Books to Keep Your Mind Busy

hello my friends it's kayla a week or two ago i asked you what type of book recommendations you were desperately in need of because i wanted to offer a video full of recommendations and then a lot of the requests ended up being in the same vein something that is gripping something immersive something that will keep your attention something that will keep your brain busy so i thought i would just theme the whole recommendation video around that i know a lot of people are feeling in a bit of a reading slump i relate but i feel like i'm in a bit of a video slump so i wanted to make this kind of a casual video where i'm not really trying to pitch you these books but i'm organizing them into different things that i think are what can help get you out of a reading slump or something that will hold your attention and why if you're new here and you're expecting what might sound like i'm about to recommend some spanning fantasy series i don't read that what i'm going to do is select the types of books i already read maybe some already on your radar and tell you which ones i think would be good at gripping you oh wait that sounded weird but you know what i mean i think we're going to talk about like 50 books it's a speed round the first type of book that i find engaging and that keeps my brain active and busy are books that play with time first up i have to mention one of my favorite books of all time middle game by seanan mcguire the concepts of quantum entanglement in the alchemical arts are things that will keep you very engaged also books that i find hold my attention are books where i'm confused for 50 of the book i don't know if that's a common feeling but for me books that i don't fully grasp the concepts and i'm lost as long as they have a good payoff those are the things that keeps my brain working this is about twins roger and dodger who were created and there are some timeline situations that give a lot of anticipation next on the list neverworld wake by mauricio pessl this is a murder mystery there's a character who died and then their friends have to find out what happened to them and it's got sci-fi elements and time is played with in a really fun way because they have to keep reliving the same not full day but portions of their day until they find out what really happened in a similar vein i have the seven and a half deaths of evelyn hart castle by stuart turton and this has to do with reliving the same day over and over again as well to solve the murder of evelyn hardcastle but every single time this person wakes up and relives the day they arrive in a different body at this party until they figure out what happened next up i would definitely recommend this is how you lose the time war by amal el motar and max gladstone this is a short book when thinking about books that aren't boring and that keep your attention i leaned a lot towards shorter books but i wanted to challenge myself to think about longer books that still manage to keep you interested like evelyn hart castle and middle game but there are a few short ones on this list even though this is quick to get through i think that there's a lot of things to think about maybe stop and ponder there are sections you might want to read multiple times i think this is conducive to the theme we're talking about because there's a time war there are battling agents and it's like a pen pal situation but because you're just immediately dropped into the situation with not a lot of context i think that's what keeps your mind active is trying to figure out what world we're really living in and what is going on and putting all the pieces together my last one for this category is dark matter by black crouch this is the perfect mix of sci-fi and thriller it deals with alternate realities and i think it introduces the concepts in a really palatable way it's easy to understand but um it's just fast-paced and interesting and fun and very cinematic it has a lot of really good visuals and you can totally picture the book while you're reading the next style of book that creates a really immersive experience for me is one that mixes media um so the actual writing of the book and the organization of the book is what keeps you engaged for example illuminae by jay kristoff and amy kaufman this has a lot of elements in it it's written as a dossier it has to do with warring um spaceships planetary drama there's a plague there's romance but the way that it's written and how things are constantly changing just is very engaging another example of the style the book is written itself is what keeps it engaging is replica by lauren oliver um this is about two girls um who are clones i didn't realize how many sci-fi books i had especially at the beginning of this list so if you have any recommendations for me especially in this genre please let me know down below but this book you can read it in multiple different ways so it's written from lira's perspective and then you flip the book and it's from gemma's perspective and you can read the entirety of one girl's story and then the other or it's written so you can go back and forth between chapters which makes it really fun another marisha pestle book on my list night film also has that multimedia format this is another murder mystery and then it has documents that keeps you interested and i feel like especially when you can see as you're reading the book when things are upcoming that are documents and files it makes you want to get there faster for those interesting elements so i think that is very conducive to an immersive and engaging experience and then a book i don't see very many people talk about that i thought was really fun is the anatomy of curiosity it's by a trio of authors and there's a couple different books in short story collections in this series but this one specifically are these short stories written by the authors and then they dive into where the story kind of came from so you get to experience the story and then also there's notes of like how they came up with certain ideas and they kind of review their own book which is just really cool and this bleeds into the next thing on my list which is books that play with genre because this one is like fantasy stories but then also a book full of like writing tips and it's a bit nonfiction so some other books that play with genre include black girl unlimited by echo brown this is a mix of a contemporary coming of age part memoir because it's based on echo brown's own experience and part fabulism because she is dealing with trauma and poverty and a lot of really difficult stuff and then it's also really heavy metaphor and has to do with wizards and the magic she finds within herself i think a lot of the requests i got were sad books people wanted books where they could commiserate with the characters i did get a lot of requests for happy books as well but i just don't read enough of them so as a quick aside if you really want to just wallow and that is the way that you feel immersed into a story um my two like saddest recommendations besides black girl unlimited i would recommend girls burn brighter by show burow this is about two girls who basically spend years um after being taken away from each other coming together and finding each other again and it's just difficult situation after difficult situation my next one would be the first time she drowned by carrie clutter which is just one of the saddest books i've ever read about a girl dealing again with trauma and starting college and just not knowing where to go with her life coming back to the mix of genres this is an equally difficult book to read um it's more than this by patrick ness which i always recommend people go into knowing nothing which i guess is helpful to this video where i'm really not going into the synopsis at all anyway but there is a boy who drowns and he wakes up in this strange place and the way that you think you know what's going on and then it switches like three to four different times throughout this book is what keeps it engaging and interesting and the constant flipping of genres is super fun and then i have to mention slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut which i think is one of the first times i experienced this melding of genres it's like historical it's a war story but it also has aliens in time travel and it's also a little autobiographical and it's also satire so it's horrifying and it's funny and i think this is an engaging story because afterwards it's something that you might want to ponder about and will stick in your mind for a while next up i want to talk about some non-fiction because i feel like sometimes nonfiction can feel dry it can feel a little boring and obviously any book on this list might be boring for someone might be exciting for some so it's like everyone has their own opinions anyway when i'm in a reading slump i don't necessarily reach for non-fiction but what i think is helpful in non-fiction to be engaged with is when the person is writing something that they're really passionate about i love when a book i think i'll talk about some fiction books as well right after this that when the character or the author is super passionate about a topic i don't have to care about that topic in order to care about the book or to feel interested in the book so three books that do this really well and that are also a mix of like memoir and just a topic are dead mountain by johnny eicher this is the story of the diet love pass where a bunch of experienced hikers went missing under or died under mysterious circumstances and it's his journey of finding out and interviewing different people to learn and then it's also his theory about what really happened next up eating animals by jonathan safran foer is just about eating animals different cultures of how people eat animals how we understand um and how we misunderstand different parts of the world and their history of consuming animals and i just thought that was one of the most interesting nonfictions i've ever read and lastly i have how we did it by carl subban which is a memoir about his experience moving to canada um and being a principal and being a father and also like a parenting style book about how he ended up with five successful children three children in the nhl and there's a lot of really interesting parenting tips in there and just thoughts from him which is really cool and i would recommend all three of these as an audiobook i feel like if you're struggling to read in general audiobooks are obviously really useful and i prefer the ones that are narrated by the authors themselves which those ones are as far as fictional passion i've got valley girls by sarah nicole lemon which is about a girl who is not sure where she belongs or what she's doing and then suddenly is put into an environment surrounded by mountain climbers she gets involved with these mountain climbers and ends up just loving it and it's like a coming-of-age story i don't care about learning bouldering and blaze but because of her discovered passion i was really interested in what she was talking about in a similar vein the song will save your life by layla sales is about a teenage girl who discovers her passion for djing this is a really uh dark book what she's going through and how music saves her again i don't care about djing i don't care about you know making wrath part of my career but on the come up by angie thomas is another one about music that just reading about these characters and how they get through difficult times and how they take that and put it into music and they're so passionate about it it just makes for a really engaging story for me also watch us rise by renee watson and ellen hagan is one of my favorites these girls passion for changing their school and feminism and the trials they have to go through just to get what they want in life is really inspiring this also fits into the mixed media section because there are drawings in here there are blog posts i think there's some poetry and i love a book that mixes just like interesting topics with topics that can actually teach you something oh also still since i can't stay away from sci-fi the martian by andy weir i know some people will say that this is dull for them it's a lot of numbers it's a lot of scientific stuff growing things uh on mars but mark watney's passion for botany and his investment in his own survival is something that just was exhilarating to read and really kept me on edge and kept me interested that one bleeds well into the next thing which is books that allow you to be engaged beyond just the reading experience that was just a way of saying books that have adaptations my favorite type of reading experience is when i know that a book has been adapted is currently being adapted or is about to be adapted because it makes it more fun to imagine the characters in my head and fully picture the scenes so then when i watch the movie i can compare and i can take my love of the book beyond into like more discussions and more enjoyment so one of my top recommendations for this is big little lies by leanne moriarty another theme actually that i don't have like a selection of books to discuss but probably span a lot of these titles is the idea of you knowing the ending of a book from the beginning i love books where first page you know there's a depth but then you don't know maybe who actually died or who is responsible as the more like traditional idea then throughout the book you get to learn and you get to theorize and then you get the satisfying ending so that's what happens in here this is a story of a bunch of like moms and their kindergartners but there is a death that happened always at the back of your mind and then you have an entire mini series which is one of my favorite adaptations of all time to watch afterwards and just take your love further another one is tiny pretty things by sona charapatra and daniel clayton which i read so long ago that i never really talk about but i love this book it's about um elite ballerinas and this school there's a lot of dark friendships and relationships and sabotage and i haven't watched the adaptation yet and i know it's gotten some mixed reviews but this is also a series so if you love the first one i haven't continued on yet and i know i need to i have the second book and i need to complete it but this alone i just loved it for what it is there's a little mystery there's it's fun it's intriguing and also it has the element of like i don't care about dance but this book made me care because the characters cared also one that just popped into my head is the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson which is currently being adapted and i just love following the cast reveals and building anticipation i don't know if this is the most engaging book for everyone but for me um it's a really interesting portrait of loss a girl loses her sister and then is kind of deciding between these two boys but there's a lot of depth to it and i know i read it really fast janie nelson's books in general are really well formatted and keep your attention okay my next style of book that i feel like is really good if you are struggling to complete books right now is a story with a really clearly defined structure that you know going in i don't know how to describe that any better but i do have some examples so one of them is 10 blind dates by ashley elston i did manage to think of a book that is lighter and fluffier and the focus of this book is a girl who is being set up on 10 blind dates by all of her family members it's really fun it's cheesy and silly and you already know going in that it's going to be divided up into 10 chapters essentially so i feel like that can help encourage you to continue if you just want to complete a book but you're really struggling to push through some more complex ideas or boring storyline this type of book is really engaging so my recommendation if you're looking for a mystery is six stories by matt weslowski this has a podcast element and there are six interviews throughout the story to find out who is responsible for this death and like i said it's divided up nicely and will i think help you feel accomplished even if there are some stories or some dates that are a little more boring you know that they're going to be over in a certain amount of pages and you can move on to the next kind of story obviously anthologies are really helpful for this as well if you want to read a bunch of short stories toil and trouble is one of my favorites as of late as well as his hideous heart this one's going to come up again in just a second when we talk about um reading familiar stories but my last one for a really good structure is this is where i leave you by jonathan tropper um this is about a family who's coming together to sit shiva for their father who has passed and you already know it's gonna take place over seven days so you have really well organized dates and the plot is just constantly moving and keeping you interested also this fits for the one about commiserating with characters because these characters are stuck inside as i know many of us are and i know a lot of people are looking for escapist books right now totally different from their current situation but i know a lot of people are also looking for books where they can relate to the situation that's going on in here coming back to his hideous heart the theme that works with this is the idea of familiar stories if you're struggling to get into a new book especially if you read a lot of fantasy and you're feeling overwhelmed by the magic system or it's hard to get introduced to a whole new world what i think retellings are good for is you already have an idea of what the story is you have a good idea of the characters you have a good idea of how it's going to end you already know the moral of the story but it isn't just rereading an old favorite it's in a new fresh way so you're still experiencing something unfamiliar but it's rooted in something you already understand so these are retellings of edgar allan poe stories with the actual original stories in here which is helpful another book i would recommend is the afterlife of holly chase this has the idea of playing with time as well because this girl is a ghost of christmas past and has to go and make people change their ways and she has to succeed so she has multiple chances to succeed at that so if you're familiar with the story of ebenezer scrooge then i think this will be a fun read for you my next retelling is last fantasy but it's pride by eb zaboy this is a retelling of pride and prejudice so again if you're already familiar with the characters it's easy to get into but it introduces a lot of interesting themes as well just in a more modern and timely setting another retelling i would recommend is a blade so black by elle mckinney i think it's the only alice's adventures in wonderland retelling i've ever read but i love how it has the classic ideas of the story it's easy to read it's familiar but it has it introduces a lot of other ideas and thoughts that just makes it fun and that one is a series as well so if you love it and you want something to continue to interest you you have more to read the next style of book that i would recommend especially if you're somebody who reads a lot of contemporary and is feeling in a bit of a slump or like nothing is really interesting you is i would suggest reading something set in a different time i think having to learn about how the world runs and exists in the past or the future is something really immersive for me the first one definitely depends on your age but we ride upon sticks by quan berry is set in the 80s and having all of these 80s influences is something that makes it really fun and having to learn about and getting to see how life was during this time period is something that's really interesting but then if you did exist in the 80s it can be a nostalgic read which is also something that i think is helpful to keep your attention this also plays with genre because it is magical and about a coven but is also just a coming-of-age story for this field hockey team actually my next one pairs multiple genres as well i didn't realize that was going to be so prevalent here but we're going way back to 1895 with a great and terrible beauty by libba bray this is the first book in a series we've got historical fiction and fantasy playing off of each other and getting to learn about life during the victorian times is something that kept me very alert and constantly learning so this is a top recommendation and then completely switching it to future times i mean i talked about a lot of futuristic stories i feel like already but i think the seep by channa porter would also be a good one i don't even remember when this is set but it's this utopian alien influence and it has some familiar themes of like current day but also has a lot of really interesting societal commentary a lot reflecting current society but then a lot of just like weird futuristic situations okay next category a lot of previous books probably could have fit into but i think that books with short chapters are really conducive to a fast-paced reading experience so one of my recommendations is no exit by taylor adams which also insular stories i feel like are helpful to this because there's not a lot of distraction it's just you're in the story it's action-packed you're following a small amount of characters in this one they're stranded at a rest stop and the book is written over a very short time period maybe like one day and the time is put at the top of every chapter so it's kind of like 24. how like every episode starts with that ticking clock so it's like 1201 and the time is just really real however long it takes you to read that chapter like that much time has passed and it's a very you just feel very in it next up i have midnight at the electric by jodi lynn anderson this i think is written from three different perspectives so multiple povs is definitely helpful as well but in this one you're reading from different characters over three different timelines and it all has to do with like space travel but then she's reading journals from people in the 30s and 1919 and all the stories come together and it's not the most action-packed but because of the mix of the type of writing i think it keeps you really engaged um also i would recommend home before dark i should have mentioned this earlier for the mixed media because in home before dark by riley sager we're following a girl who is back at her childhood home where perhaps these ghost things happen it's uh haunting and every other chapter is portions of her father's book that he wrote as the reason why they ran away from this house years and years ago and i think that's what keeps you going and keeps you interested and makes this a really fast read because you're constantly finding out different things but there's multiple like narration styles another one for multiple povs and short chapters is the one by john mars of course this is where there is this um futuristic dna ability to find out your one true match in life the chapters are incredibly short like two pages and we're following a whole bunch of characters i don't remember maybe like seven or eight different characters and how they engage um with the idea of finding their true love do they want to take the test did they take the test how's it affecting their relationships there's lots of reveals it's over the top sci-fi it's super fun and then i would also recommend digg by a.s king similar lots of povs short chapters this is also one of those books that you will be confused for half of the book and if that's something for you that makes you engaged with a story then i highly recommend this this has to do with a family of potato farmers there are various estranged grandchildren it mixes um contemporary with surrealism it has a lot of interesting things to say and it's one of my all-time favorite books and then i definitely do want to recommend some fantasy because i feel like learning about new magic systems or just a different way of life um is something that is interesting and engaging though i don't read high fantasy series i want to recommend of course the wayward children series by seanan mcguire because it's one of my favorites it's portal fantasy and in each book you get to read about different children and the magical worlds that they go to it's extremely interesting for me because it is a never-ending um never-ending possibilities of the type of world that they're going to there's a lot of really interesting explanations and all the characters are super lovable and fun another one is the wise and the wicked not high fantasy but if you're looking for a standalone fantasy that's super interesting i would recommend this by rebecca potus in this family your coming of age moment is when you have a vision of how you will be when you die it's not about your death but it's about the type of person that you are and the situation that you're in once you die this family keeps journals of their visions and no one is supposed to read it and then we're following a girl who has an unexpected vision and it's this whole conversation about um can you control your fate i also definitely want to recommend girls of paper and fire by natasha young this is a unfamiliar story for me um that has to do with demons and casts which i don't read a lot about but there's a demon king and there's concubines and there's like human animal hybrids and learning about this world is something that definitely kept my attention and kept me engaged there's like a love story to follow there's difficult stuff there's joyful things and it was just really fun and fast-paced so those were my 50 or so recommendations for books that i feel are really engaging you may have a different opinion there's probably a ton of books that i haven't read or styles of books that i don't traditionally read that do all of those things if you want to take all of the categories that i gave and try to think of a recommendation for each one i would really appreciate it i think that would be really fun if the comment section was full of immersive stories that hold your attention and you can complete easily i think that means something different for everybody in some cases that just means something light and fluffy and easy to read but for some that means books that are complex and make you ignore reality i hope you got something from this video i talked about all these books before but i think the combination of them might help somebody out there so thank you very much for watching and i will see you later bye

Channel: BooksandLala

Views: 51,930

Rating: 4.9764576 out of 5

Keywords: books, booktube, bookish, booksandlala, obbsandlala

Id: BvtGBunnUnc

Length: 28min 34sec (1714 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021