Books to read

[trying ungracefully]

I like reading fiction books that kind of have a sad reality. Some books I can think of that I really like are Parable of the sower, I know this much is true, and perks of being a wallflower. Also a tree grows in Brooklyn.

It is hard finding good books on good reads and I'd also just like to see people's recommendations on here.

 

[Karrikin]

You mentioned "sad reality" so I guess "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy might be a good read but that might be too gloomy, I liked it though --as far as apocalyptic books go.

 

[trying ungracefully]

The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

I just looked it up and that seems interesting. It's also a post apocalyptic world and that's how it was in Parable of the Sower lol.

 

[an_alias]

easily The God of Small Things if you like depressing reads about other peoples' lives
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac if you're an alcoholic or have struggled with addiction.

 

[Ekidona]

not really a book but a webnovel butt you should reallyyyy read rezero the story is amazing

 

[trying ungracefully]

not really a book but a webnovel butt you should reallyyyy read rezero the story is amazing

Do you have a link for it?

 

[madwoman]

I've only read the Perks of Being a Wallflower from your list and really liked it. For sad books, I guess my focus is mostly if it has to do with suicide. Similar books, It's Kind of a Funny Story (disclaimer, did not read it but watched the movie), All the Bright Places, Thirteen Reasons Why, the Fault in Our Stars (that one is cancer), I'm Thinking of Ending Things, & one I just added to my list is called Girl in Pieces.

A tip with Goodreads is going to a book you like and looking at the "readers also enjoyed" section - I find a lot of good recs that way!

 

[trying ungracefully]

It's Kind of a Funny Story

I actually read that in inpatient lol! I have no memory of it though and I just haven't thought about it since. I have that already so I will give that one another go.

Thirteen Reasons Why

I read that too when I was a kid. I really liked it hopefully I didn't give that one away.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[madwoman]

I actually read that in inpatient lol! I have no memory of it though and I just haven't thought about it since. I have that already so I will give that one another go.

I read that too when I was a kid. I really liked it hopefully I didn't give that one away.

Thank you so much!!!

I thought the movie was really good & I like when I read something that matches up with what's going on in my life so that tracks for you lol. I've been in patient twice and was never able to settle down enough to read but it's definitely what I do to escape reality!

 

[TANETS]

I'm reading jane eyre currently. I really like Gothic literature. Anna Karenina is my all time favorite

 

[NameOfAction]

Ooo, currently reading A tree grows in Brooklyn.

I used to really enjoy reading The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. It's basically Camus arguing with himself for and against suicide.

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai is a very graphic auto-biographic fiction novel about a troubled man incapable of revealing his true self to others, and who, instead, maintains a façade of hollow jocularity, later turning to a life of alcoholism and drug abuse before his final disappearance deeply fucked up life of a deeply fucked up man that kills himself in the end

La Nausée (nausea) by Jean-Paul Sartre, about a man losing grip on humanity and getting completly disgusted with evethything

 

[piercedheart]

I love "The fifth season"

It is a book that starts with the world ending, a woman's son is brutally murdered by her husband due to what she is, and she decides to travel to find him and kill him.

It's fantasy and I loved it, it's very sad too and has moments where I cried, but also laughed. It is a triology. I strongly recommend it.

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

This is the way the world ends. Again. Three terrible …

www.goodreads.com

 

[trying ungracefully]

These all seem like such good recommendations!

 

[bobsacamano]

I'm reading jane eyre currently. I really like Gothic literature. Anna Karenina is my all time favorite

AK is epic. I may need to go read that one again.

 

[cluefixphantom]

My recommendation is always "Nothing" by Jeanne Teller. It's a teen drama. I also recommend "Antinatalism A Handbook" by Karim Akerma. It's for antinatalists and those who are curious.

 

[yotaka]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I haven't read it yet, but I recently got a copy and, assuming I don't kill myself before I get to it, plan to read it soon.

I second Nausea by Sartre. It's a great take on the meaninglessness of existence and frustration at how so many people avoid confronting it.

Not sure how into war novels you would be, but All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is devastatingly bleak.

You might also check out Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Everything I've read about it mentions how the narrator is terrible and unlikable, then I actually read it and was like, "Oh shit, it's me."

Oh, and I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro right now. I'm only about 100 pages in, but it seems to check the "sad reality" box so far.

 

[trying ungracefully]

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I actually have that book somewhere! They actually let me read it in inpatient but I was too manic to take anything in lol.

Thank you for your recommendations!

 

[Ashu]

I'm reading jane eyre currently. I really like Gothic literature. Anna Karenina is my all time favorite

That's interesting. I disliked Anna Karenina because I found Tolstoy to be horribly judgmental about Karenina's suicide, and generally a judgmental and preachy writer, which I cannot stand.