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23 votes
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Best Australian books of the 21st century, nominated by literary experts
3 votes -
The Booker Prize long list 2024
11 votes -
2024 Locus Award winners!
15 votes -
Six badass librarians who changed history
13 votes -
Colorism, code-switching, and shapeshifting: readings on biracial identity
7 votes -
Five of the best Terry Pratchett books and suggestions for how to read Pratchett's work
38 votes -
Fifty-five books Scientific American recommends in 2023
12 votes -
Book Riot author calculates the best science fiction and fantasy of 2022 and 2023
5 votes -
Our favorite outdoor adventure books for every US state
8 votes -
Death in literature: Can you really prepare for it or even understand it? Ten suggested books from Ted Gioia
13 votes -
BBC list eighteen of the best new books for 2023
17 votes -
Best of all time book lists can get repetitive, I'm asking for your top five to ten
I think the most interesting and individual suggestions come not from someone's absolute favorite book, but from the contenders, the runners up. These are more likely to reflect a niche interest...
I think the most interesting and individual suggestions come not from someone's absolute favorite book, but from the contenders, the runners up. These are more likely to reflect a niche interest or unique perspective imho. Anyway, if you are willing, please name some of your best lifetime book experiences.
66 votes -
I love fantasy books with quality plot, character development and well written romantic content - These are my favorites
Reddit refugee here, I've been posting my book reviews on /r/Fantasy for years and figured some of you all would be interested in a best of list. My full list of all book reviews can be found...
Reddit refugee here, I've been posting my book reviews on /r/Fantasy for years and figured some of you all would be interested in a best of list. My full list of all book reviews can be found here, but most of the links are broken right now because the Fantasy subreddit is still private. Still, perhaps the titles, authors and keywords are helpful.
What I enjoy
A brief list of things I care about in books, to help you jugde whether your taste overlaps:
- a good balance of romance and plot, where there is prominent romance but never feels like the story is just about that
- quality prose and dialogue
- believable relationship development, including romantic tension and explicit payoff for it
- high stakes drama, be it interpersonal, warfare, duels, court politics or heists
- LBGTQ+ main characters and queer romance
Note that these aren't the only qualities of the books listed below, just generally what I look for. I'll also gladly take recommendations for fantasy books that fit these criteria if you have any!
Books
Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey
A divinely blessed masochistic courtesan and spy uncovers conspiracies against the crown of fantasy France. This series is probably my absolute favorite for how it combines intrigue, romance, kink and action, all with excellent prose and characterization. It has deliciously horny worldbuilding and ends up telling an epic fantasy story with an incredibly unique protagonist.
Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco
A recent addition to my absolute favorites. The author described the book as "vampire couple finds himbo in the trash and takes him in". If you're not sold on that, imagine a vibe like Netflix Castlevania and The Witcher - vampire hunter who's highly competent but looked down upon, vampire science, undead threat, dark gothic kind of setting, sprinkled with some "who's the real monster actually?" philosophy.
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
A Dowry of Blood is about healing from abusive relationships through murder. It's also walks an excellent line between being sexy and horrible. It tells the story of Dracula's "brides", and the beautifully messed up relationship the four of them have.
Note: this one can't be described as having a "romantic subplot", since that implies some sort of happy ending. You know, because of the murder. (that's not a spoiler, it's revealed on page one)
A Charm of Magpies by KJ Charles
A disgraced nobleman returns to England years after escaping his father and finds himself and his family estate haunted. He hires a magician - who happens to bear his family a grudge. The Magpie series is fast paced, highly entertaining, well written, and plays with some delicious power dynamics between its initially hostile and soon reluctantly mutually attracted main characters.
Folk of the Air by Holly Black
The only YA series on this list, Folk of the Air holds a special place in my heart for its delicious fairy court politicking and for not pulling its punches. The titular Cruel Prince is a wonderfully hateable love interest, and even though I feel a few years too old to properly enjoy this series, the stabby and vicious dynamics between the two leads is just wonderful.
Nightrunner by Lynn Flewelling
A young man gets innocently imprisoned and receives unexpected help from his cellmate: a spy, rogue, thief and nobleman. The latter offers him a way out and an apprenticeship, which leads to well... spying and thievery, but also sinister necromantic plots against the throne. The highlight of this series is the ongoing relationship development between its leads. Book 1-2 are fantastic, book 4-5 are really weird, but the whole series remains a favorite despite some strange choices.
Rook & Rose by M.a. Carrick
A skilled con artist, a masked vigilante that challenges aristocrats to duels, and a dashing crime lord turned nobleman. The Rook & Rose series shines in its rich worldbuilding and prose, but especially in its handling of its main characters' multiple secrets, cons and identities. And especially shines when those schemes start crumbling down and some of the secrets become unveiled.
If the third book in the trilogy sticks the landing later this year, this series will firmly establish itself among my all time favorites.
The Stariel Quartet by AJ Lancaster
Years after leaving her family, a young woman returns home for her father's funeral and soon needs to deal with a magical estate that has a mind of its own, and discover that there may be more magic in the world around her than she's realized. The Stariel series is cozy and home-y in many ways, but doesn't shy away from tension either, and I find myself still in love with the main characters even long after finishing the series. I also really enjoyed the spinoff, A Rake of His Own recently!
Harrow Faire by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Most of the books on here are fantasy with romance, while this one sits more firmly in the capital R Romance genre. But it is dark romance ("villain gets the girl"), and features an absolutely unhinged love interest, a lot of murder, and an evil circus. The series isn't without flaws (some of the side characters get a bit too much page for
how flat they are, and the pacing is a tiny bit uneven in parts), but I blasted through all five (short) books in a week because I had so much fun with it.The Last Binding by Freya Marske
This series takes place in an early 20th century England where a secret magical society exists in parallel to the world 'as we know it'. There's even a bit of magical British bureaucracy that reminded me of aspects of the Harry Potter books, though the series have little in common otherwise.
Every book in this trilogy follows the same overarching plot, but features a different pairing of main characters and romantic leads. It's queer, fun and fast-paced, though sometimes a bit on the fluffy and romancey side for my taste.
That's just a brief selection of favorites, I highly recommend heading over to the reddit post (I should back that up at some point with Reddit's future being a bit shaky rn) to find more titles.
Thank you for reading! There's lots more to say on each of theses books of course, but I didn't want this to get way too long.
Let me know if you found this interesting, if you have similar books you'd recommend to me, or just share if you also enjoyed any of these books. This is my first post on Tildes and I'm happy to meet new fellow readers :)69 votes -
What belongs in your "base" hard-copy library?
I finally have the space to finish a project I've been working on which is a study with 3 bookcases. So far, my idea is to have 1 with books that will always be there, such as classic reads, or...
I finally have the space to finish a project I've been working on which is a study with 3 bookcases. So far, my idea is to have 1 with books that will always be there, such as classic reads, or even an encyclopedia maybe?, or other reference material. Basically, a permanent bookcase whether or not I've read the material. The other two will be rotated in and out of stuff that I'm reading, have read recently or on my backlog before swapping or donating.
Anyways, what's in your "must have" bookcase? Reference, fiction/non-fiction, Calvin & Hobbes even! (Although that's more of a coffee table piece)
18 votes -
Our imperfect list of books like "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"
2 votes -
Five books I loved reading this year
11 votes -
Fifty very bad book covers for literary classics
26 votes -
Ars’ plea: Someone make this into a series
8 votes -
The most expensive books and manuscripts in history
4 votes -
Explore Indigenous futurisms with these science fiction and fantasy books by indigenous authors
8 votes -
NPR's best books of 2020
13 votes -
Five good books for a lousy year - Bill Gates' holiday book recommendations
6 votes -
The New York Times Book Review editors' choices for the ten best books of 2020
7 votes -
The 100 best fantasy books of all time
19 votes -
A small collection of novels — some great, some not so great — appeared in just the right form at just the right moment to effect lasting changes
5 votes -
Eight surprising literary Easter eggs
2 votes -
What business leaders are reading now
4 votes -
Books briefing: If your attention span is shrinking, read poetry
10 votes -
Here’s a list of authors whose tours have been canceled due to coronavirus, if you’d like to support them by buying books
11 votes -
International alternatives...
I've recently realised I read a lot of American literature. I'd like to broaden my horizons so I'm wondering for fun if anyone out there can suggest an international (i.e non-US) counterpart for...
I've recently realised I read a lot of American literature. I'd like to broaden my horizons so I'm wondering for fun if anyone out there can suggest an international (i.e non-US) counterpart for any of the following or just general non-US recommendations?
- Denis Johnson
- David Foster Wallace
- Flannery O'Conner
- Carson McCullers
8 votes -
The New York Public Library has calculated its most checked-out books of all time
20 votes -
GQ has selected their favorite books of 2019, and asked each book's author to make their own recommendation
5 votes -
Ten must-read crime books set in the American West
4 votes -
Eight crime writers who wrote other forms of literature, including literary novels, memoirs, and even works of history
7 votes -
Ten surprising facts about books of beasts from the European middle ages
9 votes -
Extinction risk and rebellion: Fifteen environmental books coming in June
7 votes -
From Agatha Christie to Gillian Flynn: Fifty great thrillers by women
5 votes -
Four books by Asian American authors republished as Penguin Classics
9 votes -
How do you find new books to read?
We all have plenty of books on our bedside table, waiting their turn. What makes you choose the ones you do?
15 votes -
Eight books that can help make you a better leader
4 votes -
Fifteen books that influenced top UX and UI influencers
3 votes -
Top ten books about building cities. From Mary Beard’s Roman history to Kim Stanley Robinson’s science fiction, Jonathan Carr chooses the best writing about citizens’ eternal challenges
3 votes -
Fifty literary cameos in '90s movies
4 votes -
The Autarky (Self-Sustainability) Library
6 votes -
The twenty-five greatest science fiction tropes, ranked
10 votes -
The 2019 geopolitical reading list
8 votes -
A book list by/for CIOs
4 votes -
Cybersecurity books recommended by top security researchers
8 votes -
Ten books that defined the 1910s
10 votes