Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead is one of my favourite books and stories of all the time. It is a screenplay by Tom Stoppard. It is and absurdist, existential story based on Hamlet by Shakespear. It follows Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as the grapple with being side characters in a play while being only partially aware of that fact.

It is one of the most challengingly written books I ever read. I enjoyed it immensely and I am always trying to convince other people to give it a go.

I have decided to include it here mostly because it was the hardest book to read up to date.

Sansûkh

https://archiveofourown.org/works/855528/chapters/1637607

Sansûkh is a transformative fiction of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. It is singularly the most impressive story I have ever read and also my favourite. It is hosted on a site called Archive of Our Own or AO3. And it as a fanfiction as you might have already guessed. It is longer than the entire trilogy and the Hobbit combined. It has also been made into an audiobook that lasts 60 hours. Both versions are massive labours of love and beloved by the fandom.

It is a story that keeps Tolkien´ s original epic fantasy feeling of world-changing adventures and long-gone heroes combined with ordinary joys and sorrows. It takes all that is best in Tolkien and creates anew all that was missing in the originals.

I am including a fanfiction here, although I don´ t necessarily need to, because it has been one of the major driving forces behind me learning English and I believe it has it´´ s place in my journey to C2 level.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

It is a collection of interconnected stories, revolving around people dissatisfied with their lives and needing a change, though they don´t always know this. Written by Japanese author Michiko Aoyama, these stories speak nevertheless of experiences any of us can live through. I really enjoyed the slightly unreal world, in which the library a it's librarian, are always found at the right time and can always recommend the right book, even if it's not one the visitor was looking for.

This book was a Christmas gift, that I have wished for, for some time and that did not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the magical realism elements and the framing composition of having several virtually separate stories connected only by the library.

Iron Widow

Iron Widow is of the kind of books you will read in one sitting. I got it for Christmas the year my parents caught covid and we spend the holidays isolating ourselves from each other. So even though the book itself doesn´t hold that many great memories, that year's Christmas was really difficult. I still wanted to include it here, because it really is one of the best fiction books out there.

It's a blend of Chinese history and young adult science fiction. I especially enjoyed all the historical references and the amazing mechas, which are giant mechanical robots controlled by a person sitting inside it doing all the motions for the mecha. In this case it is two people of different genders and the book explores the inequality this system creates and the society that creates the system.