The Fire Next Time — James Baldwin
Between the World and Me — Coates
(back-to-back)
The Scar — China Mieville
The Alphabet vs the Goddess – Shlain
Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
271–280 of 357 posts
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#272This year was a year in which, along with everything else, I read a number of standout scifi trilogies: --- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (African girl goes to space, becomes a unifying force in the galaxy) - Binti - Binti: Home - Binti: The Night Masquerade --- Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin (Humans make first contact and it doesn't go all that well) - The Three Body Problem - The Dark Forest - Death's End --- I…
Read/heard and thoroughly enjoyed all of those except Binti which is new to me. Wishlisted, thanks!
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#273 East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
Deep Work - Cal Newport
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person - Hugh Prather
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
I Heart Logs: Event Data, Stream Processing, and Data Integration - Jay Kreps
Kafka: The Definitive Guide - Neha Narkhede
Effective Java - Joshua Bloch
Algorithms - Robert Sedgewick, Kevin WayneRe: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#274- Complete Hyperion Cantos (incl. Endymion series) - Bad Blood (Still churning through) Hyperion is a 2500 page behemoth and took most of my year, however most of the things written in the book are not sci-fi, and overall the book is very enlightening. Still digesting the stuff in my brain. Bad Blood is a fascinating read. I'm still in the first quarter, and with this density, the events are well simply amazing to pu…
LibraryThing reports 854 editions of books identified by "Bad Blood". Please add at least the author's name to make life easier for people who want to check your suggestions. (I am not picking out specifically you , I had similar problems with whoever suggested "Code" above, and I am sure more will be found in the rest of the thread...)
You're right. I've written that comment haphazardly and quickly, and forgot the authors of both books. Someone (like me) can archive this thread and get confused later. Worse he/she wouldn't be abe to find the intended books.
Hyperion Cantos is written by Dan Simmons. It's 4.5 books.
- Hyperion
- The Fall of Hyperion
- Endymion
- The Rise of Endymion
- Orphans of the Helix (a novella in the same universe)
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#275Consider the lobster - David f. Wallace (good) Brief Interview with Hideous Men - David f Wallace (better) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep -Philip K. Dick (better than I expected) A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick (even better) The Goal, It's Not Luck, Critical Chain - Goldratt (OK, easy read) The Phoenix Project - (bad prose, not inspired) Grimus - Rushdie - (Amazing) Autobiography of Mark Twain ( oscillating be…
A Scanner Darkly is a great book. Too bad Keanu made that stupid movie.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#276This year, I discovered Agatha Christie. A few years back, when I was temporarily advised bed rest for a month, my sis loaned me a collection of Hercule Poirot short stories. I was always a Sherlock Holmes fan and really enjoyed the logical detective work. Hercule Poirot felt like just like a pretentious quirky old man, making denouements based on evidence that is flimsy and tenuous at best. This year, I came across…
Not Poirot, but still Christie: And Then There Were None / 9 Little Indians (same novel) was one of my favorites
Great book for all ages. It's "Ten Little Indians" by the way. It was first published under the name "Ten Little Niggers" based on the eponymous song.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#277I liked
* "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage", by Sydney Padua (geeky fun) * "Exit West", by Mohsin Hamid (beautiful) * "Fugletribunalet", by Agnes Ravatn (freaky)
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#278This year has been a year of fiction for me. I haven't hit my goal yet but I've got some time still!
Annihilation (Book one of the Southern Reach trilogy) - Jeff Vandermeer
Authority (Book two of the Southern Reach trilogy) - Jeff Vandermeer
Acceptance (Book three of the Southern Reach trilogy) - Jeff Vandermeer
Artemis - Andy Weir
The Breach (Book one of the Travis Chase trilogy) - Patrick Lee
Ghost County (Book two of the Travis Chase trilogy) - Patrick Lee
Deep Sky (Book three of the Travis Chase trilogy) - Patrick Lee
Runner - Patrick Lee
Signal - Patrick Lee
Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
The Atlantis Gene - A.G. Riddle
The Eye of the World (Book one of The Wheel of Time) - Robert Jordan
The Great Hunt (Book two of The Wheel of Time) - Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn (Book three of The Wheel of Time) - Robert Jordan
The Shadow Rising (Book four of The Wheel of Time) - Robert Jordan
The Fires of Heaven (Book five of The Wheel of Time) - Robert Jordan
The Way of Kings (Book one of the Stormlight Archives) - Brandon Sanderson
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
I'm currently reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. Book two of the The Stormlight Archives.
I'd say the biggest surprises for me would be Patrick Lee. I DEVOURED these books. The Breach, Ghost County, and Deep Sky are a trilogy. They reminded me of X-files crossed with Navy Seals but that doesn't really begin to really describe the books.
I can't believe I got through so much of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The first book was so-so but the story really picked up in the second book. I'm getting to the part of the overall story that people say gets tedious and boring but I haven't experienced this at all yet.
I just finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson a few days ago. It's definitely one of my favorite books of all-time. It may be my favorite fantasy book but I won't know until I try to re-read it. I re-read The Hobbit every year. I never seem to get sick of it. It's going to be hard to knock this off it's thrown but damn is The Way of Kings close!
This is also the first year I've ever read so many works of the same author over and over. I probably won't do it again next year. Except for maybe Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan. I found it was _usually_ harder to get into the writing once I got such a familiar feel of their style and storytelling. This didn't hold true for Sanderson and Jordan they are still blowing me away.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#279Lots of dystopian and alternate world sci-fi (most recently read first): 1) The Handmaid’s Tale 2) Off to be the Wizard 3) The Three-Body Problem 4) Good Omens 5) We Are Legion (We Are Bob) 6) American Gods 7) Ready Player One I really enjoyed all of these, though the Neil Gaiman books are rather long-winded. Ready Player One in particular is something I’d recommend to any geek or 80s movies and music fan. I found my…
I've been putting off Ready Player One because I could never get through Snowcrash, and everyone says "if you like Snowcrash you'll love Ready Player One". I finally got around to reading it and it was far better than I thought it would be. There was still a bit too much handwaving away the most amazing coincidences, but I thoroughly enjoyed it right through the end.
I think a better description would be Snowcrash lite or Snowcrash without all the Cuneiform and linguistics with more nostalgia. If you are in doubt check out the audiobook. It's pretty fun.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been putting off Ready Player One because I could never get through Snowcrash, and everyone says "if you like Snowcrash you'll love Ready Player One". I finally got around to reading it and it was far better than I thought it would be. There was still a bit too much handwaving away the most amazing coincidences, but I thoroughly enjoyed it right through the end.
I think a better description would be Snowcrash lite or Snowcrash without all the Cuneiform and linguistics with more nostalgia. If you are in doubt check out the audiobook. It's pretty fun.
Snowcrash but the hero protagonist isn't named Hiro Protagonist. I understand the name was intentional, but it still bothers me enough that I can't move past it.