Is it just me?....when you see people in hoodies riding ebikes around the pedestrian areas you tense up and get anxious as they weave past?

Mostly delivery guys but who knows?...it's a menacing feeling even on Broad St in the middle of the day!

Has anyone experienced any hassles?

I’m about to spend 26 hours driving across the country with basically nothing but my thoughts, my mom’s furniture, and an unreasonable amount of highway ahead of me.

The reason for the trip is a little heavy.

My mom is getting out of an abusive relationship. I’m driving her belongings across the country to my house so she can start over. Whatever it takes, we’re getting her home.

I’ll be doing most of the drive alone, which means 26 hours with nothing but highway, gas stations, and my own thoughts. I keep thinking that if I’m going to be stuck in a car that long, I want to listen to something that actually stays with me.

Most of what I read is self-help, business, psychology, mindset, that kind of thing. I genuinely like those books.

I’m a pretty driven person, and I’ve been lucky to have a lot of success in my business. But I also have this other side of me that can be insanely lazy.

I know how hard I can work when I’m locked in. I’ve seen what happens when I really go after something.

But I don’t always feel locked in.

And I have this annoying feeling that I’m supposed to do something really great with my life. I don’t mean that in a “I’m destined to be famous” way. I just feel like there’s more in me, and I haven’t completely figured out how to access it consistently.

That’s kind of what I’m looking for.

Not really another book that tells me to wake up at 5am, take a cold shower, and make a to-do list.

I want something that made you genuinely think differently afterward.

Maybe it changed the way you looked at work, money, discipline, ambition, purpose, business, your own potential, whatever.

Especially if you’re a business owner or someone who has felt that same weird mix of being ambitious but also sometimes being your own biggest obstacle.

My favorite movies are Interstellar, Inception, and A Beautiful Mind. I know those aren’t business-related, but I love movies where you finish them and the world feels a little different for a while.

That’s basically what I want from a book.

Something where halfway through this drive I’m staring at the highway thinking, “Holy shit.”

Or I finish it and realize the answer was kind of obvious the entire time. I just needed someone to put it into words.

So I guess my question is:

What is the one book you’ve read that actually changed something in you?

Not necessarily the “best business book ever” or the book everyone recommends.

The one YOU keep recommending because it genuinely changed the direction of your life, your business, or the way you think.

My goals for the next 26 hours are basically:

1. Get my mom’s stuff home.

2. Don’t fall asleep.

3. Try to enjoy the ridiculousness of driving across the country in what will probably feel like a steel box by hour 15.

4? And maybe come home thinking a little differently than I did when I left.

What audiobook would you listen to?

The Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PISJcKYW1Ac

TW: loss of parent, death.

Looking for a fiction read, no self help or anything. Would love a book about a father daughter complicated relationship after the father’s death. Would love for it to not resolve in the daughter finding redeeming qualities and figuring out how to love him after death.

I don’t really know what to do or how to feel right now.

I've just spent hours doomscrolling and having seen the state of the world, I can't help but be in a sour mood. The economy, politics, the climate crisis, war... It's all been stressing me out tremendously.

I'd just like a break from it all, or better yet, an opportunity to see the good in humanity even despite all its flaws. I'd be happy with any genre and tone, whether it's something cozy and lighthearted or something that emphasises the indomitable human spirit. I just want to feel any sort of hope for the future

EDIT: Thank you so much for your lovely suggestions! I've put together a long TBR that will surely keep me hopeful! 🥹

I am interested in any fiction genre. I don't want non-fiction and i'm not looking for any self help type book. What I am envisioning is a novel where the protagonist confronts this reality or such!

I am currently writing a game about exploration - sea exploration to be exact. I have over 50 harbors and islands with well defined cultures and aesthetics, but the main character of the game (arguably) is the ship! I'm well into the development process when It hit me like a mast that I know jackshit about actual naval lingo and day to day details. I love my Joseph Conrad's Youth and Heart of Darkness and was looking forward to see if anyone can TEACH ME THE ROPES *.-

I love to learn by reading fiction - but I'm not looking at high fantasy, romanticized piratry and also not looking for boring over detailed stagnant titles.

Before posting here I sought for something similar in this group and found out that none other than Dan Simmons (one of my favorite authors due to Hyperion Cantos) has a book about naval exploration. But that was several years ago.

I was wondering if any of you folks has managed to get past my mess of a message and come through the otherside with indications for me. (I'm also very open to other media such as games and movies and series.)

From a landlubber in Brazil, much love.

I just finished "Small Game" by Blair Braverman, and I'm craving more like it. I'm looking for a gripping/thrilling/suspenseful fiction story about character(s)' unexpectedly needing to survive in nature. Please don't recommend the classics like Hatchet, or My Side of the Mountain - I've read those. I also just finished The Dog Stars, which I loved.

I want descriptions of nature and resourcefulness of the main character(s). It can be dystopian, or not. I'd prefer the main struggle to be between the characters and nature itself, rather than something like zombies or monsters. I would also love a female protagonist but that's not mandatory!

craving some cool spy stuff. any era works!

Hello everyone

I am unfortunately dealing with someone very close to me has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I have read still Alice.

Thanks

Hello! I’m a teen girl who hasn’t read books outside of the ones required for my school. I want to start reading but I fear my reading comprehension isn’t that good. Please reco some books that are good for total beginners. Preferably no romance

I’ve seen a lot of people recommending me to go to libraries but unfortunately, we really don't have a lot of libraries in our country. The closest one to me is my school library but it doesn’t really have a good selection and the process of borrowing a book is actually quite difficult unfortunately

Looking for some novels with dragons!!! Let me know what yall recommend! Not picky on genres, just want to read stuff with dragons in it.

i have a deep love for sports, but it really feels so underserved for at least underexposed by the literary community.

think of endzone by don delillo. these are nonfiction examples, but dfw and hanif abdurraqib's nonfiction writing have a similar quality im looking for. art of fielding by chad harbach was okay, but didn't scratch that itch as much. i really like when they get into the minutiae and moment to moment happenings in or around a sport. anything that really focuses and centers sports as a key theme.

i have a preference for team sports, basketball specific books would save my life.

The last few years I've become really interested in the depiction of faeries or fairies in speculative fiction. I've read the following books which contain some faerie characters I've liked:

* The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter

* Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Graham Joyce

* Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke

* Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome, (edited by) Stephen Jones

I guess I like them as characters because of their mysterious, inhuman and manipulative nature.

I'm curious whether someone knows more fiction that contains them, either modern speculative fiction (fantasy, horror, scifi etcetera) or older folkloric tales. I hope it's clear that I'm not looking for romantasy or faeries as ideal love interests. I like the image of them as elusive and amoral. Apart from that, I'm open to inventive interpretations.

Thank you for reading!

Can anyone suggest light hearted romance comedy book THAT IS NOT in 1st POV? I'm sorry for all the authors but I can't stand reading 1st POV at all and the titles I found are mostly written in 1st POV. I hope someone can suggest me what to read T^T

Idk why most of the famous romance comedy book is in 1st POV, I really never read 1st POV books at all and it's hard for me to get immersed in that POV so I really hope there are some cute 3rd POV romcom books.

Hey y'all

My local library updated their fall prompts for their adult reading challenge and I'm looking for suggestions to fit them. Any genre is good to suggest!

1. A book with annotations or end notes

2. A book published in 2026

3. A book with a cover including or based on a painting

4. A locked room mystery

5. A book you can read in one sitting - currently doing "Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again" for this

6. A book with the words "pumpkin spice" or "latte" in the title

7. A collection of horror stories

8. A book set in a national Park, Forest, or wildlife area

9. A book that features a character with chronic pain or mental illness - considering The Shining for this

10. A book containing magical creatures

I'm looking for a collection of poems that I'll connect with. (Or any poem at all)

I want to love the art of poetry, and I refuse to believe that there isn't something for me out there.

I felt particularly moved by The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams, so I read his Selected Poems. Not really for me aside from maybe one or two of them.

I enjoy reading plays quite a bit and love theatre with anything strange.

Edit: Some of my favorite plays include Angels in America, Death of a Salesman, and Twelve Angry Men.

What would you recommend to me?

I appreciate any insight or recs you might have

Hi all--I'm bedridden with a severe chronic illness and have noticed that my shame and fear about missing common life milestones has been ramping up the closer I get to 30.

I don't believe getting married, having a long term partner, having kids, or hitting any specific career milestones makes any person better than any other person, but I feel so much dread thinking about the real possibility that I will never be able to experience these things (and many other common adult experiences).

I've tried to read some Buddhist books specifically aimed at coping with life when your life is extremely restricted, but they didn't lead to the mindset shift I'd hoped for. Worried that maybe there's just no way to mentally cope with this. Definitely open to trying Buddhist books again, though.

Would love both fiction and non-fiction recs/any genre/whatever this calls to mind.

Is there any interesting War series in a High Fantasy Setting with lots of magic and badass normal soldiers plus different races and smart tactics from both the protag and antag sides?

I am a sucker for a really good setting, which can be dangerous because I end up watching awful movies with great settings.

I am looking for a Mystery/Thriller that has maybe a ski lodge or mountain town setting with an isolated trapped feeling, not The Shining however. (think the isolation factor of the Thing, Firewatch or Voices of the Void meets Scooby Doo or Murder on the Orient Express.) There was a hardy boys book I read growing up in which they got snowed into a ski lodge that was my favorite. I also just finished Plum Island and enjoyed the mystery that unfolded in that just not a huge fan of John Corey. In my adult life I have not read very many adult books as college was all required reading so I apologize all my reference material is Young Adult. Also a big fan of Colson Whiteheads writing style if that contributed anything.

Ig this is a bit weird but I really like the cover of the lover by duras and was wondering if there are more books out there with a similar cover or at least something w a similar vibe. Preferably fiction and maybe not anything disturbing, but I don't mind if it's neither of those things. Ik this is a strange ask for recommendations but I just want to have pretty books in my collection.

last year I read the Alice Vega trilogy by Louisa Luna, and just this week I finished reading "Brimstone Hollow" by Archer Sullivan, the second book in the Annie G*re series (I censored her name because it was flagging my post nsfw otherwise).

I'm on a big mystery/thriller kick right now, so to keep digging into it I'm looking for:

- lady detective/PI (or similar)

- modern setting

- small town case, or case that feels personal to the MC.

I will mention that I also read the Gillian Flynn books over the summer, and Sharp Objects and Dark Places scratch this same itch even though they only kind of meet the criteria. So books in a similar vein that don't quite meet the criteria could work too!

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Whenever I experience a story where an antagonist is a jerk in a place of power and/or authority (like, a manager at a job or something), I always wonder how a person like that could ever attain a role like that. I'd love to read a story from the perspective of The Evil Bad Guy (Or Girl, Or Anyone).

I prefer fiction, supernatural, fantasy, scifi, but anything is welcome.

i tried gothic horror books, and even though i love the atmospheric macabre of it, i don't like the romantic/sexual aspects it tends to bring.

i like horror that has a a more cosmic and eldritch vibe. incomprehensible. horror focused more on solving the mystery of it and detailing danger that is just out of sight, not so much focused on characters themselves (i don't really care to get invested in individual characters, just the story and the worldbuilding and the concept). i like magical realism, haunting, xenofiction, and the occult, too (i am an occultist lol). weirdcore and soft/subtle comedy is good too in modest amounts!

i do NOT like mentions of romance or sex at all, especially third party situations, seduction, and coercive stuff. it's okay if a character who happens to be married kisses their spouse one time with nothing else or two characters like each other but the romance is not elaborated on or detailed at all, but those are exceptions. i'm a monogamous hopeless romantic, sure, but i don't find other people's love lives interesting and sex is generally repulsive to me. i also HATE excessive gore.

some media that has the vibe i'm looking for: House of Echoes (book), Still Wakes the Deep (video game), The Burn Line (book) Home Safety Hotline (video game), Static Dread: Lighthouse and No, I'm Not A Human (video games)

thank you so much in advance 😭💔

Can be fiction or nonfiction.

I might take a job that’ll involve me being away from home for two months. It’d be great for my career but I cannot imagine being gone that long. I will be missing holidays. I’ll be away from my family and pets. Looking for something to maybe help imagine it? Or even to help me learn how to cope?