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Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

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Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#231

Post by jimduk »

libraryofbabel wrote: post #163

It's interesting seeing how many of my touchstone books turn up in other people's lists. Here are some I didn't see yet: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. My favorite Le Guin (the Dispossessed is pretty good too). Shockingly original when it was published in 1969; the portrait of the society and culture on Gethen still feels unique. A slow burn at the beginning, but builds to a dramatic conclusion. Patric…

All of the above, Life and Fate is essential, but also add Middlemarch: George Eliot - grown up problems, don't lie, be careful around money Bleak House: Charles Dickens - avoid lawyers, don't let money get to you

More left field - Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend - consistency is over-rated; any Houllebecq - keep thinking; Quartered safe out here - George McDonald Fraser - generation close to ours, but war-time experience like soldiers for the last 2000 years.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#232

Post by AlexCoventry »

thebetrayer wrote: post #73

the feed: A Novel had a big impact on me as a teen, it's a relatively short read Amazon has turned it into a Prime Video Original, which I have yet to watch since Episode 1 didn't strike me as great. Edit: I think the best sci-fi fiction book I have ever read is Red Rising, it is a newer book.

There's a lot of better stuff out there than Red Rising. It's very stilted, the characters are flat, and the story is predictable.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#233

Post by robertlf »

slothtrop wrote: post #171
adamredwoods wrote: post #139

Siddhartha, 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…

It must say something about a person which among Hesse's work resonates the most. I read Demian which has a more ruthless Randian will-to-power tone to it, and the Glass Bead Game. Haven't yet touched Siddhartha.

I read all three of these in college and I know Demian and Glass Bead Game meant a lot to me. You should check out Siddhartha.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#234

Post by cookie_monsta »

notjustanymike wrote: post #202
marnett wrote: post #185

Re-reading Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle after being in Silicon Valley after a while really illuminated the character-type I found myself surrounded by: emotionally detached geniuses absentmindedly ruining the world. His style of storytelling is just great. He leaves so much off the page with his short style that at the end you get that feeling you’ve experienced something profound that can’t quiet be put into words.

Player Piano is a great read for that as well

Anything by Vonnegut is worth a look

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#236

Post by bllguo »

karatestomp wrote: post #217
dahdum wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dune was my favorite series until TBP. Dune degrades quickly after the first book while I thought each TBP was better than the last.

The first book’s the best one but there’s an arc that carries through to its conclusion in God Emperor that kinda completes the whole thing. I did read 5 and got about a third of the way through 6 before stopping and I still don’t know why either book exists. The previous story was over, and the new stuff’s muddled and not compelling.

5 and 6 are bizarre; not only do they read like action thrillers, they almost seem to contradict the whole message behind the Golden Path. The series should absolutely have ended with God Emperor (my personal favorite, followed by the original)

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#237

Post by alexilliamson »

basementcat wrote: post #61

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This is a book for children but I don’t think I fully appreciated the second half until I was an adult. Also, there’s a cute attempt at a stack overflow crash in the middle :)

This is my favorite book and I'm so excited to see someone else mention it!

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#238

Post by robertlf »

weeksie wrote: post #39

Depends on how old you are, or for me it did. Some books resonate at different points in a person's life. The fiction that's had the most impact on me as an adult was all stuff I read in my early 30s. * Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller — Perfect for a single man in his 30s. Very solipsistic and hedonistic, which is a great way to explore that decade. Each of the books in the series is a novel length prose poem. Absol…

If you like Henry Miller, you'll probably enjoy his favorite books. Check out "The Books In My Life" and "The Wisdom of the Heart." I had the good fortune to visit his cabin in Big Sur a couple of years ago and it was very inspiring.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#240

Post by robertlf »

billfruit wrote: post #115

John Fowles, French Lieutenants Women, really gets the details of how society has changed from the 19th century to the twentieth century. I would recommend 19the century great novels, that really was a golden age of literature, so many great works came out in the period near the mid of the century. Also George Eliot, in the current context, would recommend her novel Romola, set in Florence, perhaps the finest treatme…

Most definitely read Flaubert's "Sentimental Education." The ending still gets to me.
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