If you have been following us and have read a few of our articles, then you would know that we take Reddit recommendations very seriously. Here you will find people of different cultures and ages, giving their opinion on a particular topic. You can always bank on Reddit for an honest review of any product or service. Now you may ask why would we take some strangers’ opinions so seriously?
Actually the anonymous nature of the individual is in fact one of the key reasons we take recommendations from Reddit. Think about it. An anonymous person who has nothing to lose will obviously give an unbiased review of anything. Unless, the person has some motive. You can argue that anyone can easily infiltrate these threads and promote their own product. I won’t deny the possibility of this happening but more often than not, you can always tell when that’s the case. And if you are unsure, you can always sort by best which will, on most occasions, give you an opinion that many people agree with.
Now, we know this lockdown has got you thinking and you have finally decided to do some reading. But, you don’t know what to read, and the huge number of options has confused you. Well, don’t worry because we have got you covered. So in this particular instance, we will be scouring through Reddit to find the best books to read until the lockdown ends. For the purpose of this article, we will be referring to recommendations given on this thread. You are free to check out a few other subreddits on your own, for which we will be listing a few related Subreddits towards the end. So, keep reading.
Best Books According to Reddit
1. The Things They Carried
- The Things They Carried
- Tim O'Brien (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Author: Tim O’Brien
- First Published On: March 28th 1990
- Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Novel, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, War story.
What Redditors Say about the book
- u/Tyrone Kneegrows: “The Things They Carried. I had a “wow” moment when I finished that book. Something honestly came over me, a very surreal experience. Highly recommend it “
- u/BigHairNJ: “This is such a good book. I always think of it paired with “Dispatches” by Michael Herr. Both Vietnam era. Dispatches is like a fever dream movie that just drops you into the action without explanations. You get that jittery feeling that you’re alone on the journey with them. Both such great books. “
- u/joseabose: “I’ve read this book 3 times. It’s so powerful and emotional. One of my favorites”
Overview
The Things They Carried, written by American novelist Tim O’Brien, is his third book on War. It is a collection of short stories that are linked with each other. The stories are about the lives of a unit of American soldiers who were there fighting in the Vietnam War and is based upon the experiences the author had while he was a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. All of the Short Stories ( or Episodes) take place in multiple phases in the life of the characters of the book. It is about their childhood and their life around the jungles of Vietnam during the War and also their life back home two decades after the War. Even though the premise of the book is about war it is based on the War, the book is much more than that. The things we hold dear to and how they affect human lives.
2. Shogun
- Hardcover Book
- Clavell, James (Author)
- 11/03/1975 (Publication Date) - Atheneum (Publisher)
- Author: James Clavell
- First Published: 1975
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Historical, War story.
What Redditors Say about the book:
- u/nmtbf08: “Shogun by James Clavell. If you read this book you will spend the rest of your life trying to find another just like it; you will fail. “
- u/SleazyGreasyCola “Oh man, I read shogun when I was a young kid. I’m sure I missed a bunch after finishing it but I looked like a total weirdo carrying that brick of a novel around with me when I was 10. It was so good though, the second book where I was completely totally enthralled. (first being Redwall by Brian Jacques when I was around 8 or so I think.)”
Overview
Shogun is one of the six novels that were part of James Clavell’s Asian Saga Series which were written between 1962 and 1993. It was the earliest of all the novels and was set in the year 1600. Shogun tells the story of an English adventurer John Blackthorne who was also the pilot of the ship Erasmus. The ship lands in Japan where he comes in contact with two people which leads to changing his life forever. The first person is Toranaga who was Japan’s most prominent and powerful warlord. Toranaga aspired to become a Shogun so that he could gain power and eventually lead the Samurai fiefdoms united together under his leadership. The other person is Lady Mariko who is a Catholic convert. She gets torn between her duties and loyalties towards her country and the Church and her love for Blackthorne. This historical fiction masterpiece tells the extraordinary “saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power.”
3. Night Watch
- Audible Audiobook
- Terry Pratchett (Author) - Stephen Briggs (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- Author: Terry Pratchett
- First Published On: 2002
- Genres: Novel, Science Fiction, Fantasy Fiction
What Redditors Say about the book
- u/Ion_bound : “Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett. Full of wisdom about just what justice actually is and means. In particular, one quote: “He wanted to go home. He wanted it so much that he trembled at the thought. But if the price of that was selling good men to the night, if the price was filling those graves, if the price was not fighting with every trick he knew…then it was too high.”
- u/ecnad: “Night Watch is my favorite book too – it’s a great reread every year or two. Something about the tone of the story, the themes Pratchett wanted to convey to the reader; it profoundly resonated with me as a teenager. All of the Discworld books are wonderful, but for me, Night Watch is easily the pinnacle of the series.'”
Overview
The Night Watch by Terry Pratchett is a Discwatch Novel and contains everything from Time Travel, Escapes, Justice to Revolution. It is the story of a policeman, Sir Sam Vimes, who is on his pursuit of a sweet-talking psychopath serial killer who targets coppers. During his pursuit, he finds himself to be sent 30 years in time because of a major temporal shattering event which was the result of the time-manipulation by a group of monks. He is then arrested by his own younger self before he could ask the wizards at the Unseen University to send him back. He then assumes the identity of Sergeant-At-Arms John Keel, who was supposed to arrive that day but was murdered by Carcer. He also gets an opportunity to teach his younger self a thing or two. And yes not to forget, all these events take place amidst a revolution.
4. Count of Monte Christo
- Penguin Books
- Alexandre Dumas père (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Author: Alexandre Dumas
- First Published: 1844
- Genres: Novel, Comics, Romance novel, Historical Fiction, Adventure fiction, Serialised Work
What Redditors Say about the book
- u/Turtiger: ” Count of Monte Cristo. It’s like a business class version of Shawshank Redemption.
- u/Grizlucks: “This book is what single handedly started my love affair with revenge stories where the MC comes back from death/long break as ridiculously OP as you can imagine and fucks everything up for the people that screwed him over.”
- u/RocklinCa: ” Count of Monte Cristo kept me thinking about the book constantly – even while not reading – because there were so many pieces/plots/characters to keep track of. The weaving of the story was so artfully done.
Overview
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel written by Alexandre Dumas and was originally titled Le Comte de Monte–Cristo in French. It is a classic tale of an adventure that also contains escapes and plotful revenge. The story revolves around Edmond Dantès, who is wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit. He is arrested on the day of his wedding and is accused of treason. Set up by his rival Fernand Mondego, Dantès is imprisoned without a trial and is sent to the Château d’If. During his stay in prison, he befriends fellow prisoner Abbé Faria who tells him about a hidden treasure and also motivates him to escape. Upon escape he returns as the mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Christo and plots revenge on those who are responsible for everything. The book tells the tale of how he escapes and then takes his revenge.
5. Flowers for Algernon
- Keyes, Daniel (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 311 Pages - 06/14/2004 (Publication Date) - Harcourt (Publisher)
- Author: Daniel Keyes
- First Published On: April 1959
- Genres: Short story, Novel, Science Fiction, Epistolary novel, Psychological Fiction
What Redditors Say about the book
- u/Captain Falcon: ” Flowers for Algernon. The most emotional I’ve ever been reading a book for sure.”
- u/kanye’s manners: ” Re-read Flowers for Algernon a few months ago. Such a quick, but deep read.”
- u/hasnt_seen_goonies: “I really enjoyed this book when I read it. This was over 4 years ago though. It has stuck with me, and I do remember a lot of good things about it. To me the central theme was intelligence and how we deal with our struggles.”
Overview
Flowers for Algernon tell the story of Charlie Gordon and his quest to be smarter by volunteering or an experiment. Charlie has a very low IQ of 68 and even the laboratory mouse Algernon beats him at maze-solving. He finds out that Algernon is that smart because of an experimental brain operation that had been done on the mouse. However, so far it had only been tried on animals. He learns about this experiment and that it is supposed to increase his intelligence and has already been successful on Algernon, the lab mouse. With the hope of getting smarter he decides to volunteer for the experiment as the first human subject. The experiments start showing its effect after some delays and the intelligence of Charlie starts expanding. He easily outsmarts even the doctors who were behind this experiment and his IQ takes him to the genius level. However, he soon realizes that having a high IQ isn’t everything and he again becomes as lonely as he once was. ANd to make matters worse, Algernon the lab mouse suddenly starts to deteriorate. So, what does the future hold for Charlie and how will the experiment affect him?
6. The Princess Bride
- Hardcover Book
- Goldman, William (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Author: William Goldman
- First Published: 1973
- Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Humour, Young Adult.
What Redditors Say about the book
- u/tl_is_not_me : “For me one book immediately comes to mind. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I read this book almost annually. It has perfect pace and storytelling and for me an endless re-readability which is hard to find. “
- u/Ksquaredata: “I almost did not buy The Princess Bride for my daughter when I read that it was “abridged!” She loved the movie, and now re-reads the book almost as often as watching the movie! Great book. “
Overview
The story is about a beautiful young woman named Buttercup who lives on a farm in Florin. After repeatedly teasing and abusing Westly, the farm boy she eventually falls in love with. She confesses her feelings to Westley, who decides to go and make a fortune so that he can be worthy of marrying her. So he goes on his quest leaving her behind and she promises that she will always love him and only him. But as fate would have it, she receives news that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts who attacked his ship at the sea. These Pirates are known to never leave any survivors behind. After learning about his fate and realizing that he is dead, she is heartbroken and sad. Eventually she accepts her fate and agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck. Prince Humperdinck is heir to the throne of Florin and is prepared to go to any lengths to have Buttercup as his wife. What follows next is a tale that consists of “fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, and miracles.”
The best Subreddits for Book Recommendations
If the books listed above aren’t enough for you and you require to do some research of your own, then you can always go to Reddit and find some recommendations that suit your interests. If you ever decide to look for book recommendations on Reddit on your own, here are a few subreddits you can check out.
1.r/books
About Community: “This is a moderated subreddit. It is our intent and purpose to foster and encourage in-depth discussion about all things related to books, authors, genres, or publishing in a safe, supportive environment. If you’re looking for help with a personal book recommendation, consult our Weekly Recommendation Thread, Suggested Reading page, or ask in r/suggestmeabook.”
2.r/SuggestMeABook
About Community: “Need an idea what to read next? Tell us what you’ve enjoyed in the past, or what you’re looking for, and let the community suggest a book (or books) for you to read!”
3.r/BookSuggestions
About Community: “This is exactly what it sounds like. In need of a good read? Let us know what you want and we guarantee you’ll find a great book, or your money back.”
4.r/52book
About Community: “A subreddit for the participants of the 52 Book Challenge (one book per week for a year) to discuss their progress and discoveries.”
5.r/TrueLit
About Community: “An alternative to the /r/books and /r/literature dichotomy for discussing books and literature. If you’re interested in “written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit,” then you’re in the right place.”
Verdict
Reddit is one of the best places on the internet to look for any type of recommendation. In this article we took a look at a few of the highly recommended books on Reddit. We also mentioned a few Subreddits you can visit, if you ever feel like getting some more recommendations. Here’s hoping you manage to finish and also enjoy whichever book that you decide to read. We hope you have a great reading experience.
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Last update on 2020-11-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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