Speaking in Tongues

I was going to start with bestselling fantasies from within the past couple of years because of how publishing industry operates. Basically, anything you want to do there they will want to know you can talk about something recent and successful. One of the books had nice style but made transparently clear within the first two chapters that there were certain people the reader was meant to find uniformly, irredeemably repulsive and/or stupid. It felt like the author had a personal vendetta that was flattening characters, so I just wound up going :/ and putting it aside. The second book I tried was better and also stylistically nice, but it seemed like the author was someone with extremely conspicuous fandom-specific kinks who projected them onto historical figures. She's allowed to do what she wants ofc, but it broke my immersion. She was also doing a thing where everyone needed to be super familiar and referencing a specific set of currently known artifacts all the time. The references were correct don't get me wrong, but it felt like the author trying to prove she did her research more than authentic depictions of the characters and their environment.

I still have two other recent books, but one I know is going to be brutal af and isn't what I want to start on lol. The other seems like it could be nice but I'm honestly nervous to give it a go after those first two experiences.

So, I finally kicked myself in the ass and removed the 'recent bestsellers' criteria and just gave myself 'I have reasonable certainty this will be good' to go by instead. I can branch into other books when I get more into the swing of things, but starting off I think I need comfort zone. Strong writing + can trust the authors.

So, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle to start. I didn't actually finish it last time I tried due to life distraction, but it was absolutely stunning.

Other books on my reliable list are:

Cain by José Saramago Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer Skellig by David Almond The Seas by Samantha Hunt

I've already read The Seas and Skellig so know I love them. Have heard excerpts and analysis around The Southern Reach trilogy for Vandermeer. I kind of want to check The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, but not as ease-myself-back-in-slowly books. And I got far into Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but it's ENORMOUS and my attention span pooped out last time I tried. So want to hit it too, but same deal--not a starter. I trust Clarke's skill enough to feel at ease going into Piranesi. Cain is technically the biggest wild card but the style made a big impression so I'm willing to try it.