I need some help. I am 40 years old. I have always been an avid reader (enjoyment, stress and anxiety relief....escape). BUT, lately I have had a difficult time finding a book or series I LOVE...that I DON'T want to end. Here is some history (exhausted the genre's, I thought)....I loved paranormal for many years and read many of the beg authors/series. I enjoyed Historical Fiction and Sci-Fi (particularly apocalypse) and just good ol' fiction (family drama, life, etc.) and memoirs. Then for some reason I switched to Psych/thriller. They are okay. But it takes a special one to grab me (I don't spook or get scared easily). I enjoyed "Bird Box"! I am to the point that I don't know why I am reading psych/thrillers. i do not read detective or law enforcement themed books (I am pro-law enforcement though), Christian/religious fiction and I don't do well with cozy mysteries. Please hit me with anything you think I would like or diagnose my reading issue please! I need a book to make me feel sad when it is over, not happy that I am done with it.

Can you list some titles that you've loved? That might help give people suggestion ideas.

You didn't mention classics. I really liked The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. I even read it a second time many years later and still liked it.  I don't particularly like some of his other fictions. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. The Citadel by A J Cronin. Mr Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. The Dork of Cork by Chet Raymo.

Come back later and I'll give you some more.

Hi Keri:  I have found myself turning to memoirs and biographies lately.  Love reading about people, their lives and experiences.  Two I especially liked this year were Zeitoun and Twelve Clean Pages.  The first is about a man who remained in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina chose that path.  The second is about a woman who had many health problems - lupus emerging at age 12 and a devastaging stroke while in college.  

I read some memoirs as well.  I also changed back to my original favorite genres....somehow I had picked up a new genre and got stuck in it, even though it wasn't my favorite.  I updated my bookshelves and made a fun TBR system and am currently reading "Lonesome Dove."

Too bad you don't read 'law  enforcement'.  Two of my favorite series from the past two years are the Longmire series by Craig Johnson and The Joe Pickett series by C. J.  Box.  Both have great stories and embracable chararcters.  And I like the Montana/Wyoming settings.   Have you read the four World Made by Hand books?  They are great also.  And If you like Westerns there are the Murdock books by Loren D. Estleman.  I like westerns and these were good ones.  I can also recommend any book by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  Some I have like a little more but all I have read from cover to cover. Her stories about people and animals are wonderful. Three that do not have animals that I decided are keepers are Allie and Bea, Take Me With You and Leaving Blythe River.  

If you like mystery I think Ross MacDonald is one of the best. I like Dashiell Hammett also. There is an interesting mystery by Joe Gores called Hammett in which Dash is a character in the book and solves a crime. I have only read a couple of Agatha Christie books but a good one I found is What Mrs Macgillicuttie(?) Saw. That book has a different alternative title but I forget what it is.