Which book would you recommend me as my first ever book?

  • Lapwing
    link
    fedilink
    281 year ago

    You could also try Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It’s hilarious and easy to read (at least for me)

      • MrScottyTay
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        Do you know why Terry said to skip the first 2? Personally the only one I’ve read is the colour of magic and I loved it as an introduction to the world and can’t wait to read more (I read new books very slowly 9/10 unless my adhd decides to hyperfocus on them like it thankfully did with Dune)

        • Kaldo
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          No idea, but tbh I’d always bounce off Color of Magic when I tried to get into it from there. I haven’t read the Rincewind novels yet so I can’t compare them to others, but for me Guards! Guards! was a much better intro.

        • Infrapink
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          Like any artist, as he improved his craft, he grew embarrassed about his early work, and felt it wasn’t up to the quality of the later books. There are also some inconsistencies; most notably, Death is actively trying to claim Rincewind, when in later books He just facilitates the process of crossing over.

          Notably, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic both directly parody contemporary fantasy, and if you’re familiar with the books he’s making fun of, it’s pretty obvious. Equal Rites is where he went more into the allegory, satire, and social commentary which people tend to associate with Discworld.

    • Ni
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      Second Terry Pratchett books!

    • somniumx
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      They started my love for books as a young teenager! Going to the library, looking for a discworld novel I didn’t know, yet… those were the times!

  • nimbledaemon
    link
    fedilink
    91 year ago

    I’d second all the recommendations here, but I’d also want to know what reading level you’d be interested in, and also why you haven’t ever read a book for fun before? It would be helpful to know to be able to point to books that would avoid whatever your sticking points may have been. As far as introductory fun books I’d recommend:

    • The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (Not too long, it’s a classic and is one I’ve read multiple times over the years)
    • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (While it’s a YA novel, it was very formative for me as I read it in like 3-4th grade, is basically something that could have happened in reality but is a fictional account.)
    • Cradle series by Will Wight (A bit off the path from traditional fantasy, it’s more properly in the subgenre of progression fantasy, which is basically what the genre of Dragon Ball Z would be, the unifying premise of these stories is that the MC starts fairly weak and then gets stronger over the course of the series, with generally an unlimited upper cap to how powerful characters can get through various kinds of training/levelling up/finding new gear/items/spells etc)
    • GadolElohai
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      I second The Hobbit if you have interest in fantasy! It was still one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had.

  • spicy_biscuits
    link
    fedilink
    71 year ago

    Definitely check out the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams

    • Infrapink
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      Seconded. It’s funny, light, and pretty short, so a good way to ease OP into the world of books.

  • Ni
    link
    fedilink
    71 year ago

    I would recommend any of the Neil Gaiman books, very readable and fascinating. For shorter reads go with Good Omens, Coraline, Neverwhere, Stardust and for a longer read American Gods (my fav).

    If you like horror Stephen King is incredibly easy to get into.

    • McBinary
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      Neverwhere was really fun; I read it a long time ago but still think about it from time to time.

      • Ni
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        If you can access it the BBC created a neverwhere radio play with James McAvoy and Natalie Dormer. I think it’s available on audible if it’s not on the BBC (or you can’t access it there).

  • RheingoldRiver
    link
    fedilink
    71 year ago

    In /r/fantasy, someone recently read Mistborn as their first book and loved it! I would recommend this one. Brandon Sanderson is very approachable, and he doesn’t employ tropes like deliberately leaving the reader utterly confused at the same time as the main character (only a little, in manageable doses), or having a huge number of plotlines that intersect at very confusing times in confusing ways, or etc.

    Which isn’t to say the plot is straightforward! There’s lots of twists and turns, and you’ll be amazed where the series ends up :) Very suspenseful and engaging trilogy.

    • s804OP
      link
      fedilink
      31 year ago

      this is really interesting, thank you for the recommendation!

  • ThunderQuack
    link
    fedilink
    61 year ago

    What kind of fiction do you like? As a sci fi nerd Ender’s Game is the book that made me love reading.

    For a lot of people it was Harry Potter or Hunger Games more recently.

    Honestly if there’s a movie you love that was adapted from a book give the book a go. You know you like the story - it’s just a more detailed take.

    • s804OP
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      yeah i love all kinds of movies like harry potter, hunger games, lotr, and some sci-fi stuff. i loved harry potter growing up so i feel that the books would be too childish for me now.

      • mack123
        link
        fedilink
        41 year ago

        I loved David Eddings as an easy read with a good story. It was my start into reading fantasy. Feist’s Magician is another brilliant book and the beginning of a long adventure.

        • dandan
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          Magician was going to be my recommendation. I’ve got 2 people into reading that weren’t readers by giving them this book.

          Really good story that you can’t put down.

          • mack123
            link
            fedilink
            21 year ago

            Feist commands a significant portion of my bookshelf. He is brilliant. I rate him as my favourite fantasy author, with the late Ian M. Banks as my top science fiction author.

        • sotolf
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          Magician is really good yeah :) I remember lying outside in the garden a summer reading through the series :)

      • wjrii
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        I just read them alongside my daughter, having previously skipped them in favor of the movies. I’d actually say they’re a perfect entree into reading for pleasure, and while hardly Faulkner or James Joyce, they’re sophisticated enough that you won’t feel silly, and the writing subtly grows with the characters (and the original audience), so the last book is longer and denser than the first, though again, it’s not trying to make you dance with the prose or analyze the book in order to glean any enjoyment.

        Jo Rowling is who she is, as a writer and a person, and I won’t judge if you find a way to read them for free, but she really did assemble something magical with that original run of books.

      • ThunderQuack
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        The Harry Potter books are a bit kiddish but that’s largely motivated by Harry being a young character. They tend to mature as you read through them and a good trait of kiddish books is they’re easily digestible. If you want to try something similar feeling to Harry Potter but new to you check out The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - it’s the first Percy Jackson book. You can read the 5 book series or there’s so many spin offs now you can spend a long time in that universe

  • @InfiniteVariables
    link
    51 year ago

    Golden Compass (His Dark Materials trilogy) or Sabriel (Nix’s Old Kingdom series) are both good ones to start with imo.

  • Awhiskeydrunker
    link
    fedilink
    51 year ago

    “Wool” by Hugh Howey. If you like it there are many more and AppleTV+ just made a TV series (Silo) that is doing quite well.

    • dismalnow
      link
      fedilink
      31 year ago

      @Awhiskeydrunker

      @s804

      So you’re going to throw them into some of the most extreme-yet-plausible dystopian futures right off the bat, eh?

      I couldn’t put it down 10 years ago, but I also couldn’t sleep. Highly recommend.

    • @CMGX78
      link
      11 year ago

      Just finished this series, it was fantastic.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    51 year ago

    Andy Weir’s The Martian or Project Hail Mary are both amazing books that are real easy reads! Though I would actually recommend the audio book version of the latter.

    • minorsecond
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      I loved Project Hail Mary! Another good one is Recursion by Blake Crouch.

  • lertsenem
    link
    fedilink
    51 year ago

    @s804 I’d recommend Terry Pratchett books, and more specifically Guards! Guards!.

    If you’re more into hard fantasy, Brandon Sanderson wrote very enjoyable books, you should check his Mistborn book (which expands in to a trilogy).

    If you want some easy to read SF, Asimov’s Foundation is still a blast, and so is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Plus they can be read as one shots, but they have sequels in case you enjoyed them enough.

    • Kaldo
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      Excellent suggestions, Guards! Guards! was what finally let me break into the Pratchett universe too, such a good and fun book to read. Mistborn series is one of my favorites, easy and pleasant to read but with a wild and engaging fantasy story.

      I’d maybe recommend the Robot series before Foundation for SF fans, they are generally shorter stories and easier to follow. Foundation was pretty hard for me to follow and truly enjoy due to its weird no-protagonist structure.

      • lertsenem
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        Ah ah, I read Pratchett in the publication order and loved it, but after about two decades recommending it to everyone I know it’s way easier to get people in by starting with the Nightwatch cycle. :D

        Yes, the Robots short stories are indeed a nice addition, and probably easier to get into than Foundation! I did not enjoy the Robots full-fledged novels as much, though.

        Still in SF, and keeping with the short stories idea, I’d also recommend The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

    • sibachian
      link
      fedilink
      1
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Mistborn second series just wrapped up recently. Eagerly awaiting the third series so we can get on with Stormlight part 2 (where the two series merges into one. there is only one book left in Stormlight part 1, and release is expected next year i think).

  • postscarce
    link
    fedilink
    4
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I’d go with Slaughterhouse Five or Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut is funny, witty, and satirical. But despite being funny and easy to read, his novels also often deal with weighty topics like free will and the search for meaning and purpose.

    • @MiddleWeigh
      link
      11 year ago

      Love me some vonnegut. Cats cradle is so good. Mother Night probably my fav.

  • sibachian
    link
    fedilink
    41 year ago

    anything by Brandon Sanderson, especially his Cosmere stuff. Light reads despite density, story gets complex under the hood once you realize what’s going on in the greater Cosmere universe glimpsed through the various book series.

  • Briongloid
    link
    fedilink
    41 year ago

    World War Z the original novel by Max Brooks is very easy to get into as it tells the story through a series of short stories.

    It has no relation to the movie, which was already filmed before buying the rights to the name.

    • s804OP
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      oo so it is different to the movie, i see. i love zombie stuff so this sounds perfect to be honest, thanks!

  • @orionstein
    link
    41 year ago

    Mistborn book one, or Unsouled (cradle book one). Either of these should be a fun, enjoyable read