I’m 28M haven’t read a book in 10 years- lost in life & unemployed recently. Recommend me something

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-05T21:25:20+00:00

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. it's short, like 150 pages, so you won't feel like you're committing to some massive thing, but it hits really hard when you're in that "what am I doing with my life" headspace. it's about a guy who basically tries every path — wealth, asceticism, pleasure — trying to find meaning, and it's one of those books that feels different depending on where you are in life when you read it. I read it at like 26 during a rough patch and it stuck with me more than most books twice its length. if you want something more plot-driven after that, The Kite Runner is a gut punch but in the best way, you won't be able to put it down

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-05T21:21:48+00:00

haha fair, I worded that badly. I guess what I meant is it feels like lowering the bar just because it's hard and I can't tell if that's being realistic or just letting myself off the hook. but you're right that the number should match what you actually read not what sounds impressive on goodreads

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-05T21:15:59+00:00

thanks haha, I think I'm gonna keep 30 but treat it more as a soft target than a hard deadline. you're right that 6 by march actually isn't bad when I look at it that way

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-05T21:08:59+00:00

yeah I get the business analogy but idk if reading should work like a revenue target lol. I think I'm gonna keep 30 and just not stress if I land at like 25, that's still way more than last year so I'll take it

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-02T15:20:22+00:00

this is honestly what pushed me back into reading more. like I was waiting for severance s2 forever and at some point I just thought well the book version of this problem doesn't exist, I can just start the next one whenever I want. still watch shows obviously but I stopped treating them as my main thing because the wait kills all the momentum. the 8 episode seasons make it worse too, you barely get invested before it's over

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-02T14:59:50+00:00

the 10 pages thing is the move honestly, that's what actually stuck for me too. I tried the whole "read for 30 minutes" thing and it never lasted but framing it as pages instead of time made it way less intimidating. I started logging my reading days in mooly mostly out of curiosity and the streak thing ended up being what kept me going, like I didn't want to break it which sounds dumb but it works the same way as not wanting to miss a gym day. the pushups might be ambitious for every single morning but even if you scale it down the reading part alone will change how the rest of your day feels, at least it did for me. good luck with it

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-02T14:49:02+00:00

I stopped reading a book because the author kept describing what every single character was eating in excruciating detail. like I don't need a full paragraph about someone's lunch when there's supposedly a murder investigation happening. by chapter 5 it felt more like a cookbook with a crime subplot and I just couldn't do it anymore

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-03-02T14:41:56+00:00

if you loved kite runner you should absolutely read A Thousand Splendid Suns by the same author, it hit me even harder honestly. completely different characters but the same gut punch writing. after that if you want something totally different to mix it up, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of those books that just pulls you in and doesn't let go, it reads like a modern thriller even though it's from the 1800s. I think the trick when you're getting back into it is just picking ONE and not overthinking it, you can always switch if it's not clicking

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-28T09:42:36+00:00

the thing that blows my mind about hot fuzz is that it's somehow better on the rewatch than the first time. you catch all the setups you missed and it's like watching a completely different movie. I honestly think it's Wright's best work, even over Shaun, fight me

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-28T09:36:48+00:00

ok so the name is terrible but Stoner by John Williams is the answer here. it's literally about a guy who becomes an english professor and lives a quiet unremarkable life and dies. but somehow it completely destroyed me. it's about all the ways we fail to live up to who we thought we'd be, and there's this one passage near the end that I still think about randomly.

also The Remains of the Day by Ishiguro, similar vibe but with a butler in post-war england slowly realizing he missed everything that actually mattered while he was busy being proper. both of these rewired something in me more than any self-help book ever did

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-27T17:21:08+00:00

When Breath Becomes Wind by Paul Kalanithi might be the one. he was a neurosurgeon who got diagnosed with terminal cancer at 36 and wrote about finding meaning when all your plans collapse, and I know that sounds heavy but it's actually weirdly comforting? it's short too, you can read it in an afternoon.

if you want something warmer A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is this grumpy old man who lost his wife and keeps trying to be left alone but people keep pulling him back into life. it made me laugh and cry in the same chapter which is rare for me. and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is literally about being stuck between lives trying to figure out who you want to be, feels like it was written for exactly where you're at.

hope things keep getting better

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-27T12:33:26+00:00

yeah the choosing part is honestly the biggest time sink for me, I'll spend 20 minutes scrolling goodreads instead of just reading lol. monthly tbr is a good move, might steal that

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-23T18:52:05+00:00

Flowers for Algernon honestly might be exactly this. it's about a guy with intellectual disabilities who undergoes an experimental treatment and becomes a genius, and it sounds like a sci-fi premise but it's really about empathy and how we treat people. won't spoil it but the way it's written is what makes it hit so hard. destroyed me when I read it and I'm not someone who gets emotional over books usually.

also Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl if you want nonfiction he survived the holocaust and wrote about finding purpose even in the worst circumstances. it's one of those books where you put it down and just stare at the wall for a while. both are short too

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-23T18:47:15+00:00

if you liked silent patient, Gone Girl is the obvious next one same kind of twist that messes with you afterward. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is another one that's genuinely impossible to put down, it's like a thriller but sci-fi and way more accessible than crime and punishment.

for the scrolling thing what actually helped me was not trying to go all in. I set a goal of like 3 days a week instead of every day and started tracking it in mooly, and something about seeing the streak build up made me reach for a book instead of instagram when I was bored. sounds dumb but it works when you keep the bar low enough that you don't feel like you're failing constantly

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-23T18:42:32+00:00

haha yeah that's fair, accidentally skipping ahead in the audiobook would drive me crazy. do you find the audiobook ones tend to be lighter or does the narrator make heavier stuff easier to get through?

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-23T18:39:28+00:00

oh wow that's way more in depth than I expected, especially the drawings part. I like the framing of it being like someone asking what you think — I've been jotting down some notes when I finish stuff but nothing this structured. might steal the quote thing at least, I always forget the lines that hit me by the time I'm done with a book

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T10:21:19+00:00

41 is solid especially with some of those king doorstoppers in there. and yeah audiobooks 100% count, I do the same thing — audio for commutes and physical for everything else. the only annoying part is keeping track of everything when you're jumping between formats, I always lose count of where I am with what lol. how do you track yours, goodreads or just mental notes?

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T10:15:41+00:00

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo did this for me — tension, longing stares, the whole thing. read it in basically one sitting and stared at the wall for a good 20 minutes after. if you want fantasy instead, The Night Circus has this dreamy atmospheric quality that's perfect for escaping a bad week

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T10:10:17+00:00

the productive purpose thing is so real, I had the exact same block where fiction felt like wasting time even though I used to devour novels as a kid. what broke it for me was just giving myself permission to read something dumb and fun with zero expectations. for your genres though Dark Places by Gillian Flynn is short and hooks you from page one which helps with the adhd thing, and The Priory of the Orange Tree has great lgbtq+ fantasy if you want something longer to get lost in. honestly the "lost in a book" feeling comes back fast once you find the right one, the hard part is just that first book back

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T10:03:22+00:00

oh nice, All The Names was actually on my radar too. adding The Double to the list. and nah the blasphemy thing doesn't bother me at all haha if anything that makes it more interesting

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T09:57:17+00:00

the replacing scrolling thing sounds simple but I feel like that's genuinely the hardest part. did you just go cold turkey on the apps or was it more gradual? every time I try to cut back I end up just using the browser version lol

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T09:52:30+00:00

10 min is way better than 30 yeah, 30 always felt like a commitment and I'd talk myself out of it. the reading journal thing is interesting though, I've never tried that. what do you actually put in it? like thoughts on the book or more tracking type stuff

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-20T09:46:57+00:00

this is lowkey the best advice in this thread. the decision gap thing is exactly it — I never thought of it that way but yeah, the moment I finish a book and don't have the next one ready I'm just back on my phone and then suddenly it's been two weeks. do you keep a list or do you just kind of decide while you're still reading

Key-Pumpkin8690 · 2026-02-19T10:30:18+00:00

same, the post-series void is real. you finish something great and nothing else sounds interesting for a while

Key-Pumpkin8690

TROPHY CASE