Eli Alexander > Status Update

Wendell Berry my guy…

Stephen King is easy and super fun

Help is on the way! Generally when getting started with fiction, the more enjoyable (and less dense) the read better. This is obviously different for everyone. I'm clearly biased (and not as well read as I'd like), but here are more suggestions than you probably ever wanted:

Classics are (sometimes) a good place to start. Tried and true. Some I enjoy/recommend, though not all are the greatest:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)*
Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Winter of our Discontent (1961) by John Steinbeck
1984 by George Orwell (1949)
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)
The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway (1952)

Children's/YA books can be great to explore for something light with good themes. (I'd stick with classics here. Also might've read before.) A very random few off the top of my mind:
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (1950-1956)
Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972)
The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
H.G. Wells

Authors like Stephen King, John Grisham, Fredrik Backman and Andy Weir (top of mind) have some captivating works. (A very diverse crew here.) Weir's Project Hail Mary is quite popular at the moment and explores some beautiful themes of friendship and sacrificial love.

A range of random works I've enjoyed over the years:
Theo of Golden by Alen Levi (2023)
Train Dreams by Dennis Johnson (2011)
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2012)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (2017)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (2003)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer (2014)
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan (2017)

I'll stop there for now haha. There are obviously a ton of phenomenal novelists I've omitted. Just read something you'll enjoy! And don't feel bad about putting down a story you're not liking.