#theyre that good...also storygraph's criteria for what makes a book historical fiction is completely baffling and nonsensical to me but im

[steelycunt]

same book anon i'm just looking for anything interesting.. i got the handmaids tale, normal people, and little women already but i dont really mind about genres just annyything you've got!

ah okay!! well firstly i hope you enjoy those three!! i really loved little women and the handmaids tale : ^ )) as for recommendations!! sorry they are a bit all over the place...i was not sure how to organise them so sort of gave up trying

at the risk of sounding like a broken record some of my absolute favourite books which i will just always recommend are. giovanni's room by james baldwin, young mungo by douglas stuart and my brilliant friend elena ferrante!!

classics i would recommend in particular are another country / james baldwin, wuthering heights / emily bronte and emma / jane austen (+ 300 pages) and then a single man / christopher isherwood, franny and zooey / jd salinger, bonjour tristesse / francoise sagan, and the prime of miss jean brodie / muriel spark (< 300 pages).

for speculative fiction i recommend the archive of alternate endings by lindsey drager (particularly if you enjoy the handmaid's tale) which i read in one sitting and cried over!! for thrillers i'd recommend these violent delights by micah nemerever and the secret history by donna tartt if you havent read it already (i'd also recommend her other book, the goldfinch--whichever one interests you more!!)

for historical fiction (or at least what my storygraph chart lists as historical fiction) id recommend the marriage portrait by maggie o'farrell (or her other book, hamnet, if it sounds more your thing!), nobber by oisin fagan, and the passion by jeanette winterson (not for everyone but i really enjoyed it--historical fiction with a bit of magical realism). i'd also recommend swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski (particularly if you happen to read + enjoy giovanni's room!), and douglas stuart's other book, shuggie bain, which is also wonderful--i expect if you read one of his books and enjoy it you will also love the other!!

for other literary fiction + contemporary fiction + just anything i havent mentioned yet! for 300 + pages i would recommend duck feet by ely percy, mr loverman by bernadine evaristo, and trainspotting by irvine welsh.

and then for < 300 pages, i'd recommend the end of loneliness / benedict wells, anything by claire keegan but particularly her book foster, juno loves legs / karl geary, the virgin suicides / jeffrey eugenides, mayflies / andrew o'hagan, and panenka by ronan hession.

i hope you find something here you fancy!! let me know if you do!! : ^ ))