I read Martin McInnes’s In Ascension recently. What I loved about it is that it felt both intimate and sweeping. Intimate in the sense of going deep into the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings; sweeping in the nature of the things she thinks and does. Discovering and investigating things beyond all human knowledge, monologuing about the cyclic nature of life… The former keeps it grounded, the latter makes it exciting.
Another book that made me feel a similar way is Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, although it’s a very different kind of awe. Being a horror book and all.
What are other books that can make me feel that way again?
You should enjoy Italo Calvino’s Mr Palomar then.
Being an honest observer of the world outside, Mr Palomar seeks patterns in everything and is always torn between constantly emerging contradicting perspectives. He strives to attain transcendent understanding and fails; he also strives to connect with mundane everyday things and fails. He can’t even decide which of the two is a nobler goal, and that indecision is also something he analyses.
It’s a short beautiful book, give it a try.
The Library at Mount Char is a bit like what you’re describing - quite intimate in getting to know the characters but as the story develops there’s a huge “holy shit” awe to it for me.
I also second the Ursula le Guin recommendation.
Way of Kings is over a thousand pages and I read the whole thing in like a week. At the end I was literally in awe. Mistborn is much shorter and gave me a similar experience, but not as profound. Oh! Necromancer might be up your alley. It’s the grandfather of cyberpunk. The craziest sci-fi series I’ve read is definitely Hyperion. There’s quite a lot to be amazed at in that series, and it is very original. The absolute most original series I have ever read is the Fifth Season & the Broken Earth series. There is nothing else like it, and the scale of the plot is immense.
If you want something that’s not sci-fi or fantasy, and you haven’t read it yet, 1984 is the most excellent book. There were times when I’d just stop reading to think about what an amazing wordsmith Orwell is. It is pretty dark and hopeless though, so I don’t recommend it if that sort of stuff is bad for you.