I’ve basically been ordered to pick up any fiction book and read, after a friend discovered I’ve not read anything but non-fiction for a decade.
The ones I’ve enjoyed in the past have been short, fantastical or sci-fi (think Aldous Huxley, Ian McEwan), but crucially with amazing first person descriptive prose - the kind where you’re immersed in the writing so much you’re almost there with the character.
I liked sci-fi as the world’s constraints weren’t always predictable. Hope that makes sense.
Any recommendations?
Edit: I’m going to up the ante and, as a way of motivating myself to get off my arse and actually read a proper story, promise to choose a book from the top comment, after, let’s say arbitrarily, Friday 2200 GMT.
Edit deux: Wow ok I don’t think I’ve ever had this many responses to anything I’ve posted before. You’ve given me what looks like a whole year of interesting suggestions, and importantly, good commentary around them. I’m honouring my promise to buy the top thing in just under 4 hours.
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.
All in all there are are like 40. At some point you will wish there were more.
Guards! Guards! is nice.
I also liked The Wee Free Men and a Hat Full of Sky.
Came to make sure someone had posted Pratchett.
I think it particularly suits OP as the prose is astoundingly good. I’d never been impressed by sentence structure until reading Pratchett.
Also, for someone into non-fiction, there’s so much real world brilliance that it crosses over pretty well. (Sociology, science, politics, religion, damnit, everything. The whole human experience can be found in Pratchett’s writing.)