Christmas depression is seeping in. Please recommend addicting books.

December 17, 2024 12:14 PM

I really need some page turners to me get through the next couple of weeks. Reading is the only things that can take my mind off of everything.

I really love literary fiction (love me some Emma Donoghue, Miriam Toews, Barbara Kindsolver, etc) but I also enjoy a decent mystery/crime novel. Most of the mystery/crime I read are quite bad and I don't really mind, but if anyone can recommend some good ones I'd appreciate that. I tried to read Demon CopperHead last Christmas but that was a little too much of a bummer. Two books I read recently and really enjoyed were Donna Tartt's The Secret History and Stephen King's Holly. Thank you kind readers!

posted by kitcat to Media & Arts (38 answers total)

I'd bet you'd enjoy the oft-recommended Piranesi by Susanna Clarke! Total page turner, engrossing world, not a bummer.
posted by rabbitbookworm at 12:29 PM on December 17 [12 favorites]

The books in the Baby Ganesh Investigation Agency series are pretty light but still manage to be engrossing and really enjoyable
posted by patricio at 12:32 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

Just read Richard Osman's latest mystery, We Solve Murders and it really hit the spot in a cozy-but-not-too-cozy way.
posted by mskyle at 12:33 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

I just read "The Ministry of Time: A Novel" by Kaliane Bradley and I have to stay that it was probably the best book I read all year.

It isn't exactly lighthearted but I just found it so good.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:39 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

If you liked The Secret History I think you’d like Donna Tartt’s earlier book, The Little Friend. Dense, engrossing, and suspenseful.
posted by stellaluna at 12:41 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

I think we have similar taste. I love all things Donna Tartt and Miriam Toews. Here are a few you might try in a similar vein with interesting characters and plots that keep moving along. Hope you can find some escape in one or more of them!

The Nix - Nathan Hill
The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt
Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
Where'd You Go Bernadette - Maria Semple
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
The Good Lord Bird - James McBride
Etta and Otto and Russell and James - Emma Hooper
Happiness - Aminatta Forna
posted by luzdeluna at 12:43 PM on December 17

I enjoyed the mystery series by Per Wahloo and Maj Slowall that features detective Martin Beck. There are 10 books, and they present a critique of late 20th century Swedish social policy (from a socialist perspective!) Full of lively characters.

I also return, over and over, to Ursula LeGuin. If you're not into the fantasy/sci-fi side of things, she still has a lot to offer in terms of essays and her one historical novel, Lavinia. But I encourage you to try the whole oeuvre! She has a kind of clear vision that is not "cosy" or "hopepunk," (both newish genre conventions in sci-fi/fantasy) but hopeful nonetheless. I find her an antidote to my depressive moments. Try The Telling.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:59 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

I just finished Pulitzer finalist The Snow Child, and it's a beautiful novel to read when it's cold and you're feeling a little blue.
I also recently really enjoyed David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars".
Anthony Horowitz can be a good seam to mine if you're looking for quality UK crime/ whodunnits.
+1 for The Little Friend.
posted by my log does not judge at 1:05 PM on December 17

You might like The Daughter of Time - it's by a classic detective mystery author (Josephine Tey), but in this case the detective is laid up in a hospital and avoiding depression seeping in by looking at a historical cold case.
posted by trig at 1:11 PM on December 17 [8 favorites]

I've seen other people say the same thing: my Completely Disappear Into Books series is James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small books. Occasionally one of his patients dies once you have grown fond of their stories, but that's not the point of the book and for whatever reason they are just very easy to fall into and stay there. I've gotten through multiple bouts of bronchitis, a nasty skin infection, and a broken knee with those books.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:13 PM on December 17 [6 favorites]

If you haven’t read PD James , I bet you’d really like her mystery novels.

Many of which can be read for free at Internet Archive.
posted by jamjam at 1:21 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

Anything by Kate Atkinson or Tana French or Sarah Waters.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:22 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters has a LOT of installments and is delightful.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 1:22 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 1:23 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

Seconding The Daughter of Time.
posted by jgirl at 1:29 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series has been my literary friend through tough times since the early 90s.
posted by conscious matter at 1:30 PM on December 17 [5 favorites]

Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series starting with Thus Was Adonis Murdered - highly erudite and amusing murder mysteries. I inhaled all four back to back.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:34 PM on December 17 [4 favorites]

Seconding Kate Atkinson's literary fiction, starting with Life After Life. Bonus, she also writes a great series of mysteries, the first being Case Histories.
posted by CheeseLouise at 1:39 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

My wife and adult daughter have been churning through the J. D. Robb "In Death" (murder mystery) series of books for many years, and at some point I was sucked into the series also. We all enjoy them on Audible and are only allowed to listen via headphones to avoid spoilers. YMMV of course.
posted by forthright at 1:41 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

Do you like short story collections? So many great ones by Jhumpa Lahiri, Lorrie Moore, Curtis Sittenfeld.
posted by mermaidcafe at 1:41 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

There's also Saki's collected short stories, which are wry and dry and a little tart. (Real name: H. H. Munro)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:45 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

I'm going to second Tana French, especially if you like Donna Tart. Her Dublin Murder Squad books have that same literary fiction/mystery air, with a bit of the supernatural. They have some interrelated characters, but are basically stand alone stories. In the Woods was the first and a great place to start.
posted by kimdog at 1:58 PM on December 17 [3 favorites]

Perhaps an out-of-left-field choice: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I started this after a dozen books which I had dropped 50 or so pages in, and I am digging the hell out of it. Disclaimer: I'm listening to the audiobook read by my man Joe Morton--but the style and narrative are killing it just as hard as Morton's splendid narration.
posted by miltthetank at 2:37 PM on December 17

Gone Girl

read the book and then you will enjoy watching the movie after, I think.
posted by memoryindustries at 2:46 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed Miriam Keyes's Grown Ups. It manages to be both absorbing and funny without being sappy.
posted by rpfields at 3:23 PM on December 17 [1 favorite]

I have been inhaling the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood lately. Pure escapism with a dash of wish fulfillment; Deanna Raybourn scratches sort of the same itch and her latest, Killers of a Certain Age, was just a delight. Slightly more literary, still mysterious, is Ellie Griffiths, I love the Ruth Galloway books so much. Ditto for Donna Leon's contemplative Venetian police detective.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:28 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

The Goldfinch is my favorite Donna Tartt novel. Definitely addictive.
posted by ojocaliente at 5:30 PM on December 17 [2 favorites]

The Robert Cary novels, about (mostly) real historical figures, thumping fun; also the same author’s other books (under at least two names)

Or for much less realism but many many words, if you haven’t yet, the two historical Dorothy Dunnet series.
posted by clew at 9:41 PM on December 17

I’m currently reading Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. It’s the most addicting book I’ve read in a long time.
posted by Kriesa at 3:17 AM on December 18 [1 favorite]

Some books I've enjoyed when I've needed escapist reading that might work for you -

If YA is acceptable, Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer was recommended to me on here a couple of years ago and it is just a delightful, fun page-turner. There's a sequel too if you get into it.

I usually loathe re-told fairy tales, but Naomi Novik's Uprooted was incredibly charming and I think would be to your taste (Spinning Silver, the thematic follow-up to it was pretty good too but not as fun) and her Scholomance and Temeraire series got me through a very, very hard time. The series are a little goofier than Uprooted though and I'm less confident you'd be into them based on your ask.

N.K. Jemisin is fabulous and writes long books, often in trilogies, so if a fantasy or sci-fi-ish bent is ok, you can get lost in her work for a while. I love the Broken Earth trilogy most but they're all good.

Some well-regarded literary fiction I found super gripping:
- Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem (the very best sci-fi/noir/mystery combo out there)
- Anything by Louise Erdrich, The Round House is my favorite but it's hard to go wrong
- Matrix by Lauren Groff (she's great, so any of her books would be a good choice)
- The Overstory by Richard Powers (has climate themes so maybe too depressing but really beautiful and engrossing)
- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (bonus, also kind of a mystery)
posted by snaw at 3:46 AM on December 18 [2 favorites]

Novel. A mix of thriller and who dunnit. Safer, by Sean Doolittle:
https://seandoolittle.com/novels/safer/

Short story. More of a traditional detective story. "Thirteen Miles," by Michael Caleb Tasker:
https://shortaustralianstories.com.au/product/crime-scenes/
https://soundcloud.com/mark-dessaix/thirteen-miles-by-michael-caleb-tasker

**I sent you a memail with further discussion and links to a few other hopefuls that don't exactly fit the mold.
posted by mr_bovis at 7:19 AM on December 18 [1 favorite]

I just finished North Woods by Daniel Mason and found it engrossing and fun (and I really like most of the books/authors you mention). Each chapter has a somewhat different style so don't be put off if the first page or two isn't your thing.
posted by sonofsnark at 8:42 AM on December 18 [1 favorite]

Yeah if you like mystery novels and The Secret History and books you can't put down, you want Tana French's The Likeness.
posted by babelfish at 9:06 AM on December 18

Circe by Madeline Miller re-tells the story of one of the minor characters in The Odyssey from a more feminist perspective. Completely engrossing and maybe one of the best books I've ever read. Also gives an entirely reasonable explanation of why Circe turned Odysseus' men into pigs (spoiler: they were pigs to begin with).
posted by Quietgal at 2:17 PM on December 18

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, couldn't put it down. And seconding Piranesi with the caveat that you have to get through the first third of the (short) book before it becomes interesting.
posted by EarnestDeer at 6:22 PM on December 18

Oh, and if you're in a mood for something a little weird and different, Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey is both of those things, as well as somewhat weirdly cozy and very mysterious. Note that this is not 50 Shades of Gray. There's a second book that recently came out, though I haven't read it yet.

I didn't get too much enjoyment out of the other Fforde stuff I'd read, but I really liked this one.
posted by trig at 8:06 PM on December 18

The Mrs. Pollifax series. Just lovely and there's 14 of them.
posted by joycehealy at 6:52 PM on December 19

I just read "The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels" and couldn't put it down. Sending best wishes to you, I know a bit about what that feeling is like for me.
posted by soonertbone at 11:59 AM on December 24 [2 favorites]