Someone already said Vonnegut, so I’ll offer Kerouac.
Also, Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is something beyond.
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
141–150 of 599 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#142Kurt Vonnegut's works: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, Jailbird, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater... Find the time to read Vonnegut.
Cat’s Cradle has been my favorite book of all time since I found it in high school.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#143Howard's End, EM Forster, is one, along with all of Forster.
Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard, is fantastic. Good for many re-reads (and re-watches).
Ursula Le Guin (maybe The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite?) might be the best sci-fi/fantasy ever written, as much as I love Lois McMaster Bujold (three worlds to choose from, each offering many more or less independent novels and novellas), who is also great.
A few more:
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey.
My Antonia, Willa Cather.
Bluebeard, Kurt Vonnegut.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#144Though not my life per se , I find the fiction in the USMC's reading list to be very .. interesting. It's a strange mix of more popular titles and super niche books. It's all focused on war-fighting, but it gives a great look into the Marines: GATES OF FIRE: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE by Steven Pressfield STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card READY PLAYER ONE by Erne…
Ready Player One? Why?
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. I don't put it on-par with Dune, but there are definitely concepts in the TBP trilogy that are simultaneously difficult and mind-opening. Some of them are quite haunting, actually. Most of the deeper exploration of these ideas takes place in the third book.
I'm amazed these are being spoken of in the same breath. IMO Dune is vastly overrated
Ok, but I'm also amazed, because I found TBP to be vastly overrated...
To each his/her/their own.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#146Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm This book resonated at a perfect time for me, opened my eyes to what peace in human mind could be, peace through acceptance, and above all the rejection of strict god-judging religions. This was important because instead of chasing "happiness" I began to work towards "contentness" which has lead to minor emotional improvements in my l…
Just finished reading this and found it incredible how one book could reveal so much of myself to myself.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#147“The Things They Carried” a haunting book about American soldiers in the Vietnam war. It’s helped me understand the horrors of war and life, the significance of a person’s perception of an event rather than pure facts, and appreciate life in general.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#148Demian by Herman Hesse.
Taught me to not rely on logic/rationality alone. Sometimes you have to trust in intuition and the unconscious to guide your decisions.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#149The fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#150The fountainhead