike is a private detective in desperate need of paying clients; when a young woman shows up from a temp agency determined to do more than just reception work about the same time an old friend appears looking for answers in his famous model sister’s death, things begin to change for Strike’s business prospects
The Godfather by Mario Puzo - Italian mafia battles in New York following WW II
The Shining by Stephen King - a family settle into an enormous hotel in the mountains to live as caretakers there for the winter but the hotel appears to have other plans for them and especially the gifted son
The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (but watch out for book four; it was ghost written after Larsson’s death a few years ago and is not based on his notes for book four) - a disgraced reporter looks for a project to work on while his infamy blows over but gets dragged into a decades old case; a young hacker with her own issues with the Swedish government and social work system becomes involved too and an odd partnership is born; later the woman’s personal and family history begin to cause problems and garner the public’s attention for the wrong reasons
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie - a group of houseguests arrive at a large and secluded island home for a weekend away but their host doesn’t appear to be present and what’s more, none of them have met him or her; when people start dying, those remaining begin to suspect one another
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh - when a child is killed in a hit-and-run crash, the authorities investigating find themselves dealing with a confusing mess while a woman somehow connected to the case and who recently relocated tries to rebuild a life for herself
Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis - These books were recommended to me by @lianaofrome AGES ago now. I didn’t know how badly I needed a murder mystery series set in Ancient Rome but I absolutely did, haha. Starting with The Silver Pigs, I’ve been trying to pace myself with these books (they’re my reward for getting through some of the paperbacks on my massive To Read bookcase). I especially enjoyed that first book having read it shortly after visiting Bath and seeing the Roman temple ruins and other remnants of Roman Britain there and in London. For plot, my favorite (so far) is a tie between Book 2, Shadows in Bronze and Book 3, Venus in Copper.
The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (third book was my favorite) - a young woman who’s long denied her calling as a witch stumbles across an ancient and powerful text that just about everyone in the supernatural world (that she’s done her best to ignore) wants. Recently Harkness revisited the All Souls universe with Time’s Convert, giving new insight into Marcus’ backstory as his chosen mate transitions to her new life as part of his large and unique family.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - a man returning to his hometown for a funeral begins to recall some strange events from his childhood and the young girl he had been friends with
THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern **going to do a reread of this sometime this year** - magicians battle with one another through proxies but those two proxies form an unexpected relationship
THE CHILD THIEF by Brom - a very dark and intriguing take on the Peter Pan story that borrows some Avalon mythology, the accompanying artwork is amazing, even in digital form
LORD OF THE RINGS by J. R. R. Tolkien (I’m not a fan of The Hobbit though) - the ring of power must be destroyed to prevent a dark lord from taking over MiddleEarth and an unassuming hobbit is entrusted with the task
The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter - a (wrongfully) disgraced student of magick meets up with a professor’s daughter who longs to learn and truths begin to emerge along with powers neither understand yet
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - Louis XIII’s musketeers seek to protect the country and their king from the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - a young man’s life appears to be falling into place before he is falsely accused of conspiring to restore Napoleon and imprisoned for twenty years; when he escapes, he seeks revenge on those who locked him away
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - when a young woman’s family circumstances force them to leave their home in the southern countryside and relocate to an industrial town in the north, she becomes acquainted with one of the mill owners and the poor conditions faced by the workers and their families; romantic, socio-economic, and philosophical tensions arise
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen - bad first impressions can still lead to deep love and understanding… eventually
PERSUASION by Jane Austen - when a woman’s former flame returns, she laments the advice that she’d followed years before in breaking off their engagement but is it too late or does he still have feelings for her too?
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoyevsky **possibly my favorite novel of all time but it’s definitely not for everyone** - a young man firmly believes that the ends justify the means, even when it comes to murder… until he tries it and finds himself wracked with guilt; can he be redeemed and if so, how?
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - a flirtation becomes an affair and a woman must decide how to handle her husband and her lover as her life changes against the backdrop of a drastically changing Russia
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - a young woman learns the hard way just how difficult it is to keep running in the circles of high society when one has no money and must rely on the generosity of one’s friends, especially when rumors start to fly
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - a family is threatened by the changing tides in revolutionary Paris and they fight to escape to the safety of London
(**personally, my favorite Dickens novel is Our Mutual Friend but A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations aren’t as intimidating and are excellent for getting used to Dickens’ style**)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - a family is forced off their property by the banks and circumstances during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, so they head west where there are supposed to be plenty of jobs in California but will they survive the journey and will those jobs still be there when they and everyone else in their situation actually arrive
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck - a town is invaded in WW II and order is imposed by the invaders but it proves not to be as gentle as the invaders would have the people believe and the townsfolk aren’t as compliant as they first appear
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - **you either love magical realism or you hate it; I LOVE it** - the story of the Buendía family and the town they founded, Macondo, where unusual things tend to happen
Guilty Pleasures / Just for Fun
Virgin Series by Radhika Sanghani - a young woman wants to lose her virginity but her embarrassing experiences in the past and navigating societal expectations have her worried it will never happen **very funny and body/sex positive*
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - a novel about Catherine of Aragon and her marriages to two princes of England, Arthur and then his younger brother, Henry VIII
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory - the first in her Cousins War/War of the Roses series (I need to 1. watch the Starz adaptation of this book and 2. get around to reading the next books in this series)
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory - a novel about Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary, who had an affair with Henry VIII first and then watched her sister’s rise and fall
Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman - When four couples that have known each other since college and shared in life’s major milestones together begin divorcing, the last couple standing try to fix their problems before they fall apart – even if it means loosening the rules of fidelity.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman - Nina grew up not knowing who her father was and she was fine with it, but his recent death pulls her into a family that is much larger – and more complicated – than she ever expected.
RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston - The son of the first female president of the US engages in an enemies to lovers relationship with a prince of England. It’s funny and charming and emotionally satisfying.
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