I read Red Rising and Golden Son before reading the Wheel of Time early this year and I had a hard time getting into them. I might give them another chance at some point and at least finish the trilogy because there were aspects that I really enjoyed.
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I think Golden Son was the weakest book of the 5 I read so far, but I found them all enjoyable. I think what drove me is wanting to know answers. Morning Star, the end of the first saga, is probably my favourite.
Nonetheless, it sometimes reads like too much like a Young Adult book (which it is, but sometimes with more emphasis on the young) and I wish it sometimes didnāt back down from the dystopian depression it carries. I think itās the writing style that does this, rather than the content (?). Not sure 
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I think Pierce Brownās writing style didnāt jive well with me. I had a hard time imagining the settings, which is more than likely a me problem. I think I could have benefitted from a bit more world building so I can properly imagine these futuristic cities and various settings but I think this is harder to do in a story that is entirely from a first person point of view. What the books did well were the action sequences and twists. Never felt that it was predictable.
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I started off with Meditations by Marcus Aurelius but I always found it to be too heavy. The concepts need a lot of understanding for me and I feel I am missing the messages that are being conveyed. I have switched to learning about Discourses by Epictetus and it has been with me for almost a year or more. I am a very slow reader and it takes a while for me to digest things like this.
I also started with The Elements of Moral Philosophy. It is the most recommend textbook that covers fairly large concepts on philosophy and is pretty great read for a newbie like me.
I also want to tag @lookaclara because I know this is a topic that she would definitely be interested in.
Cheers!
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I believe and Iād love to be corrected but my and many others interpretation of Fight Club is that it was intended to be a message that painting consumerism as a net negative and something you should break away from, but trading that in for just another different form of identity (nihilism) only ends in destruction, in this case domestic terrorism.
Self-destruction is a running theme throughout the book, but many of the āfree thinkersā that are fans of Fight Club miss the point that the narrator (so named Jack in the film, Joe in the book) is actually just prescribing himself to another āidentityā and is no less owned by that one than he was his consumerism.
I studied Palahniuk as my chosen author at university for a few of my modules, and honestly the only take that irks me is ābe a cunt to everyone because nothing matters and also fighting is cool because fighters are real menā. Youād maybe not be surprised that that was all many took away from it.
Also the narrator is mentally unwell. Key factor. 
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This is next on my reading list when I find a copy!
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I havenāt but that sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the suggestion. Iāll check it out!
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Reply back when you give it a read! Iād love to hear your thoughts!
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So many new wave authors, a lot of talent. If your after world building then Stephen Donaldsonās āThe Chronicles of Thomas Covenantā series rivals Tolkien, but better again is the Expanse or Culture series, Yes, there are many more.
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Several other people have recommended books by Brandon Sanderson and Iām definitely a big fan. The Stormlight Archive is amazing, but you get so much more out of it by reading other cosmere books first (the original era Mistborn books are also very good). My favorite Sanderson book might actually be a standalone Cosmere novel -Warbreaker! Itās got all of the regular masterful world building of a Sanderson book with a very unique magic system and itās slightly less dense for those who find Stormlight intimidating.
Recently Iāve been reading the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. I found it to be a slow start, but I enjoyed the first two trilogies and now that Iām on the Tawny Man series Iāve had trouble putting them down!
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Thanks, will order it later today! 
(No idea when Iāll read it, though - but one day.) There arenāt too many standalone fantasy books. And since I enjoyed the first three books Iāve read of the Mistborn series, a standalone fantasy from Sanderson sounds great tbh.
Greetz,
Quuador
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Glad I could recommend something that at least has some promise! Haha, if you do get along to reading it definitely let me know what you think!
*Also full disclosure the book is setup so that it could have something added on, but I feel like it is fulfilling by itself and if youāre ever desperate for more there may be some references in other Cosmere novels.
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This Is Water was the last audiobook I re-listened to this year, and it has remained a good piece ever since I first read an excerpt in another book about a decade ago. Itās long overdue for me to check out his other work, so thank you for sharing those recommendations.
Cheers,
Adhi
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i come back to āthis is waterā on about a yearly basis, heās a complicated person and i try not to lionize him but i rlly appreciate what he had to say about staying grounded and getting out of the default settings (selfish, solipsistic, etc). i consider myself to be a pretty empathetic person but nobody is perfect, so itās good to have a periodic refresher
i would definitely like to hear what you think of those others!!
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I honestly listened to it during particularly hard days this year, to remind myself to choose how to think. At this point, itās become a familiar piece to return to from time to time, in what DFW called āthe boredom of adulthood.ā
Iāll come back to you once Iāve read his other work!
Cheers,
Adhi
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Recently Iāve been reading war books and you canāt ever go wrong with amazing stories like unbroken
Also for all the Harry Potter readers, Harry is supposed to have green eyes like his mother in the book and thatās kike a whole thing with Snape but has blue eyes in the movies and I havenāt been able to forget it since I saw it and it annoys the crap out of me so thereās a random spheal
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I have both Mistborn and Stormlight Archives in my backlog. Do you recommend reading any other Cosmere books outside of the Mistborn series and Warbreaker before jumping into Stormlight?
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Oh snap! I read the first 3 back in high school. Such great books, had no clue there were more!!
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I think the first era of Mistborn and Warbreaker would be my minimum. There could also be some benefit from reading Elantris, but it isnāt my favorite Sanderson book, so Iād recommend that after Mistborn at least. Tress of the Emerald Seas is also a standalone, but I havenāt actually read that one so I canāt speak to how it integrates. I also enjoyed White Sand if youāre looking for something totally random, haha. Honestly you could read nothing but Sanderson for a year plus so it depends on how committed you want to be. Personally, Iād start with Warbreaker or Mistborn and go from there.
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Cool! Thanks for recommendation. I was planning on reading Mistborn before Stormlight Archives anyway so Iāll add Warbreaker and maybe Elantis to that list. I know Elantis is one of his earliest books so it probably isnāt as well written but Iād like to check it out anyway
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