u/Flashy_Brick1320

Please send help! I feel like my reads have been pretty decent recently, and I don’t want to hit a slump. I feel like my interests are such a middle ground. Open to recs outside of my comfort zone, but please specify! Thanks in advance for reading this and your recs! 😁

Things I Want / Like

• not too flowery of a prose, but quotes that will stop me dead in my tracks
• something that will really make me think, but I don’t need a literary degree to understand
• deeply psychological conflict
• some element of mysticism / sci-fi (but no wizards / space)
• clear and satisfying plot points. Don’t mind open-ended endings as long as there ARE things I can imagine happening. (Disliked “I Who Have Never Known Men” because of this)

Things I Don’t Want / Dislike

• Changing perspectives / timelines. I’m just not a fan, but I didn’t mind it too much in “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue”.
• Not looking for series right now!
• too modern of references / language / slang
• flat, boring characters
• smut

Books I Like / Love

• Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
• The Secret History - Donna Tartt
• Piranessi - Susanna Clarke
• Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Books I Dislike / LOATHE (lol)

• Tender is the Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica
• You’d Look Better as a Ghost - Joanna Wallace
• I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman
• The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides