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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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
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
ALT - She Blinded Me With Science
The author has a background and degree in a hard science. HARD MODE: More than one post graduate degree.
- The Postman by David Brin
- Contact by Carl Sagan
- The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson
- Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
- Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
There Is Another…:
Not the first in a series. HARD MODE: Series has 5 or more entries.
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.
LGBTQIA+ Lead:
A main character identifies as LGBTQIA+. HARD MODE: Includes a significant romance between characters that identify as LGBTQIA+.
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller would fit the hard mode here, for those interested.
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
- The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Questions, Complaints, Whines, General Commentary, Shitposting
Just a quick note, Jaymes and I seeded the Storygraph challenge they built with literally hundreds of literary and genre fiction books (some of which they’ve crossposted here), in case you’re looking for ideas and prefer a more visual browse. (No account required!)
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
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
ALT - Same Author, New Work
An author you’ve read before, but a series (or standalone) you haven’t. HARD MODE: Give an author you didn’t like a second chance.
ALT - Pseudonymous Work
Published under a pen name. HARD MODE: The author generally never writes under their own name.
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
- Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
- Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
- The Beast Master by Andre Norton
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
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
Among the Stars:
Features space, astronomy, or stardom. HARD MODE: The title references the theme, too.
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mr Palomar by Italo Calvino.
Also qualifies for hard mode (the character is named after an observatory).
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)
Bookception:
Features a book-related aspect. HARD MODE: Something other than a book, like an author or library.
- The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
- The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
