Fiction

On the fiction shelf you will find stories built to carry you somewhere else entirely, like Frank Herbert's Dune, where a desert planet's spice trade, feudal houses and giant sandworms turn a young heir's survival into a lesson in politics and ecology. Roald Dahl's Matilda sits at the opposite end of that range: a small, funny book about a brilliant girl and a cruel headmistress, read in an afternoon and passed between siblings.

Where to start with science fiction

Dune by Frank Herbert drops you onto a desert planet where water is currency and politics is a knife fight, and its density rewards patience more than speed. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is the opposite commitment: a single volume about a child trained in zero-gravity war games, readable in two sittings. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey opens with a missing woman and a ship under attack, then expands into a solar system at war, the first of a long series. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir asks one man to solve an astrophysics problem alone in a spaceship, and its pleasure is watching him fail and retry until the math works.

Fiction for younger readers

Matilda by Roald Dahl gives a five-year-old with telekinesis and terrible parents a librarian who changes her life, and its humor is cruel in a way children recognize as fair. Maus I, My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman tells a Holocaust survivor's story in comic panels, with Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, and it asks young readers to hold horror and love in the same frame. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green puts two teenagers with cancer in a romance that refuses to pretend illness is noble, and it suits readers who want wit alongside grief. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow follows a girl through self-harm and recovery in short, sharp chapters, and it is for older teens who need the mess left in.

Romance and speculative fiction for adults

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston pairs the First Son with a British prince in a fake friendship that turns real, and its tone is buoyant even when the politics bite. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover sets a no-strings arrangement between a pilot and a nursing student, then breaks it open with a past that will not stay buried. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson begins a series on a world of storms and shattered plains, and its length is the point: you live there for a thousand pages. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is nonfiction that reads like fiction, tracing how one ape species came to dominate the planet, and it is for readers who want argument rather than plot.

Where should I start with science fiction if I have never read it?

Start with Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It is one volume, moves fast, and explains its rules as it goes. If you want something more recent, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir works the same way: one problem, one narrator, steady progress.

What is the difference between Dune and Leviathan Wakes?

Dune by Frank Herbert is a single dense novel about empire and ecology on one planet. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is the first of a series that spreads across the solar system and keeps going. Choose Herbert for depth in one place, Corey for breadth over many books.

Which of these books are good for teenagers?

Matilda by Roald Dahl suits younger readers, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green suits older ones. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow is for teens who can handle self-harm and recovery without a tidy ending. Maus I by Art Spiegelman is often taught in schools for a reason: it makes history personal.

Is The Way of Kings a big commitment?

Yes. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson is the first in a series, and each volume is long. If you want a complete story in one book, try Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover instead. If you want to live inside a world for months, Sanderson is the one.

What makes Red, White & Royal Blue different from Ugly Love?

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is a public romance between two men in politics, and its conflicts come from the world around them. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover is a private romance between a pilot and a student, and its conflicts come from their pasts. Both are love stories, but one is about image and the other about memory.