Books

If you're into the sci-fi, you'll probably like Project Hail Mary, it's hard sci-fi and you get very invested in the story.
Ray Porter also does a great audiobook narration of it on audible.

I can't believe that **Hitchhiker's guide to the gallaxy **isn't mentioned yet!

Its more of a funny story set in the future but its a classic, and its well worth reading (all 4 books of the trillogy)

It is fantasy but if you like hillarious and (in part) absurd stuff, read anything by Terry Pratchett. I personally would recommend starting with "Guards! Guards!". Be aware that there are over 30 books by him out there. There are multiple guides on which to read first to get the best start.

Most agree that it is not the best idea to start with the book he wrote first.

The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells is a collection of short books in the first perspective of a cyborg. You might enjoy that.

Have you read The Martian by Andy Weir?

Diamond hard sci-fi told mostly through the main character's personal log. First time I read it, I couldn't put it down, I read the whole thing in one sitting.

It's definitely not short, but The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is absolutely top notch.

The attention to detail that goes into a sci-fi series that lives within a realistic world, with actual physics is incredible - i.e:

• Ships need to calculate when to flip around midway through their journey to decelerate by burning the opposite direction.

• Torpedoes and tungsten slugs have travel time.

• Making hard accelerations or evasive maneuvers can and will crush you into your flight seat due to the intense G forces and the only way to not black out is a cocktail of stimulants, adrenaline, and blood thinners

• Communications take place at actual light speed, which means when you're dealing with distances up to several hundred million kilometers, it can take anywhere from minutes to hours for your message to be received.

But fear not! This is truly a traditional sci-fi novel, packed full with ancient alien substances that seem to reprogram human cells for their own use - but to what end? Ancient feuds between those born in space, and those born on a planet. And the answer to the age old question: why not just use asteroids as weapons?

The main characters are an extremely close knit group, who it seems at times get by on sheer willpower and a touch of luck (with some excellent planning).

The story takes turns being told from different characters' perspectives, which really helps you get to know each character intimately - how they think, and feel about the events unfolding - how their morality affects their choices.

If you're looking for a more "realistic" take on sci-fi, this series is absolutely up your alley.

The first novel is called "Leviathan's Wake" and there are 9 main books in the series, with a smattering of novellas between that expand on the world.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8855321-leviathan-wakes

This year I discovered the Elderling Saga, by Robin Hobb. Starts with the Farseer Trilogy, Assassin's Apprentice. Great epic fantasy.

As for sci-fi Isaac Asimov's Foundation is great.

Neuromancer is also a great read, and one of the earliest examples of cyberpunk.

Since you asked for a single book, and you might not be keen on jumping into multi-book sagas, I'd say go for Neuromancer

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Can’t believe no one has mentioned it already but the book that got me into reading was “Enders game” by Orson Scott Card. Fairly short and has a split set of follow up books that branch off in 2 directions in you want more.

If you like Andy Weirs novels, Tchaikowskys books are worth a try. I.e.:

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Anything by Iain M. Banks.

Anything by Octavia E. Butler.

I'd recommend The Martian.

It's hard sci fi and the writing style is quite similar to nonfiction so it should be a fairly fast read for you.

I'd also recommend grabbing a book of Philip K Dick short stories.

The Kite Runner (beautiful)

The Stand (incredible character development)

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (hilarious)

I know you've been recommended a lot of books.

Like you I only ever read non-fiction.

Then someone gave me a copy of Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut.

You might like a lot of his work. It's not exactly fiction and not exactly non-fiction.

Anyway, good luck on your adventure! You are doing something brave and interesting. Let us know how you get on.

I'm going to suggest The Murderbot Diaries. It starts off with the few short novellas before they're being a full length novel. You can finish the novellas in a few hours and you will be hungry to get into the full length novel. Get them off www.libgen.is

First one is called All Systems Red by Martha Wells Followed by: Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Compulsory(just a super short origin story), Network Effect(full novel), Home(four short stories), Fugitive Telemetry, System Collapse (another novel)

I think this would let you break into some really good offbeat sci-fi with some novellas first. Then some full-on novels all within the same universe.

Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.

Most of the novellas in The Murderbot Diaries are short. If you like the first one, the rest are more of the same. And if you don't, you only invested a little time.

Tress of the Emerald Sea I think is the best gateway to Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. It's styled after Princess Bride if she wasn't helpless. I enjoy a lot of his books, ask if you want more recommendations!

Someone else mentioned the Mistborn Trilogy which is great and has a quality sequel trilogy as well, also Sanderson Cosmere

Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K Le Guin.

For something a little shorter and easier to chew through quickly you could check out Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. A short story set in Norse mythology, I remember it being an entertaining read

The book 1984 is a brutal version of Brave New World. Also Dune was pretty good for me.

Just as a general advice that has only occurred to me recently: if you don't like a book, stop reading it and read another one. There are great books, and there are mediocre, and also you some might work better for you, and some worse. If you start with a book that you don't like, and power through it anyway, you might be reluctant to try another one.

You've mentioned sci-fi, but didn't mention Robert Sheckley. If you haven't read any of his stories, drop everything and read Citizen in Space, for example.

If you'd rather go for something more modern, fun, but also a little sad, try The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

For something extremely entertaining, but also mysterious, try Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.

If you're into videogames and like drama, try Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. That's the best book I've read in the past 5 years.

If you also want some fantasy recommendations:

Malazan book of the fallen is one of my favorites

The King killer Chronicles if you can stand the long wait for book 3 to finally drop is also really awesome

The best first-person novel I've read is Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. The best first-person sci-fi novel I've read is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

My top recommendation for 'fantastical [...] with amazing first person descriptive prose' is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It's beautiful and unlike anything you've ever read. I've bought it for three or four different people now and they've all loved it. Couldn't recommend it more highly, a genuine five star read.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Adding to the pile.

Peter Watts. Most of his works are available on his site for free - https://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

Greg Egan. Start with Diaspora.

Alastair Reynolds. I recommend starting with short fiction in Revelation Space and looping back to main novels. I accidentally approached it that way, and the experience of all the stories linking together was downright magical.

Charles Stross’ “Neptune Brood” explores the idea of debt under the guise of a space opera-ish action. Afterwards, Glasshouse and linked books will present a different existential crysis to mull over.

Cory Doctorow’s Little brother is an excellent book to follow 1984 with. And a great start to the rest of his biography.

N. K. Jemisin’s “Broken earth” was quite a treat, prose- and story-wise.

Ann Lecke’s “Imperial Radch” is a brain-twister, especially for someone whose native language is gendered all throughout. It was fun giving up on information I’m used to have in words.

Pierce Brown’s “Red rising” has one of the best flowing prose I’ve read. Do mind that the story was initially planned to be a trilogy, and it clearly shows in narration.

Mark Lawrence’s everything. “Power word kill” is a great play around DnD, and “The broken empire” has the most loathsome protagonist you’ll ever root for.

Ian McDonald's River of Gods is probably the most enjoyable thing I've read in the last few years.

I tried to go for quick reads. The top 3 recommendations (all novellas, but incredible) would be

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Or All Systems Red by Martha Wells (already mentioned by others too) Or A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

And 2 honorable mentions that are longer: Thief by Margaret Whalen Turner The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

I enjoyed reading the Arc of a Scythe book series by Neal Shusterman. Its world where people don't die and where a very central AI helps people fascinated me.

Cordwainer Smith

I think so far the Vonnegut is the best recommendation for you. And not sci-fi but Catch-22 by Joseph Heller might also be a good fit. A lot of these suggestions are really good books, but not as pithy and gripping as I think you might be looking for. But more data is needed, any favorite movies?

I'd recommend Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

It fits fantastical, I think and it's also listed as sci-fi, but not sure it is.

It's the book I suggested to a mate of mine who wanted to get back into reading again. He loved it so much that he bought a 2nd proper copy with illustrations by Chris Riddell, my favourite illustrator.

I made a comment somewhere else a few days ago so I'll just copy paste.

Les Misérables is easily the best book I’ve ever read in my entire life. A few years ago I read a shorthened version of it and even then I was fascinated by it. I finished reading the full text two months ago and oh my fucking god this book is the best thing ever written.

I’m Turkish so I read the Turkish translation (will read the full text in English and French when I learn it) and on the back of it, it says something along these lines:

“… Les Misérables is the third and the most majestic collumn of the author’s novel trilogy that tells of the society…”

And I completely agree with that. This book is simply timeless. The characters, situations, unjustice, inequalities, all the suffering in it could be applied to any society. This book is real.

The messages that it sends are solutions to topics that seemingly anybody with a functioning brain should be capable of thinking and realizing. And yet, these solutions are ignored and refused because of greed, revenge, bloodlust and most important of all, ignorance.

The main character of the book, Jean Valjean is the embodiment of redemption. His entire arc teaches us how to treat criminals. Some countries today are taking these lessons and applying them. The lessons being; treat them as human, rehabilitate them. The result? They actually do heal and return to society as normal human beings.

And yet you see people against this practice. Those kinds of people are blinded by bloodlust and revenge. They are the same kind of people that were racist, sexist and much more back in the day. The arguments that these people bring don’t hold up either. The most common one I see (at least from my perspective) is this:

“You wouldn’t react this way if they hurt one of your loved ones!”

The fact that these people don’t know anything about me aside, this argument is pointless as it implies that I would be blind to fact and logic when I’m in pain. And while that is true, me being angry over an apple falling onto my head won’t make gravity any less real. In other words, so what?

The biggest victims of this mentality are pedofiles. Not the ones that do engage in action. But rather the ones that don’t harm anybody are aware of their issue. For instance, if a non-engaging pedo went to a therapist and told them of their issue, what would the therapist do? Call the police of course. And what would that do? Their life would be pretty screwed from that point forward. Assuming they are the non-engaging type, of course. I don’t believe this to be the correct attitude towards these kind of cases.

I would also like to dive into other topics that the book covers (and perhaps extend on this one) but it would be way too long for a comment. Thank you anyone reading this far. I would like to hear your opinions on the matter and discuss even!>>

Nation by Terry Pratchett. It's a beautiful and introspective book that has all of STP's humor, humanity and insight but it's completely self contained. I read it recently and wanted to read it again right away.

I don't think anyone has recommended the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson yet.

Its not scifi, but Thieves Emporium by Max Hernandez.