> Can anyone recommend some good, contemporary fiction for people that have forgotten how to read fiction? [This is not a criticism, rather an exploration...]

> Can anyone recommend some good, contemporary fiction for people that have forgotten how to read fiction? [This is not a criticism, rather an exploration...] Why do you include the constraint "contemporary" fiction? You said you want to stimulate your creative thinking, and "switch off". Might you be open to the possibility that fiction set in another place and time could help with your objectives? I'm asking because I've felt similar to what you describe, and I know of some good books that did for me what you ask, but they are mostly set in different centuries to this one, and written by people who are dead. I work in software engineering and marketing, which means most of what I do is conceptual rather than physical. I find that doing physical jobs, like carpentry gives me a satisfaction and a feeling of escape. After I've built something, I can sit back and just look at it... there's no better feeling than making something come into existence. Well, sometimes a good work of fiction can achieve a similar level of escape or transcendence, yes.