I remember reading this in 2014, and it still remains one of my favourite books. One thing that stands out to me is that, despite being published in 1987, Süskind’s writing has a rhythm that I really enjoy.

Set in 18th-century France, the book follows a man on a mission to create the perfect perfume—crafted from the scent of young virgin women—in his desperate desire to be loved. If you're looking for an exquisitely written, character-driven, morbid, and slow-paced novel about a serial killer, I highly recommend this book.

I still remember reading this book in just two days back in 2016. By the end, I was thinking, 'Oh my god, the sun is rising—I have to get up for work in two hours,' and 'Oh my god, how do I stop crying?' As you can see, I lost sleep over this book because I simply couldn’t put it down.

The book is told from Death’s point of view, who masterfully crafts his slow-paced storytelling about Liesel, Papa, Rudy, Max, and many others to lure you into 1940s Molching. If you're ready to read a colourful prose written to describle one of the darkest moments in history and immerse yourself in the characters' daily lives for a while, this book is for you. The story is written beautifully and I cannot praise Zusak’s writing style enough.

I must admit, I only discovered this book’s existence when my friend dragged me to watch the movie adaptation with her. I agreed reluctantly yet I immediately looked for the book after the movie. Haha! Some time in 2018, I requested this book from my local bookstore and had to wait three weeks for the physical copy.

The late French writer Romain Kacew, better known as Romain Gary, wrote this biography as a tribute to his mother, whose love for him—despite poverty, illness, discrimination, and war—pushed him to become everything she dreamed of: a French ambassador, a pilot, and above all, a great writer.

It weaves intricate threads of beautiful prose, serving as both a homage to his mother and a collection of anecdotes about war, relentless survival, and a promise made too soon yet fulfilled all the same.

To lighten up my list of recommendations, here’s a book by T. Kingfisher that was a delight to read! If the title doesn’t catch your attention, well, what’s wrong with you?

If you're looking for a dark, whimsical narrative, this book might be right up your alley. It's best enjoyed when you're not overthinking the plot while reading. Ideal for those who need a light-hearted, slow-paced, and fun book to take a break from more serious-themed reads, it might even help pull you out of a reading slump.

The book opens with Mona, our 14-year-old protagonist, who discovers a dead body in her aunt’s bakery. Our wizard is a reluctant hero who, after a series of events, ends up being the only person who can save the city. Mona’s casual storytelling naturally evokes humor and amusement from the readers, which makes the reading experience fun.

Miller has a way with her prose that I have to keep recommending her books.

Circe is a Greek mythology retelling of her journey. She transformed from being an outcast among gods to a powerful, independent sorceress. In this book, we follow Circe as she navigated her identity and power. Madeline Miller reimagined Circe as a relatable character.

If you're looking for a Greek mythology retelling with great prose, right pacing, badass witch, self-sufficient heroine, then this is your book.

I remember reading this book in 2015 and was instantly hooked by the writing style. Yes, that's my weakness.

This book is set in 1945. It is about Daniel who picks up a mysterious book by Julian Carax and gets obsessed with the author, only to find out someone’s been systematically destroying all of Carax’s works. As Daniel digs deeper, his life starts mirroring Carax’s tragic past—full of betrayal, forbidden love, and creepy villains lurking in the shadows. Meanwhile, a sadistic cop, Fumero, is out to ruin lives, and Daniel has to navigate all this while growing up, falling in love, and avoiding getting killed. In the end, secrets unravel, history repeats itself in eerie ways, and the power of stories—and the people who tell them—takes center stage.

I recommend this to anyone looking to melodramatic prose and slow-paced plot, which I love. As warning, I would like to inform you that this book does not contain well-written women characters. I only remember two characters, but they were more of a plot device than well-fleshed-out characters.

My goodness! If it isn’t the book we’re all collectively waiting for Rothfuss to finish! We’ve been waiting for over a decade, and I can’t believe a small part of me still hopes The Kingkiller Chronicle's third book will be published. At this point, I’d even accept an AI-generated version.

Kvothe, a once-famous wizard now hiding as an innkeeper, tells his story to a chronicler. He recounts how he survived the harsh streets, mastered magic at the University, and obsessively sought the truth behind his parents’ murder by the Chandrian.

I recommend this to anyone looking for beautifully written prose and those who want to immerse themselves in a rich, atmospheric plot. As a recurring theme in my youthful reads, I must inform you that this book does not contain well-written female characters. The women in this book were more of an ephemeral presence, shrouded in mystery, and all liked Kvothe.

Ya know what? I really enjoyed this book, even though I sprained my wrist while reading it on a moving train like a decade ago or so. You know what I don’t enjoy? The lack of a final book—because WHY?! As it turns out, this was a frustrating recurrence in the books I've read, but damn, this is so good!

A Game of Thrones is about multiple noble families contending for the Iron Throne. It has political intrigue, betrayal, and power struggles across the continent of Westeros. Meanwhile, in the North, the looming threat of the White Walkers forces the Stark family to confront dangers beyond the kingdom’s borders. As alliances shift and loyalties are tested. This is the entire season one of the show, but better.

I recommend this for people who like their fantasy books with immersive world building, convoluted politics, family drama, and intricate plot.

I’ve been debating whether to post this, given the news about Gaiman. I do not appreciate his non-apology statement, and I fully stand with the victims. That said, in this post, I am choosing to separate the art from the artist. The Graveyard Book remains my all-time favorite book. While I understand that the art and the artist are two sides of the coin and can't be separated, I'm here to celebrate the book, not the artist. In case you're wondering, yes he was my favourite author. I'm on an active hunt to find a new one.

The night Nobody Owens lost his family to a murderer, he winded up in a graveyard and was raised by ghosts. As he grew older, he became increasingly curious about the living world—despite the lingering threat of the man who still wanted him dead.

I read this book in one sitting. It's dark, whimiscal, and it lingered in my head for days.

To end this list with a bang, here's another lighthearted recommendation, a book by Martha Wells. I just read it this year and this is the first book to Murderbot Series and the first book to make me like science fiction. It's my current favourite.

All Systems Red is about a self-aware android that refers to itself as "Murderbot". It is working on contract to guard and harvest the data acquired by its clients, a group of scientists called PreservationAux. When Murderbot and two of its client scientists are attacked by an unreported creature, the team investigates and discovers that some of the information files about the planet they're working on are missing. PreservationAux initiates correspondence with DeltFall, a larger survey team on the opposite end of the planet, to compare and find the discrepancies between their data. The teams maintain an open communication channel until DeltFall becomes unreachable. PreservationAux and Murderbot investigate to find out what happened to DeltFall and whether their security is also compromised.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced book that can be read in a day. Whether you're a science fiction aficionado or this is your first adult science fiction book, it is an easy read.

This is a poetic retelling of the Trojan War from Patroclus’ point of view. And if you paid attention in your literature classes on Greek mythology, you already know how this story ends. Nevertheless, Miller's immersive writing style made this one hell of a page-turner! Since the book isn’t told from a typical hero's perspective, it does a fantastic job of building tension and slow-burn romance between Patroclus and Achilles. To this day, this is the best book by Miller that I’ve read, and I highly recommend it.

P.S.: This is not the only romance book I read but this is the only one worth recommending in terms of prose, plot, protagonists, conflict and reading experience.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.

Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen's new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation.

To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin.

Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appareance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.

As they dig deep into the victim's past, The Shadow's Child realises that the investigation points to Long Chau's own murky past--and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars...

New love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home; a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds.

Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor.

Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of the stars by the goddess Bird.

When Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks begin to fly. An unforeseen configuration of their magical deepnames illuminates the trouble under the tides. For Ranra and Lilún, their story is just beginning; for the people of Gelle-Geu, it may well be too late to save their home.

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

Books are dangerous things in Collins's alternate universe, a place vaguely reminiscent of 19th-century England. It's a world in which people visit book binders to rid themselves of painful or treacherous memories. Once their stories have been told and are bound between the pages of a book, the slate is wiped clean and their memories lose the power to hurt or haunt them.

After having suffered some sort of mental collapse and no longer able to keep up with his farm chores, Emmett Farmer is sent to the workshop of one such binder to live and work as her apprentice. Leaving behind home and family, Emmett slowly regains his health while learning the binding trade. He is forbidden to enter the locked room where books are stored, so he spends many months marbling end pages, tooling leather book covers, and gilding edges. But his curiosity is piqued by the people who come and go from the inner sanctum, and the arrival of the lordly Lucian Darnay, with whom he senses a connection, changes everything.

Murder, Politics and Intrigue.

When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead.

Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. Now he lives in the City of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference.

He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honestly will not permit him to live quietly.

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.