When I say “out there” I mean books that cover topics and perspectives that are rarely hyped up in popular conversations around what people read. Like everyone can find a popular video recommending self-help productivity nonfiction or YA #relatable fiction but a recent fiction book that blew me away was “I’m thinking of ending things”, it got a movie adaptation on Netflix but after the movie came out very little conversations about the book carried on. Fair warning, the book “I’m thinking of ending things” is a horrifically bleak exploration into the mental state of someone contemplating suicide at the end of his life and his reflections about himself and his mistakes throughout the years are not helpful if you’re looking for a good time. But I’ve never seen a story go that far in depicting someone’s mental state in that kind of situation so it blew me away but is also underrated imho.
Till We Have Faces by C S Lewis will always be one of my favorites. It’s a retelling of a Greek tragedy that got totally ignored in modern media. The story follows the life of a princess in ancient times. She’s ugly and not ladylike, so everyone - subjects, employees, and her parents - all prefer her sister. But her sister is spirited away to marry a minor god and the main character is left to take care of the kingdom.
The story is told in three parts, all of which are kind of like diary entries. Part one sets up the plot, part two talks about how she handles being queen, and part three is her on her deathbed regretting most of her life decisions. Watching the character grow and face the consequences of her actions isn’t something you normally see in a book, and it’s even better because it’s in first person.
C S Lewis is such a well known author and the book was praised by Tolkien, but for some reason most avid readers haven’t even heard of it. If you like stories about psychology or the human condition it’s a great read (Although I’d recommend the audiobook if you can get it.)
I’d never heard of this story before, thank you for the detailed synopsis and it seems like there’s rarely any stories focused on unattractive women and the lives they live without giving them a “cinderalla glow up” moment so hearing about how this story follows the main lead from start to finish where she still has to live her life sounds interesting. Added to my reading list
I’m reading Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground with my toddler right now (there’s a method to my madness, I promise…) and we’re going to finish it much faster than I expected because it’s extremely easy to read so by the time I reach the end of a chapter I’m like “Hey, why not? Let’s do one more!”
So far, it’s a scathing criticism of the ideas of the day such as rationalism and enlightenment thinking, and I think a lot of the discussion still applies to contemporary thought because our postmodern ideologies like to treat man as a piano key in some ways.
I started his life reading (besides my own book to him) Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. If one takes the advice as metaphor, there’s a lot of really important advice one can take into life. One thing I have brought with me forever is the idea that the generals who are victorious will win the victory then fight the battles required, whereas generals who are defeated will fight battles and only then look for victory.
One book series I just love that I’ve been going through is called Hell Mode. It’s an Isekai, and in a lot of ways it’s really standard, but I like that the MC starts as really the bottom of the bottom of the barrel (literally a serf) and it’s through pure hard work and ingenuity that he goes from being absolutely nothing to being in the previous book a strategic level asset in a war against the demon king. Despite that, he has weaknesses and isn’t capable of working alone, he needs help from the people around him.
Isekai as a genre has been a very hit or miss ordeal where the ones I really enjoy like Gate or Mushoku Tensei remain in my memory as top tier shows in their own right but the rest just seem like copy paste remakes, though hearing about the progression of the main lead like the way you described it makes me think this’ll be a more grounded story so I’m looking forward to giving it a shot, thanks for the recommendation!
You might try gateway. First book of heechee by Frederick pohl. The science is a bit wacky (think 1960s people thinking we would be on the moon with lasers in space 1999) but there are themes of depression and mental health. I’m not sure if I could suggest the rest of the books, but gateway is pretty solid imo.
I’m in the middle of trying to make aspects of it into a mod for stellaris right now but I’m not a good writer so I’m procrastinating!
Wacky science is fine with me, it’s the overly long dry expositions that tend to turn me off of the more old school sci-fi stories like Dune. Will definitely give Gateway a try so thank you for the recommendation!
The Asbestos Diary by Casimir Dukahz (pseudonym of Brian O. Drexel,)
