Any books recomendations? i like the way how you described things, i feel like you are someone that read a lot of books and would recommend good books to read
Awww, thank you ❤️ this compliment is really special to me, as I actually have read a lot of books in my life and I attribute what writing skill I have today to that. I long to be capable of even a fraction of the artistry possessed by my favorite writers. It's with sadness and regret that I say that college butchered a lot of my love of reading by way of turning it into a chore, and I still have to overcome that sense of tedium and it hasn't been easy. But I do hold books and reading very close to my heart and always will. I wouldn't be who I am today, were it not for those things.
For recommendations, I'll give you a little handful:
My number 1, absolute, beyond the shadow of a doubt favorite book of all time, is "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. I cannot sing that book's praise any louder or clearer; I'm a big fan of Russian literature as a whole but I declare this piece to be their absolute best. I adore EVERYTHING about that book, it is beyond reproach in my eyes. The storytelling, the characters, the themes and their exploration, even just the way chapters transition into other ones is nothing short of enrapturing to me. PLEASE read it, I beg every single person who stumbles upon this ask. PLEASE I beg and plead. You won't regret it
Close second to TMaM - and what sat in that throne, before it was displaced - is "Les Miserábles" by Victor Hugo. Hugo is one of my favorite authors in general, and Les Mis is my favorite work of his. Love the writing and love all the characters very, very much. (I always admired Hugo's character writing! He makes them so compelling and three-dimensional, they infuriate and endear you, it's so hard and so easy to judge so many of them because they're so complex. I love it!) It's one of the few books I've read that made me cry (for those who know the story, it's the part where Valjean is having his internal crisis over what to do with Cosette, and what ultimately became of Javert). It is very long, about 1000 pages, so it's not an "easy" read. But it's very much worth it, if you take your time to digest and appreciate it all properly
"The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis is a huge inspiration for me. I really enjoy researching and trying to understand religion and morality and what meaning and worth those things truly have, and this book explores that in an extremely fun (in a bit of a twisted way) and interesting way. Love the protagonist/narrator, even though he's... well. Let's just say that Lewis does a fantastic job portraying/characterizing the "enemy" side lol. So incredibly fascinating and profound, this book and everything it has to say
"Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya is another one of the few that moved me to tears. Coming of age story combined with magical realism, profound yet humble. Very, very beautiful
This is actually a history book (I read a lot of those, I love history), but "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan is so, so depressing but so, so gripping. The author is a journalist who explains the history of the Dust Bowl, a years-long event in US history where a section of the South basically found itself facing a looping apocalypse in the form of recurrent dust storms. He interviewed people who lived through it and compiled all of their testimonies while mixing in more proper historical exposition, all of which is told in a very respectful and sober manner. I also take inspiration from Egan's writing style; in fact, I like to think you can see it a little bit in my own writing haha. (If anyone does take the time to read this, read something of mine afterwards, then come back and tell me if it's true. His prose is relatively simple but still very evocative)
I actually really adore Edgar Allen Poe and his works. My favorites are "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Telltale Heart". I'm just so in love with the way Poe describes things (especially in Red Death tbh. The colored rooms in the abbey... The masked figure and the others' response to their presence...). So imaginative. He really knows how to pull you into the story so you feel like you're there. Fortunately his works can be read online for free, so please do so if you can!
Little strange to recommend two in one, but "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. I mention both at once because I once wrote a paper comparing and contrasting them, namely their two most prominent characters, and so I can't help but link them together in my mind all the time due to the parallels I drew haha. They both touch on European colonialism in Africa, but from opposing perspectives: Heart of Darkness focuses on the colonizers and Things Fall Apart focuses on the colonized. The latter is very sad/bittersweet (the main character is also very interesting to follow, deeply flawed but still sympathetic and really quite a tragic figure) while the former is downright harrowing. I actually felt my heart speeding up from anxiety at certain parts, Heart of Darkness is actually kind of scary/unsettling and I really enjoy it. (It's also a great example of a "frame" narrative, aka a story within a story. It makes for a good study example wrt literaty devices)
Not a specific recommendation really but I encourage you to dive into old myths. I love mythology and folklore very much, for the stories they tell on the surface and the stories they tell about us, our cultures, our lives, our ways of understanding the world. My dad read Greek and Norse legends to me at night as a child; I credit those moments as having birthed my love of storytelling in the first place. Look into founding myths and superstitions and boogeymen from around the world, you'll find a bottomless wealth of creativity and inspiration and you'll find yourself learning about different people and places in a roundabout way
Really, and I can't stress it enough: I'm only capable of what I am now because I've read so much in my life. I used to get in trouble in school for reading in class instead of doing assignments lol. The fire might be dimmer nowadays but it still burns; you can't write without reading, after all. I hope you and others can find joy in these books like I have
