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Rn I'm currently rereading The Inheritance Cycle, it's fantasy, but it goes very in depth, there are your different races, elves, "orcs", dwarves, you got dragons, there are different languages that the author made, its very good. Of course I might be biased since I'm rereading it rn lmao
Edit: I did not read the bit about reading it in a day. I guess you could if you read fast
The End of Eternity (Asimov) might be short enough for you, and has some interesting ideas about the implications of time travel.
If you're into short stories the Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is a good one.
And while I didn't read much Issac Asimov myself my wife, who loves reading but dislikes sci-fi, read one of his books (Foundation) in a day and said he's an excellent writer.
I would recommend checking out audio books as a medium for reading. It allows you to increase the speed to whatever works for you, so 2x for me, and listen to a lot more in a day. It also frees you to listen at any times you have nothing cognitive happening, so dishes, washing, cleaning, etc.
As for single day books, the first book of the Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor. I loved the whole series including the recently released 5th book and the first is only 9.5 hours at normal speed, so about 4.75 at double speed.
Also All Systems Red is the first book in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. The perspective of a SecUnit, a type of sentient cyborg, which has hacked its own programming and removed its limiters so it can act freely. This means no guard rails, no rules, no limits, which results in lots of TV shows being watched and avoiding humans. It is snarky, fun, and interesting. It comes in at 3.5 hours normal time, so 1.75 at double speed.
The Locked Tomb series is refreshing. It’s weird, it’s fun, it’s dark, and it’s trash, but it’s trash that the author is having fun with.
Discworld is also just amazing
Each of the novels is more detached than the last - it's great but probably not for someone just starting their journey into fiction
Recommend high quality short stories. Edgar Allen Poe has a collection that is some of the most thrilling, mysterious and fun, imaginative, adventurous, grotesque and other depending on the story. https://www.amazon.com/Edgar-Allan-Poe-Complete-Collection/dp/1453643141
Robert Louis Stevenson was also a fantastic writer of short stories.https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Short-Stories-Robert-Stevenson/dp/030680882X
I like short stories sometimes as I can't commit to a larger read.
Two for you:
《The Wild Girls》 - Ursula K Le Guin
《Piranesi》 - Susanna Clarke
And if you read fast I reckon you could do China Miévilles 《The City and the City》 or Tade Thompson's 《Rosewater》 in a day.
Edit bonus: anything by Douglas Adams.
Any early Alistair MacLean...
Guns of Navaronne
Where Eagles Dare
When Eight Bells Toll
Night Without End
Puppet on a String
Louis Lamour's westerns are complete popcorn and fun to read
C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books
When I was younger I binged a lot of Alistair MacLean. To continue the list with some of my other favourites:
The Satan Bug
The Golden Rendezvous
The Dark Crusader
The Last Frontier
Ice Station Zebra
Fair warning though: he's quite formulaic and it is not recommended to finish one of his books then start another. Read a couple of books inbetween to give yourself a break.
I second someone else suggestion: the murderbot diaries. It's great.
Most of the books people here are recommending are fairly lengthy, but you can get through the first murderbot book in a dedicated evening.
"The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism" is a hell of read, as well as "The Navidson Record".
But "The Necronomicon" is my favorite fictional book, I think.
Others may have mentioned it (happy to see Terry Pratchett getting a lot of love), but would definitely recommend anything by Vonnegut! Love his writing style and his approaches to humor and world building. Slaughterhouse Five is a great one, as is Sirens of Titan.
Also, not certain how well they hold up, but I really enjoyed the Redwall series back in the day! I was much younger at the time, though.
"Short enough to finish in a day" seems pretty tough for me, but maybe I read slowly.
Short story books are good for casual reading in short sessions. Robot Dreams by Asimov, or Welcome to the Monkey House by Vonnegut. I used to carry each of those around and read a short story while waiting at a restaurant or at the DMV or whatever.
I really liked Altered Carbon. Approachable sci fi with drugs, violence, sex, politics, and of course high tech ideas like flying cars, AI hotels, digital consciousness.
The Handmaid's Tale
We
Nightfall
The Terminal Experiment
My favorite easy fiction that helps me unwind is Agatha Christie mysteries. There is a reason she is the greatest mystery ŵritwr of all time. She sets up compelling situations and makes her way to a damn satisfying conclusion by the end.
A few of her shorter but still excellent stories: The Secret Adversary N or M The Unexpected Guest 3 Blind Mice Halloween Party Murder of Roger Akcroyd
Also if you like Mysteries I have to plug my all time favorite: 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
It is a great mystery in which the protagonist wakes up with no memories and has 8 chances to solve a murder.
A couple of my favorite books are probably longer than a day’s read:
• Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut (319p)
• The Watermelon King - Daniel Wallace (240p)
"Best" often is a literary work that can be slow to read and/or very long. You want stuff that is short and quick, which is fine, I read a lot of fanfiction for that purpose. But I'm going to recommend Pohl and Kornbluth's "The Space Merchants" and their other short novels from that era (1950s). Their cynicism is absolutely prescient. The Space Merchants is about a world run by advertising agencies. A quick read while hard hitting.
