I've not read anything in years. I was recommended 3 Body Problem but hear it starts very slow and I could do with something easy and engaging.
Think mindless action film but in book form. To keep my attention and make me read. Get back in the habit.
Likes:
- Dark Materials trilogy.
- Horror - esp. Graham Masterton
- Non-fiction - love popular science books and history.
- Sci fi
- Short stories
If you haven't read Philip Pullman's other novels in the HDM universe they might be worth a go. The Book of Dust trilogy is still waiting for its third part, and the second book is not brilliant, but I really enjoyed the first one and it stands pretty well on its own as a prequel novel.
I've recently been reading the Rivers of London series, which is sort of urban fantasy / crime. They're not high literature, and I recommend them only relatively weakly, but they're very easy reading and pretty fun. Might be a nice one to ease yourself back into the habit again.
If you want some "serious" sci-fi that is also very accessible and action-oriented, The Expanse might be worth a look too.
I have read Three-Body Problem, and it certainly wasn't a bad book, but it also was far from top tier for me. The story is a little silly in places, and the writing (at least in the English translation) can be a bit of a slog. By all means read it, and you'll probably enjoy it, but maybe not as your first foray back into casual literature.
Funnily enough what triggered me to write this post was when I looked over at my full bookcase at all the unread books and then saw my original trilogy of HDM. I thought "Maybe I should re-read it?". I've never re-read a book in my life cos I never saw the point in re-treading something.
But it's been almost 20yrs since I did and I've forgotten a LOT of it. I don't think I'd be able to read the new series without re-reading the OG trilogy but maybe that's a good starting point anyway? Reading a series I loved to springboard into the new series? It'll be easy cos I'll be rediscovering something I know.
So I just grabbed Northern Lights after adding everyone's recommendations to my list. I may start with NL though.
Funny you should say that. Someone had bought me The Book of Dust vol.1 ages ago, and it had been sitting on my bookshelf unread for exactly that reason. About a year ago I finally convinced myself to re-read the HDM trilogy so that I could finally get on and read it!
HDM held up decently well with adult eyes. It's still a very emotive, well-paced and convincingly plotted read, although there were parts that made me raise my eyebrows in a way I undoubtedly didn't as a younger reader, and the third book perhaps didn't hold up quite as well as I remembered. But all in all I greatly enjoyed the revisit, and like I said I really enjoyed La Belle Sauvage (which is a pretty weird and trippy book in a way, but a very enjoyable trip all the same).